The Flight to SF

The flight into SF was bumpy. 

The view was pretty nice when you could see through the clouds. 

I am currently in a cab with a driver who has a lead foot. 

I guess this is to make up for the slow poke who stressed me out all the way to O'hare this morning. LOL

San Francisco Here I Come

I am standing at gate H16 waiting to board my flight to San Francisco. I am going for the Out & Equal conference. 

I have gained so much from this experience in the past. I am looking forward to participating in the conference and seeing the city. 

Keep checking here for updates. 

Meteor Crater and the Grand Canyon

Alexis reminded me that we learned of Meteor Crater when we were in DC at the Smithsonian Air And Space Museum. 

I know many people would just see this as a giant hole in the ground but it is so much more. 

This site was used to train Apollo Astronauts because it so closely resembles the surface of the moon. 

Look, I think Alexis wants to become an astronaut. 

This site has allowed us to learn much about meteor impacts. 

The meteor that made this crater took 10 seconds to pass through our atmosphere and hit the earth. It created a hole almost 1 mile in diameter and sent hurricane force winds outward in all directions for up to 175(?) miles. Imagine something like this happening today. Scary!!!

After coming back down to earth - we continued from here to the gaping gash... I mean the Grand Canyon. 

This is what we saw on our way....

And then ...

We saw an imposter. 

And finally, we arrived.  

If you want to see more, you need to go there yourself. You won't regret the trip. 

Verde Valley Train

When Alexis suggested this I was super excited.

First of all it sounded like a very nice train trip through the valley. Secondly, it was a four hour block of time when I did not have to be behind the wheel of the car. 

Don't get me wrong, I love to drive. I have especially enjoyed this road trip with Alexis. I just realized very early in the trip that being the designated driver limited my chances to take pictures. 

Here we are right before boarding. 

That smokestack was the old power plant from ye olde days. LOL

While most of our pictures were through the window of the train

we did get some while we were out on the open air car. 

Mostly we just enjoyed the views. 

You get the idea. 😀

After a wonderfully exhausting day on the train we returned to our hotel to dress for dinner. 

While the location was nice and the service was very good the overall experience rated below average. If you want to know more, read my review of Tii Gavo on trip advisor. 

Sedona

Boynton Canyon Vortex. 

I am not sure how many of you have heard the stories of the energy vortexes that are all over Sedona but they claim to have a physical and emotional impact that lasts for days after one visits a vortex.  

Alexis was not planning on including A Vortex visit as part of our trip. Once I realized how close we were to one I asked if we could include it in our plan for the day. Begrudgingly, I presume, Alexis agreed.

Once we got there, I believe Alexis was glad we included this in part of our journey.

See how awed Alexis is?

Panoramic view that pales in comparison to being there. 

I was moved to tears.

Is the vortex making me smile?

Do you see the face?

As we were leaving a couple of ladies spoke with us. They concluded that my emotional reaction was an indication that I felt the vortex. 

We left Boynton Canyon and headed on to the chapel built by one of Frank Lloyd Wrights students. 

Chapel of the Holy Cross

See my head?

Upon arrival we met a Latina who was there for a friends wedding. She took this picture of us. 

The view from the chapel. 

The inside of the chapel is unassuming. The interior walls are merely the bare insides of the exterior walls. The chapel  is small but who can beat this location?

Montezumas Castle

A 600 year old cliff dwelling that was originally believed to have been built by the Aztecs. Now it is known that this was built by local Sinagua Natives. 

Up until the 1950's they used to allow people to tour the inside. They provided this diorama to allow us to see what it was like. 

On the way home we saw the bell rock. 

Another stunning view on the way back to our resort. 

The night view from our resort. 

And now I am caught up. Whew. 

The drive from Tucson to Sedona

We left early morning (10am) to begin our journey to Sedona. 

It was very difficult to leave Tucson because the resort where we stayed was so beautiful.  The buildings, the grounds, the surrounding nature were all outstanding, yet our trip was not to end here.  

So we packed the car. 

And hit the road. 

Prescott and Jerome are two towns that are a slight detour from the direct route to Sedona that we wanted to visit.  

Prescott is one of the old mining towns and still has remnants of its old "Whiskey Row" and was the first capital of AZ. Actually, it was the capital twice before Phoenix finally took the title. 

The county courthouse. 

Alexis couldn't resist the homemade ice cream. 

There was this Bucky O'Neill monument was in front of the county courthouse. 

Our drive from Prescott to Jerome took us on a winding drive through the mountains. This could be likened to a drive down the California coastline. Despite the fact that it triggered his vertigo Alexis took many pictures like this one. 

On our twisty turney drive through the mountains we found this scenic spot for a photo. 

Jerome is another old mining town. This one is built on the side of the mountain. Sadly we got there so late in the day and the weather was changing we had very little time to really spend.  We were able to capture the photos below. 

See what I mean about the weather?

By the time we arrived in Sedona all we wanted to do was order dinner ...

And then crash...

Which Alexis did immediately. 😉

I know I am a day behind in my posts and hope to catch you up soon. Just a bit challenging to keep up with it all. 

I promise the next post will have been worth the wait. Sedona is GORGEOUS.