seldear | Arizona and Texas picspam (but mostly Arizona)

Right. Because I have finally manage to get off my ass and sort out my pics from Arizona, here they are!

The write-up of (some of) what I did in Arizona is here (Monday and Tuesday) and here (Wednesday and Thursday) with a small and accidental diversion into downtown Arizona. It might help to read them while looking at the pics. It should make a little more sense that way.

Most of the pics have been small-sized, so if you want to see the original in it's full-sized glory (they're rather large - 700Kb) click on the pic to get a close-up.

I haven't published any ones with people I know in them.

A...grasshopper or praying mantis that we were trying to get a pic of that first night.

Two shots of Phoenix from one of the 'mountains', c/o the day I spent with

twilightdweller's friend Mel. She was pretty knowledgeable about the area and how things were - it was helpful to hang out.

A bronze statue of a native American woman that was outside the Heard Museum.

The same statue...with Daniel. (It said "please do not touch" so I didn't touch the statue...and no-one came to arrest me, so I guess it was okay!)

The next few are of the Phoenix Desert Garden - basically like the Sydney Botanical Gardens...except for Phoenix. And very desert-y and hot. But some lovely pics.

The pergola outside the gardens.

Daniel in the Monarch butterfly house.

The red things are chillies. You can't see them very well in the small pic on account of the resolution, but if you check the larger resolution, they should be visible. I wanted to put Daniel down on the barrel beside them, but wasn't sure it was allowed.

I've noticed there's a big emphasis on growing herbs in decorative public gardens in the US. There were herbaceous borders everywhere at Disneyland - much to my amusement. Dang! Never got to see the vegie gardens they allegedly had at Disney. Oh well, maybe next time?

Monarch Butterflies. I couldn't get a full shot with spread wings.

Daniel and the Phoenix Desert Gardens insignia.

The buddhist monk (or whatever he was) was an unexpected sight in the gardens. But his saffron hem made a nice colour contrast against the blue and green and red of the desert gardens!

Bunny! (Not a plotbunny, though...)

The following four shots are of this sculpture a guy made - it's like a house made entirely out of branches of the local trees. Except, obviously, not wind or rain-proof and therefore not exactly useful as shelter. Apparently there'd originally been more of them when he did the display, but they took down all except for this one.

Daniel looking out at the mountain. (Darned if I can't remember the name.)

Me and Daniel.

Daniel again.

Spot the lemming!

Morwen,

twilightdweller's cat. Who was adorable and pushy and climbed up on my hip to snooze at 4am in the morning when I was trying to sleep. She had a knack for jumping on the bed just as soon as I'd fallen asleep.

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I'm also including the handful of shots of Texas that I took here. I'm not sure why I didn't take too many, but quite a lot happened, especially Saturday and Sunday. The write-up is here.

Again, the small photos are links to the bigger ones. Click at the peril of your own download speed!

Galveston, where we pretty much spent Saturday. I didn't take many photos of the beach or the town or the art shop we went. Most of the journey was spent with

gwemegil's hubby and his buddy swearing imprecations at how much the university town had changed - ie. how much more there was to do compared with their student days when the town was essentially a hole (or so you would believe, listening to them).

Daniel and I beside the Texas flag at Washington, TX - the 'birthplace' of the Texan nation, which later turned into the state of Texas when they joined the union.

gwemegil couldn't remember what she'd done with Jacob-the-lemming, and it wasn't until Tuesday night that she managed to find where he'd been put, dig him out, and we got photos of the lemmings together.

I'm not sure I'll get the Disneyland-Vegas pics done today. Maybe tomorrow or Wednesday. I just know I have to get them done before Philadelphia or else I'll never get them done...