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Published: January 29th 2007
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Hello all,
We had our first visitor here this last week; Ed a friend from Bristol was in Palm Springs for a conference and then flew in to Phoenix for a few days with us. Good to see an old face and friend from home. We took the opportunity of Ed being here to take a road trip for a few days. On Tuesday we drove up to the Grand Canyon; we haven't been for about 5 years and it is never a place you tire of seeing. It is about a 4 hr drive north from here, and as the South Rim of the Canyon is over 7,000 feet in elevation, winter is a cold and snowy time to visit as you can see from the pictures. It was a couple of degrees above freezing during the afternoon, but as the sun set the temperature dropped pretty quickly. Nevertheless it was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky all day. We drove along the rim taking in a few different viewpoints, but we were rushing the sunset a little which was a shame...but a great afternoon anyway. I think it whetted Ed's appetite for a longer return
visit next time with Michelle. After sunset we drove back down to Flagstaff for the night, unfortunately having booked into a hotel by the traintracks - why the train drivers feel the need to sound their horns through the night is beyond me!!
The following day we headed back south via Sedona to show Ed 'Red Rock' Country; we stopped to take a few photos and then headed East into Tonto National Forest. Just before Payson we stopped at Tonto Natural Bridge, a spectacular landmark in a beautiful valley. We walked down to the creek that carved out the bridge and walked/climbed through under the bridge to a water hole by a waterfall. Fantastic place and we had it all to ourselves - we climbed around a took pictures and enjoyed the scenery before climbing back out. We then carried on south and back to Phoenix via a dirt road called the Apache trail; more great scenery - more the kind of Arizona landscape that Ed (and all of you) was expecting I think!
The following day we headed south from home towards Tuscon and went to the Sonoran Desert Museum - more a zoo really that has
all local/native flora and fauna. A great place to walk around for a few hours. After the zoo, we planned to head to Old Tuscon film studios, a place where a lot of the Old Westerns were filmed, but time had got the better of us and it was closed - another place for Ed to come back to next time.
That night we wanted to give Ed a taste of the old west, so we went to Rawhide, a recreated western town around the corner from us...with an Old West saloon and steakhouse with live country & western band! Had a few laughs in the bar with the barman - it was 'open mic night' and they had Cowboy Poets on stage! Barman was about ready to start drinking himself! We had a great steak dinner - thanks Ed!
Next morning we sat by the pool for a few hours enjoying some sunshine before taking Ed back to the airport - It was great to see him and connect back with the 'old country' for a while - although it was good to be putting Ed back on a plane to the British winter whilst we went
On the Road to the High Country
See, it snows in Arizona... It's not all desert, the largest Pine Forest in the world is in Northern Arizona back to the pool! See you for longer next time mate!
Other than Ed's visit, our house hunting continues - we will keep you all posted when we have news on that, but we might end up staying here in the apartment until mid March rather than Mid February as we first thought...
Looking forward to our next visitors - Wayne & Steph on 1st April for 4 or 5 days, then Andy on 6th April for a week, including a trip to Vegas!
Hope all is well around the world!
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