Again From Phoenix – BionicOldGuy

I’m simply again from visiting my Brother Invoice and Nephew Tommie in Phoenix for 5 days. The climate was pleasant this time of the yr, which is why snowbirds like to go to. I don’t normally qualify as a snowbird, extra of a cold-and-rainy-bird, however this yr I truly did go away when there was snow on the mountains as I confirmed in my final submit. We had a good time. It was pleasant for me simply happening walks with the desert surroundings, and someday we went on a desert hike in South Mountain Park and noticed wildflowers. Not too spectacular but, they aren’t at their peak, however nonetheless fairly. We additionally loved 3 separate museums.

The primary was Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale, a part of the Arizona Boardwalk. Tommie volunteers there however this was his break day so we had him as an awesome tour information. It was fantastic (however not stunning) to see how well-like Tommie is by his co-workers. He is likely one of the most optimistic and outgoing individuals I do know. They’ve the biggest butterfly conservatory in North America. You’re not supposed to the touch the free-roaming butterflies however they do land on you. I additionally loved their film on the jap department of the Monarch migration. Dwelling on the West coast I knew all concerning the Western department, however the Jap is much more spectacular, with them touring as much as 3000 miles.

On one other day we went to the Western Spirit museum in Scottsdale which tells the historical past of the West via artwork, with fantastic docent-led excursions.

Lastly we went to the Musical Instrument Museum, additionally in Scottsdale, which has shows of musical devices around the globe. It has a cool setup the place they provide you headphones, and as you come as much as every video show it auto-tunes into it. Some had been samples of music, together with actually cool outdated black and white movies, like Buddy Holly and Ray Orbison, whereas others had been explanations by craftsman and artists concerning the devices.

I remaining spotlight of the journey was all of the Waymo self-driving vehicles I noticed. I used to be curious so requested Gemini about their security report in this chat (I feel you want a Google account to open this). Their report is great, just below 10 million journeys in Phoenix to this point, accident/damage fee about 6 occasions lower than human drivers, and the overwhelming majority of incidents weren’t the Waymo’s fault. I then disappeared down a rabbit-hole with Gemini making an attempt to know the tech which is mind-boggling however very spectacular.