Serendipitously, when we were planning our trip to Arizona, we stumbled upon the coolest thing (in many senses of the word cool). I knew we'd be near my friend Naomi's place, so I searched nearby her address for attractions. I discovered the Desert Botanical Garden would be having their yearly winter luminary show while we were in Arizona.
![DBG-Luminaries-4956 DBG-Luminaries-4956](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/166285be427d5c99456009cd388e60e8/DBG-Luminaries-4956-900x900.jpg)
We showed up to a huge botanical garden that we could've spent hours in, lit by luminaries on the gourd, on ledges, on paths, and even on roofs. To round out the celebratory mood, there were also glass-tipped cacti and live bands dotted around the whole garden.
![DBG-Luminaries-4961 DBG-Luminaries-4961](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/6b56c6032a6d7b165b76172ada69598c/DBG-Luminaries-4961-900x900.jpg)
![DBG-Luminaries-4965 DBG-Luminaries-4965](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/09012b26f59ee0b85b75f4fe4971b79e/DBG-Luminaries-4965-900x900.jpg)
![DBG-Luminaries-4970 DBG-Luminaries-4970](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/6a1f1bf508e9a1d7f2d10bfe6f01bb46/DBG-Luminaries-4970-900x900.jpg)
The light show was extensive, with over 8000 luminary bags with real candles (how to they get them all lit each evening?), as well as streams of light strings everywhere.
![DBG-Luminaries-4991 DBG-Luminaries-4991](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/1b9c5da6f587852f68f1e6a463265b7b/DBG-Luminaries-4991-900x900.jpg)
The warm cacti in the dark night were totally transformed.
![DBG-Luminaries-4974 DBG-Luminaries-4974](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/88e499b217b57c8287b910d2e8ba6a87/DBG-Luminaries-4974-900x900.jpg)
The annual luminary show coincided with a special light exhibit by Bruce Munro, a collection of eight LED light exhibits. The first were the Water Towers, 58 columns of lit, clear bottles taller than I.
![DBG-Luminaries-5000 DBG-Luminaries-5000](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/2aa5e8be1771360d2e1de81ed7736d14/DBG-Luminaries-5000-900x900.jpg)
Another was the Beacon exhibit, an igloo-shaped mound of the same bottles, with colors modulating continuously.
![DBG-Luminaries-5096 DBG-Luminaries-5096](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/8429e540d088ffeafe335fbe1777b027/DBG-Luminaries-5096-900x900.jpg)
My favorite exhibit was the Field of Light, a span of 30,000 light bulbs like synapses up the side of the hill. The snaking lights shifting color mesmerized us from the moment we saw the hill in the distance.
![DBG-Luminaries-5052 DBG-Luminaries-5052](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/d8c8a8678e7f3831284c8a61501b3ef8/DBG-Luminaries-5052-900x900.jpg)
![DBG-Luminaries-5061 DBG-Luminaries-5061](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/0206c0af1223641292c1e3fc9661d1e1/DBG-Luminaries-5061-900x900.jpg)
The hills had a magnetic effect; I just wanted to get close to to see what they were, and here's what they looked like, strung by dozens of volunteers over weeks.
![DBG-Luminaries-5033 DBG-Luminaries-5033](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/0c35e7550cd5cf7f42c408c6e290eca3/DBG-Luminaries-5033-900x900.jpg)
![DBG-Luminaries-5031 DBG-Luminaries-5031](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/d8e795925367bd1dbb10ca36f1c743ae/DBG-Luminaries-5031-900x900.jpg)
![DBG-Luminaries-5029 DBG-Luminaries-5029](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/a391e7976aef67440d4465d7b91b51a9/DBG-Luminaries-5029-900x900.jpg)
Yet another exhibit were the Fireflies, little light sprouts.
![DBG-Luminaries-5091 DBG-Luminaries-5091](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/8b9254f8987ed16e25f1d41b3a614781/DBG-Luminaries-5091-900x900.jpg)
Our one regret was that none of us were dressed warmly enough to be walking through a desert landscape after sun fall (that and that Walker didn't have his tripod ;)). But the colors of the desert at night
![DBG-Luminaries-4987 DBG-Luminaries-4987](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/82f3aafc20f82849e7397f3aa0416e98/DBG-Luminaries-4987-900x900.jpg)
![DBG-Luminaries-5017 DBG-Luminaries-5017](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/5fd1c97ea1e9465cfeb142b0faef2ccb/DBG-Luminaries-5017-900x900.jpg)
were so worth the trip.
![DBG-Luminaries-4972 DBG-Luminaries-4972](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/967a0daf9b3623c84d956541e8aa8f97/DBG-Luminaries-4972-900x900.jpg)
Next time we'd love to visit during the day to check out the full spectrum of cacti. So glad we caught these specks of light on a dark desert night!
![DBG-Luminaries-5044 DBG-Luminaries-5044](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/497c54097e462e3673ed13435f6e339d/DBG-Luminaries-5044-900x900.jpg)