Searching for Shade

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It stormed overnight in Amarillo,saving R the labor of scrubbing the windshield to clear it of bug splatter.
Cheryl, my friend from Stubbs Elem. in Lubbock,TX stopped at the hotel in the morning for 20 mins. before going in to sub for a teacher for 4 weeks. It was great to see her and catch up on family doings. She told me that Stubbs is closed now!
We set off 20 mins past our set departure time at a cool 55 degree F in contrast to 99 yesterday and 78 at sundown. Destination: Sedona, AZ.
In the mid 80s R hiked down to Phantom Ranch in the Grand Canyon across the Colorado River with a couple of his buddies from Texas Tech Univ. At that time they visited Sedona, and R fell in love with the little town. He talked about moving there, opening an exclusive restaurant and spending our golden years there. Roshan used to say " yes, Dad will have snipers on the roof of his exclusive restaurant to keep the riff- raff away." R had been to Sedona again a couple of times and reported that it was now a booming tourist resort and regrets not having bought property there in the 80s. So now I finally get to see Sedona!
Hot, Sunny, Bright and Open - driving through New Mexico and Arizona, a different kind of beauty with the mesas, and gorges. No tree bigger than a bush! No shade! But at least 12 looooong intermodal container trains with 5-7 engines pulling each. The track ran parallel to the interstate.
As soon as we took the turn off from I 40 to get to Sedona the environment changed - to pine trees, small meadows, and grazing fields. Then we entered Coconina National Forest and found shade. Next we drove down Oak Creek Canyon with stunning canyon walls, green pines, and red layers of rock. Pictures don't do it justice at all, besides, the windshield was now bug splattered again!

Sedona is indeed beautiful, r said that it is now grown again since he last came. Downtown looks gentrified,and many many new neighborhoods, hotels, stores have appeared. Our hotel is in an area that was undeveloped When he was here.
Checked into our hotel, rested in the cool shady room for an hour and then drove 15 miles to a nearby town, Cottonwood, to a 5 star reviewed taqueria. Good food. On the way back drove on Red Rock loop road and saw the rock formations that Sedona is known for. Again couldn't get pictures because we couldn't stop, and the sun went down rapidly bringing dusk and darkness. Hope to get some pictures tomorrow morning.

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Photos

NM and AZ look like this
trees no bigger than large bushes