2 Canyons and a Wedding

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Firebird
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2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Firebird »

Hey folks!
I just got back from a whirlwind trip through Arizona, about 1700 miles in 6 days.
My mothers 84 year old younger sister was getting remarried and asked if I would do the flowers. I was happy to do so, I could then as well be the driver for my mom, who was super proud to be the "matron of honor" at this event. The ceremony was to be in Oro Valley just North of Tucson.
Mom arrived at my house on Wednesday and Thursday a.m. we left stoping to pick up my order of flowers from the wholesaler who boxed them with cold packages..., boy was I biting my nails thinking about driving through the desert for 2 days with boxed flowers!
Our first stop was in Blythe California, I wanted to see if we could find the Kokopelli geoglyph. There had been some controversy about a solar farm going in so close to this and other ancient landmarks.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/46.4/the-geoglyph-guardian
We found the general area, and asked a worker at the now installed solar farm if he knew where the geoglyph was. Oblivious man had no idea what I was talking about...or maybe tbey were told to say they know nothing. In any case the jumping Cholla made me hesitate to go out searching very far into the desert.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylindropuntia_fulgida
They glyphs are not marked, and there are no signs, which is just as well ....saving these famous relics from those who would destroy them, as damage can already be seen from off roaders.
We didn't have time to explore the more well known and protected Integlios which was north of Blythe.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blythe_Intaglios
Ater a great picnic next to the Colorado river, we headed to our first over night in Yuma Az.

(Will be back to finish soon)
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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Becks
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Becks »

Powerful! Can't wait to hear more! Beautiful. Safe and fun journey.
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Firebird
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Firebird »

Thanks Becks :D
Nice stop in Yuma, we had a great hotel that offered free drinks and pizza, I decided to swim in the very large pool. How nice was that? It had been a long time since swimming in a pool, and I used to be on a swim team :|
So we're up and early-ish on the road Friday. The weather was terrible, in that the wind had stirred up the dust so bad you could barely see any mountains. The drive was swift and we arrived in Oro Valley around 1:p.m. and the sweetest guy, Jose, checked us in early.
I immediately unpacked the flowers and got them into hot water. Jose fetched an extra bucket for me, a broom and an additional table. What a mess I made of the place. The bath tub worked well for many phases of this operation.
After a grand reunion with the Auntie and all my cousins it was back to the floral job.

Saturday is wedding day!
In the a.m. Mom goes to hang with her sister while I stay back and finish up the personals. This was a small wedding, even still I really enjoyed the chaos it made in the hotel. halfsm
The day got a bit disorganized... I think in large part because the grooms 55 year old son had passed away 3 days prior to the wedding day, a worst case scenario that had been anticipated because the son had been ill.
With the help of my oldest cousin (we two having been the black sheeps of our prospective families) got the floral goods delivered and decorated. On the long drive back he pointed out where an american tradedy happened, Gabby Giffords and others were shot. I had no idea it was in this area of Tucson. Thanks cuz, you always know how to screw up my make up. :?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... OQTaFafGbA

We got back with just enough time to get dressed pick up my Mom and return to the matrimony garden. It was a real sweet place with a historic old house on the property. The ceremony was short the groom had some great words for his new bride.
♡They made such a cute old couple♡

More soon
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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Becks
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Becks »

Oh wow. What an adventure. I had no idea about Giffords. How awful.

I'm glad the wedding went well. Sounds like a terrific adventure.
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Firebird »

Better finish before my brain gets foggy! Thanks for hanging in there Becks :D
:fairy:
A couple pics...
I tried to keep it pretty neat, the Iris never did open :(
I tried to keep it pretty neat, the Iris never did open :(
A bit of chaos in the hotel room
A bit of chaos in the hotel room
The tub worked well for many phases of this mess
The tub worked well for many phases of this mess
Matrimony arch
Matrimony arch
A brief wedding
but real special, it isn't everyone that gets another chance so late in life.
Unfortunately there was to be no immediate honeymoon, many of the attendees were fom the grooms family and driving to New Mexico for his sons funeral on Monday.
Mom and I decided to hit Sedona, we packed to leave Sunday. I thanked Jose (remember Jose?) And gave him one of the arch arrangements, he was so excited and teased all the maids with it. We joked about the single rose I had given him the first day, he had been coy and used it to tell his partner that he had a secret admirer.

Driving north

Through Phoenix was a breeze maybe because it was still early Sunday morning. Mom made a comment and then recanted, "maybe I shouldn't say anything." All looked really good and then at the very north end of the Phoenix suburbs we see a sign...
>traffic slow, accident ahead<,
...though the flow of cars was still moving. Shortly there is another sign, same message. Just when we thought maybe they needed to take their signs down, whammo there it was. Slow, stop, slow, stop, slow, stop.
Ok...I'm from L. A. how bad can it be?
After an hour and getting maybe 2 miles I was ready to hit the dirt median and hook a U-ee like many others had done. Some had used the emergency lane to the next exit which was about a mile. After that you were locked in, no exits. This continued for what seemed like miles. Took about 2&1/2 hours to go maybe 20 miles. We never did see any accident but the residual made a mega mess. So we didn't arrive at Sedona until just after 3p.m.
Now we had to sight see fast!! And guess what I found?

More soon!
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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Firebird
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Firebird »

°○☆
Haha hahahaha you guessed it! A VORTEX!
Sure I had heard all about these magical whorls of energy in this Canyon known as Sedona. But when Mom and I arrived I wanted to use my Spidey senses to see if I could actually locate any energy without any preconceived ideas of where they might be.
It has been a very very long time since I've been in Sedona, I think I was about four years old last time and manage to get heat stroke. We checked out of our campground and into a motel so they can put me in a cold bath ....what I remember about that trip is sliding back and forth in the bathtub and getting a horrible rash on my butt from the no-slip strips :lol:
Anywho... we pulled in to the south end of town and went through the several roundabouts, I was scanning the horizon looking to see if there was anything out there in the rocks of red that was pulling me in a particular direction. The mass quantities of people was a bit overwhelming and I wondered how I might find anything with all these other persons energies swirling about.
I pulled into a parking lot that said Bell Rock hiking trail almost every space was taken except one so we pulled right in. You're supposed to pay to park at just about everywhere in this Canyon, Mom grumbled quite a bit about this. In any case we had missed lunch because of the traffic jam so we sat there in the car and ate our cheese and crackers and apples and I looked around and felt this wasn't really the place we needed to explore. After a quick lunch we got back on the road and went a little further north were we were on other side of this Bell Rock and I was compelled to pull into this trail head parking lot. Again the issue with paying to park, so we bought our day use pass and put it on the dashboard and drove around the lot wich was packed with cars and managed to find the only open spot.
We headed over to the trailhead and it looked like a very well used trail so Mom and I saunter down the red path for a bit. I looked up at these terrific rocks and said I need to go up there ....obviously this was not the trail for her so she said she would park it under a tree. I went wandering down the path and found a crevice in the rocks where I nestled in with my flute to play a little tune, I don't play well mind you but I was toodling tunes that I had never knew I could play. Hummm, I thought to myself this is interesting I must explore further so I continued my ascent up these boulderific rocks. I'm one of those strange rebels who hikes in zories (flip flops) and because of that I was able to whip them off immediately and experience the ground with my bare feet which was amazing. The smooth red rocks felt so invigorating to my naked toes, I stood there and just absorbed the red energy directly into my being. I wandered around on these rocks for some time trying to avoid the people who were also wondering around on the rocks. I found a slight depression in one of the boulders and I went and stood inside of it... oh my gosh the tingling just rose up from the ground and went all the way through the top of my head I stood there and breathed this through several times...it was exhilarating.

I'll be back with a photo.
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Firebird »


Sedona
The veiw from my vantage point was wondrously beautiful. I could have stayed till dusk right where I was.
Looking up the canyon from Bell Rock
Looking up the canyon from Bell Rock
Beautiful rocks!
Beautiful rocks!
Ha! Unfortunately all the best photos are on my other camera and currently not downloadable while my computer is on the fritz... didn't have the foresight to bring my tablet with me while I was trucking up the hillside, :roll:
This is Bell Rock (ummm... from the car and I didn't see the power line untill review that night :oops: ) for those of you who have tried to photo in the daylight from a tablet, you know what I mean!
The powerful Bell Rock! Electric line proves it!
The powerful Bell Rock! Electric line proves it!
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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Becks
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Becks »

That beautiful country has been on my travel list for a long time. I'm getting the warm happy vibes by just looking at those gorgeous images. Thanks FF
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Firebird »


smileydance Someday Becks! I'm wishing you whatever you need to do so!

Our time was limited as we wanted to make Flagstaff by 7 p.m. I could tell Mom was tired. ..so we meandered up the canyon stopping to look at a couple picnic areas and a campground where a really angry lady told us we couldn't drive through and look at the place, guess I won't ever stay there! Driving back to the road, we stoped a moment by the creek I really needed to wash my zories and feet. No sooner did I make it to the water when I was shooed by a park worker, apparently our car was offending the crossing, :evil:

We wanted to see the "slide rock" but again time and a seperate parking fee prevented a visit. Looks really fun though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr9tYAUT4OQ
Had we stayed longer it would have been nice to explore the rock's further and see if I could really get some energy and sense of the place into my DNA. Such a sweet visit though and I was grateful to mom for agreeing to this side spur on our long way home.

Out of canyon #1
The road climbing out of the canyon was steep and freaked me out a bit, but soon we were sailing through the pine trees in the higher altitudes that surround Flagstaff. We were in our motel and fed by 9:30, a Sizzler next door provided the feast.
I even got a quick swim at the indoor pool. Before sacking out, a brief log-on the motels wifi to confirm with a map of vortexes in Sedona... Indeed this is where I discovered that Bell rock was one of the many! So my Spidey senses were on! Yeah!
Tomorrow (Monday ) we head to Grand Canyon!
Last edited by Firebird on Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Fixing video link
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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Firebird
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Firebird »

>★<
Monday Grand Canyon
After one of those hotel breakfasts we hit the road towards the Navajo Nation
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... NK4WVdupiw
After the trees of Flagstaff were far in the distance the landscape got really barren, we passed trading post after trading post. Made me wonder how people survive in such harsh atmospheres. As we neared our destination we pulled into a viewpoint overlooking the Little Colorado river, an operation run by local natives. We peered over the edge of the questionable railing...Wow! that was like strait down. I snaped a few pics followed a lizard or two and was transfixed by the make up of the rock we were walking on. It was a sandstone with smalish geodes embedded many of them broken to reveal their sparkling centers. Of course there was a substantial trading post at this pull out and I found myself a nice buffalo bone blade, I will likely use it in circle. :D
Back on the road we gain some altitude and the flora changes to coniferous forest known as Kaibab Natl. forest. The park entry Ranger lets us know it's Natl. Park week and entry is free all week! Mom has a golden age pasport anyway and gets in free with that. They do this every year though so plan to hit a national park next year!
Our first stop is Desert view lookout,
Desert view, canyon view
Desert view, canyon view
Then a dark shadow crossed over us....
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Firebird »

:fairy:
I cast my eyes to the sky and what was there but the biggest bird I had ever seen, "Mom look!" I called out, "it's a condor!" at least I think it's a condor I've never seen one in the wild. It had a tag on his wing, He soared just over our heads about 30 feet up, I scrambled to get my binoculars but by the time I was able to view him he was too far away to see his tag. Wow, that was amazing and a blessing all at once. Apparently there are a little more than 70 condors in the Grand Canyon and it would be a relatively rare day to even see one of them so we had our incredibly lucky rare day!!

Condors were almost extict. In 1987 there were only 22 left in the wild. A captive breading program has brought them back from the brink of extinction. Here's a little more information about condors:
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/t_e_spp/condor/

L.A. zoo has a famous one, Topa Topa, he has sired over 30 chicks and just turned 50 this month! https://m.facebook.com/FBNewswire/posts ... 2643034856

Here's a great short video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGR2qv8yhRA

He mentions only 200 condors in the wild, that may have been the case in 2012 when it was filmed, as I understand there are over 400 in the wild now.
Super special sighting!

Now to the "Tower" ...what? There's a tower? Yea, and wait till you see this!
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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Firebird
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Firebird »

■■■
The Tower,
WatchTower
WatchTower
oops! Turn your head left, sorry I edited it in every direction but it still uploads sideways...I'm guessing because when I took the photo the tablet was verticle rather than landscape, don't understand why edit didn't work, if anyone has an answer or solution I would love to hear it!

I'll look for a version on the www. It was built in 1932.
The thing I found inspiring and interesting was that a woman designed that and many other buildings in the Grand Canyon. ::coolglasses:: Her name is Mary Colter
The inside was painted by a Hopi man Fred Kabotie, a staircase within takes you up through 3 levels, first level has a viewing platform, Mom stays here it's like a big patio lots of folks to talk to.
Looking east from the tower
Looking east from the tower
I continue up the tower, the native paintings on the walls gives a real air of excitement to the place
Native artwork
Native artwork
Ascend the spiral
Ascend the spiral
Back soon...must check my eylids for holes now
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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Becks
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Becks »

Sooooo gorgeous!!!
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Xiao Rong
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Xiao Rong »

As always, I love all your travel journals & experiencing these lovely places through you vicariously, FF! Keep it coming ; )
~ Xiao Rong ~ 小蓉 ~ Little Lotus ~
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Firebird
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Re: 2 Canyons and a Wedding

Post by Firebird »

:lol: thanks you guys! I'm almost done, only one more night in the trip.
It's funny ..so far it has taken way longer to write about the trip than it did to take the trip :lol:
FF
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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