A We'll Be Driving Miss Daisy Weekly Link Round-Up

In a little over a month, our niece Daisy will be visiting from England, and I've been making a list on the computer in preparation. She was here two years ago, and we packed a lot into the two weeks that she was here. A lot of it was done by road trips to the northern third of the state. We stayed in hotels for three or four nights, and when I made those reservations, I learned that there's no such thing as a "slow/cheap" time for hotels and motels in Arizona-- especially if you're booking two rooms each night. Yikes.

Deborah DeWit's "The Traveler"

This time, I intend to stick to things to see and do primarily here in the Phoenix area and only do day trips elsewhere. It's not as easy as you'd think. Why? Because there's so darned much to see and do in this state! There's the Phoenix Zoo, Butterfly World, the OdySea Aquarium, the Heard Museum. We can go to Black Canyon Lake where we could get snowed on, or feed the Stellar's jays and ground squirrels lakeside. She can go ziplining over giraffes and other critters at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde and see Montezuma's Castle on the way. There's the Arizona Science Center with its Pompeii exhibit. The Phoenix Art Museum. The Penske Racing Museum. The Superstition Mountain Museum. The list seems endless. She's also going to meet the stylist who cuts our hair (exciting, huh?), be taken to dinner by a local author, and... there's the CozyCon at The Poisoned Pen just before she leaves.

No, I didn't run through everything on my list-- like hanging out at home and taking advantage of the pool. It's an embarrassment of riches, but I suppose that's much better than not being able to think of anything to do at all.

Before I take another look at this list of mine, I'd better mosey on out to the corral. These links have things they want to show you.

Head 'em up! Mooooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• When a designer has to kill the perfect book cover.
• The mystery manuscript found in a used copy of Alice in Wonderland.
• What to do with books by authors accused of assault, racism, or other inappropriate or illegal behaviors. 
• Women were better represented in Victorian novels than modern ones.
• A woman in Arizona woke up one morning with a foreign accent.
• The importance of a name.
• Before there was YA, there were horse books. (Yes!)
• Fictional female presidents and their rise to power.
• The very best things about reading aloud with kids, according to parents.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Wouldn't you like to be the woman who found out that the statue she paid $100 for is actually worth $100,000? 
• Is the fall equinox the secret to the pyramids' near-perfect alignment? 
• The Navajo Nation Treaty of 1868 lives on at the American Indian Museum.
• An ancient statue of a Nubian king has been found in a Nile River temple.
• White settlers buried the truth about the Midwest's mysterious mound cities. (And if you ever get the chance to visit Cahokia, you should.)
• The ruins of an ancient Roman city have washed up on the Turkish coast.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• This butterfly recently returned to Scotland, and now it's laying eggs. (Its cousins visit my garden regularly.)
• Watching birds near your home is good for your mental health. (Good! I need all the help I can get. *wink*)
• New dinosaurs are being discovered in record numbers, and it's changing everything we thought we knew.
• Do trees talk to each other? (Avatar, anyone?)

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Eight of the best presidential biographies to read in 2018.
• Eight books that celebrate the way words shape our lives.
• Top ten books about cheating.
• Ten essential Native American novels.
• Eleven literary characters who should run for president.
• Thirty-one authors weigh in on "Should you write what you know?"

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

Have a great weekend, and read something fabulous!