Sedona Day 3

What an uplifting day! When Linda looked out our window, she saw 4 hot air balloons floating over our complex. I grabbed my camera and began to click away. About 20 minutes later, more balloons came over. Finally 2 came over so low that you could almost reach up and touch them.

Again the day was bright and shinny, but a little cool this morning. Linda and I had an early reservation for a Hummer ride through the back country. We were with a family of ten--Grandparents, son, daughter, their spouses and 4 grandchildren. We discovered the the son and daughter were from Minneapolis not too far from where Kim and family live.

When we got the the exit from the highway and headed to the back country, we saw the hot air balloons on the ground. The driver of the Hummer was very entertaining and gave us the ride of our lives. It was sort of like riding a bucking bronco bare-backed.

After we got back, we left for old Sedona for a tour of a Museum and lunch at a Mexican Food Restaurant. The food was great with huge portions and we ate more than we should have. We walked the streets of Sedona and passed a Fudge shop. Needless to say, we could not pass it and bought some fudge to munch on. The fudge was great and the rest of the walk was entertaining.

After old Sedona we went to Tlaquepaque, Sedona's Arts and Craafts Village. It reminded me of many cities in Spain. It was a great place to take a stroll.

We left Sedona and went to a National Park called Montezuma's Castle which is an old Sinagua Indian Cliff Dwellers Settlement and Museum. The trails and museum had many pictures and story boards telling of the life and culture of the Sinagua Indians and it was well worth the visit.

We left the museum and went to a winery for a wine tasting. It was a small winery and we were the only ones there for awhile. Later a couple came in and we started talking and found out they were from Columbus, Ohio. She was a teacher on spring break and we had a great conversation with her and the man with her who was a coach at the same school as her.

A little more sight seeing and a few more pictures and we finally went back to our cottage. About eleven hours of sight seeing can be very tiring.

A few of the 256 pictures take today are included in the slide show. Tomorrow we will go to the Grand Canyon and possibly the Painted Desert if we have time.

Sedona Day 2

What a difference a day makes! Nothing bad happened; bright sunny day; and in the mid 70's. We got up around 6:00 AM; put on a pot of coffee; and began to review brochures for the tours we wanted to take.

We attended a free welcome breakfast and listened to many of the tour directors explain their tours. The food was great and the presentations were entertaining. We chose a Hummer tour to the back countries for tomorrow and a train ride through Verde Canyon for Thursday. It is a four hour train ride in first class with free champagne and snacks. Tomorrow is our 42nd wedding anniversary and we are taking a hummer ride to celebrate. You would think we would have planned the train ride with the champagne on our anniversary, but we did not.

After the briefings we took a self guided driving tour through Red Rock Country. The scenery was beautiful although a little rough looking. We then went through three other areas of Red Rock Country--of course red rock cliffs and formations the primary sights. Again, all areas were beautiful.

After touring the back country, we attended a presentation called "All You Wanted to Know About Native Americans, But Were Afraid to Ask". The presentation was given by a Native American who taught American History for about 12 years. The presentation and discussion was very good and instead of a 1 hour presentation, it lasted an hour and a half. I think it would have gone longer, but, the presenter finally stopped the discussion. He played a small flute which he called a hummingbird flute. He did a great job and we could have listened longer. There will be a flute concert Friday and I am sure we will attend if we are back in time.

After the presentation, we went for dinner. We had planned on going to a restaurant that featured home cooking, but, went in the wrong direction. What a lucky mistake! We stopped at an alternate location and were seated in the fireside room--fireplace of course--which had six tables. Very cozy and I suppose romantic--again should have planned it for tomorrow night. I ordered their specialty hamburger and Linda order a grilled chicken sandwich with avacado. As usual, we shared each sandwich. I must say that they were the best sandwiches that we had eaten in a long time. They also served great hot baked bread and the buns looked like homemade sough dough buns. The salad served and the dressing were also very good. Over all a fantastic meal with a beautiful lady--what more could a man ask for after 42 great years!

After dinner, we returned to our room, got comfortable and opened a bottle of wine. We are now watching the news and planning tomorrow's activities.

First Day of Sedona Vacation

What a day!

Getting here has been a real trip. We were 30 minutes late departing Dayton because somehow someone got on the plane without being check through the gate. They had more people on the plane than had cleared through. They got that resolved and we left without further incident.

We got to Detroit and had a long walk to our connection. WE got loaded and took off. As we left the ground and the landing gear was being retracted, we hear a loud bang. Nothing was said until about 25 minutes when the pilot came on and said we had to go back because the landing gear would not retract. We finally got on our way about 2 hours late. Forgot to mention that when we were checking in at Dayton, you have to use the computer machines and check in yourself. We got all the way through to printing our receipts for the luggage and printing boarding passes when the machine gave us an error message and said call an attendant. There was a family five or six that the children had different names than the mother and father. They also were having problems and had to get in line at the desk for assistance. Unfortunately, we got in line behind them. We had already gotten the luggage tags and were waiting on the boarding pass. We probably were in line around 30 minutes and the family in front of us still had not resolved their problems. Another attendant came up and took our itinerary and came back with our boarding passes without any problems. Don't know why the first one could not get our passes.

We got Phoenix and took the bus to the car rental. We had reserved a Ford Explorer, but ended up with a Chrysler Pacifica which was ok. When checking the car, I noticed the tire low indicator light was on. I looked at the tires and they looked ok. I told the attendant and she said that I could return the car and get another or I could take the car and she would write on the form that the indicator light was on and I could bring it back if the tire went down. By this time it was 2 Phoenix time and 5 Dayton time. Linda and I had eaten lunch and were hungry so we took the car. We stopped about 3 miles out of Phoenix and had lunch and I checked all the tires. One was a little low so I aired it up. The light was still on and Linda said that on the Buick when this happened you had to reset the system to get the light to go off. I finally figured out how to reset the light and everything is fine now.

We went to Sedona for dinner and ate at the Sedona Bar and Grill. We shared a full rack of barbequed ribs. I had a locally brewed nut brown ale which was excellent. The ribs were also very good. It would be worth a trip back.

Tomorrow we will began the day with an orientation breakfast to learn about the things that are available in the local area. We know we will be going on a 4 hour train ride through Verde Canyon and a trip to the Grand Canyon. Other things to do will just happen. There is a lot to do in this area and I know we will enjoy every day of it.

I will post a slide show of today's events later. Monday Mar 30 update. Slide show is posted. I need to adjust the pictures some to show better. Most were taken through the car windows in bright sunlight so they are a little washed out. That will be a job for when I get home. Don't want to take too much vacation time to play with pictures.

BC

BC has become quite the lap cat. Anytime we sit down she's in our lap. Looks like "life is good". Her hair is starting to grow back from the surgery and she's doing good.

Flowers

My sister gave me an Amaryllis bulb back in February or was it January. I planted it and waited and waited for something to happen. Finally the stalk started to emerge from the soil. I waited patiently and the flower head had four blooms to open. Well they opened the week we went to Arkansas for the Relay for Life Auction. I got a bonus on that plant, it had a second stalk and I got to enjoy it's bloom after returning home from Arkansas. Included is a picture of the avocado plant I started from a seed. I have two more seed in water but so far they've not sprouted. Not sure how avocado's will grow in Ohio but it makes a pretty plant. Also, the hellebore's (Christmas Rose) have bloomed. These are the first of the garden plants to come to life. When they are blanketed in snow they are putting out the new leaves and getting ready for spring to arrive to put on a glorious show of bloom.

Spring Break

Kim, Nate, Sarah, & Natalie came for a visit over the school Spring Break the first week of March. We had a great time in spite of the weather. It wasn't as warm as we'd hoped it would be but by the end of the week it warmed up enough to drive the tractor and ride in the wagon. Toys from the basement got dusted off and brought upstairs. The girls still like helping out in the kitchen. Sarah helped me make an apple pie and Natalie helped make the waffles. Nate brought his violin to demonstrate his music abilities. He's doing great in his school band.