Phoenix

Desert Botanical Gardens

It cooled down for today, high only about 89 degrees. We went to the Desert Botanical Garden. I’m used to a small section in a botanical garden that displays cacti and other desert plants, here the entire garden was dedicated to the desert plants. The variety of cacti was amazing. Of course, the secret of a cactus is that it stores water inside the plant when it rains. They have a rib structure that can expand after a rain, and most of them looked pregnant with rain. There were lots of strange cactus: purple prickly pear, octopus, saguaro cactus that seemed to have faces. A major part of the garden was a tour of the Sonoran desert (which is where Phoenix is located), besides the plants, there were displays about how the people lived there.

Purple Prickly Pear

In the afternoon, we visited the Hall of Flame Fire Museum. This is the largest collection of fire fighting equipment in the U.S. The collection started with a hand pump from 1725 and ended with engines from the 1960’s, which served until the 90s. The most fascinating part was some of the decorated fire pumps and carriages that were used in parades and competitions between fire companies. The museum did a good job of explaining the changes in technology over time: some of the early chemical pumps to put out smaller fires without water, how the water pumps became more powerful from hand pumps to steam pumps to diesels, as well as the tech to raise ladders to higher buildings. We also learned about the technology of fire boxes which used to be distributed through the city, and when pulled they sent a signal to the central fire control, which then signaled the appropriate fire station about the fire. We finished up with a video and display about fire jumpers.

Decorative Fire Carriage

That night back in our trailer, we were watching TV, when we heard a police helicopter circling in the sky above us and pointing its spotlight about two blocks away. This lasted for over half an hour. We were never sure what actually happened, but soon after police cars were going through the RV Park with their lights looking for something or someone. In the morning, we learned that our neighbors had called the cops to check on things, because they found some papers and other junk near their trailer, and were worried that someone had come through the area. Who knows?