In the Land of the Thorns - Day 3

I moved to a new box this morning. It’s called Motel 6. I mentioned to the clerk that I was planning on traveling to the Great Gorge (the Grand Canyon on our side) this weekend, and she suggested that I take up a game of Pins and a Ball instead. I believe we would call this bowling. She was quite serious and then she proceeded to tell me that there is a Box-in-the-dark ($3 movie theater) nearby with some good movies that I could watch. She says it’s impossible for someone to watch all of the movies that come out at one time anyway, so it’s good to make the movies cost only $3.

I’m fascinated by a radio commercial that I keep hearing while I’m driving. It goes something like this: “Why pay $9.50 to the sandwich lady for a sandwich when you could pay only one dollar?” Then at the end of the commercial the sandwhich lady says in her Mexican accent, “Sandwich no cost one dollar. Sandwich lady need to get paid.” I want to meet the sandwich lady someday and ask her if she'll make me a sandwich.

Today, I entered into the Land of the Thorns. We call this the Desert Botanical Garden. It was phenomenal. My snap-a-moment-so-it-will-last-longer (or photos) do not show how stunning this place is. It’s acres and acres of trails and well-maintained succulents that can be found in Arizona and the four major deserts that touch AZ.

Then, I went to the Phoenix Zoo. At one point, I asked the baboons if I’m actually the one in the cage and they’re the tourists looking at me. The baboons turned up their ugly hineys to me and walked away. As I approached the gazelle exhibit, I turned the corner and found a life-like statue of one. I was startled and jumped back—thinking I had accidentally entered into an unfenced territory, or that one of the gazelles had gotten loose. When I realized it was a statue and not a real gazelle, I smacked it on the butt just to be sure. It didn't move.

After a bit, I travelled into downtown Phoenix. Perhaps it was a mirage, but I saw big buildings and the work day apparently stops at 5 pm, because everything was closing up by 6 o’clock. This is my kind of city! The parking garage attendant had trouble letting me out of the parking garage because he didn’t know how to operate the door. He had to type in special codes and he still couldn’t figure it out. Back home, we just press one button to make the door go up and down.

Tomorrow, I shall travel to the Great Gorge.