Day 3: Friday 3rd September

Phoenix, Camelback and Build-a-Bear

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Well, Happy Birthday to Me! Never in my (never to be voluntarily admitted to how) long life had I ever woken to such beauty on my birthday! I was awake at 4:00 and again at 6:00 and I sat outside on the patio. There were strange birds twittering - maybe whipperwhills (sp?) and, later, what I at first had thought to be a dragon-fly, turned out to be a hummingbird! Fancy that! One of the cacti was in flower and all was simply wonderful. I was still a little jet-lagged though.

The Dollar desk was quite empty and we were seen to straight away. Goodness me - what they charged for insurance!! But there was little we could do about that, and it would've been foolish not to have taken out full insurance, so we signed the forms and went out to catch the shuttle to the Dollar parking lot. Boy, it was HOT! The first car in line was a grey-ish Dodge Stratus. The next car in line was a swanky-looking WHITE Dodge Stratus. "Could we have that one please?". "Sure". So away we went! We called him "Buddy" - and very roomy he was too! It took a while for the hub to get used to the bits and pieces and he drove very slowly back to camp, where I bathed my leg with a flannel and we picked up supplies (water etc), before heading off for the Mall!

Buddy outside our camp

The Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall wasn't too far up the road and easy to find, and we parked up and entered through a Robinson and May. What WONDERFUL clothes!! The Mall was fantastic. SO clean and SO quiet. There were some fabulous shops there, with wonderful goodies on display - but we only had one destination in mind. Build-a-Bear!!

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Paul and I built bears, while the hub took pictures (most of which are still on the laptop). I build Picallili Charles and Paul built Smarlie (?). What fun! We stuffed them and warmed their hearts (though I fear I inserted PC's bent). We fluffed them, we registered their births on computer (with a special tag so that they would never get lost) and dressed them. There was nobody else in there, apart from a large man, wearing a cowboy hat, who was building a horse and a pig and buying them all sorts of clothes, including Y-fronts. He needed a little persuading (from hub) to do a proper job of fluffing under the shower, but he enjoyed himself, no doubt!!

Time to eat! We took the glass lift down to the Food Court, where there were all manner of fast-food outlets! I forget what we bought. I had a salad, I think - and hub and Paul had something or other with grilled chicken and cheese. Paul turned his nose up. He had been turning his nose up at everything, since we'd arrived. So he went over to the other side of the court, to buy a burger. He was AGES. Eventually, we spotted him walking back, and he was a deathly colour and wobbling all over the place. FAINT!! And no wonder, he had hardly eaten or drunk anything in a couple of days. I was furious with him. I know that sounds heartless, but I was - I mean, what can you do - he'll only eat blasted BURGERS and will only drink COKE!! But, we were going to have to relent a bit, for the rest of the trip - or he might die on us or something. BUT WE MADE SURE THAT HE DRANK PLENTY OF WATER!!

Next up, Trader Joe's, just up the road, for essential supplies, like caramel rice biscuits and things! They had some marvellously yummy frozen desserts! We also managed to get a coolbag in there, which was a godsend. And we had one of those BROWN BAGS!!

Sure was hot! We drove back to the Camelback and loafed around our room, eating Salad Nicoise for our tea and watching the dark clouds over in the mountains and the weather reports on the TV about the thunder in the next valley!

Although Paul still wasn't all that well, rather than call it a day, we decided to have a quick drive around downtown Phoenix. It was very nice, what we saw - safe-seeming and clean - and lots of the usual roadside eateries and stores. There was lightning in the distant sky. And we got hopelessly lost. Indian Avenue, School Street, Central Avenue, 27th Street, University Drive (Tempe!) - how many times?? Round and round in circles - goodness only knows how many times around the airport alone! And there were cops on BICYCLES!! When we pulled over to ask for help, they told us we couldn't park there and ordered us to move on!! Finally, we stopped at a hotel (Ameri-something - you don't want to stay there; planes fly right over!) and asked directions. But still we were lost! Hub was vearing towards the wrong side of the road and almost driving into lampposts! Finally, thanks to the help for yet another hotel, we found our way back. EXHAUSTED!

But hey! What's that? Soothing music and soft lights! 'Turn-down' had been in and turned back our sheets, turned on the radio and left warm choc-chip cookies on our pillows! You couldn't help but smile! Then we watched another free movie (Robots of some sort) and drifted off to blissful sleep.

We loved it here!

The bears loved it here too! Left to Right, Smarlie, Meanie and Picalilli.

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[ Introduction ] [ Day 1 ] [ Day 2 ] [ Day 4 ] [ Day 5 ] [ Day 6 ] [ Day 7 ] [ Day 8 ] [ Day 9 ]
[ Day 10 ] [ Day 11 ] [ Day 12 ] [ Day 13 ] [ Day 14 ] [ Day 15 ] [ Day 16 ] [ Day 17 ]
[ Days 18, 19 and 20 ]

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