Canadians use Kijiji, the British use Gumtree, and Americans use Craigslist

I recently posted an ad on Craigslist, to expand our Phoenix audience for opportunities to house and pet sit. Today we went to visit a couple who found us through that ad. They have three large dogs, but like to go away monthly to fish at Rocky Point, Mexico, close to the Arizona border and a 4-hr drive from their home. It was interesting to hear about a different way of life. For example, it's the first time I've heard of scheduling vacations based on the tides (for fishing)!


After our visit we went to the downtown core of Phoenix. It would have seemed strange to come this far and have to admit that we really didn't see Phoenix itself. So what did it look like? Here's the skyline from the highway. Yep, it looked just like most big cities.

Today we saw a sign that caught Greg's attention - gas for under $2 U.S. a gallon! That's 61¢ Canadian a litre, or 81p a litre in Britain. Amazing. We have to take the good with the bad though. We're getting cheaper gas but a poor exchange rate for other expenses. C'est la vie!

See the man near the traffic lights? It's common here to see men at street corners (I haven't seen any women) holding up signs advertising new housing developments. Suburbia is thriving here, with lots of new construction everywhere.

Check this out ... what are those dots on the photo?

They're hot air balloons we saw coming home. We'd seen some on the ground earlier this week, but not in the air. The noticeable difference for me is how bland these looked. I equate bright, beautiful colours with hot air balloons, so these were underwhelming.

Our homeowners come back tomorrow, so on Tuesday we'll be moving on. Los Angeles, here we come; the adventure continues!