Maggie in the Desert

Today DC is in the grips of a record-breaking snow-storm. At last count I think we were up to 18 inches (and still going strong), so what better way to spend my snow day than blogging about being in the desert?

The irony is not lost on me.

I spent the first week of December in Phoenix, Arizona. It was my first time in Arizona and only my second time in the desert (the first being my trip to Las Vegas this past May). Before leaving I had all these grandiose plans for sight-seeing, hiking, and visiting some local museums. Unfortunately, the sheer number of hearings the judges I traveled with had to conduct at the regional office kept us busy until after 5 almost every night. Which meant all we really had time to do was go out to dinner and then come back to the hotel and go back to bed.

In fact, the only real cool things I got to do were 1) visit a Sees candy store one evening for a bit of Christmas shopping and 2) go to the Desert Botanical Garden on Thursday afternoon when the judges were kind and let me and the other attorney skip out early.

But if you're going to do one thing in the Phoenix area, this is the one you want to shoot for. You basically get the whole desert experience in one go (minus the horrible venomous creatures). And coming from the East Coast, where the flora is basically as different as you can get, it was fascinating to see how many different types of cacti there are. Literally thousands.

Check out some pics:




I especially like this last picture. It makes the cacti look like a nefarious wriggling mass trying to bring down the tree. Evil cacti!

I flew back to DC on Friday afternoon since I had to get ready for my kitchen-warming party happening the next day. When I left Phoenix it was 70 degrees, and within 12 hours of coming back it was snowing. Weirdness.

Speaking of snow, I'll probably be blogging several times in the next few days since I am stuck at home due to the snow. Who knows how long it will take to dig out my car from this blizzard? It could be awhile before I can go anywhere, but hopefully these blog posts won't end up chronicling my gradual descent into cabin fever-induced madness. But still, that should make for good reading, right??

Red rum....red rum.....