chapter 470

5/16/2017

Sedona

southwest territories pt. 1

link to Arizona folder (many pictures to complete)

A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. So it was when we began our 1136 mile 9 day Nissan Versa (38mpg) rental car ride ($270) around northern Arizona. Southwest Airlines was a natural fit with their numerous flights based in the area. Their plane colors match the surroundings as you'll see. This shot prior was to takeoff coming home in the morning at Phoenix International. A photo during landing would have been pretty but checked cam into luggage. Bad enough I forgot to tell TSA I had a metal hip before setting off the metal detector alarm requiring a pat down. Their 737 fleet is very efficient and sound. Humorous how they have you line up like cattle in staging area for boarding without assigned seats.

Phoenix is called the Valley of the Sun and locals will simply say they live in the Valley. Overall trip temperature was comfortable, with even snow one day, but exiting it hit 107 degrees in Phoenix. Too hot for us. And you don't want to live in sprawling Phoenix - interstates efficiently laid out but traffic congestion at rush hour difficult.

Able to walk 3 to 6 miles each day stressing hip but not to breaking point. 

Senator Barry Goldwater donated his massive Hopi Kachina collection to the Heard Museum that we had enough time for. I can understand why a person would become interested in their many forms. Some of these individuals go for thousands of dollars but I picked up one for a few bucks later at a Navajo Reservation trading post. Then on to a Mexican restaurant for my first sweet Mango Margarita that I much liked, excellent.

Next morning stopped at Black Canyon to selfie with some 150 year old 70 foot tall saguaro cactii up close. They only grow in certain elevation environments. We had mostly plenty of time to stop on whims to explore. Bought 2 heavy Mexican Margarita glasses at a little thrift shop.

As we approached these rock formations that surround Sedona the view was awesome even from a distance. They said it was even more spectacular as we drove up among them. Couldn't believe them.

... but they were right. Our Desert Quail Inn was within a mile of the red rocks, a nice place. Sunlit Castle Rock to the left.

We hiked on and around Bell Rock (left) and around Courthouse Butte (right). This is a particularly strong spiritual vortex site and portal for alien spacecraft. Note the far right separate chimney rock on Courthouse Butte slightly below the top. There is a actually a speck of two climbers on that if your eyes are good enough. This photo taken at the end of our hike.

Earlier while we were hiking around the right side of Courthouse Butte we kept hearing guys shouting to each other, "hold on" etc. Finally saw them climbing the white capped chimney called Coyote Tower as we got around the far right side.

It was precarious going up that crack. The soft red sandstone can easily give away so it's rare to see climbers expert enough to succeed. Which they did as I also have close up telephoto pictures of them on top as well. I think I want to do that next.

So we ended the day with the best steak enchilladas I ever had at Javelina Cantina. The sun was setting bringing out the warmth of the Red Rocks. The mobile art led us to a Hillside Gallery that had amazing art objects about $2000 beyond our budgets.

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