Back Home Again

While the rest of you have been enjoying the first few days of spring and may have spent some time in your garden already, I have been enjoying more summer-like weather for the past week in Arizona. Husband and I visited Daughter and her boyfriend--now fiance!--in the Phoenix area, soaking up some sunshine and seeing the sights.

One of the highlights of our stay was a day trip to see the Grand Canyon. Traveling north in Arizona at this time of year is quite an experience in climate change. In a few short hours we went from the arid desert of Phoenix through hills covered with familiar cacti . . .

. . . to the snow-covered woods surrounding Flagstaff. The only photos taken of this area were through the car window, but I can tell you that Flagstaff must have had more snow this winter than all of the Midwest judging by the depth still on the ground in the 40-degree temperature. Entering Grand Canyon National Park, we drove through more patches of snow and along roads lined with tall pines. After parking the car, we walked a few feet, and then suddenly the topography changed completely.

There it was--the Grand Canyon in all its glory. To say this is a breathtaking sight may be a cliche, but there is no other way to describe it. The sheer immensity and beauty of this place cannot be captured in a single photograph.

And to capture even an image of it requires more photographic skill than I have. I was very disappointed when I downloaded my photos at home to realize that I couldn't capture the depth of field of the Canyon, and especially disappointed that all my photos looked washed out. Perhaps it was partly because we were there at noon, but I couldn't very well step to the other side to get a better camera angle in the sun:) As it was, this acrophobic stayed a safe ten feet away from the edge to take photos and then retreated back to cling to the safety of a little tree.

The drive home was scenic as well, as we drove through the picturesque area around Sedona with its unique red rock cliffs. We stopped at the little town of Jerome, an old mining town that perches precariously on the edge of a high hill. Unfortunately, I neglected to take any photos of it, but the wind was whipping through our jackets so much that we sought refuge in an authentic old Western saloon.

There were other highlights of the trip, of course, including taking in a couple of Cubs' spring training games and a visit to the Desert Botanical Gardens, which I'll post about as soon as I have time to sort through all my photos. But most of all, we just enjoyed spending time with Daughter and future son-in-law, including an afternoon of wedding dress shopping, a real treat for this first-time mother of the bride. And there was plenty of time for bonding with the granddogs--Odie wouldn't stand still for a photo, but Bear was willing to do anything Grandma asked of him.

As always, there is much to catch up on after a vacation, and I hope to catch up visiting everyone over the next few days. But for now . . .

. . . Spring has finally arrived! Yes, the long-awaited crocuses finally made an appearance in my garden. Daffodils and tulips are shooting up quickly, and flowerbeds need to be cleaned up so they can show off. The garden awaits . . .