Sunday 8-6

I am (we are) back in the Old Pueblo. And, it is nice to be home.

Hilda now agrees with me that you cannot describe the Grand Canyon to anyone. She had seen pictures of the Canyon all her life, seen it in movies and on TV and yet .... when she came upon it on Saturday, she was amazed, literally. I count great experiences with her by the times I have heard the words 'cool' and 'neat'. She only uses these words when she really likes something ... which is not often. This weekend, she used them lots of times ... and on Saturday she used a word (several times) that I don't think I have ever heard her use. She said "Fantastic", and I swear that I have never heard that word from her lips before. SO, ... it was worth every dime that I spent to give her the experiences that she went through and the sights she saw.

I drove in from Camp Verde today, and took Hilda to her house. We got everything that I had bought her and everything she had purchased from the trunk / backseat / glove box / suitcases et al. and put all her pictures in an album to take to work tomorrow.

I came to my place, unloaded suitcases and bags. et al and made something to eat. I am in the middle of a Swartznegger movie, checking my e-mail and relaxing.

THE TRIP
Thursday: we left Tucson in a driving rain and drove to Camp Verde where we spent the night.

Friday: we went to the Cliff Castle Casino, Montezuma Castle (ancient cliff dwellings), the Red Rock Country (Sedona), and up Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff. We got a motel and then went to see Sunset Crater ... volcano, ash mounds, and lava flows. Had a late dinner at Salsa Brava Grill in Flagstaff. I had the fantastic spinach and portabello enchiladas in a red chili sauce and Hilda had Navajo Fry Bread Tacos with shrimp and Shitake mushrooms.

Saturday: Williams, Arizona, the Ponderosa Pine forests and on to the Grand Canyon. Long day of walking and sightseeing. Dinner in Flagstaff and a drive to Camp Verde.

Sunday: Visited Fort Verde and then a drive to Tucson. Temperature was 80 in Flag, 104 in Phoenix and about 99 or so here.

A few pictures follow.

Me on the south rim at Bright Angel Trail.

Hilda at Montezuma Castle at Camp Verde, AZ

and Hilda at one of the 'Lookouts' on the south rim

See ya' Monday

Won't be on until "at least" Monday night ... have a great weekend. LFTD

G'bye

I will be leaving after work on Thursday and shall be gone until Monday morning. Any comments on this blog will not be published during that time frame. Any comment that you put on needs my O.K. before it is published ... they send me an e-mail telling me that you commented. This is done so that I may keep any profane comments, sexual comments,, et al off of this (sort of) family oriented site. My nietos (grandkids) read this BLOG when they are on-line. I realize that they hear and read and know more about life and all it's vulgarities at 11 and 15 than I did by the time I was 21 ... or older. But, as a Tata, I have to do my part.

I really am looking forward to being off for three days. I have not had that happen to me in a while ... and the last time it did, I was in Vegas with my brother and his lovely wife. This trip will not match that one for a lot of reasons ... the main one being the chance to visit with Mickey and Patricia, and being with my mom ... but I will enjoy showing Hilda her home state. Or, at least a small portion of it. I shall have e-mail/BLOG withdrawals for that time frame, but I shall continue to live (I hope).

Haiku for the trip
*****
traveling upstate
three days in northern A Z
rejuvination

*****
high elevations
forests of Ponderosa
and the Grand Canyon

*****
Friday, Camp Verde
Montezuma's Castle ruins
and then, Sedona

Slide Rock in Oak Creek
red rock vistas all around
center of good vibes

then on to Flagstaff
Sunset Crater volcano
Meteor Crater

north on Saturday
the Grand Canyon awaits us
in all it's glory

Sunday, it's over
south through Phoenix to Tucson
time to sleep at home

*****

LFTD

Verse for newcomers

The summer rains come
they fill our dry washes
rivers appear in real life
like on maps of the area
the overflow gets into fields,
and yards
and houses
but hey
who built in those areas anyway
people from back east
who know nada of the desert
then they complain on TV
about flood control
and pray for a cessation of the rain
go home non-desert lover
these rains are our life blood
without them
you'd have no golf courses
or green front lawns
or olive trees
why
if you love our desert
must you try to change her
this is not the east coast
live WITH the desert
not just
in the desert
you had water
in Illinois
and Michigan
and New Jersey
so
why did you leave
you come here
to despoil our
terrascape
and deprive the desert animals
of home
and water
and food
you want to live in the wild
but
you don't want coyotes
javelina
bobcat
or puma near
they might injure little Fifi
with her new poodle cut
or eat up your flowers
that your landscape service
planted
waters
and cares for
you sit in your closed
air conditioned
overpriced houses
and admire the desert
through locked patio doors
and triple pane picture windows
ever thought of going outside
and actually being in the desert
****
I thought not