Arizona Road Trip:

 It has been too long since I have written on our blog.  Problems, problems, and more problems had beset it.  When I returned from our Panama Canal cruise (I forgot to post that one first!), my computer had died and we ended up buying a new Mac.  A lot has happened between  November and now and I am just getting the hang of things again.

As a reward for surviving one of the most mild winters in history, we decided that the end of February would be a good time to take a road trip to the south and visit a few sites in Arizona that we had either  never been to or that we needed to revisit.  In doing so, we have decided that Arizona is truly an enchanted land and if you can see it in the early spring when things are as lush as they can get in the deserts and the temperatures are in the 60s to 70s range you will have an amazing trip.

 Our first stop was in Page and a quick visit to Lake Powell.  Nothing, of course, was open, but the views were still great.  Yes, that is one problem with visiting areas off season.  However, that is definitely made up for by roads to yourself and off season hotel rates!

What took us here was the chance to go through Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon on the Navajo Nation.  This was new to us and in order to go through the canyon we had to make reservations and hook up with a guide for the tour of the 200 yard canyon.

 The day was overcast and I was worried about the quality of the photos I would get.  Luckily for me our guide was a photographer and quickly took my Nikon and adjusted the settings to obtain the best photos possible.  It certainly made the tour a delight as all the photos came out like the few I've added to the blog.

 When they have rain here, there can be flash floods that quickly rise as they move through the canyons.  Our guide mentioned that this year there hadn't been any of consequence but two years ago there had been flooding through the slot canyons where life had been lost.  This canyon, the upper, saw the floor of the canyon raised by five feet as the water deposited sand and debris in its wake.

 Our destination for this road trip was Tucson and the National Parks and Monuments of the Arizona deserts.  Below is a photo from Saguaro National Park just east of Tucson.  We saw monster Saguaros like the one below all across the landscape.  These cactus can grow to 70 feet and live over 200 years.
They are normally 50 years old before they produce their first bud or arm and can grow up to 20 of these during their lifetime.  This one was well up in age.  When we sent the photo out to the kids, Evan reminded us that the "arms" are known to fall and can kill anyone standing under them.  We promised ourselves to be more careful.

 The last National Monument we went to was Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument which is on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.  After we toured this Monument we drove the few miles to Lukeville and the border crossing.  As we plan to travel into the Canada this Fall we thought we needed to be able to say that we have traveled from border to border this year.

I fell in love with this area of Arizona.  The Sonoran Desert is amazing and beautiful.  In the Spring, it is at it's best and that is when I would recommend to any one to see it.  I can imagine that at the height of the summer, the heat would be unbearable.  So come in the Spring for some of the most beautiful scenery around.