Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon

Sedona
Here's some shots of arriving in Sedona - it's an amazing town to see and it does not matter which highway you come in on or the direction, the red rocks are stunning.  Sorry about the reflection in the photo, they are taken from inside the car. 

Here's our view at lunch of the red rocks.  They all have names (we have the book with them all) but I can't tell what this one is.

 This one I believe is Snoopy Rock and if you look you can see why. It looks like Snoopy laying on top of his dog house.

 

Oak Creek Canyon

On the way out of town we go through Oak Creek Canyon. Oak Creek Canyon is a river gorge located along the Mogollon Rim in northern Arizona between the cities of Flagstaff and Sedona. The canyon is often described as a smaller cousin of the Grand Canyon because of its scenic beauty. State Route 89A enters the canyon on its north end via a series of hairpin turns before traversing the bottom of the canyon for about 13 miles (21 km) until the highway enters the town of Sedona. The Oak Creek Canyon – Sedona area is second only to Grand Canyon as the most popular tourist destination in Arizona. Here's some shots of the road heading out of Sedona through the Oak Creek area.  Amazing road and scenic at every turn.

 Check out the windy switchback road you take to get to the vista lookout.  Craig was wishing he was on a motorcycle, not in a car!!

We always stop at the Oak Creek Vista Overlook and check out the view and the artisan crafts.  The temperature really dropped so we were glad of our jackets. 

And we did a selfie!!

  

The roads are very steep and some trucks lose their brakes.  Here's the warning sign for the runaway truck ramp coming up. 

 

Here's the ramp exit off to the right.  It's elevated with gravel at the end to stop any vehicle that has lost it's brakes.  We saw a newer truck today and it's brakes were smoking. 

We had a lovely leisurely day in Sedona.  After four hours of the train and canyon viewing yesterday we were not up to doing the Pink Jeep Tour we had planned to do after all.  We ended up just poking around at the shops,  people watching and admiring the views.  

Off to the condo for a nice evening at home.

Lynn and Craig

Road Trip and Verde Canyon Railroad

Road trip to Verde Canyon Railroad

We got away in good time in the morning for a nice drive to the railway in Clarkdale where we had tickets for the 1pm departure.  Here's some pics from the highway out of Phoenix.  The terrain changes from cactus to evergreens.

 

There's an amazing lookout point we always stop to admire the view.  There is actually a ranch home at the bottom of this canyon. 

We arrived in plenty of time to have lunch before boarding the train.  They actually have a nice lunch there and the prices are not crazy although I read reviews that said they were.  Even on the train a chocolate bar was $1.  Not stupid crazy prices at all.  The four-hour excursion takes you on a 20-mile return journey (20 out, 20 miles back). FP7 locomotives, two of only 10 remaining in North America, are the muscle that pulls the renovated cars.  I took an excess of photo's but here's some of the best ones.  Love the eagle on this, so well done.

 

Here's the caboose and Craig.

 The views were amazing from the train and we spent most of the journey on the open air car.  It was a perfect day weather-wise and we seemed to have a nice bunch of riders so it was very enjoyable.  A lady told me they have over 400 passengers daily when the train is running.  They also have special event rides with wine tastings or beer and at certain times of the year they do evening runs as well.  Here's a view from the train.

Here's Craig enjoying the open air car.  For every passenger car there was a corresponding open rail car so most people went back and forth between the two.  

Here we are stopped in Perkinsville at the 20 mile mark.  This is a farmer working away on the ranch.  It was lovely and green right alongside the river.  There were a few cattle there but probably very few people.

A view of the canyon and the Verde River.  I did see a deer but some people are lucky enough to see bald eagles.  There is an eagles nest along the rail by one of the tunnels that is not distubed by the train so the train is allowed to continue running. 

 Selfie!!  I usually have the camera (and Craig takes terrible photo's of me!) so I tried a selfie from the train and it actually worked!!

You can see the ancient home built into the side of the cliff.  These homes were abandoned around the time that Montezuma's Castle was abandoned as well.  No one knows why but they assume it was due to drought and these people were assimilated into other larger tribes like the Hopi Indians.

This large black "mountain" on the left in the photo below is the 40 years of slag from the copper mines in nearby Jerome.  The slag covers over 100 acres. This slag is the by-product of the copper-based mining process for silver, copper, malachite, chrysocolla, azurite, etc. This year a reclamation process has begun for this slag pile and that process will take years. The last public access to the slag pile was in December, 2014.

 

There are ridges from the corrugated steel that used to hold the slag back.  Most of it has rusted away now but you can see remnants of the ridges still.

It was a really relaxing day with perfect weather to enjoy the fantastic views of the Verde Valley and the river.   We may have to try this ride again for an evening run as more animals can be seen during dusk. 

We are off now to have dinner and a good nighs sleep in Sedona!! 

g'nite!! 

Lynn and Craig

Spring Trip - blog time!!

The weather has been just beautiful since we arrived.  It's like a warm fall day with no humidity.  We had an uneventful trip down and we have noticed that since the exchange rate is no longer very strong that things are much quieter.  There were over 50 empty seats on the plane and the traffic from the airport was very light.  We have noticed a difference at both Buffalo, New York crossings as well as the airport in Phoenix.  

Unfortunately I either brought or picked up a wicked cold on the trip down.  It started with the thoat so sore it hurts and burns to swallow for a couple of days, followed by a full head and then when you think you are going to get over it quick, it goes to your chest with a deep cough.  I have been down for the count until today really so we haven't been up to much yet.  Fortunately Craig was able to occupy himself poking around bike shops and having coffee with friends.  We did manage to have crepes up the road in Cave Creek the other day and have been out to one movie so far.  We saw "The Woman in Gold" and enjoyed it - very well done.  And of course we had to make a quick visit for some frozen custard at Culvers up the road. 

Today we were out and about and went to Anthem to one of our favorite shopping outlet malls.  There are a number of stores closed with the change in the economy but enough are open still to do some damage on the credit card if you wanted to.  I still think the chocolate shop is Craig's favorite store though!

After shopping we headed over to Glendale for dinner.  We made a quick visit in to Cabela's large outdoor store where we were thrilled to find you can now buy camoflage swimware in addition to any other apparel!  The store is huge and includes an aquarium and a waterfall where they have a lot of taxidermy animals on display. Here's a couple of shots from in the store.

Since it's Thursday, it's also bike night at Westgate in Glendale which is quite the sight.  It's a tie between the people watching and checking out the unique bikes.  I am amazed when I see the grey hair tatood grandma's still riding on the back of bikes.  It's also still stunning to see the flip flops, t-shirts, shorts and no helmets on the riders and passengers. Here's a couple of shots of the venue.

 How about that pink one?  These are extreme custom bikes that are worth a bundle.  For the non-bikers reading this, Do not touch a bike - ever.  That dust on the tank you just ran your finger through admiring the pretty paint job will leave a nice scratch.  And an unhappy bike owner.

It's been a busy day and I'm not one hundred percent yet so we are home now and just relaxing. 

Stay tuned for more adventures next week.  We will be heading to Sedona and making a few stops along the way.

cheers!!

Lynn

Wrap up and back to the deep freeze

I am wrapping up the blog for this trip.  The temperatures warmed up and were actually HOT the last couple of days.  On Monday, we enjoyed a delicious crepe lunch on the patio (they do yummy gluten free ones too) in Cave Creek.  This is a regular haunt for us and we knew it was moving locations a couple of doors up in the outdoor mall.  It is moved now and they did a great job.  The only drawback is the patio is on the front of the building now and you look at the courtyard instead of the mountains at the back.  Here we are waiting for our lunch.  Sorry about the table view, I was using my mini tri-pod.  We had to move into the shade, it was so warm.  We had savory crepes and then we shared a traditional lemon crepe for desert.  Yummy!! 

 

There is a large courtyard as you can see and an amazing bronze statue of a horse and cowboy.  There is a lot of public art in the Phoenix area and this is just one example.   This shows you the size of it and the courtyard.

 

You can see the detail in the horse and the man's face and clothing.

 Yay! Mom was hoping for a handsome date and look here, she found herself a cowboy!!

We were enjoying the bright sun and temperate weather so much, it was very hard to leave, especially to go to the exteme cold temperatures at home.  Craig picked up a wicked cold a couple of days before we left that slowed him down a bit.  He even took the car a couple of times and did not take the bike!! That is when you know he is under the weather.  Unfortunately Mom also picked up the cold when we got home too.  I thought I escaped it but it had hit me too.  Spent the day on the couch on Sunday and was off work a couple of days too it hit me so hard.  It must be going around fast as there are a lot of people coughing right now. 

Well, that is the wrap up for this trip.  I didn't include all the things we got up to but you get the idea that we were busy but also relaxed and did some sight seeing.  It was nice not to be in the cold and snow for a bit.  Our next visit will be in May and we may squeek another visit in before then. 

Hope you enjoyed the blog!  until next time....

Saguaro Lake Desert Belle Cruise

Today was georgeous!!  The sun was shining and a beautiful blue sky.  A teeny bit warmer than the last couple of days as well.  We went out for the noon Saguaro Lake Desert Belle Cruise and it was perfect.  We have done this at sunset but not in the daytime.  The light was very different and the narrative by the captain was very good.  Here's some nice photo's for your enjoyment.  After the cruise we had a nice lunch at the marina and then headed home.  A great mix of being out and relaxing!!

Warning - heavy on the photo's for this post. The lake is so beautiful. Enjoy!