the Stowell's: Our trip to Arizona

Last week we spent some time in Arizona visiting some good friends and even though we had a rocky start to our vacation, it was a wonderful, welcomed change of pace! Who would have thought that our flight cancellation/re-route would have allowed us to fly into Denver on our way to Phoenix?! Not only did we have a layover in Denver but it was a 4 hour layover at that AND the best part, we got to have New Year’s Eve dinner with my parents and extended family!!! What a way to ring in the New Year, right???

Our trip to Arizona was a first for me as well as for Blaykleigh (obviously) … and as silly as this may sound, I never really expected to see as many cactuses or is it cacti … eh, tomato tomahto. But my word, they are everywhere and they are ginormous!!! Did you know that it takes between 60 and 75 years for a cactus to grow it’s first arm and that they can live up to 200 yrs+? If you can’t tell, I was in complete awe of the cactuses/cacti that colonize the desert land. But I won’t bore you with anymore of the facts.

Saguaro Cactus

The views of Arizona are different than that of which I am used to but nothing less that beautiful. Rocky mountains (as in texture, not the actual Rocky Mountains … just so we are clear) surround you there, everywhere you turn you will see mountains!

We went up to Sedona on our last full day there and within 2 hours we went from a desert-mountainous terrain to beautiful “Red Rock Country”; passing along the way, mountains covered in Pine trees. Our plan was to hike the West Fork Trail (link) in Oak Creek for a few hours but we didn’t get very far in before the entire trail was iced over and decided it was best to turn around. Nevertheless, the little time spent there, along with the scenic drive made it well worth it in my book!

Fun fact: As early as 1895, Lou Thomas turned Bear Howard’s cabin into a two-story hunting fishing lodge. It was there that Zane Grey was inspired to write his book Call of the Canyon, which he turned into Sedona’s first movie. In 1925, the property was sold to Carl Mayhew who operated it as Mayhew’s Lodge. It became a favorite destination for prominent movie stars, politicians, and writers. Guests included Lord Halifax, President Herbert Hoover, Clark Gable, Susan Hayward, Cesar Romero, Jimmy Stewart, Walt Disney, and Maureen O’Hara. The U.S. Forest Service acquired the property and made plans to renovate the structure, but tragically the lodge burned to the ground in 1980.

(http://zenofzann.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/photomatix-v4-mayhew-lodge-in-bw/)