Advertisement
Published: April 22nd 2016
Edit Blog Post
Hi everyone
Have we mentioned the enormously long freight trains that they have in the States and Canada. We counted 82 goods wagons on one train one day and that was by no means unusual. They hold up road crossings for ages, very difficult in the city traffic, and they have priority over passenger trains. They carry all sorts of freight, we have seen coal, wood, containers with all manner of things, farm equipment, just everything you could possibly transport gets transported and some of the lines go through spectacular scenery too. And of course they make that wonderful whistle sound that reminds you of old western movies. Which brings us to where we are now, Apache land as it once was, Arizona as it is now.
We started in the South staying in a lovely little casita (airbnb) in Tucson. A perfect base for exploring. We saw the Mexican border on the way down, just a fence as it is now, a wall it may become if Trump has his way! The weather was very warm, 30c most days. We visited Tombstone for Dave to relive his boyhood dreams of cowboys and shoot
outs at the OK corral. It was a fun place to visit and imagine what it must have been like in the late 19th century when so much change was happening including the warring with the Apaches. We also saw a group of prisoners getting back on their prison bus after working outside in the open air (there are a lot of prisons in Arizona!) We then went to Saguaro National Park which in April is actually quite beautiful as a lot of the cacti is flowering, it's an unusual but surprisingly pretty if a bit prickly place in the Sonoran desert. Lots of animals live there but most are nocturnal because of the heat in the day so we just saw a few birds and some cactus mice along with all the varied and different types of cacti. Another amazing place to visit in this area was Kartchner Caverns, caves that were discovered fairly recently, 1974, and it has to be said, unusually for America, have been looked after and protected really well (no billboards or McDonald's here!) You are not allowed to take anything in with you, no cameras, no phones, no water, no bags, and you cannot
touch anything because if you do, because of the environment, something will start to grow and rightly so they do not want anything alien to grow in the caves. We went into a cave called the big room and that was no understatement. We thought we might get a little claustrophobic but the ceilings are high and the guide was so knowledgeable and interesting, the fact that we were in there for one and a half hours just flew by and we saw fantastic stalagmites, stalactites, draperies, things that were wet, things that were dry and most certainly things we will never see again. Brilliant place.
After Tucson we headed up to Flagstaff. Our little airbnb there was on a road that led off of Route 66, you know, where you get your kicks! 😊 From Flagstaff we visited Jerome, an old copper mining town perched on a hill. And then the memorable and beautiful Sedona. All the pictures you have ever seen of the red rocks of Arizona are here. All we kept saying was 'wow'. If you have seen Sedona you will know what we mean, if you haven't, try your best to get there one
day, it is stunning. We were astonished at the change in temperature. Flagstaff is almost 7000 feet above sea level so where Tucson was between 85-95F, Flagstaff was around 60F, Sedona a little warmer but changeable. We had a wonderful day at the Grand Canyon's South rim, we took so many photos but the views you see are so spectacular you can't help yourself! (Apologies now for all the photos we have included in the blog!!) We have been here before, Dave surprised Ann with a trip for her 50th birthday (a long time ago!!) and we did the helicopter trip that time but this week we kept our feet firmly on the ground and saw deer and the infamous rock squirrels as well as seeing birds from above their flight paths. It is a good time of year to visit, busy but not unbearable. Lots of people like to get that daring photo shot and we heard a warden say that on average six people a year die from falls there and we could see how, but it wasn't children and youngsters who took the tumbles, it was the older generation! Mind you, some of the rim edge paths
were very close to the edge and not for the faint hearted. We would have liked to see the North Rim too but it is only open from Mid May to October so we may have to come another time! We also visited a place called Walnut Canyon where there were many dwellings tucked away into the canyon walls, it was fascinating stuff. Although the walk down into part of the canyon was fairly easy, the walk back up was a bit more difficult because of the altitude. There was a lot of heavy breathing going on!
We had a great visit to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. Now there is a geological wonder. Over the past 200 million years continents moved, climates changed and the river systems along with its plants and trees and animals were buried under layers of sediment. Now there are what appear to be tree trunks laying all over this part of the desert and they are in fact crystallised and rock hard with beautiful colours running through them. So unusual to see and touch.
We moved on to a small town called Page which was founded in the 1950’s
when work started on the Glen Canyon Dam, second only in size to the Hoover Dam. This is a very impressive construction and has created the beautiful Lake Powell . Ann's birthday came along and we booked a trip to Antelope Canyon. Now this was spectacular. It is on Navajo land and you have to go on a guided tour which involves going in a 12 seater open jeep, bouncing along a 3 mile stretch of dry riverbed and then walking into the canyon, camera in hand to marvel at the sight before you. The canyon was found 95 years ago, is over 130 million years old, at it's widest point about 12 feet, at it's narrowest enough for one person to walk through and is a photographers dream. We tried to take some photos of the walls, the sun shining through the gaps at the top, the patterns and shapes, there were some very serious photographers in there but we were quite pleased with some of our shots especially the ones that our guide took for us! Yet another amazing Arizona gem.
Another was Monument Valley, definitely an amazing place to visit, real John Wayne country. It
was very peaceful there and on Navajo property again, so well looked after and not commercialised. It was very peaceful there and looking at the huge rock formations made you feel very small and insignificant.
We have absolutely loved Arizona, it has a wealth of National Parks and Monuments that are maintained and run really well and although the land seems harsh and inhospitable the Indian tribes flourished here in the early days and there are a lot of reservations in this area still. We think most of them make a living now with tourism. And when the settlers arrived they managed to farm here and make a living. It has some of the most famous landmarks that always make you think of America and we are very glad we came here.
We will be moving on into Utah, Nevada and California so will be in touch soon 😊
Advertisement
Tot: 0.092s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 10; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0381s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Chick studd
non-member comment
Arizona
Hi you two - so lovely to read your blog - yes I have been on Route 66 etc but lovely to see your photos. Just got back very early this morning from Spain, our golfing holiday - we met up with Julia and Gerry on Friday night for a meal, it was lovely. Julia said had I seen your blog - glad you had a lovely birthday. Safe travelling - chick x