For Mark's NAPA reward trip this year, we went to
the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, AZ. Thursday and Friday were packed with the compulsory NAPA reception, meeting and banquet, but we squeezed in a Jeep tour of the Sonoran Desert.
The inside of a cactus looks like tree bark around water tubes.
Our guides were dressed in full cowboy gear with boots, spurs, hats, guns and knives in holsters, etc., but their stereotypical attire and comedy routine was completely upstaged by their incredible knowledge of the desert - both it's content and history.
There's a saying about the desert that everything in it either bites, stings, pricks, shoots or inflicts pain some other way. Here's Walker, about to gently poke Mark in the palm with a cholla cactus needle. The cholla, or
jumping cactus, has needles so sharp they can pierce leather. Fortunately for Mark, the needle is covered with an outer skin that traps water so this particular needle didn't pierce his hand. After the demonstration though, Walker dropped the rest of the cactus (shown on his knife) onto his boot and had to get scissors to cut it off!
Flint, the Comanche Indian guide, discussed Indian history and languages. Did you know that the Cherokee were the only tribe to have a written alphabet? And that it has 84 letters? It was a really fun tour. The guides made it great!
Saturday I was fortunate enough to see one of my college roommates and bridesmaid, Julie! If you attended our wedding, she was the one who sang the Ave Maria! We ate lunch by the pool, floated the lazy river and tried to figure out how many years it had been since we saw each other last. Too long!
While we hung out at the pool, Mark hiked up Camelback Mountain.
Sunday, we cruised through Tempe, home of Arizona State University where Mark went to college, on the way back to the airport. Sweet friend, Elizabeth, and her daughter Addison, were waiting with our kids back home.
