Photo 365 a day: January 2011

Friday, January 14, 2011

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Back to Ottawa today. This is the fountain at the Scottsdale Resort & Conference Center where we stayed for our last night.

It was a great week. Lots of driving - we must have put 2000 miles on the rental! And we are planning to return at some time in the future.

Friday, December 17, 2010

I wanted to be up for sunrise this morning and we were outside waiting for the fog to lift. It was COLD and icy on the walking paths. BUT the wait was worth it. What do you think?

The above was at about 8AM. Next photo was about 1/2 hour later:

And with that, we headed back to Phoenix. We made another stop at a Diners, Drive Ins and Dives restaurant when we arrived back in Phoenix - Thee Pitts, Again. Best Pulled Pork I've ever had!

We fly home tomorrow!

It was a toss up today whether we were going to make the drive north and up to the Grand Canyon as last night they were forecasting 10-15 INCHES of snow for the Flagstaff area. But when we got up in the morning the weather had been revised to wet flurries so we decided to try and get there. We set out west towards Williams AZ just in case the roads were bad and we could then turn tail and head back to Phoenix. The weather was snowy as you can see.

We got to the Grand Canyon Park around 11AM and it was only raining there. I managed to get a few shots of it but then it started to snow and visibility went down to zero. So we had lunch and explored the hotel, the El Tovar.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

We hit the road early this morning after a quick coffee at our hotel in Flagstaff. We headed out east to as I wanted to see "The Corner" in Winslow and we had also wanted to see the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. Along the way we passed a sign that said "Meteor Crater" so we pulled off, crossed over the cattle grid (wondering why that was there just at the exit to the interstate) and came across these cattle just loose in the fields.

The Meteor Crater was all fenced in and a VERY steep entrance fee, so we opted to pass it up and drove back out to the interstate and onward to Winslow.

Winslow was a very depressing sight. Most of the dusty town is boarded up with a few businesses in operation, probably cashing in on the old Eagles song that made it famous (other than the rail yards).

We also had to swing by Holbrook, AZ to see the WigWam Motel.

And then on to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.

This is Andy along Route 66!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

We were up early this morning to drive north to Flagstaff. Along the way, we took a detour through Sedona. Wow!! It was worth the drive! We had lunch in Sedona and then had a look around the town. When we stopped at the tourist information booth, the guide advised us that if we weren't familiar with the canyon roads up to Flagstaff, make sure that we did it with plenty of daylight hours to spare. We were so glad we listened to him. These are a few of the tight curves and twists in this road:

It was a harrowing drive and I'm sure the steering wheel has Andy's fingernail impressions still in it. But he got us safely to Flagstaff. We hit one of the restaurants recommended on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" called Brandy's Bakery & Cafe. Yummy! I had the best Tequila Lime Chicken that I have ever eaten. The restaurant is in a nondescript strip mall, not the best looking from outside, but what a great meal and friendly staff. Even the owner came out to say Hi and see how we liked our meal and then he told us his only Canadian joke.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Monday, December 13, 2010

Andy woke me up at 5.30AM this morning with a surprise. We were going on a hot air balloon ride for our 20th Anniversary and we had to be in the front lobby by 6.30AM. Apparently morning are the best for balloon rides. It was breathtaking! And the champagne gourmet breakfast after wasn't too shabby either! Here we are just before takeoff!

This is a shot of the other hot air balloon just eclipsing the sun. Our landing was upright to start, but there was a bit of a breeze coming up and the pilot had a hard time keeping the basket level, and we ended up on the side! No harm done!

In the afternoon we headed off to explore the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum at Taliesin.

We wanted to be sure to catch the light show at the Phoenix Zoo, so we headed back to our hotel for a quick rest and then on to the Zoo. The zoo was decorated with 1,000,000's of Christmas lights in all sorts of animal shapes.

It was a fun day. Tomorrow we head north to Flagstaff!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Andy's friend Joe and his wife Iridia volunteered to show us around Phoenix on Sunday. Joe & Iridia moved there about 6 years ago. They went for a one week holiday, bought a house while there and moved!

We went to Phoenix South Mountain Park for an afternoon. After a treacherous drive up to the top of Signal Hill, we were amazed at the view! And I had to take a gravol to drive back down .....it was horrible!

While we were up there, some people were parachuting off the side of the mountain......