One week in Phoenix

The trip was not planned. It came out in the last minute from a friend's referral. Anyhow, I was getting paid to travel with a young Chinese golfer to Phoenix and Sarasota for her AGJA tournaments. Sounds great! I was not a caddie ( I don't mind if I was). My role was driver and company. The timing works out so perfect that I almost feel I'm meant to be on the trip. Here I went.....
The first week for the AGJA tournament was in Phoenix in the baking 109 degree. We stayed at a nice hotel by Stony Creek Golf course. There are over 170 golf courses in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area. Besides my daily duty of picking up and dropping off Jamie, I got to explore Phoenix downtown, Scottsdale downtown and old town, Saguaro National Park, a nearby Indian reservation. I stretched my last half day in Phoenix to take 10 hours to drive through Jerome and Sedona before catching our noon flight. Again, I've made the best to see as much as I can.
The most impressive attraction in Phoenix downtown is the Heard Museum. There's no better place to learn about Native American Art, history, culture and heritage than this down to earth and intriguing museum. Lots of displays of Indian American daily items give you first hand visual presentations of the life and culture. I easily spent the morning and afternoon (two trips) wondering through from one Indian tribe to the other.
Intrigued by Indian community, I drove through a nearby Indian community "Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community" one day. It was of a big disappointment. It was a big acre bare fenced land where there's nothing but several run-down houses and broken vehicles laying outside of the houses to the contrary of the real world outside of the fence where people and things are carrying on. If nothing grows or evolves out of the land, what's the point of owning a land?
I really adore those Saguaro- the funny, giant and figure like cactus. They are tough and fun. They are a plant with personality. It was a 3-hour drive from Phoenix to Saguaro National Park. Two divisions of the park (East and West) are the home to many Saguaro Cactus in its Sonoran Desert environment. They smile, thrive and wave in the sun in the desert along our scenic drive in the park. They are indeed the most pleasant thing in the desert. They are worth 6 hours drive for a brief view.
I really wanted to visit Jerome and Sedona. The only time I could make the visit was the last half day as I would be free for the entire half day. I got up 3:00am and drove up to Jerome (about two and half hours away from Phoenix). I had to make a stop at a park on the way to take a nap. I was the very first visitor in Jerome, a sleepy small down sitting on the cliff. I strolled around for about half hour and left for Sedona before every one else got up. Sedona is an amazing place. It's a town in the red rock canyon with its unique landscape, spirit and soul. It's a shame that I had to rush in and out within one hour. The Chapel of Holy Cross is budded in the red rock cliff where I had to sit in for a moment. My one-hour visit to Sedona is short. But the brief visit turned out a preliminary scout. I will be visiting in Sedona next weekend. It will be a real visit this time.