I'm back!!!

OMG, got back home last night from trip to Phoenix and SO MUCH to catch up on! Great visit with my son who lives there and my daughter and her husband who flew from Maine for the visit. Beautiful weather and lots of pictures to share when I get the chance to load them. Good to be home even if there is way too much to do - with Rick taking care of the nursery all by himself while I was gone, there's plenty of "clean up" to keep me busy in the house this morning LOL I'll try to post pictures and details of trip as soon as I get unpacked!

Welcome home Debbie. I hope that you enjoyed your trip. It sounds as if you did. I will await your pictures. Thanks for letting us know that you got back safely. Don't work too hard.

Ruby

We were in PH two yrs ago on the way to Grand Canyon. HOT in july! I was glad Hubby was driving because the road medians with rocks and sparse plantings was hard to tell apart from the actual road. :^) But the driving was interesting because desert is so different from East Coast, and changes even on the way from PH to Canyon.

The furthest west I have been is San Antonio TX. Yes, it is sort of a culture shock for us easterners. I would love some day to visit some of the southwest states, but not sure if I will ever have reason to or not.''Just cheking in to say howdy. Need to scoot and get my day started. Have a good day ladies.

Ruby

Good to have you back. Looking forward to pics. Ric and I would like to head out there. Maybe next year. We spent a week driving around the Grand Canyon years ago and have always wanted to go back.

OMG, sally, Grand Canyon in July! Would probably feel more like Death Valley LOL It is incredible how the landscape changes heading north from Phoenix - just two hours north looks completely different. We didn't have much time to explore that area this year since we were on a "schedule" - 7:30 departure, Grand Canyon, quick dinner in Flagstaff and back home 13 hours later (8:30) - long day! Have just grabbed my pics from the camera but no time to post this morning - however, this is one I can share quickly - the entrance to the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately we missed it going in but stopped on the way out to take the same picture countless other visitors take :) It's pretty neat, they actually have a "camera stand" so you can set your camera on it with a timer - first time using the timer. My oldest son on the left, my daughter and her husband from Maine, and me :)

P.S. Holly, when you get ready to explore that area, will have some suggestions - my son did a great job "showing us the sights" last year and there are some really enjoyable day trips in the area.

but it's a dry heat! actually Ok for our purposes. but you saw the warnings EVERYWHERE about getting dehydrated. One ranger told us she drinks some ungodly amt of bottled water every day.
sheesh, can't find my GC picture file.

LOL sally, how many times have I heard that - "dry heat". My son tells me that all the time whenever he says it's like 110 degrees! Dry or not, it's still darned hot!!! I finally got my pictures loaded but no time this morning to post - will try to get a few posted in the next couple of days.

Thank you for sharing Debbie. You are a very pretty lady and you have a n ice looking family too.

Holly, can I hitch a ride with you next year? ha-ha Just kidding, but am getting a bit antsy about wanting to go somewhere "new." We own a time share week each year and have several stored up because we often have problems finding the time or the money to go when we would like to.

One of these days.......

Ruby

Ruby, thank you :) That's only 2/3 of my "family" - my youngest son is still living in Maine and has a dreadful fear of flying so he hasn't joined us on our trek to visit his brother in Phoenix :(

My pictures from this year's visit aren't as 'exciting' as last year's, but will post a few anyway.

Heading north from Scottsdale, the landscape quickly changes with a beautiful view of the mountains as you climb to higher elevations.

Our first view of Grand Canyon, the view is "dizzying" and it took a while to get close enough so I didn't include the railing!

It was so bright that day colors were kind of washed out - can't imagine what it would be like early in the morning or at sunset.

This is where I'm headed - ever so slowly, I'm not fond of heights!

Magnificent!

In the Visitor's Center, this shows all the various levels of stone.

My son is a little more adventurous than I am - he had seen a few people walk out to this edge and wanted to do the same so I could take the picture. Fortunately my new camera has 'Vibration Reduction' - my hands were shaking, I just wanted him off that edge!

He also ventured down this path - we had no interest in following - there were no railings! He caught the mules coming back from a trip into the canyon.

This gives you some idea of how far a drop it is - you would never, ever, catch me hitching a ride on one of these trips!

Back home to the corral.

This trail really intrigued me, I really wanted to follow it but alas, I was too paranoid :(

The trail leads through this arch.

Sunset one of the nights we were there. My son wanted to take us to South Mountain to view the sunset, but we got caught up in traffic for a game at the stadium, then road construction through the city and never made it to the top of the mountain until dark. This was taken from the car on our way there.

Then after a harrowing ride up the winding and steep road of the mountain, we finally arrived at the top with an incredible view of the surrounding area. My son fibbed to me, said the ride "wasn't that bad"! All I can say is it's a good thing it was dark - my eyes were glued to the lines in the center of the winding road, lots of traffic going up and down the mountain and a long way down around some of those corners!

Not sure if I posted any of these, but thought I'd include a few from last year as well. This was a really nice ride through the Superstition Mountains just west of Phoenix - Canyon Lake area.

Off the mountain road and closer to Canyon Lake.

There's a visitor center here with a cruise available - it's really a beautiful area and another year maybe we'll take the cruise.

If you continue, you come to the "town" of Tortilla Flat with a really neat little restaurant and gift shop.

Another day we visited Coconino National Forest.

Had no idea the landscape in Arizona is so diverse - 2 hrs north of Phoenix, almost to Flagstaff in the Coconino National Forest.

One of the winding and yes, steep! roads to get to the National Forest.

Back to "flatter" ground LOL, we visited the Oak Creek Canyon.

This area was just beautiful.

The bridge that you cross over to follow the trail.

Stunning colors in the canyon.

The creek we followed and had to cross over several times.

Crystal clear water! An easy hike to this area - the trail continues but we had more places to visit.

Next stop - the red hills of Sedona!

Absolutely beautiful!

The little chapel we visited in Sedona.

The view from inside.