Day 50 - dec. 3, 2017

A short trip today with stops along Route 66 at Twin Arrows and Two Guns. Both basically ruins. Two guns has a cool bridge dating back to 1914.

Then off to Meteor Crater National Landmark. Here, about 50,000 years ago a meteor crashed into the Arizona desert creating a huge crater. A little over a mile in diameter it could hold downtown San Fransisco and the buildings would just reach the rim of the crater. Quite impressive.

Day 51 - dec. 4, 2017

Off to Sedona with its gorgeous red mountains and spires today. But first a side trip to Montezuma's Castle. Not really a castle and nothing to do with Montezuma. Built around the year 1,100 by the Hopi tribe it is a cliff dwelling that is very impressive. Also on the way we detoured to see some petroglyphs (ancient stone writing/carvings) at the V Bar V Ranch. This included a stop along the extremely pretty Beaver Creek.

Lastly, Sedona. Here there is a church built into the side of a mountail called the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is open to visitors and offers views of the valley and spectacular mountains. There is a huge house below the chapel and the internet has many different owners so ??? Anyway Sedona is beautiful. As the sun sets the mountains change colour and become very vibrant.

Day 52 - Dec. 5, 2017

The Grand Canyon. They don't call it "Grand" for no reason. This is spectacular! The best photograph ever taken is one tenth of one percent of what it looks like in real life. We have tried to get a few people in the shots to give perspective. Carved by the Colorado River over thousands of millions of years, the river below looks like a trickle. It isn't. Anyway, we took many more pictures than this but these will do for now. There is also a shot of an Elk that was 10 feet away from us and few other wildlife pictures.

The last picture is just a neon sign on Route 66 in Flagstaff that we got on the way back to the timeshare.

Day 53- Dec. 6, 2017

Today we toured Route 66 in Flagstaff and then west to Williams. Some pretty cool old hotels in Flagstaff and great old signs, shops and gas stations in Williams.

On the way we saw a old Hupmobile and I was able to flag the driver down. He is 83 and so is the car! It is the only car he owns and drives it everyday. He replaced the engine with one that doesn't require leaded fuel, and has modern radial tires but it is still really cool.

And for a finale, we went to Walnut Canyon National Monument. Quite the hike around old ruins of homes in the cliffs of the canyon.

Day 54 - dec. 7, 2017

Once again I am left looking for an adjective to describe the beauty. There isn't one. Antelope Canyon. There are two canyons actually, an upper and a lower. We started the day with a two hour drive to Page, Arizona and the "Lower" Canyon tour. Both of these are on Navajo land and the only way to access them is with a Navajo tour. More than worth it.

The Lower Canyon have a few steep stairs to enter but once you are in it is magical. Millions of years of wind, water and sand have created layer upon layer of sandstone in unimaginably beautiful strata waves and colours. I won't say more, I'll let the photos do the talking.

After the Lower Canyon we headed off to the Upper Canyon. It's level ground and not as long as the Lower Canyon, but incredibly beautiful as well.

We ended the day at "Horseshoe Bend". This is a bend in the Colorado River that is famous for the photo opportunities. A little late in the day for us, but still fabulous! I think we got our monies worth on this day. We have hundreds more pictures, but I don't want to bore you too badly.

Day 55 - DEc. 8, 2017

Sad to leave Flagstaff (very picturesque) yet happy to be headed to Phoenix (warmer) today. So not many shots as we didn't stop along the way very much. Then just a few shots from the timeshare we are staying at in Phoenix. More of those tomorrow.

Day 56 - dec. 9, 2017

Our first day in Scottsdale. A day of rest and photo editing, so just a few shots around the resort. I had some fun with the "Splash Pool" shooting at different shutter speeds.