We got on tour bus at 8:30 am and headed to downtown Phoenix to the Capital Museum. This photo shows the building. Note the White Pegasus weather vane at the top center of the building. It is completely functional and will be 100 years old in 2012. The Museum tour director told us that it recently had been refurbished and several bullet holes were discovered in it. Apparently the old west cowboys used to do some target practice on it!
Couldn't resist this photo because it shows a partner's desk with a wax figure of the first Arizona Governor. Don't much care for the likeness of the governor, but our daughter and son-in-law have a partner's desk in their office similar to this one.
This photo shows the entrance to the Biltmore in Phoenix. It is built on the original site of Barry Goldwater's home. Note the shrubs in the front are sculpted to read Arizona Biltmore (in this photo only Biltmore shows). Above one of the hills behind the Biltmore is one of the Wrigley homes. It was not on the tour so we didn't get to go inside it. All of the homes in this area start at one million+ and include owners like Alice Cooper and The Shaq. They are so huge they look like hotels.
We had about an hour on this stop so we ambled around the interior and then outside to the central grounds. Next to the main dining room was this huge walk in wine cooler. What a way to go! Average cost of 1 night here is around $250/night and can go as high as $1,500 a night for the VIP/presidential suite. They have a golf course, fine dining and many convention rooms. There are several retail stores on the premises also and many of the prices were very reasonable on the clothing.
The photo below shows the center green area with beautiful landscaping and fountain. Staff was setting up an outdoor buffet while we were there. We were curious about cost but no one ventured over to inquire about the cost.
We then continued on through Paradise Valley, population 15,000, covering 15 square miles. Covenents require 1 acre of land per home with a minimum of 6,000 sq. feet. It was really mindboggling to see some of these homes. The Hormel family owns 2 homes in this area, AZ sports team owner lives here, and can't remember the list of other wealthy owners living here.
We continued on to Scottsdale for lunch and had quite a bit of time to look in the retail shops. There are really high dollar shops and lots of tourist shops. Average cost of individual pizza was $9.00 and an old-fashioned hamburger was about the same price. We opted for Schlotzkys - can beat a rueben on dark rye bun.
Anyway it was a really wonderful tour. Learned more history than I can remember.
