From Arizona, with love. 🙂
This is not the amazing David Muench and his portrayal of beautiful Arizona, but my first attempt to capture and share some breathtaking views with you: Watson Lake, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Sedona Red Rocks. Arizona, the land of over a million of giant saguaros, the organ pipe cactus, the Kaibab squirrel, the red rocks, the canyon that can be seen from outer space, copper mining, 18 national monuments – more than any other state!, and the highest quality durum wheat in the world – yes, believe it or not! This is the state that still has a village where mail is delivered by mule, and an oldest village settlement in America. Big skies. And brightest of the stars.
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Oh Yah! Did you go to the Grand Canyon? We went a couple years ago. It had been years since I was there. Honestly, I was hyperventilating as I walked up to the fence at the edge. There’s no way to describe it, is there? Love Sedona but really loved Monument Valley. And the Navajo reservation where there are more loose dogs than almost anywhere on the planet and neat as a pin ranchos where the Natives live. That tree was living and I wonder what it’s life was like. What insects landed on it. What birds roosted in its branches.
Thanks, Renee. We went to Grand Canyon in April. It was amazing, even though we were there just for a day while passing from Utah canyons into California. We got there after just seeing magnificence of Bryce and Zion, and still, I stood on the edge and wept. This time, we are just 2 hours away, so we can visit again. I swore to myself, that when kids are a bit bigger, I will take them camping and hiking in the canyons. Would like to check out Monument Valley too, as well as Salt Creek Canyon. Drove through Jerome, and that was an interesting sight. I need you as my tour guide!! 🙂
Oh we think it is fabulous! We drove through from the southern rim via Monument valley up to Moab, giving all the NPs a visit along the way. And then round over the “top” to Bryce and Zion before heading back to Sin city. It was unforgettable!
Thank you! Sounds like a great route. Enjoy your travels!
Wonderful photos. I’ve never been to any of those places, and of course they’re on “the list.” Whether I’ll get there is a bit of a question, but in the meantime, I can enjoy your photos and descriptions. It looks like a great trip, especially for the kids.
In a weird bit of proof that what goes around comes around, I returned from my recent trip to the midwest with a huge hank of buffalo fur pulled right off one of the creatures for me. If you’ve seen my “Human for Halloween” post, it was Gene the Buffalo Wrangler who got it — right out of a truck window. This life is amazing.
Thanks, Linda! I will check out your post and catch up with your travels now that we rested up a bit. Very neat about buffalo! Near Branson MO, the owner and CEO of Bass Pro Shops created a 10,000 acre nature preservation called Dogwood Canyon. They have a herd of 30-40 buffalo and then elk and some roaming there, and kids loved it.
Arizona looks beautiful, I might go for spring break 😍
https://alesiasaffordableadventures.wordpress.com/
Thank you, and that sounds like a great plan! Enjoy your journeys.
Hey Bee 🙂
Your panoramic photographs of Nature’s antiquated, sun-scorched wilderness are wonderfully rich and inspiring, and so very easy to get ‘lost within’. She is intoxicating, her vision overwhelming, her sovereignty undisputable. Brightest stars indeed…how I love her so 🙂
Hoping all is well Bee 🙂
Namaste
DN – 26/11/2016
Thank you, Dewin. Her patience is beyond our understanding, to replace every cell of a tree with a mineral over millions of years! May your love for Nature light the way out of the dark times.
Peace,
Kristina
Thank you Bee 🙂
Fossilised trees with ancient memories,
of once waiting for rain to fall.
Petrified trees with eternal reveries,
of still waiting for rain to fall.
Have a wonderfully bizzy week 🙂 Take care.
Namaste
DN – 27/11/2016
Thank you for your beautiful gifts of poetry.
🙂 thank you Bee
Quite exceptional photographs, dear Kristina, for which many thanks. I visited Arizona back in the eighties when I used to visit the States frequently, but have only been to Arizona once. With very best wishes, Hariod.
Thank you, Hariod. I will send your wishes to these beautiful canyons and pine woods, and the birds that sound so different than out east. Enjoy your holiday season! Warmest greetings,
Kristina
Love those great shots and, especially, that amazing petrified wood! 🙂
That petrified wood is truly amazing, kids loved it more than anything else. To think that the rock took a shape of once living tree, it baffles my mind.
A little warmth and sunshine for my day. Thank you for the gift of beauty !
Thanks, Nicole. May your days be sunny, warm, and light! ❤ Now if I could only send you some vanilla and butterscotch scent of these magnificent Ponderosa pines. 🙂 I sit on the porch with my coffee, hugging the Ponderosa for breakfast.
Ahhh, sunny and warm have picked up and moved south for the winter. Southern Ontario is reliably cloudy, damp and cold this time of year. I’ll have to put some vanilla in the candles :).
You may lose your way back to Mad River…
You are good, Will. 🙂 I am not a desert person, I love woods, the only place in AZ that looks promising long-term to me is perhaps Flagstaff. I have influencers, voters to listen to. . . But Mad River is strongly with me. It may take time, like that petrified wood, but I will get there. Enjoy your small beautiful corner, and I very much look forward to your updates.
Kristina
Glorious images, Kristina! About twenty years ago when I was in college I went with friends on a road trip to the southwest, and we stayed a couple of nights backcountry camping in the Petrified Forest. We were adventurous and we decided in the morning to hike across the desert and up to the top of the nearest mesa, and we made it, but good thing we were in good shape at the time! it was fun, and beautiful, and spiritual… Your images remind me of all of that…
I remember driving north out of Sedona–I think it was north–we fell in love with Walnut Canyon, too.
Peace!
Michael
I am glad you have such beautiful memories, Michael. Yes, I loved the drive between Flagstaff and Sedona. There were giant cottonwoods (I think) and sycamores in deep valleys and the light through yellow leaves and on red rocks was breathtaking. Thank you also for mentioning Walnut canyon, we will be in Flagstaff as soon as snow advisory is over, and will definitely stop by Walnut Canyon. Kids and pines are catching large fat snowflakes now, lynx just ran through the backyard, and a herd of 9 mule deer accompanied us on a walk. 🙂
Peace to you,
Kristina
Beautiful pictures, Kristina Bee. We seem to be following each other around this year! We were in Maine at the same time. I just spent Thanksgiving in Prescott, AZ. Spent some time around Watson Lake. Beautiful planet.
Mary, that is hilarious! We spent Thanksgiving in Prescott also, I could have run into you at Whole Foods or Watson lake. 🙂 Small world. In fact, two days before Thanksgiving, we were driving trough Albuquerque NM, and I thought of you. I wanted to explore the city a bit, but we got lost in that giant thunderstorm. Stay well, Mary, and let me know where you are heading next, so I can set my GPS properly. 🙂
Kristina
Good to hear from you! I was given a calendar called Arizona Highways, and I am stunned at the variety of landscapes there. Enjoy. I’ve been to the top of Mt. Lemmon and I have a rock from the top, on my desk in front of me now.
Yes, Arizona Highways is an old very nice magazine out here, and they must publish a calendar too. This is photographer’s paradise. Some folks spend years of backpacking, crawling on their knees and bushwhacking with machetes, just to get the right shot. Did you hike all the way to Mt. Lemmon? Wow. We attempted to hike up to Camels Hump in Vermont (third tallest in Vermont, but only half the size of Mt Lemmon). The hike was extremely rocky and steep, and kids gave up half way, after about an hour. I’d love to do some serious hiking. For now, it is small things. 🙂
You can drive quite a ways up Mt Lemmon 🙂 I guess I cheated. Me and a coworker on a business trip with an afternoon off..
beautifully petrified
& preserved holiday, BeeHappee!
memories of living in AZ & UT
are smiling 🙂
Amazing scenery!!
So alien, but I would so love to see it. You anywhere “near” Renée?? Have hard time guestimating distances over there.
Yes, indeed. Very alien to me too, takes time to get used to new plants, rattlesnakes, tarantulas, javelinas, lynx, mountain lions. The scenery is amazing. Snow on mountains, and 20C in bright sun. Lots of mountain biking, and virtually year round amazing weather for that. South from here gets hot, north from here gets more snowy in winter. We are parked in Prescott Arizona, which is about 260 km from California border, and Prescott claims to have cleanest air for a city in the whole USA. I think Renee is some place central California now? I loved California National parks and the Ocean was incredible.
Thanks for a beautiful photo reminder of a place that lives in my soul! Blessings 🙂
Thank you, Lorrie!! We spent a day in Grand Canyon yesterday, and yes, the beauty and power of these places truly remind our soul of the expansiveness of unlimited possibilities. Blessings and Peace to you as well.
Kristina
Ah! Krisrina! Enjoy yourself and soak up all that incredible energy 🙂 Remind that place that I love it! Blessings ♡
Bee happee
new year 2 U 🙂
U2, David 🙂
Your heart puts
a smile on my face.
I hope you had a lovely Christmas Kristina.. Wishing you a wonderful Happy New year.. May it be filled with love and an abundance of Happiness..
Love and Blessings
Sue
Thank you Sue, and same to you also!
My friends from Indiana just moved to Prescott and they love it! They are not missing the midwest winters at all!
Beautiful photography!
🙂 We meet a lot of folks from midwest and east coast out here, trying to escape the cold, I suppose. The midwest winters were not paining me as much as did the endless suburbia and industry in the Chicagoland area. The air is so crisp in Prescott and outdoor oportunities so endless. Kiddo just hiked in a t-shirt today in 48F sun and two giant javelinas crossed the path with us. A bob cat stops by the kitchen window sometimes where the birds feed.
Stunning photography!
Peta
Thank you for your kindest of words!!
I’m glad you had a great trip to the Southwest.
Thank you, sir. It is one good trip, we are here (AZ) for a while. As long as pines and birds are here, I am here. Looking forward to getting to know local wildflowers.
Enjoyed the view!
Thank you! Enjoy the hikes, none of them are ordinary. 🙂
Oh how beautiful!!
I wish we could go back.
Thanks for sharing.
These are gorgeous!!!
Thank you for stopping by!
Lovely photos and enjoying your posts 😊
Thank you! 🙂