Grand Canyon Part 2

Let's begin with Sedona.  It was 'on the way' to Flagstaff, where we stayed the night.

The weather came in and rained all over us.  IT was AWESOME!  Gilbert, where we live, is 1.237ft (377m) above sea level.  Sedona is 4,500ft (1,372m) above sea level.  So, we drove up a whole kilometre to get to Sedona!  Two hours driving.  Our ears were popping a bit.  Mine were blocked most of the time because I had (still have) a cold.

Back to rain.  Have I mentioned how much I loooove the rain?  It's the best thing ever.  I'm not a 'go-outside-and-dance' kind of girl.  More like a 'listen-to-the-rain-while-relaxing-inside-all-warm-and-cosy-and-feel-delighted' kind of girl.

If you follow my instagram feed (a mix of personal and business) you will have seen all the photos I shared about the rain.  BUT, if you missed it... here it goes again.  Because, well, rain!

I started off with a photo of the hillside while leaving Phoenix (that's 65mph, it later goes to 75mph).  Note the Saguaro Cacti.  This shot doesn't have many of the famous Saguaro Cacti, but I wanted to show a little of how they grow out here.  It's a forest of Saguaros everywhere.  Seriously.  And they are BIG.  There are other cacti around, but these are the famous cacti in the cowboy movies you've seen.  Some interesting trivia from Wikipedia:

"Saguaros have a relatively long lifespan. They may grow their first side arm

any time from 75–100 years of age, but some never grow one at all."

So, if you see one that has a side-arm, you know it's at least 75 years old!  It is illegal to cut them down, they are protected.

And then it rained.  If you look closely, you can see the rain falling in the distance in the images below.  I was doing little happy dances in my seat.

 

No more Saguaros, more trees.  And, then, we got to Sedona.  The rain let off a little and the wet mountains came alive after getting some water on them.

We drove up to the airport lookout.  And, wow!

This panorama photo is small, but if you click on it, it'll open up a little bigger.

Feature: my son's head.

The clouds covering the beauty above.

The sun shining on it.

I tried, but I really couldn't get a photo that did it justice.  The buttes (rhymes with ute, but with a 'b',  kind of like buewt) were all over the  place and looked amazing half rained on and in the sunlight.  Amazing.

We were still on the road to the Grand Canyon, but I'll make you wait for the next installment before I share more photos.

Until next time... !

xx