Arizona Adventures

I traveled to Arizona to attend PPA's Imaging Conference.

As I flew over the state I thought to myself that it was odd to see such a stark and barren land. Being used to Massachusetts and the surrounding New England states it was all new to me, this desert experience.

I was amazed as we flew over some mountains and into view came a huge city hidden. It was Phoenix.

Still the city was different than Boston. Although it was big, it held very few tall buildings. The land was flat other than the foothills that surrounded the city.

The night I arrived the moon was almost full. I caught it as it peeked from behind the foothills.

As the sun set on the horizon behind me I couldn't help but capture this silhouette of a saguaro cactus with a few more in the distance.

Because it is so dark at night without the tall buildings, the sky is filled with stars

Once the conference was over I stayed on to do some sightseeing. Not only did I see some of the sites in Arizona but also across the border to Monument Valley in Utah.

Upon further investigation and to my surprise the desert isn't as sparse and dry as it looks from above. There are lakes and trees as well as tumbleweeds and cactus.

though there are definitely lots of rocks. These rocks are very intriguing. We have rocks with reflections

Painted Rocks

Framed Rocks :)

Rocks gathered together

Balancing Rocks

Because many of the rocks look like objects they have names.

The one below is Thumb Rock.

Elephant's Feet
Mittens

3 sisters (as in nuns)

and the Madonna and child which is appropriately situated just beyond...
The Church of the Holy Cross in Sedona

Why even the Saguara's have significant shapes. This one looks like it's trying to scare someone..
From dawn to dusk Sedona was beautiful with its orange and red rocks. Here is the "Tugboat" at sunrise...

and "Cathedral Rock" as the sun is going down.

While in Sedona I wanted to experience some of the energy vortex sites that it has become famous for in recent years. The first one was a hike to the top of Boynton Canyon Trail. At the top stood 2 creatures that I could not find names for. This one looks to me like a griffin...

and this one looks like a hawk.

Upon reaching the top I climbed halfway up the hawk and experienced being on top of the world, or so it seemed. Especially since I suffer a bit from vertigo :)

Looking out at a view such as this it wasn't hard to overlook my fears.

The Grand Canyon was correctly named. I was in awe of its magnificence.

as far as the eye could see there was depth and contrast. It was truly amazing!

I came to find out that in this desert state, you need only to drive a couple of hours north to see snow, and that there are many hidden jewels to be found and experienced here.

The weather was perfect each day. It was between 65 & 75 degrees and sunny. I'm not sure how I'd fare in the heat of the summer, but I can definitely see why the snowbirds live here during the winter months.