Sun, warmth and lots of hiking is what comes to my mind. I left Winnipeg Tuesday February 28 with my girlfriend in tow. We took the scenic route to Vancouver to pick up my older sister and then on to Phoenix. I was ensuring that two people who didn't like flying made it down there.
Our first day my younger sister picks us up at the airport, my friends bag is last and she almost falls into the carousel but her bag finally comes out. Once the last of our bags are intact I text my sister to let her know what terminal and door to pick us up at, but she surprises us by coming up behind us. Our plane was late and she was worried we didn't get on the plane.
We get to the truck, and the tradition with her daughter is a can of beer on the way back, her aunty being like her, and not one to buck tradition says hell yeah and cracks the beer open.
The first evening we are treated to a home cooked meal of tacos with fabulous salsa, which reminds me of my trip to Mexico and along with taco's. We spend the evening at her place watching the movie Burlesque with Cher and Christine Arugula.
Our condo is quaint with a pool, hot tub, exercise room and pool table we will have to explore. Our first day is spent grocery shopping and shopping, bringing three tired travelers back to their condo for a good night sleep.
Day 3, we head out to a mission south of a Tucson, Tumacácori National Historical Park, have a fresh cooked tortilla with beans for a snack. The mission is old and dilapidated but they are bringing it back to life.
Mission San José de Tumacácori was established in January 1691 by Jesuit Father Eusebio Francisco Kino. Located on 310 acres at the town of Tumacácori, Arizona, it is open to the public from the Tumacácori National Historical Park visitor center.
It's back out on the road to the mission at San Xavier, what a beautiful place with a grotto and church. We have the native fry bread, which means lots of calories for this cougar, but the upcoming walk is worth the taste.
The White Dove of the Desert
A
National Historic Landmark, San Xavier Mission was founded as a
Catholic mission by Father Eusebio Kino in 1692. Construction of the
current church began in 1783 and was completed in 1797.
The
oldest intact European structure in Arizona, the church's interior is
filled with marvelous original statuary and mural paintings. It is a
place where visitors can truly step back in time and enter an authentic
18th Century space.
The church retains its original purpose of ministering to the religious needs of its parishioners.
Enormous cacti, silhouetted by the setting sun, the Giant Saguaro is the universal symbol of the American West. These majestic plants, found only in a small portion of the United States, are protected by Saguaro National Park, on the edge of the modern City of Tucson.
That ends the day and it's off to the condo for a light dinner and a hot tub.
During this vacation the cougar is chatting with a charming highlander who is off in Spain right now. This man definitely is stirring the sleeping passions within me, appealing to my romantic, sexual and adventurous side. I can hardly wait until we are both back home in Canada to see if this is a path which both wish to pursue.
Day 4 is off to Tonto National Forest for a sightseeing drive through it and a lake that is set against a beautiful Arizona backdrop.
Saguaro Lake
The Tonto National Forest, Arizona, embraces almost 3 million acres of
rugged and spectacularly beautiful country, ranging from Saguaro
cactus-studded desert to pine-forested mountains beneath the Mogollon
Rim.
A short day with a stop off at the Mesa Flea Market where any number of things can be bought. I select a pair of Arizona Desert Diamonds, pear shaped for my ears, my girlfriend has ones that look like diamond shaped ones. I also pick up two t-shirts for the grandsons. One could spend a day wandering through the flea market which has everything from clothes to jewelry to furniture.
Saturday is Day 5 and we are up early heading up north to Sedona to hike one of the vortex areas know as Bell Rock. It's a almost 3 hours drive up from Casa Grande to Sedona but well worth the trip.
Gaze through the windows of the past into one of the best preserved
cliff dwellings in North America. This 20 room high-rise apartment,
nestled into a towering limestone cliff, tells a 1,000 year-old story of
ingenuity and survival in an unforgiving desert landscape.
When we first embarked on the side trips we went in and bought a year pass which has paid for itself, and something my sister and her husband can continue to use until next March on sites around Arizona. On ward through the beautiful desert high plain and red rock formations that make Sedona and surrounding area a spectacular place to visit.
"Bell Rock is one of the most prominent Sedona vortex sites. A vortex, if you’re given to this sort of perspective, is a swirling concentration of energy emanating from the earth that can have any number of attributes, depending on what kind of vortex it is and who you talk to. Some categorize vortexes (or vortices, whatever floats your boat) as male, female or balanced, and claim that their energy can affect the human consciousness and even one’s physical body."
As soon as we exit off to turn on Hwy 179 just before the Village of Oak Creek, I get an jolt of fuzzy warm feeling flow through my body, not just the hairs of the back of my neck. This one seems to be a powerful surge of energy and I have a huge smile on my face. The cougar is not psychic by any huge means, but she does feel things from time to time and has a belief in such phenomena.
We only have 4 hours to explore this area as we are looking at a almost three hour drive home. We have decided only to hike the Bell Rock trails it also is composed of all three masculine, feminine and balance categories. We choose the shorter of the route the Big Park Loop to Courthouse Loop to Bell Rock Trail.
Saturday is Day 5 and we are up early heading up north to Sedona to hike one of the vortex areas know as Bell Rock. It's a almost 3 hours drive up from Casa Grande to Sedona but well worth the trip.
We have time to stop for a pee break and what better place to stop for a short little tour than Montezuma Castle National Monument.
When we first embarked on the side trips we went in and bought a year pass which has paid for itself, and something my sister and her husband can continue to use until next March on sites around Arizona. On ward through the beautiful desert high plain and red rock formations that make Sedona and surrounding area a spectacular place to visit.
Bell Rock
"Bell Rock is one of the most prominent Sedona vortex sites. A vortex, if you’re given to this sort of perspective, is a swirling concentration of energy emanating from the earth that can have any number of attributes, depending on what kind of vortex it is and who you talk to. Some categorize vortexes (or vortices, whatever floats your boat) as male, female or balanced, and claim that their energy can affect the human consciousness and even one’s physical body."
As soon as we exit off to turn on Hwy 179 just before the Village of Oak Creek, I get an jolt of fuzzy warm feeling flow through my body, not just the hairs of the back of my neck. This one seems to be a powerful surge of energy and I have a huge smile on my face. The cougar is not psychic by any huge means, but she does feel things from time to time and has a belief in such phenomena.
We only have 4 hours to explore this area as we are looking at a almost three hour drive home. We have decided only to hike the Bell Rock trails it also is composed of all three masculine, feminine and balance categories. We choose the shorter of the route the Big Park Loop to Courthouse Loop to Bell Rock Trail.
The day is sunny like almost every day in Arizona as we walk the loop we meet up with a couple from Winnipeg, it is the second time my girlfriend has run into someone she knew, but then lots of Canadians winter down in the sun and warmth of Arizona,
We also partake of some of the cute artwork along the trail lol
Finally at the end of the Bell Rock trail we start the climb up the rock, we could have gone higher but was not in the gear for climbing up the rock to the very top.
Still the view is spectacular as we gaze out on the area surrounding Bell Rock before we head back to the vehicle to stop somewhere for lunch.
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