The guidebook reads "Few tourists visit Phoenix. It is the spider at the centre of the Arizona web, sucking all the resources from the rest of the state". That is all I have to say about Phoenix.
Instead I'll tell you about San Diego! I stayed with a mate from college days (Dave Kacev) who lives in La Jolla (north of SD). He is doing a PhD (something about shark ecology) and one of his lab partners is studying salamanders so I spent Saturday hunting for salamanders (we were going to steal their tails for DNA) in a state park inland from SD. It turned out to be a day of hiking and turning over logs and rocks. We didn't find a single salamander but did find some eggs, a wee snake, 1 soccerball, 1 baseball and 6 golf balls. The people who live in the hills must have fun lofting balls from their back yards into the canyons below. Woe betide the unsuspecting hiker!
Sunday was spent in Dave's stomping ground - the San Diego Zoo. The zoo is in Balboa Park which encompasses a large area and many museums and other cultural displays. I made friends with a New York Didjeridooer busking in the park. The zoo is rather impressive as zoos go with my highlight being a baby gorilla born on 5th March. (He looked just like me too!)
PS I learned that Speedy Gonzales Cactus are really called Organ Pipe Cactus (who'd have guessed?)
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