Arizona Fiddlers

Have you ever felt underwhelmed by something?  We thought the Arizona State      Fiddler's Championship would be a big event.  After all, it had some publicity.  Well, it was a very small venue.  

This is the Payson, AZ, event center which is setup for rodeos.

This was the viewing tent.  

The booth for the sponsors of the event.

A family from Phoenix, AZ, all of which were under 15 except for the leader

A fiddler from the senior division.

This was a small town event with most of the audience composed of other musicians.    Payson is a very busy town of about 15,000 people, true small town America at its best. We were on our way from Holbrook to Tucson so we stopped off here for a while.

The Petrified Forest National Park

On our way to the Petrified Forest National Park, we had to make a stop at a rest area

 I began to think that we were not in Minnesota anymore.

This sign proved it!

There are lots of things to see within the Petrified Forest National Park. We started from the south entrance and proceeded by auto to the north entrance on I-40.

At the south entrance there are exhibits of fossilized animals of various sorts.  In their "backyard" is an exhibit of fossilized or petrified trees.

Some are huge.

Sue photographed this guy at the base of the tree.

We came across this field of petrified logs as we drove north through the park.

Another large tree in the park some 32 inches in diameter.

Other views of the park.

This formation is known as the teepees.

The telephone poles without wires denote Route 66 through the park with I-40 in the background.  Some parts of the old route are available for hiking.

This is said to be a 1932 Studebaker, left over from the folks who passed this way from Oklahoma to California in the 1930's.  One may read "Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck for a feeling of what these travelers went through.  

This mural by a contemporary Hopi artist denotes ancestors traveling from their village at six o'clock counterclockwise to a salt lake and their trip home.

The Grand Canyon

The size and grandeur of the Grand Canyon defies description.  The first response is to take photos.  After a while, they begin to look alike so we have tried to give an impression of the place and tell a story when one is available.

We started in Tusayan, AZ, a few miles south of the park.  A free shuttle service is available with a purchased ticket to the park or the Golden Age card.

The shuttle bus dropped us off at the Visitor Center where more free shuttles moved people around the park.

Here a shuttle bus is dropping people off at Hermit's Rest, the farthest point on the loop.

This was our first glimpse of the canyon.  "Wow, look at that!" was our comment.

Another view from the south rim. Trails may be seen at the bottom of the canyon.  The Grand Canyon is one mile deep and 10 miles across at most points.  It is 277 miles long so we just viewed a tiny portion of the canyon. The temperature when we visited was about 68°F with a strong wind, hence the coats that we wore at times.  One mile below, the temperature would be 20° warmer.

The slash along the center of the the photo is the Bright Angel Trail.  A trail probably developed by Native Americans centuries ago was turned into a "Toll Trail" by Ralph Cameron about in 1900.  He charged a dollar to use the trail which was a goodly amount at that time since that amounts to about $20 in today's value.  The tolls were discontinued when the Grand Canyon National Park was established in 1926.  The trail is still in use today as figures may be seen.  Cameron went on to become one of Arizona's senators when it became a state in 1912.

The last stop on a route that had about a dozen places to view the Grand Canyon was Hermit's Rest.  It was built in 1914 and was the last stop for stage coaches bringing tourists. A foot trail, the Hermit Trail, continues from here and descends to the Colorado River at the base of the canyon.

It is difficult to get a front elevation shot of the building without the use of a drone taking photos as it is very near the canyon's rim.  It was named after Louis Boucher, an early prospector who helped develop the Hermit Trail.  The site now houses a gift shop and snack bar.  [And toilets which are only available as selected stops on the way to this place.]

Mary Jane Colter designed this building and supervised its construction.  Mary Coulter was born in Pittsburg, PA, in 1869.  The family moved around and settled in St. Paul, MN.  She became one of very few female architects and was educated in San Francisco, CA.  She returned to St. Paul for some years. The driver of the shuttle mentioned that she was a perfectionist and had soil piled up at the site of the Hermit's Rest.  Then rocks were placed on the soil pile in such a way that they were self-supporting when the soil was removed. Hence the shape of the fireplace. Mary Jane Colter went on to design many buildings in the park and also for the Santa Fe railroad.

This is a view of the canyon showing the Colorado River and one its 100 or so rapids along its length. This view was taken from Pima Point along the route.

The last chance for one of our photographers to take a photo.

A member of a group from the UK took this photo.  After inquiring about our European ancestry, he thought he heard a bit of the cockney accent in Sue's speech as one of her ancestors was born in Essex, England.

Sedona and Flagstaff, AZ

We flew to Phoenix arriving about noontime.  Then we started out for our Flagstaff location.

We had heard of the beautiful area around Sedona, AZ, so we left Phoenix on I-17 and then turned off to take this byway.  For a couple of mid-westerners, we were awestruck with the scenes around us.
We also went from about 1000 feet elevation to 7100 feet and a temperature drop of about 25° F.

 Sue took some iPhone photos that turned out good.  We noticed how the vegetation changed rapidly as we proceeded north where here were a lot of trees and then next to none.

Al climbed a few feet in a horse trail site and took these pictures.  Just beautiful!

A view from Sedona, AZ