Wild West Country!

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Well we are in cowboy and Indian country, the wild west where many battles were fought, the pioneers made their presence felt and films galore have been made. If the smile was still on my face, then it would widen considerably in awe, as we saw for the first time the grand canyon . What a sight and how beautiful it was . Our journeys to the canyon where we stayed for 2 days and then on to Sedona some 150 miles to the south, were a bit of an adventure. The weather conditions chanege very quickly in this part of the world , we were travelling between 5- 6000 feet and one minute we were in fine conditions the next it got pretty scarry with with heavy snow falls coming so fast we could hardly see to drive. At this point i was in the front driving seat and I was not a happy bunny!!. I know you have had your fare share of snow at home but neverthe less i dont think you would have wanted to be out in this!! The locals here are used to it and so the snow ploughs were out pretty quickly to clear the road. After around half an hour we came out of the squall into blue skies and bright sunshine and then it rained - it was reallky wierd!

Still we arrived safely at both destinations. On route to the grand canyon we took in the Hoover dam , the first largest man made structure in the world. By todays standards it is not huge , the Three gorges dam in china is much much larger but it is built almost in art deco style so was pleasing on the eyes!!

The canyon at an elevation of 6000 feet was a sight to behold . We had to sensure that Al did not do anything to strenuous. Our hotel was fantastic, right on the rim of the canyon and when i say rim I really do mean it. There are several trails that take you round the rim though this time of year with snow and ice it is not easy going. I did walk a bit with my trusty walking stick but it really was quite dangerous as most of the trail has no guard rails and you are open to falling thousands of feet to the colorado river below- so not too much walking for me!!! wedid see some backpackers who were doing the hike down to the bottom of the canyon it would have taken them a whole day to get down the 4000 feet Rather they than me!!

None of us was really prepared either for the conditions or for the beauty of the scenery . Lucy who thought as she was going to the deserts of arizona bought her flip flops!!! She preferred the red lime and sandstone stacks near sedona but my heart was with the canyon , the sheer vast ness of it at 10 miles wide and some 250 miles long and millions and millions of years old - it was quite awesome. It has been carved out by the mightly colorardo River over 6 million years , the lanscape though ,has been fashioned over thousands of millions of years by wind, rain, snow, ice ,volcanic activity and movements of the tectonic plates to give what we see today. We took a sunset bus ride stopped at the various viewing points on the south rim and while it was a bit cloudy it did give us a wonderful picture of the canyon and our guide was very knowlgeable about its history geography and the indiginous peoples.

The area around Sedona is very pretty and here the landscape agan has been fashioned by erosion to give some wierd and wonderful shapes. On our jounney from Sedona to Phoenix today we stopped off at Montezuma Castle in the Verde valley true Indian country. The first settlements were of Hohokam culture around 700 AD. laterr around 1100 AD the Sinagua tribes farmed and settled and built puebles in the rock . No-one knows why they abandaoned their homes and fertile lands after 400 years but what you can see today are the remanants of their culture , the buildings they left behind and the geologists give us a picture of their daily lives - fascinating. Of course then came the spanish the europeans and the pioneers and everything changed for the indians.

These few days have been very different the magestic grandure of the grand canyon, the dramatic stacks of southern arizona and the historical aspect of some early tribes has been truly mind blowing.The changing weather has added another dimension from the freezing snows of yesterday afternoon to a warm 66 today in and around Phoenix only 100 miles away but some 4000 feet lower!!

Tomorrow, friday , we fly to snowy Dallas for the lastr 3 days of this adventure- Monday we fly home. It is nearly over , the months of planning , the excitement and build up and then the actual travelling. Goodness me i have seen and done so much , i can hardly believe it. Now I must return to reality, sort my car out , i think it has died!, sort my hair out , i think it has died too!! get myself some work and replenish my bank account , and see my family and friends .- How I am looking forward to seeing everyone and to cuddling the little ones!

lots of love

caro

xxxxx.

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Photos

Dinner at the El Tovar Hotel
many famous guests have stayed here president roosevelt Liz taylor and others