Some pictures I took in Phoenix
Her Secret is Patience, by Janet Echelman. A massive aerial sculpture downtown:
The Yellow Knight trying to bean the Blue Knight at Medieval Times in Scottsdale. I was assigned to root for the Blue Knight and he won the tournament and defended the realm using Good Sportsmanship. :) They both made some very dynamic poses:
Some graffiti I saw. I was later disappointed to learn that "Cobra Doug" is the name of a band and not actually a cool moniker held by a graffiti artist local:
I sometimes find that mid-sized American cities are a lot more fun to visit as a tourist than I expect, and I was hoping that Phoenix would be one of those... but I can't say that it was, really. It's possible that we were simply witnessing a holiday activity lull... but it was a pretty quiet, aggressively clean and policed place with not a ton to do.
We also spent about an hour walking laboriously through Tempe, carrying extremely heavy backpacks, in weather that was simultaneously very cold in the shade and very hot in the sun. I was also developing the flu at that time. Perhaps this contributed to my lack of enthusiasm for the metro area. Who can say!
I did see a ton of cyclists out and about, mostly people in sport cycling clothes but also people who were clearly commuting or shopping with bikes, which was pretty cool.
Would I go back? Maybe! I might choose to drive there someday so that I'd be able to get out into nature. But it's definitely a hike from LA, and we have other desert places to enjoy between LA and Phoenix. If I'm back in Arizona anytime soon, it'll probably be to visit other cities and other natural areas instead.