Phoenix, Arizona - 19th October

Yesterday Sue and I went for a day hike in the Superstition mountains: very nice views, and the vegetation and geology were completely new to me. The saguara cacti are just like in the moview, and the rock formations are intricately carved. Afterwards we stopped at a really nice second-hand bookshop and I bought *more* books. Today I visited the Desert Botanical Garden and the Phoenix zoo. Unexpectedly, the plants were more interesting than the animals - I got to track down the ones I'd seen yesterday, and there were intersting exhibits on the uses of desert plants and modifications to houses for the desert. Right now I'm sitting on the sofa trying to entice one of Sue's cats to sit on my lap and watching a corny musical on TV. It's nice having cats around (I lived with cats for most of my life, but not for the last few years); the dogs are kept outside when I'm in.