A Couple More...

There are a couple more photos from our hike around the red rocks of Sedona that I really needed to post. . .

Nate and I show what we're made of from the top of the hill.

Water was scarce, and we didn't bring any on this hot, dry day. I barely made it to this fetid hole.

Not really. It was a nice day, and we even got some rain before we were through. We have plenty of cold water in our packs, and snacks. It was great fun, an I can't wait to go there again. 

Arizona Trip, part III - Hiking Near Sedona

Nate and Kim took us up to Sedona to do a little hiking and site seeing. First we stopped at the ranger station, where Mom got cozy with Smokey.

We did a loop around several really cool red rock formations.

Starting out fresh

  

Beautiful scenery.

Nate and I made a quick trip up the big rock in the background. 

The view from the top. Very cute girls.

The back side of the rock with caves and holes.

Cathedral Rock formation.

This was a groups of rocks we walked past in the afternoon (after paying $20 for frozen yogurt : p) on our way to Oak Creek. The water was very nice, but we didn't have our swim suits so we stayed dry.

Sedona is an interesting place, with trendy shops and food places (that charge too much for yogurt - did I mention that?) But over all the trip was VERY fun. After getting home and cleaning up, we went to an Italian place and had the best garlic bread, meatballs, and pizza I've probably ever had. It was a great day.

Arizona Trip - part II

One of the great things we did was visit the butterfly museum in Phoenix. Henry, Molly, Lucy, and Grant had a great time chasing, looking at, and learning about butterflies.

The room where they keep the live butterflies is like a jungle and very wet, due to the misters. But the butterflies would land on people, and they were eating nectar out of the flowers and out of bowls of fruit that were placed around the room.  It was pretty fun for the grand kids - and us.

Arizona Trip - part I

On our way to Arizona to help with Olive's blessing, and to play around with our fun kids and grand kids there, we stopped at the George S. Patton Memorial Museum. It sits way out in the middle of desert along Hwy 10. I always thought Patton was an interesting character, and the museum is situated on the military training base he established there in 1942 to prepare GI's for war in the deserts of Africa. Melody's Dad was stationed on the 18,000 sq. mile base before leaving for Europe. She has letters of his written from there where he complains about the 100+ degree heat. (He didn't get much relief when he left - he went straight to fight in the Battle of the Bulge in sub-zero winter weather.)

Anyway, we spent an hour and a half there talking to the director and seeing the sites.

A cool jeep, almost as cool as mine.

An amphibious craft.

A Sherman tank from the beginning of the war.

A tank from the more recent wars.

 A couple of the tanks had a port hole cover removed and was able to get some pictures of the insides.

It was well worth the $5 entrance fee. I'd do it again.