Realtime Arizona Cowboys

We leave on yet another road trip and, as always, are on the lookout for things to photograph and keeping our eyes open for God's blessing.

Suddenly I realize what I'm seeing taking place right on the side of the Interstate:  an honest-to-goodness cowboy cattle roundup!

Quick as he (safely) can, Granpa pulls over, hops out, and goes for the photo op.  I realize that he's pretty "zoomed out," so I suggest we back up.  (Aargh! he thinks to himself - I can read it in his body language.)  So he hops back in and when there's no one coming down the Interstate he runs back.

Much better!  But I wish we'd gotten there before they got them all in the corral.  (Complain, complain, complain...)

Lots of zoom.  I like it!  Uh, oh.  We've been spotted by the guy in the black hat!  (Why couldn't it have been on of the white hats??  Are we in trouble?  What if they are rustlers!)

Much to our surprise (or maybe not) the guys start to stir the cattle up.  I think they're showin' off for us!  LOL!)

The following Sunday we mention this episode to our Bible Study class and our teacher, Chris, is pretty certain his son is one of this bunch.  So cool!

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In Search of Home!

 It's gettin' pretty deep out here: 



 
We've decided to head back to the west and this is the road out.  Lookin' pretty tricky, eh?  It's really not too bad.  Never once did we go slip-sliding away.  It was so tolerable in fact that Granpa decided to stop at the main Visitor's Center for a potty break.  I'm still having a wonderful time!

But Granpa decides to continue on just a bit further west to the head of the Bright Angel trail.  Here we find the herd of mules and donkeys that carry folks to the bottom of the Canyon.  Now, the building behind these animals is a barn, and you'd think that the caretakers would move the whole lot of them into the barn - but if you know horses you know that they seem to fare better in their natural habitat even when it's a blizzard.  You do know that the American west is overrun by wild horses, donkeys, and mules, don't you?  The Bureau of Land Management let's folks "adopt" them as a way to minimize the herds.  But my point is, those wild animals are flourishing without a barn.  They don't need humans to fret over them - in fact, if you tossed a blanket on them they might end up with pneumonia!  I know it sounds goofy, but believe me, these guys are just fine even though they're coated with snow.

This is the end of the road, so to speak, of our quest for snow.  Granpa heads back east, then south, and west over to Kingman.  We count it as a very successful day!

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In Search of Snow

Okay, kids.  You know me:  if the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain!  They're predicting a 90% chance of snow at the Grand Canyon today with accumulations of up to 10 inches, and we're ready for some serious snow!

We've been to the Canyon enough times now to be comfortable with the roadways, and we know how far it is between "help."  You also know that I go prepared.  I've loaded the van with sleeping bags and bottle water and lots of protein snacks.... All of our winter clothing is in Texas, but I bought an over-sized quilted vest.  I'll layer on some blouses, sweatshirts, hoodie and wear my high-top hiking boots topped with leg warmers. Granpa will wear his hoodie, high-tops, and he bought some fingerless gloves. So we are off to see the wizard, uh, blizzard!

We have new tires on the van, and I had the oil changed this week.  I took it to "Oil Can Henry's," and that was a (good) experience in itself.  But I know that they checked all the fluids, etc.  Granpa topped off the tanks at our Maverick service station, and as we pull onto Route 66 we find ourselves in a caravan of snowplows!  Woo-hoo!

The sky is clear, the Interstate is clear, but we have a three hour drive to the Canyon.  If it doesn't snow while we're there, that's okay because the Canyon is always a treat to the eyes.  Before we even get very far down the highway though, Granpa is stopping to take pictures.  This is just east of Kingman.  He sees snow on the mountain, and he's gotta stop just in case it's the only snow we see today.

Just before we exit the interstate at Williams we see something our vast and vivid imaginations could mistake for a volcano preparing to erupt.  John really likes these kind of pictures, but not enough to stop his quest for snow.  I boldly grab his camera and take this one.  Not bad for a point-n-shoot girl.

From Williams to the Canyon is due north, straight as an arrow - and all uphill.  It's a gradual incline, but in the hour it takes to get there we will have reached an average elevation of 8,000 feet.  (Even the bottom of the Canyon has an average elevation of 2,200 feet!)  That's certainly high enough for snow!

When we arrive there's a smattering of snow from days gone by.  Clouds are moving in, and the wind, as always, is blowing up a storm - literally.  I just don't believe Granpa could get any happier!

We head east along the rim.  If we keep going we'll come out at Page, Arizona and Antelope Canyon.  I wouldn't mind going there again!  I would bet it's magical to see snowflakes drifting down into the slot canyon!

You can see how clear it is - but that's gonna change in no time at all!!  In less than an hour's time it went from that, to this.  Yea !!!!

It was a true blizzard, and before we could drive back west and exit the park, the small snow plows were out and rangers were shutting down the roads.

But for now we continue on to Desert View.

In case you can't tell, I'm having a wonderful time!  Mountain lions are prevalent around here, but this one was unlucky enough to get got, and so I got to get up close and personal with him.  You can tell by the snow blowing horizontally that it truly was a blizzard.  The longer we were there the bigger the flakes got and the wetter they became.  John opined that maybe coming tomorrow would have been prettier, but I think not.  A blanket of snow sounds nice, but for pictures the contrast between the snow and ground or rocks or trees I like.  I do suggest we get a room and spend the night, but tomorrow is Sunday and there's no missing church for Granpa.  Besides, our Bible Study class is going out for lunch after church, and there's no missing out on that for Granpa either.

You can see that it's getting deeper by the minute, so maybe it's time to think about heading back - but Granma's got a lil' bit of shopping to do before we go.

And, yes, kids, that's your Christmas in the bag!

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The Aspen

Well, with all of the side travel I encouraged on Granpa we've managed to fritter away the whole day.  We have barely reached Sedona and the sun is beginning to set!  Granpa, still being a sweetheart, has decided we should head back to Kingman and come again some other day.  But the Lord still has some surprises for us - which I believe is His way of rewarding Granpa for his kindness and patience with me!

As we head for the interstate we come upon a grove of Granpa's most favorite tree in the whole world - especially in the Fall.  The Aspen!

The long, skinny, flexible leaf stems allow the leaves to "tremble" even in the slightest of breeze, hence the name, Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides.)  The wood of the Aspen has long been valued for it's sturdiness.  The Greek name for it, Aspis, translates to "shield," and indeed the Ancient Greeks used the Aspen for making shields.


The Aspen is seen in mountainous areas at elevations from 6,900 to 10,500 feet.  There are three different varieties of this tree.  The one most often seen in North America is the Quaking aspen.  What you see in the photo is not a stand of individual trees, it is actually a single organism because they all grow off of a single root sucker!  The aspen does flower and put out seeds in the spring, but once a seed produces a plant, it produces a stand like you see above.  The largest tree in North Dakota is70 feet tall with a canopy spread of 39 feet.

We also came up on a small pond of water close to the road and flush out a group of ducks.  Granpa got them in flight.

What a surprising, beautiful day - especially with the generosity of spirit Granpa gave to me!

If you like our blog, you can "subscribe" for free by clicking on the broadcast icon at the top right corner or by bringing out the right hand toolbar and clicking on that icon at the bottom of the list.  It will put that icon on your toolbar at the top of your browser screen.  I try to post every day - it'd be a shame for you to miss one!  On your iPhone, you can create an app by "adding to home screen," bookmark it, or add it to your Reading List, share it on Twitter or Facebook.  Any way you do it, it's free!

Sedona - At Last!

Well, the reason we started this trip was because Granpa wanted to see the leaves in Sedona.  I kinda diverted us to Tombstone, and then suggested the scenic route to Sedona.  Granpa is always up for scenic routes - and this has been surprising us at every turn.  Now we have so many turns we don't know what to do with them all!

We are now on some very twisty-turny-climbing roads through the mountains when, much to my chagrin and Granpa's slight irritation, our road has lost it's surface.  It's a dirt road!  Very well maintained, but t'aint no asphalt here!




The higher we climb the prettier the foliage though.  I still can't get over the endless mountains in Arizona.  They remind us of Colorado, and then we see some hoodoos and we remember trips to Utah, then we come out on a scenic vista that takes us back to the Carolinas...  I really do love Arizona.

Another thing we like about Arizona - and positively Kingman - is the fact that locals hop on their four-wheelers and make a run to Wal-Mart.  I'm so jealous!

Seriously, when you think of Arizona, is this scene below what you think of ???

 Finally we are high enough to start seeing some fall foliage.

But, that's not all we see!

If you like our blog, you can "subscribe" for free by clicking on the broadcast icon at the top right corner or by bringing out the right hand toolbar and clicking on that icon at the bottom of the list.  It will put that icon on your toolbar at the top of your browser screen.  I try to post every day - it'd be a shame for you to miss one!  On your iPhone, you can create an app by "adding to home screen," bookmark it, or add it to your Reading List, share it on Twitter or Facebook.  Any way you do it, it's free!