Michael During the year-end holidays, Angelika booked a short vacation for us in the desert city of Scottsdale, Arizona. Upon arriving at the airport in Phoenix, we initially stood somewhat perplexed at the car rental area, as the usual wide selection of Japanese and American vehicles was not available. Instead, there were only uniform cars: five Ford Mustang convertibles and one regular Ford Mustang. Since convertibles are the ultimate tourist traps that criminals also like to slash open, we reluctantly opted for the 2020 Mustang with a regular roof. The little car turned out to be relatively decent, accelerating quickly with good cornering, and despite its 310 horsepower, it consumed only about 8 liters of regular gasoline per 100 km. I'm not a fan of American cars, but this one drove quite well.

Scottsdale itself consists of a touristy "Old Town" with clothing, cosmetics, and dreadfully kitschy gallery shops. You could easily skip that. The rest of the city is large but sparsely populated, with long street blocks. Scottsdale offers relatively monotonous shopping malls and endless settlements with bungalows, similar to Phoenix. However, the selection of innovative restaurants is surprisingly good, though they demand steep prices, almost on par with San Francisco.

For hiking, we went to the "Granite Mountain Trail" in the "McDowell Sonoran Conservancy," located 40 miles north, and to the "Saguaro National Park," which is an hour and a half away, and neither Angelika nor I had ever heard of it. The Arizona desert is home to these giant cacti, and you can marvel at them on both sides of the highway on the way from the airport in Phoenix to Scottsdale.

We hiked every day without overexerting ourselves, usually around five to eight miles, with perhaps a maximum elevation difference of 100 feet, and the view from the rocky desert hills we climbed was magnificent. Along the way, the hiker passes by gigantic cacti, some of which reach up to eight meters in height. We experienced all kinds of weather, from bright sunshine to light drizzling rain, and even a few snowflakes, all on the same trail, with mild temperatures just above freezing. In the summer, it gets so hot there, with temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, that you can't hike the unshaded trails in the midday heat.

The roads in Saguaro National Park are mostly unpaved, and at the trailheads, there is usually only space for a few cars. Sometimes, people park haphazardly on the sandy track or drive a few miles on dusty roads until they can leave their car at the next turnout. There weren't many people there, but there were hardly any parking spots left. Anyone who goes there in the warmer season instead of the depths of winter can probably expect traffic mayhem. As is well known, Americans like to drive in circles or in the second row just to park right in front of the spot eventually. Walking from the car to the starting point of an activity is frowned upon, even if it's a gym or a hiking trail.

The cacti, some of which were probably 25 feet high, right along the hiking trails were truly a sight to behold. They even grow on steep slopes with partially very rocky soil and seemingly survive without water. They thrive and you can see hundreds of magnificent specimens. There were also all sorts of animals around; we saw a stray coyote and the ubiquitous gophers. There are supposedly plenty of rattlesnakes as well, but thankfully, we didn't hear any rattling on our paths.

Since we were already in the area, we also drove to the Mission San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, which was founded by the Spaniards in 1692, demolished by Apache Indians in 1770, and rebuilt in 1783. The buildings are still well-preserved today, and the gift shop is not only advertised as "affordable" but also sells reasonably priced pilgrim goods. From a small side chapel (Figure 10), inside of which it was really hot due to hundreds of lit candles, we learned that the building with the two bell towers was supposedly featured in an episode of the TV series Breaking Bad, as a pilgrimage site for the two Mexican gangsters with cowboy boots who crawled through the dust to the chapel in an extreme manner of pilgrimage.

Greetings from the rural USA!

Angelika and Michael

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Everyday Life in Times of the Coronavirus
  	Shelter in Place
  	Döner in the Döner Diaspora
  	Male, Female, and Non-binary
  	Dogs in the grocery store