Scottsdale, AZ - the shopping Mecca and sculpture garden

Scottsdale, Arizona looks like a western resort town.  The old town area is full of expensive jewelry and high end fashions and western wear alongside souvenir shops and cheap imports.  On top of that, there are several shopping malls with even higher end merchandise.  If shopping doesn't bring you joy, Scottsdale may not be the place for you.  There are many beautiful and expensive looking resorts, including golf courses and spas.  Seems like a playground for the rich, but we thought we might be able to sneak in and get a peek.

So, today, Steve and I got up late, ate brunch and headed for the shops.  Shopping isn't really my thing, but I am still acclimatizing and don't have the energy or the money for golf or the spa.  We browsed the jewelry shops and I found a great place to get a few of my pieces repaired.  (I have a small jewelry collection because my parents were in the business many years back and traveled the country selling at the big gem and jewelry shows. Birthdays, Christmas, unbirthdays, my gifts were jewelry.  I loved it!)  But, parts fall off well-loved jewelry or break and then what do you do?  It's either get them repaired or learn to do it myself.  Now that I'm retired maybe I will learn, but for now...

It was a balmy 98 to 101 degrees today because of the cooling rain of the monsoon season, but even going from air conditioned shop to air conditioned shop left me enervated.  So, we cruised the town and found some great sculptures.  You'll notice a theme because I love horses and that is pretty much all they had.  It got to be too late and, now, I have to go back to get a pic of the bucking bronco sculpture on one corner in Old Scottsdale.  You'll love that one!

It's buried, but the sign says, "Welcome to Old Town Scottsdale".

This was such a striking sculpture that it is actually what drew me back to Scottsdale.

Look at the colors.  It is so dramatic, energetic and just magnificent.

More horses galloping through the Old Town square.  Don't you just love it, too?

The Scottsdale version of a bus stop.  It was so lovely that I couldn't help myself.

So, if we feel well enough, it's off to Sedona tomorrow.  I suspect that, if we were to live in Arizona, it would be in the higher elevations near Sedona among the red rock formations (assuming that we could afford it}.  My brother, Mark, says that Cottonwood, AZ on the way to Sedona might be a good place to retire.  We'll see tomorrow... or the next day.  We are retired.  We have time.