Arizona

What a glorious surprise Arizona was. I had no idea there was so much beauty, green and mountains in Arizona.

Arrival

I flew into Phoenix without any expectations. Right away I was amazed by the stark beauty of the surrounding landscape. I didn’t quite buy into the palm trees, even though they added their own style, they seemed out of place to me.

The rugged hills surrounding Scottsdale (where Mr. Fantastic was having a work conference) were intriguing, but they were not our main destination. We were headed to Sedona and the Grand Canyon. Driving north out of Phoenix the dry, rolling landscape looked as I imagined AZ to be – Saguaro cactus and all. As we continued to head north I was surprised by the number of trees and shrubs that started mixing in with the cactus. And the MOUNTAINS – range after range faded into the horizon.

Sedona

The landscape started turning orange, red and rocky announcing our arrival in Sedona. It IS as magical as you’ve heard. The desert beauty, the red rocks, the good energy, the way the whole town fades into the surrounding landscape is simply breathtaking. Sedona welcomed us with trails galore. We hiked and dined and decided we’d be back.

Next stop, the Grand Canyon

Somewhere in all my research and planning for this trip I failed to notice that the south rim of the Grand Canyon is at 6,000 feet – so, winter was in full swing. There was some snow on the ground but again we hiked, rode, hiked some more, dined and decided a rim to rim hike is in our future (our nearer future as we are not getting any younger).

The Canyon itself cannot be described with mere words typed on a screen. To say the sweeping landscape left us in awe is an understatement. We are both looking forward to getting out more embracing our health, sharing new experiences and making the most of our fantastic lives.