We started today with a guided tour of Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s “desert laboratory”.

Our guide Bruce pointed out the “clasping hands” symbol on the petroglyph in the Entry Court, which Wright made into the symbol of Taliesin West.

Taliesin West, like many of Wright’s buildings, is long and low-slung, fitting into its environment but not dominating it.

Bruce told us about the principles of Wright’s Organic Architecture and how he applied them here. We followed the paths around the site and entered many of the spaces, both inside and outside.

One of the most famous spaces is “The Prow”, a triangular garden and lawn extending out to a view of the desert.

We spent a few minutes enjoying the Garden Room. Originally, there was no glass in the walls. Wright installed vases in places which would later be glassed-in, but he didn’t allow his apprentices to move them; instead, they had to put holes in the glass to accommodate the vases.

Wright had spent years in Japan building the Imperial Hotel, and this Moon Gate shows the Asian influence in his designs.

We also visited the Wrights’ living quarters; his third wife, Olgivanna, made Taliesin West her permanent residence after Wright died in 1959. Her loom is still there.

The Dining Room Bell called the apprentices to meals.

There wasn’t a lot of entertainment in the Phoenix area, so the residents of Taliesin West had to entertain one another. Wright eventually created a Cabaret Theatre to provide an appropriate space for such gatherings (they also showed movies there).

I don’t think I would have liked to live at Taliesin West, but it would have been a great place to be a guest for a few days!

We had lunch at Zinc Bistro in Kierland Commons before driving to Mesa to visit our friends Sarah and Ray. Sarah was one of our first friends when we all lived in South Florida many years ago, and the last time we saw her and Ray was a brief encounter five years ago at Worldcon 76, so I’m glad we could spend the afternoon and evening with them.

They had promised us a beautiful drive on the Apache Trail as far as Tortilla Flat, and they delivered!

We returned to their house for dinner and conversation; I hope it won’t be as long before we see them again!

We’re spending a couple of days in Scottsdale at the Sheraton Desert Oasis. We’re here because we had timeshare points that were going to expire at the end of the year and we needed a few more points on United to make Platinum for next year (I qualified on the flight to Phoenix; Diane will qualify on the flight home). So far, we’ve mostly seen freeways and shopping centers, but that should change tomorrow.

Hertz gave me an upgrade to “President’s Circle” for this trip, which meant I could choose just about any car they had available in Phoenix. There were a lot of them (unlike last year in Maui, when we had to wait forever for any car). I wanted a smallish car, so I took a 2023 Nissan Altima, only to discover it didn’t have Car Play. I took it anyway – and regretted it two minutes after leaving the garage when I realized that I couldn’t really see the map on my phone while I was driving. Oh, well; I’ve made worse decisions!

The resort is pleasant; it’s much more like an apartment complex than any of the Westin timeshares we’ve been to in Hawaii and California. The area is loaded with shopping, housing developments, golf courses, and the like; we had Persian food for lunch at AZ Kabob (recommended) and gelato for dinner at Frost (just as good as the Tucson location we used to visit). I even found new oven gloves at Sur la Table to replace the ones I bought at their San Francisco location a few years ago – now that’s true vacation productivity!