The next morning Burk and I set out with our little one to see the Desert Botanical Garden which was nothing short of stunning.  It began in the 1930’s with the goal of preserving the area’s pristine desert environment.  Believe it or not, there are cactus rustlers who steal the venerable Saguaros, which produce beautiful white flowers with yellow centers that bloom in May and June.  It is the state flower of Arizona.  These thieves are damaging a complex, special, and fragile ecosystem.  The giant cactus stores water which allows it to bloom every year, regardless of rainfall.  I fell in love with them and they are my absolute favorite.  Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden also helps save endangered native plants, with an emphasis on succulents.  Their cactus collection is world-renowned and between March and May the blooms are spectacular.  We were fortunate to have come at just the right time.  In addition to my beloved Saguaros, I discovered I love the Organ pipe cacti and learned there are beehive cacti, Buckhorn cholla, Arizona pencil cholla, Teddy bear cholla, the dreaded Jumping cholla (found that one out the hard way plucking their long stickers out of my rump,) barrel cacti, Pancake prickly pear, and my tied-for-favorite Violet prickly pear you see pictured here just to name a few.  It became scorching hot even for us native Texans and I got worried about the baby so we went back home a little earlier than we would have liked.  Later, after dinner we had our bedroom windows open with a stunning view of the setting sun.  The American writer Joyce Carol Oates once so eloquently said, “Night comes to the desert all at once, as if someone turned off the light.”  And with it we heard the yipping of coyotes in the not so far off distance while we breathed in the cool, fresh air of the Sonoran Desert.