VACATION!

Wow. Time does move faster as you age! I JUST got back from vacation, and yet, it’s a month later!   We flew to Las Vegas in late February, and from there drove to:

11003241_10206697905270232_1504499733_o (Links take you to my photo albums.)

  • Hoover Dam— JUST amazing. To think of the time it was built, and to see the scale of everything….
  •  The Grand Canyon —We overdid on superlatives these few days. By going in the winter, we were able to get a room at one of the lodges, approximately a 90 SECOND walk to the Canyon’s edge.
  • Bedrock City —Yes, Fred and Wilma’s place.
  • Pima Air and Space Museum —This one was for Timmy,  but I had fun, too.
  • Slide Rock State Park—Driving by, down toward Sedona, and we decided to stop. Glad we did.
  • Gold King Mine in the ghost town of Jerome Arizona. HAS to be seen to be believed.
  •  Rooster Cogburn’s Ostrich Ranch—Toss up time. Do we drive south to Tombstone? Or back to that odd little roadside attraction?
  • Picacho State Park, AZ.  For sunset, I wanted something dramatic. I think saguaro silhouettes gave me what I wanted.
  • And, back to Vegas! An adult Disneyland is all I’ve got. It was wet. And sparkly… I’d go back, certainly, but I don’t need to go back. We had fun, though!

Plans to spend my 50th birthday walking some of the trails at Red Rock Canyon were squelched by the appearance of an errant ice storm, but by continuing to follow the 13 mile trail, we managed to out-drive the storm for a while, and see some Joshua trees. The little black cloud caught back up with us in Boulder City. My wonderful daughter gave us tickets to Mystere, one of the older Cirque du Soliel shows, which, as always was fabulous! (They were in a one ring Big Top tent on the edge of Battery City, NYC the first time I saw them perform!) Photos of us, of funny signs, and of everyone’s favorite pal WALDO are here. 

Yes, it was another “If it’s Tuesday this must be Belgium” trip….   (What can I say, we want to practice before we take THAT trip!)

Screenshot 2015-03-25 16.19.53The only regret I have? We didn’t go back to this rock shop. I took a few minutes walk through the yard. I was sure we would see more rock shops along the road over the course of the week, and we wanted to be back at the canyon for sunset. LOOK at the size of it! It’s right next to the Grand Canyon Inn on 180 in Williams, AZ. If you found this post and are planning a trip, don’t miss it. (I probably would have had an over-weight charge at the airport is all I’m saying.) And, be pleasantly surprised by the friendly people and good food at the Bedrock City ‘diner’ tucked away in the back corner of a curiosity shop that has every random kitch  for sale…Plus, it has Fred and Wilma, Barney and Betty, Pebbles and BamBam, AND  Dino!

Ok. It wasn’t the ONLY regret. I would have loved to have stayed EVERYWHERE longer. I would have loved to have stopped at The Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale. I would have LOVED to have had a chance to spend a few days exploring Sedona, not just driving through trying to beat a storm cloud. Of getting to spend a bit more time with my brother, or of detouring just a wee bit further and convincing my other brother to drive up from San Diego. But the best part of vacation is spending time and making memories with my hunny, and that we certainly did!

IF YOU follow my Facebook page or this blog, (and WHY don’t you??) you may have seen SOME of these photo albums, but not all.  The last few weeks I have posted a few blogs pulling out some of the albums)   ENJOY!!!

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Airplanes and Ostriches.

Saturday saw us on the road, again. This time we awoke to particularly overcast and not very promising outdoor weather in Scottsdale, AZ. We were headed for the  PIMA Air and Space Museum. As we drove farther south, the sun became a bit more determined to force it’s way through the clouds. We were left with wind, but gorgeous blue sky and white clouds, rather than the threatening gray of the morning.

I know NOTHING about planes. I can identify very few. But I do enjoy taking photos of them. Timmy was enjoying himself immensely.

20150228-IMG_4732Originally added to our itinerary because of the airplane graveyard, we had determined

we weren’t going to arrive in time for tickets. So, we actually went

on a Saturday and didn’t take the tour.

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They have a number of planes from the graveyard on the museum grounds.

They have been painted by local artists.

 

 

 

 

 

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  More airplane photos.

 

Sperm whale or guppy?
I’ll let you decide. I believe that Douglas Adams may have seen this, and then a bowl of petunias…… because that is all I can say. Laughing out loud

 

 

 

 

And, then, OSTRICHS.

On the way down to Pima, we saw a roadside attraction that caught Timmy’s imagination. After the museum, we were debating our next move. South to Tombstone? Start back to Vegas? Timmy thought that the ostrich ranch sound too funny to pass up. Besides the silliness of that, they were giving monster truck rides. So, of course, we had to go.

As we were driving, I decided to Google Rooster Cogburn’s Ostrich Ranch. I came across some Yelp! reviews that had us laughing out loud.  It’s worth your time to read some! (We visited on 2/28/15, so reviews before then)

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20150228-IMG_4901 There’s one in every group that just can’t keep it together, isn’t there?  The rest of the visit to the ostrich ranch is here.

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Hoover Dam and more Vacation photos

Vacation, part two. Day one of vacation brought us to Lake Mead, Nevada, on the way to Hoover Dam. The day was beautiful. What an oasis!

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Hoover Dam, one of the wonders of the world… Astonishing.  Because of time constraints, we agreed we would walk along the bridge on the return trip, hoping for a lovely early morning or late afternoon, low in the sky sun to really show some color. Little did we know that this moment was about the sunniest, calmest weather we would find.

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On our return trip, we had company. This little black cloud had followed us all the way from Vegas. The second photo is showing you the Arizona side of the river. The storm hadn’t reached there yet.

20150303-IMG_596120150303-IMG_595020150225-IMG_311820150225-IMG_3101Notice the tree at the top of the cliff! And a selfie using the mirrored glass window…

After the Grand Canyon, everything else paled. But we had an amazing time and found some incredible things to do.  We stopped on the way to Sedona at a state park called Slide Rock.

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The weather looked ominous and the forecasts even worse, so we didn’t end up staying in or exploring Sedona. NEXT TIME! These are all on the road toward Sedona.

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To see the rest of Lake Mead and Hoover Dam, follow this link.

To see the rest of Slide Rock Park and traveling shots, follow this link.

PART THREE coming soon!

My Photography website. All images available for purchase.

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On Twitter, I am@rteest42

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