A Very Busy Great Day

Colorful pieces like this one are scattered all over the garden, all by Rotraut Klein-Moquay, the exhibit is called "Playing With Stars"

Well, I rather overdid the schedule for our one day in Phoenix. We had reservations for 9:30 AM at the Desert Botanical Gardens, at 1:30 PM for the Musical Instruments Museum and then dinner reservations for 5 PM at Los Dos Molinos. It was almost an hour from our RV park to the city each direction so it was a long day, but a really great one! And we had perfect weather with bright sunshine and highs in the mid 70's. 

Paths like this wind their way through the Garden. One central circle with several loops featuring  ecosystems, the plants and people of the Sonoran Desert, and wildflowers and pollinators. 

The Desert Botanical Garden was founded by the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society in 1937 and opened in 1939. It has more than 50,000 plants, one-third of which are native to the area, including 379 species, which are rare, threatened or endangered. Paths wind through the property and feature several ecosystems: a mesquite bosque, semi-desert grassland and upland chaparral. Sculptures are displayed throughout the garden. Right now the exhibit is by Arizona-based Rotraut Klein-Moquay. Also glass pieces by famous artist Dale Chihuly greet the visitor as you enter. 

These three Chihuly pierces glowed in the sun. They looked like small versions of the one in the courtyard of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. 

We walked everywhere and read every sign. Including a short break for a drink, it took about 3 hours. We were very grateful for the benches provided, many with shade - and water coolers, even out in the desert! Our cameras (one a phone) were pretty busy. 

These flowers are only a few of the many types
we saw both here and on the road.

Purple was a common color, with many varieties

buds on the cactus are such fun

Some were flowering

We saw and heard a lot of birds but managed only
a few good photos.

A rare cristate Saguaro cactus.

A close up of the intricate design on the top

These yellow flowers line the roads

These creamy blossoms were on trees and 
smelled wonderful

Carpets of these purple blue tiny flowers were
everywhere.

An oasis of water allows larger trees.

Our next stop was the Museum of Musical Instruments about a half hour away.  But we had a little extra time before our ticket entry so we stopped through downtown Scottsdale and walked around for a while. A fun street performer was glad for our prompted "Yee Haws" to liven up the crowd. There is a pedestrian street with some nice sculpture and the usual galleries, gift shops and restaurants. 

The street performer's specialties were the lariat,
bull whip and twirling guns.

Some of the architecture was lovely

Interspersed with western sculpture

I'm not much for gift shops but these beautiful
glass pieces stopped me cold.

The Musical Instrument Museum is a stunning place with so much to see that we were reminded of our experience at the WWII Museum in New Orleans. You need several days to really get through here. Unfortunately we only had 3 hours, but we'll come back next year for another go. Basically we saw the section on Mechanical Instruments and all of the Europe Collection. Each country in Europe had a section with instruments and commentary through history along with a big screen showing performers using the instruments and in many cases, dancing. Everyone wears ear phones which turn on as you enter the country so you can hear and watch the videos. Often there is a section on individual types of instruments and their history, like horns, bagpipes, strings etc. 

After this we were exhausted and happily drove on to our planned dinner restaurant. Los Dos Molinos (the Two Grinders) is a family owned and run chain (now) of 3 restaurants in Phoenix. They were recently featured on PBS and it was packed. They warn you that most dishes are "HOT", that's their fame. We opted for the few that were not. There wasn't a medium choice. But everything was wonderful, including the "fresh" margaritas. 

The Mechanical Instrument section was fascinating with hundreds of such varied types.

The music boxes were so intricate with videos showing them working and of course,  we could hear the music.

Here's on example of a country with instruments, costume, videos and history.

And last, one of the sections on a particular instrument family - here Bagpipes. Who knew that they were played in Europe, Northern Africa, Western Asia and around the Persian Gulf?