Thursday, November 08, 2007

Flagstaff Vacation Photos

Since I can't show you any new knitting photos (my camera was two weeks past the 1-year warranty date but Canon took it in as under warranty - YEAH!) I thought I'd post some of our vacation pictures. If you hate other people's vacation pictures - Stop Reading Now.

A decade ago we tried to go to Walnut Canyon but it was so cold ( with wind chill it felt like ZERO) we never made it out of the Visitor's Center. This trip it was 70 degrees F, a perfect day to hike through the Early Native American Cliff dwellings down in the Canyon.
Walnut Canyon
If you look in the center of the Canyon Wall you can see the hallowed out areas which were made into rooms.

Me at Walnut Canyon
Here I am for scale - these people were much shorter than we are today.

cliff side path
This will give you an idea of the cliff side path we walked along and you can see how the canyon-side holes were walled into rooms.

looking out of room walnut canyon
The Photographer stepped inside the hole in the wall to photograph the view looking out.

over hang Walnut Canyon

Walnut Cayon Climb
This is the view from down in the Canyon looking up toward the Visitor's Center where we started our hike. See it up there - that little white triangle in the center of the rim? We had to hike back up out of there - all 257 steps at 7000 ft! Our own little stress test.

The following day (Sunday)we drove to the Grand Canyon. The Village area was wall to wall cars and buses. No where to park and it was getting very windy; even thought it was sunny and clear it was unpleasant to be out in all that wind. After talking to a park ranger we drove east out of the Village and found some view sites with better views than in the more frequented Park View Points.

Grand Canyon, River_2
We actually saw the Colorado River down there.

Yellow Couple
This couple dashed out of their car, set up their camera on a timer, took their own picture together at the Grand Canyon and were back in their car in under five minutes. Guess they wanted to show up in those photos?

Jewelry on the side of the road
Stopped at the required Native American Jewelry on the side of the road.

Desert View Tower
And stopped at the Desert View Tower which was built by the Harvey Company in the 1930. (You remember that Judy Garland movie The Harvey Girls?)

Inside Desert View Tower
Interesting painting inside the tower.

looking up desert view tower
Looking straight up to the top of the tower.

All day Sunday the winds' speed kept increasing; it was that evening we got the call about the fires at home. We knew from past experience that the winds would be driving the fires westward which made us worry. Monday morning we decide to change plans and head home. You know the rest...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ooh, those are some happy pants.

It's amazing, this beautiful country we live in.