Red Rocks and Pointy Plants

Wonderful Guy and I took a mid-winters break, and with a long week-end, traveled south to Sedona, AZ, mid-February.  There, for two blissful days, we enjoyed blue skies and 70 degrees (F…25C), made all the sweeter by the sub-zero temps we suffered through earlier in the week.  No coats, and a tank top for me!

We sported a bit of pink skin tones upon our return to the more northern climes.  It was a really wonderful break, even if the temps at home were hovering around the unseasonably toasty 60’s!

Ah well…so it goes for where we live, and one of the reasons we love it here.

We were not in Sedona long, but saw some spectacular scenery, and hiked a bit, and tried to capture some of the landscape in a photo or two.

One afternoon, we took in the tourist strip of shops, and came upon a plaque outside a restaurant called ‘The Cowboy Corral’ (or Cowboy something or other).  Seems this place was a local watering hole back in the late 50’s-early 60’s when Sedona was just a wide spot in the road.  There were more than 50 westerns filmed in the area around there and many of the stars wet their whistle, after the days work, at this local tavern…personages like John Wayne, et al.  After the heyday of the western, the tavern declined until it was bought and restored and all fixed up maybe 10 or 15 years ago…

Now I will admit I am a bit fuzzy on that last part, because after reading that part about filming the western?  I was all Heck, yeah!  I knew all this looked sort of kind of familiar.  I could just see those guys on horse back in all their stereotypical gear, being filmed riding at the base of the towering rocks, by a camera crew panning back.

Because we flew out at the crack of dawn on Monday, we drove to Phoenix on Sunday.  We decided to drive down early enough to take in the Desert Botanical Gardens.  Glad we did so in February.  I bet that place is an oven later in the season…well, like most of Arizona is, I reckon.

The founders of the Phoenix gardens, back in the ‘30s, decided to be a Desert Botanical Garden, so it is all desert plants, cacti, agave, desert sage, and such.  Very different, and very interesting.  There were some blooms, and we saw some critters…lizards, ground squirrels, and a hummingbird…it was a neat place to spend the afternoon.

Agave

Saguaro

Bird on Organ Cactus

Artsy Aloe