Well, Ron came out of the shower just now – on day 5 of our travels – and announced that he had just put on a new pair of socks for the first time since we left Washington. It’s true, I assume, but why did he tell me when he must have been certain I would tell you?
Here’s another of my two standard Ron offerings (acquiring donut and/or acquiring art):
You are not alone if you were one of the people who asked me what we were going to do in Phoenix. My foremost goal was to get somewhere warm, so we were thrilled with the 34 degrees and snow we encountered in Sedona. Phoenix is better at 59 degrees and at least it is warm enough that I didn’t have to wear my one pair of warm pants more than 3 days in a row (higher hygiene standards than Ron).
We headed out to see our first two Phoenix sites and, en route, I confirmed there is no shortage of strip malls here. Our first stop was the zoo (6 miles of strip malls from our hotel), privately owned and the brainchild of the Maytag appliance family, which was a perfectly lovely stop. I would discuss it with you further if we hadn’t then proceeded to the Hall of Flame Fire Museum.
I think Ron had his doubts about this stop but it had all the markings of a fine museum – a single focus site, started by an overzealous collector. George Getz started collecting fire apparatus in 1955, after his wife gave him a 1924 fire engine for Christmas, setting a standard for gift value/uniqueness that no wife should take on. (Compare: for Valentine’s Day, I gave Ron a Ravensburger puzzle that I really chose for myself, along with a chocolate bar that I ate while I did the puzzle).
By 1961…6 mere years, George had acquired enough stuff to open a museum and I bet his wife had some serious misgivings about that Christmas gift. But we are all the beneficiaries. There are over 100 various fire engines/wagons in there from the US and beyond – dating from 1725 to 2004.
There was also a fire extinguisher collection from over the years, which thrilled me in the same way as the toaster collection. The ones at the bottom right look more like Molotov cocktails to me – and thus the opposite of fire extinguishers – but who am I to question.
There is a vast exhibit of firefighting hero stories, including a 9/11 exhibit, and an entire room of forest firefighting technology and case studies. I cannot over-emphasize how cool this place is – a look at history, humanity and ingenuity under the guise of a collection of fire trucks. If you’re in Phoenix – go!
I’ll close with another selection from the Ron Photography collection. Having charged Ron with taking a picture of me in an enormous fire truck, I found this on the camera – eyes closed, fire truck all but invisible.
Travels with Valerie 