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Published: March 17th 2007
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Pueblo Ruins
These are the pueblo ruins at Wupatki National Monument. Well, I just spent 4 days in beautiful, sunny, hot Arizona. Flew into Phoenix and drove immediately up to Flagstaff. Outside of Flagstaff I saw Sunset Crater Volcano and the pueblo ruins in Wupatki National Monument. As this was sunset, I was driving back to the motel in the near dark to complete pitch blackness. I almost hit 3 jack rabbits along my travels. Man, those things just jump out in front of you! I don't think I hit any of them though.... I was able to see the Painted Desert from afar and it was just beautiful, especially in the setting sun's light.
Day Two took me to the Grand Canyon. It is gorgeous! Vast, colourful, and a million people, even in March. I spent the entire day at the South Rim of the park and left just before sunset. Probably should have left a little earlier, because I had to drive through the twisty, turny roads of the mountains in pitch blackness. Arizona really doesn't believe in streetlights! Good thing for highbeams! After what seemed like a million hours, I finally arrived in Page. What a dinky little town! The only things it had going for it were
Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon near sunset at Desert View point. the Walmart and the McDonalds. (Just kidding! The slot canyons were why I was there.) I decided to go for dinner and had Mexican food in a neat little place recommended to me by an acquaintance. Food was good and plentiful! Perhaps a little too spicy for my palate though.... After that I decided to try some night photography. I went out onto a side highway and pulled into a little road where there were no other cars. Set up the new tripod, aimed up and set the shutter for the longest it could go. (15 s) After a few shots like that, I got a little nervous being in the middle of nowhere with no other people around and no cars for 15 min at a time. Not sure what animals might be lurking nearby, my nerves got the better of me, and I got out of there.
Day Three was more relaxing. Got up a little later than usual (8am!) and phoned for a reservation with a company that would take me to Antelope Canyon. When I finally arrived there (hard to believe, but I couldn't find it in that dinky little town!) they sent me on
Antelope Canyon
Slot canyons at Antelope Point to the Navajo entrance to be joined up with one of their tour groups. Weird. The Navajo guide took a bunch of us in his pickup truck and drove us through the sandy desert to the canyons. What a bumpy ride! It was almost like a secondary attraction -- jolting ride through the desert! When we got there, he dumped us at the entrance and went back to pick up another group. There were so many people waiting to go! It was just gorgeous. The walls of the canyons were swirly and curvy and you could see the light peeking through the top of the canyons. Just beautiful. When the tour guide returned, he stuck around and starting to play music on his recorder/flute thing. It was mesmerizing. I could see how someone might want to stay there and reflect on life, the universe and everything....
After a quick lunch (bread and cheese European style!) in the car, I headed back to Flagstaff. I drove back through the mountains and couldn't believe what I had driven through the night before. It was a good thing that I didn't know ahead of time what it would be like; I would
Desert at Sunset
Cactus in the sunset have been much more nervous than I was driving in pitch blackness! The drive back to Flagstaff was a little dull. I stopped at a Trading Post where lo and behold, there was a post office! These things are hard to find in the States! I took full advantage and bought some stamps for the postcards that I was going to send home to my family. I also decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and sat outside to write postcards. Drove back to Flagstaff and stopped in at the Flagstaff mall. Boring! I left within 10 minutes. That night, I decided to hit the Lowell Observatory to see the stars, planets, etc. What a view! Flagstaff also has a dim the lights policy and there were so many stars easily seen by the naked eye! I probably should have tried my hand at night photography again, but didn't really think about it at the time. Through their telescopes, I saw Saturn (not so colourful, strangely), Venus (just a bright dot) and the Orion Nebula. The staff also pointed out Betelgeuse and some other points of interest. Pretty neat!
Day Four took me through the Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. Pretty views but Sedona was definitely a tourist town with high prices! Did some shopping on the way back to Phoenix (Old Navy was a let-down, though the outlet mall was pretty good) and then drove out a little ways to Superstition Mountain along the Apache Trail. By this time it was sunset, and while I got some nice sunset shots, it was time to head back to Phoenix to get ready to fly home.
Overall, a great trip! Gorgeous weather, sunshine, and warmth!!!! Now I can't wait for summer! 😊
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