Arizona, November 5 - 10, 2015

Bill and Yeanie wanted us to visit them in Green Valley, Arizona before we all became too old.  Being that close, we made it to my number one destination - 
the Grand Canyon!

But first, in Phoenix, we toured the Heard Museum, which has classy displays of 
Native American artifacts.   

We stopped for gas on the way to the Grand Canyon and found a snowman.  
Wait - I thought this was Arizona.

Boom - there it was!  I wouldn't say the Grand Canyon is beautiful; it is magnificent.  The shapes and colors and expanse were ...grand.

We hiked a short distance down an easy trail and yes, that is snow.  The elevation - more than 7,000 feet, left us puffing with tight chests even on slight inclines.  Those are man-made holes on Bright Angel Trail.

   Watching the sunset and sunrise were the things to do.  Many people in the park rode the shuttle buses to various view points along the canyon.  Once the sun set, it became even colder.  

It was only 21 degrees when we watched the sunrise.  

   

We just couldn't get out of the park without stopping to check out the view.  It went on and on.  

 Upon exiting Grand Canyon National Park on the east, we drove 2 and a half hours northeast to Antelope Canyon, near Page, Arizona.  Antelope Canyon was equally impressive in a different way - I would describe it as awesome.  Bonus points if you can see the shape in this photo along with the sideways heart.

Antelope Canyon is formed by flash flood waters from the monsoon rains that fall hundreds of miles to the south.  The land in that region is flat and the soil content does not soak up the rain so it floods raging and swooshing into this canyon.  This is looking from the floor straight up out of the canyon. 

The water swirls and rotates through the canyon like water in a washing machine.  

 The result is marvelous shapes and textures and light patterns.  

The land is owned by the Navaho Indians and can be accessed only by tour bus.  Getting there in the back of a 4 wheel drive, being raced for fun with the other tour trucks, was an adventure in itself.

A Navaho man leading a different tour took Wil's camera and instructed us to 
"stand over there - this will be cool."  

Betty Marie, our guide, took our picture holding the flame.  Maybe it's the eternal flame of our love...awww.

After Antelope Canyon we drove southwest to Sedona, Arizona.  I would describe Sedona as beautiful.  

Apparently everyone else knows Sedona is beautiful and were trying to get there because it took us nearly 30 minutes to drive the last 4 miles into town.  
I took this shot through the sunroof while inching along in the traffic jam.

Sunset and sunrise were a must see at Sedona.  The colors were beautiful.   It was cold here, too, as the elevation is still quite high.  

There are vortexes in the Sedona area.  A flyer at the hotel explained, "vortexes are enhanced energy sites that facilitate prayer, meditation, mind-body healing, and creative thinking."  One was less than a mile from our hotel.  We went early in the morning and Wil sat still for a long time but didn't feel a thing.

I wandered over to a cliff that looked interesting.  This tree was twisted - some say from the swirling energy.  I walked a bit further and....

...whoosh.  I felt it.  A surge of energy swirling upwards.  The flyer explained this vortex is an Upflow Area that "helps you with reflections where soaring to a higher perspective is what you want..."  Some of you may say, "pooh", but Wil joined me and he could feel it too.

We had the same difficulty leaving Sedona, too.  Everywhere we looked was a beautiful landscape and unusual outcropping - like these fingers.

The trickiest part of the trip was finding the Tucson airport where we returned the rental car and met Bill and Yeanie.
They took us to the Mission San Xavier del Bac.

  It was one of the prettiest things I saw on the trip - and one of the prettiest buildings 
I've ever seen.  

The ornate detail inside was unbelievable.  How were people skilled and patient enough to make this and how long did it take?  If I stood very still with my hand on the worn wood of the carved back of the pews, I could imagine the hundreds of different people who had run their hands along the pews.  


  It was an impressive sight.

It took me days to learn to pronounce Saguaro, especially since Bill kept trying to confuse me.  The "g" is pronounced as a "w" so, it is suhwahro.  Anyway, we visited the Saguaro National Forest and learned interesting facts about the desert.  This is the shaded patio where the informative talk was given.

 I had never seen a cactus in person before and found it slightly amusing that the hillsides in this part of Arizona were forests of cactus - much like Oregon's forests of pine trees.

  The shot below was taken from the car as we were leaving the National Park.  I don't know why that lamp post is in the middle of the Saguaro.

This shot was taken at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  So many different cactus.

                 I had also never seen free sunscreen in a public bathroom dispenser.

Bill and Yeanie have fixed up their own little area of cactus (top left). Their neighborhood sports all sorts of prickly little fellas that remind me of ocean creatures that I wouldn't want to touch.

Green Valley, Arizona: the view from Bill and Yeanie's neighborhood.  

And I thought Arizona was only going to be sand dunes and cactus.  

Another great adventure with my main man.