Spring Break in Arizona

Here the highlights of our trip to Arizona.   I won't bore you with all of the pictures that we took (148 of them).    All of the cactus were in bloom so it was a picture takers (Me!) field day.    The main reason we went to Arizona at Spring Break was so that we could take some hikes when it wasn't too hot.    Last summer when we were there it was close to 100 degrees every day in Sedona and 110+ when we were in Scottsdale.    Much too hot to hike after 10 am.     This time the weather was perfect.   In the 60's and low 70's most of the time.    The first hike we took was the pathway near Bell Rock.     Here is a picture of Bell Rock.

Some people were going up the rock, but we stayed on flat ground.      Here is a picture of part of the Sedona landscape including Bell Rock.

This is what Sedona looks like in almost any direction, just the rocks change.    Most of the rocks have names like Bell Rock, Snoopy Rock, Cathedral Rock, Courthouse Rock, Coffeepot Rock, etc.  Lots of rocks in Sedona.  We flatland Midwesterners sometimes get caught calling them "mountains".

Our next hike was at Red Rocks State Park.   Unfortunately, Arizona has been hard hit with the recession (much like Michigan in that regard) and is closing 20 of its 29 State Parks this year.   This is one of our favorite parks and it's scheduled to close in June.    We took a Ranger guided hike here and saw some cactus blooming on the side of the rocks.

Our final hike in Sedona was to Crescent Moon Ranch Park.     Here we were on the lookout for the "most photographed site in Sedona".     This is it.

Here's a closeup of the beautiful red rocks.   All of the rocks in Sedona are this beautiful color and with 300+ sunny days the sky is almost always this color.   Love it!!!

When we left Sedona, we spent almost 2 full days in Scottsdale and we spent both of them at the Desert Botanical Gardens. The first day we also did "Jazz in the Gardens", a lovely evening under the desert sky listening to Jazz, sipping wine and nibbling on a wonderful cheese platter. Wow, what a great night that was.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and headed straight back to the gardens. This is a picture of the glass structures at the entrance to the gardens. They were done by the world famous glass sculptur, Dale Chihuly. The garden is trying to raise the funds to keep the structures there permanently.

Again, almost all of the cactus were in bloom at the Botanical Garden.     Here is a picture of the opening gardens.    The Desert Botanical Garden is a fabulous place and very large.    We never get tired of going there.

OK, I can't resist....   Here's a saguaro cactus shaped collage of ALL of the 100 photos we took at the botanical garden.    If you want to see it larger, just click on the picture.