Here’s some traditional cactus at the Desert Botanical Garden in Tempe, seen during my vacation last week…

… and some untraditional cactus in the same place.

I had ice cream at the Sugar Bowl in Scottsdale, a very popular pink-and-white ice cream parlor founded in 1958 and featured in several “Family Circus” panels…

… and soul food at Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe in downtown Phoenix, where payment is on the honor system. I also had a terrific waffle at Matt’s Big Breakfast, recommended by reader, um, “breakfast weasel.”

And I rode on the Metro, Phoenix’s brand-new light rail. If sprawling Phoenix can get light rail, maybe there’s hope for us.

The Metro, where the doors are just inches above street level, is more user-friendly than L.A.’s Gold Line, where the doors are higher and the platforms harder to get to. But a better-styled train isn’t worth moving to Phoenix for.