As magnificent as ever, it inspires an awed silence: words are simply inadequate. They've added 4 shuttle bus routes since our last visit, running every 15 minutes and stopping at the best viewpoints - most of which are not accessible by private vehicle. We had breakfast at El Tovar, the grand old hotel that was once part of the Harvey chain, now owned by Xanterra. The view from our breakfast table didn't compare to that of our last GC breakfast in the North Rim lodge but it was still pretty neat. We took lots of pix but none do it justice. You can find better pix online. That said, I've included one shot just to prove we were actually there.
Dead Horse Ranch SP
In the late 40s a MN family decided to buy a ranch here (Cottonwood, AZ). They looked at the available properties and chose one that happened to have a dead horse lying alongside the access road. The state acquired the property in '73, with the condition the name be retained. It's not photogenic so am not including any pix. We're camped here for 3 nights while we explore the area. Not to be outdone, Utah has Dead Horse Point SP, right beside Canyonlands NP; we stayed there 4 years ago, awesome views. This is horse country for sure, many large fenced areas with horses of all colors. Okay, not all colors - all horse colors. Didn't see any dead ones.
Slide Rock SP
A few miles north of Sedona, Slide Rock was a commercial apple orchard for 50 years before becoming a state park around 1970. Oak Creek has several areas where the rocks are so smooth they serve as a natural water slide. Trish and I neglected to bring our sliding gear and weren't in a wedgie mood anyway, so we skipped the sliding bit. The 3 pix below were taken in the park.
The Sedona area may have the most spectacular red rock formations in the country.
Sedona
We stopped in Sedona for a tea/coffee break. Got our brews at a Starbucks that was part of a Hyatt Hotel/art gallery/wine shop complex; very upscale stuff, very attractively done.
Coffee break. The pillar is native rock enclosed with steel rods and heavy duty wire mesh. Cool!
Aha! Found the dead horse. Appears to have died of starvation. Sad.
The critter on the left is a goat that appears to be biting the horse's tail but not really; the angle of the shot just makes it look that way.
Tasteful arrangement of pots and plants.
Red Rock SP
A few miles south of Sedona, this park lacks the wow factor of the aforementioned. It's pretty but to quote one of Trish's favorite sayings, 'amazingly adequate'. Here's a couple pix, anyway.
Red rocks, red sidewalk and the pavement is mostly red, too.
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