Day 22 – She’s NOT Going to Like It!

Mona is going to awake today to a little surprise…Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Savings Time.  All that folderol last night of setting the clocks ahead…nope, she’s not going to like it!  Me, I get an extra hour so I can start the blog early!

Oh, BTW...I was right! 

Not exactly sure what the plans are for today other than heading north.  Moving out of the desert and into the forests of Arizona.  Neither of us has ever been there and we’re really looking forward to this!

Took Taffy’s suggestion and headed to Sedona.  From the moment we entered the valley we were in love!  The red rocks of Sedona are absolutely breath taking!  We took picture after picture, but there is no way these mere photos can fully depict the beauty, majesty and splendor of this valley!!!  Sedona is definitely on our “do over” list!!!

We drove through the valley and then up to the airport for a complete vista.  Highly recommend this drive!  Afterwards we went back into Sedona proper for lunch at Secret Garden.  This is a quaint little restaurant inside the Tlaquepaque center.  It has a painting that had to be painted by Sheryl and it’s the perfect place to plan our next drive.

We decided to head to the Grand Canyon.  We’ve both helicoptered twice to the bottom of the canyon, but wanted to stand on the rim and look down.  Our route took us up from Sedona into elevations of 6500 feet….on a winding, twisting steep road.  This is a great drive and near the top we stopped at a scenic view area.  We walked past a line of tables with Indians selling jewelry and crafts and then came to a scenic overlook.  Deep valleys, ponderosa pines, and lots of snow.  Beautiful!

Driving north past Flagstaff we got on 89 North, driving about two more hours through The Painted Desert.  More and more incredible scenery!  Who knew that someone took the time to paint all this beauty!   We keep seeing signs of elk...no, not hoofprints, road signs warning of elk crossing.  We keep our eyes peeled, but no elk so far.  Darn!

A new perspective!

At last we reach the canyon, THE Grand Canyon!  We stop at the first overlook….what an incredible sight!!!  The canyon is immense, beyond our wildest imagination!  The colors, the depth, the enormity!  OMG!!!  The next stop is even more impressive…and the next and the next!  Put this one on the “do over” list, too!

It’s been a day of big sights…Sedona, The Painted Desert, The Grand Canyon.  We’ve used up all our superlatives and emotions for the day.  We drive to Winslow and head for the Motel 6.  They left the light on!

Beep, beep.  Beep beep, the car it went beep, beep.  Darn you, Sheryl!