Category Archives: Uncategorized

It’s still grand….

February 14, 2019 Rivergirl 31 Comments

Do you ever have those silly arguments with your significant other? (You know the ones… they’re always wrong, but don’t want to admit it.)

oikjuhbg

When we left Mather’s Point at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon I wanted to turn right and explore various points on the rim trail. He wanted to turn left and drive 20 miles to the watchtower, then 20 miles back to explore the rest and then repeat the first 20 miles because we’d be exiting that way. This made no sense, but he did it anyway because he was driving.

A mile or so down the road?

Even the weather knew I was right.

sowo7

We turned around.

If you’ve never been to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (Go! What are you waiting for?) it’s set up something like this – long main road with lots of pullouts for scenic views. Some are large with parking lots, monuments and information placards… some just small vacant outcrops.

We hit them all…. and the husband was like a kid in a candy store.

Awed.

The experience makes you feel small, insignificant.

And that’s not always a bad thing…

At Maricopa Point we read some history…

Climbed a lot of stairs.

Admired the view.

Not bad.

Not bad at all…

Read some more history…

And I answered…

When the husband asked if I wanted to go down and join those hikers on the trail.

See those little specks?

Hikers.

Hell, with his habit of always wanting to go the wrong way?

We’d never find our way back out.

Uncategorized

It was aptly named….

February 13, 2019 Rivergirl 32 Comments

Day 9 of our trip arrived and we headed north west out of Sedona.

Which pretty much looked like this….

For miles on end.

Our destination?

And I was seriously hoping we wouldn’t find the golden arches at the bottom.

It was a little over a 2 hour ride, and then we saw…

Hey, Fred. Long time no see…. say hello to Wilma for us.

And finally, we were there.

The Grand Canyon has always been on the top of husband’s bucket list. Me? Not so much, but he was happy… which made me happy.

And that’s what marriage is all about.

marriage-is-simple-memes

Well, yes.

That too.

Our first stop at the Canyon was the visitors center because…. well… a 2 hour ride and a quart and a half of Gatorade do not mix.

Naturally, it was closed due to the government shutdown and I had to pee behind a bush. (Not like it was the first time, and no… there aren’t any photos)

Let me take a minute to give a shout out to all the Park Rangers and volunteers who kept the Grand Canyon National Park open for tourists like us who had traveled a long way to be there. We appreciated it.

You rock!

So we walked… and yes, that’s snow.

We came, we saw, we froze.

Like idiots we picked the coldest day of our trip to visit, and it was a good 20 degrees cooler at the canyon due to the elevation.

Windy?

Uh, yeah…..

But we didn’t care.

We were at the Grand Canyon…

And it was grand.

Yes, it’s a giant hole in the ground….

But oh, what a glorious hole it is.

black-lady-confused-face-wait-what-meme

First stop was Mather’s Point..

Which was pretty spectacular.

And even though I never really thought I wanted to be there?

Once I was…

I didn’t want to be anywhere else.

I fear I’m going to run out of adjectives long before I run out of pictures.

Because it was just that good!

And though my photos and videos will never do it justice?

I’m going to flood you with them anyway…

It’s what I do.

So… bloggers?

Brace-yourself-Winter

Grand Canyon is coming.

Uncategorized

Ravens, balls, and a giant chicken.

February 12, 2019 Rivergirl 31 Comments

In other words, a post with random photographs that don’t merit their own blog.

IMG_3007 (1)

Have I mentioned that driving around Sedona, Arizona is beautiful?

IMG_3006 (1)

Well, it is.

Majestic. Grand. And at times breathtaking …

imagesSTU4ND1S

Yeah, it really does.

We drove, we explored… and never knew what was around the next bend.

Sometimes it was giant chickens.

Other times, rocks that wore hair nets.

We saw houses built on every imaginable rock ledge..

And ravens.

Ravens everywhere….

“Often honored among Native American medicine & holy men for its shape-shifting qualities, the Raven was called upon in ritual so that visions could be clarified. Native holy men understood that what the physical eye sees, is not necessarily the truth, and he would call upon the Raven for clarity in these matters.

Foremost, the Raven is the Native American bearer of magic, and a harbinger of messages from the cosmos. Messages that are beyond space and time are nestled in the midnight wings of the Raven and come to only those within the tribe who are worthy of the knowledge.”

I don’t know how magical they were… or what message they were bringing.

But the owner of this truck left his garbage bags in the bed.

Bad idea.

Very bad…

On the way to Flagstaff, we crossed a bridge…

And I saw a giant silver eagle perched on a store filled with Indian jewelry.

I pointed.

I yelped.

I might have squeeeed in delight.

And the husband read my subtle display as a signal to stop.

The large silver deer was equally as impressive… and then we went inside.

Holy Mother of God…. it was divine! Case after case of stunning Native American silver and stone jewelry from every artist and tribe imaginable. I’d been wanting to bring a nice piece home with me and hit the jackpot here as far as selection. I happily roamed the aisles, eyes bugging out with glee and tried to decide which little lovely would be riding my wrist, finger or ears in the near future.

(No pictures allowed, sorry)

I finally narrowed it down to 3 pieces. Earrings, a ring and a necklace. I could feel the husband sweating from across the room… and I knew the wallet was going to take a hit, but come on. I’m worth it.

You know what? I’m not.

Not even close.

Earrings? $2,100

Ring? $3,200

Necklace? (I think the husband may have fainted as this point) $5,450

Yeah. For silver.

The prices were enough to make even me gulp.

And leave empty handed.

Now…

Can we talk about balls for a minute?

I’m seeing balls in every resort we visit.

imagesZ1NPSGYF

Balls in every shape, size, texture and color.

Yes, balls.

I’m not saying this is a bad thing, just wondering why everyone has suddenly jumped on the balls bandwagon.

Uncategorized

Random rocks.

February 11, 2019 Rivergirl 18 Comments

Beautiful Ygritte Meme Game of Thrones Fantasy Football Team Names

Oh sure, you’re fine if Jon Snow presents them.

After hiking Red Rocks State Park, we drove around and looked at….

Rocks!

(Come on, were you really expecting anything else?)

23ky9t_grande

We did pass this….

Whatever this was.

Is he climbing in.. or out?

Who cares?

It’s weird… and built with red rocks. That’s enough for me.

c2e6b2613659025d93256cfce7003cf6--rock-meme-rock-painting

Yeah, probably.

As we were driving, a storm started brewing…

The eerie kind…

Where the light takes on that spooky, it’s time to rock and roll! hue.

The colors were amazing.

By the time we got to uptown Sedona…

It was raining…

And the pink jeep tour people were wrapped in plastic.

Untitled

Not really….

Saran Wrap was never my color.

Uncategorized

A Red Rocks washout…

February 10, 2019 Rivergirl 28 Comments

After our fruitless climb and search for the Apache Fire House, we kept walking.

Trying to avoid my husband’s Kryptonite. Seriously, any interaction with this evil plant sends my other half to the emergency room.

And he gets it everywhere.

Need I say more?

We walked some easy paths….

And some that lead to benches.

Personally, I think I could have found that without a stone rimmed path… but I’ve always been good with directions.

And in the distance? That damned house we couldn’t find…

I mean, crikey!

It was right there.

But we found interesting tree bark… so smooth and spotted, it almost looked painted.

Yes, that’s how boring these posts have become.

I’m talking about tree bark.

imagesH821OK86

We found a classroom…

Where the husband waited in vain for a teacher.

Then scanned our information leaflet and found another trail that would eventually lead to the Apache Fire House. I said, “Let’s go!”

No ruined shell of a building was going to beat me.

But of course…

It did.

And I learned that the least amount of rain can cause flash floods and washouts in this part of the world.

So I admitted defeat, cursed the house we couldn’t reach…..

curse-words-meme

And called it a day.

We walked past an outdoor arena…

Back to the visitor center…

Found a hummingbird garden with no hummingbirds….

And a strawberry hedgehog cactus…

That looked nothing like a strawberry or a hedgehog.

h581D8936

Exactly.

Uncategorized

The Red Rocks trail to nowhere….

February 9, 2019 Rivergirl 18 Comments

Entering Red Rocks State Park…

It was almost 60 degrees.

At what point do you think they remove that sign?

There was a long bridge…

Over what we in Maine would call a stream.

We walked….

Not always on the trails.

I spotted part of the Apache Fire House…

IMG_2913 (1)

And said wth.

It’s right there, let’s go take a look.

So we walked on paths.

And through the woods.

Sometimes literally.

We climbed.

And climbed.

And I wondered where the hell we were going because it was right there.

When we got near the top of the Apache Fire Trail?

Named for the Apache Fire House?

The damned thing was way the hell on the other side.

h8E35C924

I know!

Somewhere, some evil trail planner was doing this….

Without giving a thought to the poor flatlander lady tourist who had altitude sickness and no booze.

We climbed up a little higher…

But still couldn’t get to it.

Yeah. Kind of like that…

Except your feet hurt and you’re out of breath.

Granted, down was easier than up.

Probably because I was busy envisioning the trail planner’s fiery demise with every step…

I hardly even appreciated all the wonderful red rocks.

5a65b424484e2

My bad.

Uncategorized

Red Rock State Park

February 8, 2019 Rivergirl 17 Comments

After a disappointing morning where everything I wanted to see was closed by the shutdown, we ditched the National Sites idea and found a nice (open) fully staffed state park.

Yes, more rocks.

14d5b09e0a006e650431219ed3f6f584aefbd8520b75670d6fac8a49971b7d25

Exactly!

Our first stop was the visitors center,

Which was a pretty impressive group of rocks in and of itself.

Inside?

IMG_2832 (1)

Well…. rocks.

Shocked

But hey… there were fun rocks as well.

Can you read the petroglyph?

I’m a little rusty, but I think it says if you follow the river..apply heavy mascara.. do a couple of dizzy Izzy’s.. you’ll find a bug. They also spelled whom incorrectly.

There was information about a rock house…

IMG_2836 (1)

And about different rock layers…

images1SKR19PI

Hang on… this will make you smile.

There was a photographic middle finger to tease me with the places we tried to go that morning but couldn’t.

Rude rocks.

That’s different, right?

bd33f72d0a7c7cd5f136c26bbabd4fb9326305dc3252c462c6141bb08b81e5d9

Damn. This is a tough crowd…

But look.

There were bugs!

Apparently my glyph translating skills weren’t as rusty as I’d thought.

Heading back outside, we found a rock hummingbird that seemed to be pointing me towards….

A big Prickly Pear cactus….

From whence all wonderful margaritas grow.

*sob*

Did I mention there were rocks?

And they were red?

Some even looked like giant eyeballs.

I spotted the Apache Fire House off in the distance…

While the husband read the history and laughed that the couple divorced before it was finished.

I laughed harder because the wife got the house.

And then we started hiking…

Uncategorized

And on the 8th day, the government starts screwing with our vacation…

February 7, 2019 Rivergirl 20 Comments

The next morning was a bit of a bust.

It started out with breakfast at a place called the Coffee Pot.

The Coffee Pot had…..

Antique coffee pots.

And was located on…

Coffee Pot Drive.

While you don’t often see that kind of symmetry in life, I think the road sign was probably tastier than our meals.

The husband’s pancakes could have been used as bicycle tires, and my sausage biscuits and gravy? Had no sausage. Blech!

The plan for the day was to check out the Indian ruins, petroglyphs and cliff dwellings that dot the landscape in this part of the world.

Leaving Sedona the clouds were hanging low.

Which made for some nice scenic shots.

Before long we arrived at destination #1…

Montezuma’s Castle.

And found a locked gate.

Destination #2?

Yeah.

Another locked gate due to the government shutdown.

I said it.

They didn’t.

This was all we got to see.

I gave up on the petroglyphs as they were National sites as well. Stupid shutdown! Bad enough we had no paycheck… but now they were screwing with our vacation plans.

Back in the car for the return trip to Sedona.

And let me tell you, Kokopelli may rule the Indian tchotchkes market…

But Starbucks rules the world.

Since the husband never likes to take the same route back, we ended up on some middle of nowhere road with questionable directional signs.

See the arrow?

It’s pointing off the side of a cliff.

We may have been tourists, but even we didn’t fall for that.

(Fall. Get it?)

the-lie-detector-n95fdd

No, but I try.

Uncategorized

Uptown Sedona, where I meet a prickly footed lizard.

February 6, 2019 Rivergirl 39 Comments

After checking in to our new resort, we decided to enjoy the beautiful day and take a walk around uptown Sedona… an area filled with shops, restaurants, street performers and the occasional lizard. Who knew?

It’s a lovely spot with a stunning red rock backdrop.

I have no idea what these were… and was almost afraid to ask.

But there was a large horse…

With a really large gun and a Christmas wreath.

This fellow drew a crowd by twirling a length of PVC pipe.

12345

I spotted my first roadrunners…

Sadly, they were metal and wearing bandanas.

This t shirt seemed appropriate considering our current political climate.

I wanted to buy this one. It reminded me of my misspent youth, but the husband was not amused.

And then, as we were walking by a large group of people….

Someone handed me a gecko.

Why? I’m not quite sure…

But he was lovely, with prickly little feet.

And I kind of hated to give him back.

Moving on, the husband tried his hand at whatever this was. The results were not audio worthy, trust me.

We found an extremely jarring bright green patch of astroturf in front of a pizza parlor and could only ask… why?

And then some hot pink Javelinas with White Walker eyes. (Game of Thrones reference. Winter is Coming!)

They were displayed in front of the Pink Adventure Center whose bright pink Jeeps you can’t escape in Sedona. They’re everywhere and specialize in off road tours of the red rocks. I seriously wanted to take one, but the husband was not in the least bit interested.

Boo husband.

On the way to lunch. we passed this woman who clearly had been shopping too long….

It took a while to choose, but when I saw the chicken (Goose? Dinosaur?) tracks…

I knew I’d found a suitable place.

We sat outside.

With a killer view.

I got a little teary eyed at not being able to order the Prickly Pear Margarita.

Because yes … I was still observing the doctor’s alcohol ban, dammit.

The husband ordered the massive Southwest Chicken salad..

While I had a lovely patty melt and sweet potato fries.

After eating, we bid farewell to the Buffalo…

And I choked back a sob as we passed the bar…

(Okay, I may have openly wept. I’m not proud of it.)

And we headed back to the resort.

Passing more decoratively painted Javelinas.

Who knew they were so stylish?

Uncategorized

Arroyo Roble Resort….

February 5, 2019 Rivergirl 22 Comments

Resort #2 was a bit different than the first, and quite different from what we’re used to when we time share travel.

At first, I was disappointed to find it was directly off the main drag of Uptown Sedona. We tend to like quiet, out of the way places.

But as we turned down the driveway, past a large Best Western…

It was like another little world.

Tucked away at the bottom of the hill, and sitting at the base of the canyon… it was remarkably quiet. We checked in… and to our delight, got none of the usual high pressure “Come tour our property! We’ll give you $100 in restaurant coupons if you sit through our mind numbingly boring hour and a half presentation.” We didn’t have to repeatedly say no, because they never asked. Matter of fact, you couldn’t buy one of these units if you wanted to, they’re all sold. This is an older resort, and family run…. which is highly unusual. The staff was wonderfully attentive, and we received a complete bath towel change in the middle of the week. (Trust me, that’s huge!)