Last Full Day in Arizona

June 1st 2006, the Last Full Day in Arizona with The Parents

On our last full-funfilled day, we decided to go up Oak Creek Canyon, to Walnut Creek Canyon and Slide Rock Canyon. This would be the last full day that we would have in Arizona, so we wanted to make the best of it. The next day would be going back to the airport and flying out kind of early, and getting home late that evening. We had a wedding that we were going to the day after that, and we wanted to be somewhat rested for it.

But for today, we wanted to go to some places that we had not been to yet, including the drive up from Sedona to Flagstaff. The road up is Route 89a and the area is called Oak Creek Canyon. There are tons of hiking trails along the road, and you have to have a state pass when you park along the road. We did not have one, as we really did not stop for very long, but when Sasha and I come here again, we will definitely get one.

I will try to deal with the fact that blogger only allows about 4 pictures for each post, so actually, I am going to try something new, this is from ImageShack.us: a website for people with lots of pictures.

This picture is supposed to be of Snoopy as he is lying down on the dog house. Sasha, of course, said it was something else entirely, but I won't put that into a family oriented post.

Here we are at the beginning of Oak Creek Canyon at the Visitor Center (Dad took the picture, it is Sasha, Laura and Mom in the picture.) There were tons of people here, which is kind of interesting as it was a week day. There were Indians selling jewelry and t-shirts plus other knick-knacks at this stop. It seemed a little weird to me that they would be selling here, but people obviously do it, and they set up and take down every day.

Here is a picture looking down into the canyon, lots of trees and very little water. We were looking over the edge and it was cooler here than in Sedona. We are starting to go up in elevation and that is good, as it gets cooler as we go.

These pictures are hosted by ImageShack.us, and I believe that you can click on the picture and see the full version of it. We shall see.
The red rocks of Sedona as we pass by.

It was interesting that I really did not want to look down too far, because if you went over the edge, no one would even know or come down after you, it was so far down.

I am noticing that the thumbnails on ImageShack are a little smaller than on Blogger, but again, if you click on them, it will show the larger picture.

This picture shows the road, but we first thought it was the creek, but it is too big.

At the overlook, it was very windy. Dad took this picture.

This is the road that we were just on, very curvy and there were quite a few people on the road. But Imagine if it was a weekend? Then there would be lots more. This road strongly suggests that you do not ride your bikes on it, as people have been hit.

We managed to get some one to take our picture after we took theirs. So here we all are at the overlook. It was starting to get crowded, so after this picture, we headed back to the car and kept going up the canyon to the next stop.

Well, I am totally psyched, this ImageShack and Blogger seem to be working well together. I might have to go to a library and see if the wireless system works as easy as this does, because I would rather not change companies and blogging systems if I do not have to. I know, I know, I am a little wishy washy in this regard, I keep trying to figure out what is best, but truly, if you go back to all the posts and pictures, there is quite a lot here, and I do not really want to post somewhere else, because I would have to re-do everything, ug, that would be DAYs of work. And this is supposed to be fun.

Here is Mom and the Map of the Canyon. The signs here are much more worn than in the other places, maybe because this is state run rather than nationally run. I am not sure, I actually could be wrong about that, but these are made of wood and the others are made of plastic or metal, as you will see in earlier and later posts. So don't know, no clue, but it is interesting to ponder.

This is the last picture of the canyon that we took at this overlook, and then we went on to Walnut Creek.

Walnut Creek

Just for the fun of it, I will try to keep all of this day on one post. I have been saving it after every few pictures, and everything seems to be working, but I still get a little worried. But hey, that is the fun of it too, to learn something new on how to do things, right?
Walnut Creek is another Indian Ancient Site (I don't really like to call them history sites as an anthropologist once told me that history was the time that people would write things down and before that is considered prehistory.) So these sites are considered prehistoric, before writing.
The Sinagua Indians at Walnut Canyon NM are talked about in this next picture, and like I stated before, this sign is metal, instead of wood. It is much easier to read and people can not deface it as easy as the wood. (NM means National Monument from the picture above.)Looking over the edge, it is a long way down to the canyon. Back when the Indians lived there full time, the creek did have water, but now there is a dam upriver, so the creek became a dry stream. Another view of the canyon and again the long way down. You can also see the layered rocks from here, where there is different types of geology going on, way back before the Indians arrived here. There are brochures describing the geology of the area, but just for fun, I will put some info here, so you can know about it. (I used to work as a Geologist, seems almost like another lifetime ago.)
Way back - about 277 Million Years Ago, this area was a desert, with sand dunes, along a coast. It became hard after continual deposits of sand dune on sand dune, with some other materials thrown in, and because sandstone. Then there was a thin layer where there was missing time - geologists call this an unconformity (basically, they have no idea what was going on during this time - using a long word makes them look smart!)

Then, above the sandstone and the missing time is limestone, which formed because there was a shallow ocean that existed in this area, and the skeletons of the animals in that sea were from calcium carbonate. The skeletons fell to the floor of the sea and became limestone. Some of the larger creatures, such as animals like clams and sponges, also existed here. This is the layer that was used to make the homes for the Indians later on.



It seems very important to stay on the trail here:

Schnebly Road Again

Schnebly Road Again

I guess you could say we really like this road, maybe because each time we go, we see something different. This time around we saw elk or moose, can't remember which ones they are, plus the light looked different and the marshmellows and pancakes were more visible in the light. We checked out the campground near the road, and found it to be ok, but there are people that stay there year-round, I'm sure. It almost seems like a motor park rather than a campground. But the office was closed and there was no literature on the prices outside, so we could not even pick up some info about it. But here is The Road again, so that you can see it.

Also, about the Moose/Elk - NO I did not get out of the car and NO they were not that close. I used the zoom on my handy-dandy camera and then used software to really zoom in. So it might actually look a little fuzzy if you zoom into it. They kept walking behind trees and I kept taking pictures until I could get one that I could use. The moose were up in the higher elevations not down by the mudpies and marshmellows. At the higher elevations, you have pine trees and mushrooms and at the lower elevations you have cactus and bugs.

Dead Horse Ranch State Park

Dead Horse Ranch State Park

After our ride on the ATVs, we got back in the car and checked out Dead Horse Ranch State Park. This is definitely a park that Sasha and I would come back to with our camper, as it had a beautiful lake and great amenities, like clean bathrooms and good campsites. Plus, there are quite a few different types of birds and wildlife, which keeps it interesting. I saw a roadrunner and tried to get its picture, of course, it kept running away. But the lake was so beautiful, I kept taking pictures of it. Also, there were two or three camphosts at this park, I guess because it is so spread out. The last picture can only sort of capture the beauty, the reflections on the water.

After this, we went to back to Schnebly Road again, so please check out the top post to see some cool pictures.

ATVing with The Parents Part II

ATVing with The Parents Part II

The line-up was the trail person, then my Dad, then Mom, then Laura, then Sasha. Sasha has a flag on the back of his ATV so that the guide could see how everyone is doing; and Sasha is not allowed to go ahead of anyone else. Since he is the most experienced we figured it was best that he was in the back, otherwise he might leave us in the dust. So I was the only one that had the camera, and so a couple of these pictures are of Mom's back. Of course, I got Sasha too, as he was riding along side of me. And the guide also took some pictures of us.

After the ride we went off on another road trip to Dead Horse State Park (which was close-by) so check out the next post to see those pictures. And no, there are not any dead horses.

ATVing with The Parents

ATVing with the Parents (Part I)

I was not sure if my parents were going to do this with us, when we first mentioned it to them. Sasha wanted to go ATVing and we were able to find a company that could do it mid-week. We had suited up and got helmets and gloves, and I was a little worried for me, but mostly for my parents. I need not have worried of course, as they did great. Mom kept looking out for rocks and swerved once in a big way, but did not tip over or anything-although my heart went to my mouth on that one, she was OK and enjoying herself. Way to go Mom and Dad! So check out the pictures that we have for that ride.

more pictures of Mingus Mountain

we shall see if these pictures post.

Unbelievable, this one did so I will put in a few more.

Looking out the window, seeing the world fly by.

Hopefully not too fast as it is a long way down!

You can see them barely, but there are donkeys in this picture. They are tethered to the tree so that they won't wander away but I still think it is not good for them, there is hardly any shade.

This is the road that we just came up. And will go back down later.

Well, it looks as though I can put more pictures into Blogger, so I shall to do so.