Phoenix Vacation--Day 6

Wednesday, March 14

We got up and went to Andy’s mom’s for coffee and cereal before she had to go into work. We left from there and headed off to the Desert Botanical Gardens. There are so many different kinds of cacti that it was unbelievable. So beautiful. We stopped and had a snack and got some prickly pear iced tea at the café there. We had a good time walking the trails and taking pictures. The grounds really were beautiful and it was all really neat to see. Deidra and I talked about growing our own herb garden on the windowsill at home as well and she also wants me to get a couple cactus plants for us to grow as well. So, that will be our project when we get home. After that we visited the gift shop and picked up a few postcards and then we turned in Deidra’s investigator paper of all the cactus and wildlife that we found in the gardens and they gave her a prize. We also visited the butterfly exhibit and got to see all the pretty butterflies. She had gotten so tired from all the walking that the waiting in line was a little hard for her, but she was glad that we got to go when we were all done. She colored a picture of a butterfly for Uncle Geoff and then we headed off to Fountain Hills to go see Uncle Geoff’s work and have lunch with him. We went down to see the fountain go off…it’s supposed to be one of the largest fountains in the country, but we didn’t make it down in time to see it go off. So, we headed for Taco Bell to have lunch instead. It was neat to see where he’s working and the project that he’s doing…they’re working on a yearbook that is all on CD-ROM and it’s all interactive. Very cool! Anyway, we had a good visit. After we dropped him off back at work, we headed to a couple thrift stores and picked up a few books, a couple things for ebay, and we got a new dress for Deidra. We stopped at Starbucks and then Andy took me into downtown Phoenix to see the buildings and whatnot. We stopped at Wal-mart to pick up a few things and then headed for our condo to wait for Andy’s mom to arrive home with the pizza.

We brought everything inside, locked up the doors, and headed for Andy’s mom’s next door when all of a sudden Andy realized that he had forgotten the only key to the condo on the counter! We immediately called the realtor (the condo we’re staying in is up for sale) who informed us that the lock boxes automatically shut off at 6 pm so there wasn’t anything he could do for us until morning. He suggested calling the brother-in-law of the people that own the condo to see if he had an extra key. We left a message for him and then Andy tried to call some locksmiths. They had to have proof of ownership to open the locks for us. The brother-in-law called us back and said he lived about 50 minutes away and would meet us half way. Our car was locked in the garage so we had to wait until Andy’s mom got home to see if she could drive us (neither of us know how to drive a stick). They were talking about just having us get a hotel room for the night, but I really didn’t want to have to pay for a room when we were already paying for the condo and finally Hal said he’d take Andy to meet the guy. So, we were able to do that. What a relief! Andy’s mom now has the spare key and we have the other one…so at least if it happens again, we don’t have all the drama to figure out again. Things definitely got a little tense for awhile and Andy felt totally awful about doing it. We all make mistakes though and it could have happened to anyone…I’m just glad that we were able to get back in. It’s nice to have our own space to retreat to….