A great rest, well kind of

Tom and I went on a vacation.  We enjoy travel a lot.  We like to try new places and see things we haven't seen before.  I imagine going places and then Tom researches all our options of what to do and what we can afford to do.  Many of our past travels have been water related and we enjoy tropical very much. This time however, we decided to take a trip out west. We decided to go to the Grand Canyon and Sedona Arizona.  We haven't been in that part of our beautiful country. At first we were going to Yellowstone but couldn't use our free flying miles when we wanted to go...so we chose Grand Canyon and flew into Phoenix.  Well let me tell you we had a GREAT trip.  Everything went so well. We enjoyed the scenery on our drive from Phoenix to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. No traffic to speak of and a beautiful day for driving.  It was a shorter drive than we expected too.  :) We got to our destination and were awed as we took our first look at the canyon.  Humbling to say the least.  I just couldn't stop saying WOW!  My thoughts were immediately drawn to God and how artistic He is.  The colors and shadows from cloud and sunlight moving.  The color change from rain.  The sunset and sunrise reflection on the rocks.  It's all inspiring.  I was moved as never before.

Our room at Maswik lodge was clean and so comfortable, rustic and restful. 1/4 mile from the rim of the Canyon.   The park is set up so well for getting around and seeing as much as you can by walking trails or shuttle buses. Information was available and very easy to understand.  They had warnings for those who might think they can hike down the canyon and make it back up alive in a day. (NOT LIKELY)  We hiked a lot and enjoyed our time together talking, sightseeing and sweating.  We worked hard on this vacation and thoroughly enjoyed it.  We saw wildlife up close and personal.  Maybe a little too close.  (If you have questions about this ask me sometime about a certain male elk and some squirrels.) 

The next part of our trip was to Sedona on the way we stopped in Williams.  The original Route 66 goes through this quaint town.  We had a good lunch and enjoyed walking around for a few minutes and looking in the shops.  Then on we traveled a little longer to Sedona and let me tell you it took my breath away seeing the clay colored rocks raising high into the air and descending through them with green trees contrasting with the mountains.  Then up up up to our hotel Sky Ranch Lodge which overlooked the town of Sedona and offered amazing views from the patio.  It was perfect.  We drove and hiked and one afternoon sat on the lookout and just enjoyed the sunshine and each others company.  It will be a memory I will never forget.  I felt such total peace.  

We met so many nice people on our trip from all over.  The temperature in Phoenix was around 100 the day before we left and 103 the day we arrived.  I don't think I would love that, but the city was very clean looking and so different from what we know.  I enjoyed seeing it all.  This trip definitely goes in my book as being one of our greatest ever!

            This is our time sitting and enjoying the view at Sky Ranch Lodge.