June 14

 

Today was what this "Canyons Tour" should be like every day!

We left Phoenix (That took a while!) and drove north, eventually leaving the Sonora desert and the saguaro cacti behind. They don't grow in the higher elevation, and I somehow failed to take a photo of those iconic cacti. Some of the desert scenery was beautiful (hills/mountains with sparse cactus, manzanita, creosote bushes), and except for the hills and mountains, they were all things we don't see around the southeast. After we drove through a much lusher, greener stretch (about 4,000 feet up) we got to our first great stop of this tour: Sedona and red rock country.

Before we got into the town itself, we stopped for a photo op. We could see from the rest stop, as an entry point for the town of Sedona, three rock formations that were our introduction to the area: Courthouse Butte, Bell Rock, and Castle Rock. Stunning sights, all the way around.

I wasn't all that impressed with Sedona itself. Maybe it was just where we were, in "uptown" Sedona. Way too touristy. Sedona itself might be a great artists' colony, but I couldn't find any evidence of that where we were.

On the other hand, I loved the Jeep ride I took while Judy stayed in town! Five of us old geezers with a Native American driver. On an absolutely horrible rocky road, hearing about rock formations, plants, etc. I was scared I'd wet myself we were bounced around so much! I probably took way too many pictures, but that seems to hapen a lot with digital photography.

After lunch back in town (not memorable) we had a nice drive through Oak Creek Canyon and up more mountains to Flagstaff. As Judy pointed out, we experienced a "vast change in the vegetation," a statement that had become a family punch line back in 1985. At 7,000 feet we saw really tall Ponderosa pines, with bark and needles that didn't look like the Loblollies of my childhood. (And I thought I knew pine trees.) Up on the plateau, we headed West a little way and stopped at an exit to watch prairie dogs. They're smaller than I thought they were, and were completely unfazed by the traffic. They were running around on the built up sides of an overpass, not 20 feet from the bus. They just stood up beside their little holes along the ramp and looked at us. And we looked back. :-)

Why did we take that exit? To get to the Grand Canyon, of course. Read about it on the next page.