Just across the room from me is a group of people with Middle-Eastern accents discussing a new church they are starting--an evangelical church, not a Muslim one. It's a reminder of the "melting pot" our country is known for, and has renewed my faith in freedom. God bless America (hand over your heart, please).
Then, a woman approached a man drinking his latte and gave him a small button that said, "Accept Your Success." She tells the guy, "I'm with a group that believes to have true success you just have to believe in yourself. Tonight, our members were given the challenge to see how many buttons we can sell. Do you have a dollar? The button is free, but we are trying to sell them for a dollar." The guy sheepishly reached into his pocket. "Sure, I'll give you a buck." If she had approached me I would have said, "I'll give you two dollars if you'll go away and leave me in peace." She ignored me, however, because I quickly put on my headphones in order to send the messsage, "Leave me alone."
Just a recap of yesterday. I spent most the morning and early afternoon at the Fine Arts Expo (where you can hang out with artists while they work on stuff and you can basically bore them to death with questions like, "How do you make that shadow on the horse's head look so real?) I then drove further north to Carefree and the neighboring community of Cave Creek. At Cave
Creek, a new western-themed retail and office development is almost completed. They call it "Stagecoach Village" and the development seeks to mimic an old western town.So far, the only offices currently in use belong to real estate agents. A ReMax residential office is open, although I saw some agents still unloading their wagons and it appeared they were still moving in.
According to the newspaper, it will be another six to nine months before all of the offices and retail spaces are occcupied. It's a beautiful setting among the foothills of Black Mountain.
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That was yesterday. Today, my plan was to take a walking tour of Arizona State University, home of the Sun Devils. I spent about three hours on campus and in the area retail shops nearby.
Sun Devil Stadium is just a couple of blocks north of the main campus.
College Ave. Marketplace (above) is located between Sun Devil Stadium and the main campus further south. The mountain with an "A" on it is in the background. The University of Arizona in Tucson also has an "A" mountain. Why do colleges in Arizona feel the need to place big ugly letter A's on nearby mountains?
The best place to go shopping and have lunch is the Mill Avenue District just to the west of the campus. I found all kinds of places to eat, drink, buy stuff, and just hang out. (Photos below.)
I took the above shot of ASU head football coach Dennis Erickson, his face plastered on banners around the area. He's smiling because he makes over $2 million a year.
I took the photo above from the second floor of an old bookstore that specialized in out-of-date and collectible books like you find in most garage sales. They were going out of business (big surprise since there is a Border's Bookstore just down the street). The owner said I could rent the 1900 square foot retail space for $24 a foot. I told her, "I think I'll just buy these books." I found a drawing book published in the 1950's teaching how to sketch protraits, and a Civil War book of Mathew Brady's photographs.
Photos from my walking tour of the ASU campus:
The palm trees above are called Mexican Fan Palms (Washingtonia robusta). They come from Mexico and are very popular in Arizona for landscaping. The one drawback: they grow so tall you can't trim them without a very tall ladder.
