Tag Archives: Arizona

Reservation time~ Grand Canyon

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Oh boy…It’s time to start booking the trip we all planned over the last couple of months.

My sister and I are going to conference call on Tuesday to get our flights. Last time I checked there was a big difference flying out of Harford instead of Albany. I was surprised by that because there usually isn’t that big a difference.

If we fly out of Hartford we have to deal with 2 cars and a room. If the savings are enough it’s something to consider but the rates were changing hourly. I was checking them on my web page…www.netTrav.com/travelplace and on www.kayak.com  and of course, www.Southwest.com. It will be interesting to see what the fares are on Tuesday.

I want to start lining up the tours we want to do too. Grand Canyon Railroad with the Rim tour and lunch was one and the Bottom of the Grand Canyon was another.

Verde Canyon Railroad followed by the Blazin’ M dinner show is also a definite so we want to lock up those reservations too.

I just know this is going to be a great trip!

WOW Another Monday!

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I dropped the ball today. I usually take time on Sunday to prepare a post for today but instead I went “gallivanting” out to Plymouth Harbor to take pictures. Apparently while out there I caught a cold that has settled into my lower back..OUCH***..But enough excuses..Let me ramble on a little and you can comment with your cheers and jeers .

First Plymouth Harbor is  a pretty little harbor. The Mayflower isn’t out of winter dry dock yet so it was pretty quiet. I like their sea wall. It isn’t just this cement wall rather it’s made of stone and cement. There are rocks set in the top row that kind of point up. It reminds me of a moat on a medieval castle. I think it’s mostly decorative.

 I got a couple of nice sunset pictures. The sunsets this time of year seem to be more pastel than red.

 

When I got home I was reading one of my travel magazines that came Saturday. There was an article about Arizona ...Arizona for all seasons… so I checked that out. It covered the whole state and since we won’t have time for the southern end , south of Phoenix, that section was merely interesting but not useful for our upcoming trip. The northern recommendations involved mostly road trips and did hit some of the high points we have planned. One place that came up in the article and in an article in Popular Photography was Canyon de Chelly. I wish we had time for that but I think this trip is going to be packed to overflowing. We’ll have to see.

 

And the last but not the least thing I want to mention was an article in the same Travel Magazine about The Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota. Sandy and I were there last June and had a wonderful time. In the article this family was there for  2 days…1 weekend….48 hours and they saw, according to the article, everything we saw in a week!

There are pictures with the article too. They even went to Crazy Horse Memorial.

 Like us they used Rapid City as their base but they didn’t mention much more about the city than that. They went to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial (We only drove by Crazy Horse) Wall Drug, The Badlands (can I assume they mean they drove the Badlands Loop?)and Custer State park. They mention seeing buffalo, antelope, big horn sheep, the Beggin’ Burros and prairie dogs…Ok I got all those with my camera too and I bet they didn’t get a prairie dog with a flower either!

Scout

 But to do it all in 48 hours? I like the way we did it much better. Even if the authors think we were slow it seemed like we had full days so I wouldn’t do anything different.

Well, that about wraps up my travel thoughts for the day.

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Not much to say about the spring trip until we start booking and that’s going to be soon. I’ve started exploring options for the 2012 trip but that’s still in the early, early stages..not ready for publication so I’m not sure what we’ll talk about tomorrow but I’ll think of something. Toss out some suggestions if you like. Maybe they will get my creative juices flowing. Maybe Scout has some tips up his furry sleeve.

Little Colorado, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest

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Rethinking Monument Valley Scenic Drive

I know that in yesterday’s post I listed a bunch of options but I was poking around online trying to get more information about the Painted Desert and ran across this link http://www.arizona-leisure.com/painted-desert.html There’s a video on the bottom and it really makes me want to take that long drive to Monument Valley. Apparently you will pass through the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest on the way to Monument Valley.

I continued my search and found information on the Little Colorado. I drove by this on my last visit but didn’t stop. Now I’d like to see how we might be able to fit in a visit to this canyon as it was quite impressive too.

 

 

http://www.navajonationparks.org/htm/littlecolorado.htm

According to these links Cameron seems to be a “hub” for both the Painted Desert and The Little Colorado and Cameron is on the way to Monument Valley.

Once again the only drawback is the length of the drive but if Sandy is up for it, I think I am too. If it ends up taking too long with all the stops for sight-seeing we can always turn around.

I’ll see what my co-explorer has to say. At least we can change our minds since there wouldn’t be any tour guide or dinner appointment to worry about.

Sedona and Grand Canyon …Tentative Itineary

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All right! Things are starting to come together. Here’s what I have so far. This is all subject to booking and my co-traveler’s approval.

DAY 1

Saturday is a travel day. we’ll fly out of Albany into Phoenix and pick up the rental car. The goal is a morning flight so we will have time to swing into Scottsdale for the trolley ride with “Boston Jim”. We can have our lunch there.

Then back on the road for the rest of the drive to Sedona & check-in. ETA between 4 & 6pm. Once checked in we’ll be off to the grocery store for a few food staples and any other essentials we might have forgotten or chose not to pack.

Finish the day watching the sunset at the Airport Mesa.

DAY 2

Recover from yesterday’s full travel day. Take our time getting out and about. Once out, head for Upper Sedona and take the double trolley tour.

 Then get lunch in Tlaquepaque.

After lunch browse the shops in Upper Sedona and relax.

Spend the evening at the time share relaxing and grilling dinner. It needs to be an early night because we’ll be headed to Williams early the next morning.

DAY 3

Grand Canyon Railroad and Rim tour with Lunch at the canyon. This is a full day so nothing else is planned here.

Day 4

Back to the Grand Canyon. I’d like to do one of the tours here. Maybe the Bottom of the Grand Canyon? That one is quite unique. Depending on the time we may be able to get the IMAX show in as well. This is still being “fine tuned”.

Day 5

A little closer to “home” we’ll head south toward Cottonwood and check out Montezuma’s castle & Montezuma’s Well. My plan was to do this on our own but we can consider a tour. Then over to the Blazin’ M to see the Olde Towne they have set up. From there catch the Verde Canyon Rail Road trip and then return to the Blazin’ M for the Dinner Show.

Day 6

Slide Rock Park in the morning. Lunch back in Sedona at the Canyon Breeze and then the Trail ride and dinner at the M Diamond Ranch. there might be time for a spa treatment before lunch if we are so inclined LOL

Day 7

This is the last day and depending on how we did up to this point we can chose from a bunch of things.

Red rock Jeep Tour

The Ghost Town of Jerome

Grand Canyon of the Little Colorado

Painted Desert

Out of Africa Safari Park

“Spa Day”

Sunset Crater

Meteor Crater

So that is where the planning stands at this point. There’s enough left on the to-do list for another week!

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The Bottom of the Grand Canyon

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A couple of days ago I mentioned the Native American Journey’s website and the Bottom of the Canyon tour.

Grand Canyon

The Bottom of the Grand Canyon

Take a spiritual journey to the depths of one of America’s most breath-taking sites. You will enjoy songs, hear legends, and learn about Native concepts and philosophy. An amazing photo opportunity – see the Canyon from the bottom, enjoy the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon caverns – a complete Native American experience! Lunch is included

 

 

Grand Canyon

 

 

 

At that time I said I would have to call for more information on how we get down into the canyon and back up again. So I took a moment to call.

I reached a very nice man who said he wasn’t the owner,  just one of the drivers and he was covering the phones. We discussed the Bottom of the Canyon Tour and he said it was great. He raved about the tour guide who is a geologist, naturalist and expert on Native Americans and their history in the Canyon. He got a pretty good laugh when I asked him how we would get into and out of the canyon. I don’t think he had ever gotten that question before. Turns out there is a road down to the bottom and our guide will drive us down and drive us back.

I told him we were “older women” and that I wanted to be sure it wouldn’t be way too strenuous for us. He assured me it wouldn’t be. He said he hadn’t taken the tour himself but that he had discussed it at length with the guide. He also said he has climbed down the canyon and that the Bottom is really something that should not be missed. By the time we were done talking he was saying he thought he’d actually take the tour himself now. LOL He rated it the best of their tours.

From the South Rim

We also discussed the Monument Valley tour and he said “it’s nice: but it was clear from his tone of voice that he was way more enthusiastic about the Bottom of the Canyon tour than the Monument Valley one so I’m glad I called. Now we’ll have to rethink think this.

He said Monument Valley is a long drive but that on the tour they will explain a lot and all we have to do is sit back and listen. It’s just so hard to choose. I hope my co-traveler will have some preferences to help with the decision.

　

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