Arizona Trip ~ Dec. 10th 2008

Dennis and I decided we needed to take a road trip ... and we wanted to visit Don and Carol in Prescott, Arizona, so we headed south. Much of the time we were on roads I had never been on, which made it very interesting. Our first stop was to get a picture of this little restaurant (which is closed in the winter) in Hatch, Utah. When we were on our quad trip this summer this place was a welcome break ... we hadn't had anything to eat except trail food for 2 days and we had an amazing lunch here ... at The Adobe restaurant. We highly recommend it. (I'm not sure if the food was so wonderful ... or if we were just starving ... but we have good memories of here!)

We traveled down highway 89 through Kanab (a very pretty place, I might add) and then over to Paige, AZ. Just outside of Paige is this huge dam (It is the Glen Canyon Dam) ... and I was very intrigued by it.

All the red rock made it quite a pretty sight. I even hiked down a steep rock trail to get this picture. (Dennis said I had better not fall because he couldn't come and get me!
~ he has a fear of heights, and this was a bit high!)

This is just another pretty shot of Arizona. It usually gets a bad report because it is so dry ... but we found some very pretty places. This is near Flagstaff ... which is also a beautiful city ... with lots of pine trees!!

We took a little detour out of Flagstaff and went through Sedona, a tourist city right up next to the mountains. It was such a pretty place, and it was all decked out for Christmas. We stopped for a few minutes and found some Indian Jewelry that caught our eye!!

Their Christmas tree was beautiful as well. It was a little chilly while we were there -- it is up pretty high. They get a little snow ... once a year of so ... enough to take pictures of the white stuff on the red rocks and then it melts.

Now this is where the trip got all messed up ... at least from a bloggers point of view. We got to Don and Carol's home in Prescott, AZ ... and didn't get the camera out of the car!!! What were we thinking?!?!?!? Not one picture of their beautiful home all decorated for Christmas ... or them ... or ANYTHING!!! I am ashamed of us!!! Carol had taco soup all ready for us ... and had meals planned out for the time we were there. (One of them included a trip to In n Out ... which we were looking forward to ... AND STILL NO PICTURE!!!) We were able to help them get ready for Christmas by getting Christmas lights up on their house - and their tree set up and decorated. It was fun to get to spend time with them and help as we could. (They are having all of their kids and grandkids there for Christmas ... should be a busy/happy time for them all)

We left there early on Friday morning and headed for Las Vegas ... along another road I had not traveled. This one took us in the L.V. via Hoover Dam .... Yes, another Dam for me to get excited about photographing. (Funny that I remembered to take a picture here ... but forgot when it really mattered!!!)

There is such history in this dam. Because of recent terrorist threats, now everyone must pass through a security check point in order to cross the dam. They are actually in the process of building a huge bridge (seen in the top left of the picture) so people will no longer have to travel over the dam. It is going to be quite the HIGH bridge!! This too was an amazing place to visit.

As we entered Las Vegas ... we used our GPS (which we have come to LOVE) ... and found a Trader Joe's ... a favorite store we don't have in Utah ... and we bought some almonds, cashews, brown rice, and snacks. When we came out of the store ... Dennis discovered: I HAD A FLAT TIRE!! (These are brand new tires ... but some where we picked up a screw!) We were driving my Santa Fe ... and since we haven't ever had a flat in it, we didn't even know where the jack was ... tore the car apart and couldn't find it!!! Standing in the parking lot I turned to a man walking out of the store and asked: "You wouldn't, by any chance, have a portable air compressor, would you?" (What were the chances ... I could of asked 100 people and not one would of had one ...) BUT HE DID!!! Dennis and I couldn't believe it!! What a tender mercy!!! (1st to have the flat happen in the parking lot and not on the 150 miles of nothing road we had just come over ... and second, He HAD a portable compressor!!) We got the tire pumped up and drove to Costco (GPS said it was just up the street, and it was!!) ... and got the tire fixed ... and we were on our way. (I will not blog about the poor service we got at Costco ... we will only focus on the blessings we knew were ours ... they were not helpful at all!!!)

From there we drove to St. George and stopped and visited Dennis' Mom and step-dad Vern, who have recently moved there from Dessert Hot Springs, CA. They are living in a very nice 3 bedroom condo right in the middle of the city ... so they can walk everywhere, if they want. (Once again I am kicking myself ... no pictures!!! I have got to get back into the swing of this!!)

We had planned to stay the night with them, but a huge storm was heading our way and we didn't want to get caught in the middle of it ... so we journeyed home late that night. (The storm did come, and we were glad to be home safe)