Sedona: Red Rock State Park

Saturday was our last day in Sedona, and as we made our way out we stopped at Red Rock State Park. I think there are probably 10 state parks/national monuments within an hour of Sedona. Anyway, we had a lovely 2 or 3 mile hike and enjoyed the beauty of more red rocks, some creeks, and some trees that actually change colors in the fall. It was very pretty.

We found a *comfy* rock bench to relax on while on our hike. The day before we had walked around Tlaquepaque, which is a shopping center with lots of art galleries, crafty, and unique stores. One gallery had a whole patio full of rock furniture-seats, arm rests, and chair backs all out of rocks. They were actually relatively comfortable (especially compared to this bench).

I think this is Cathedral rock.

This state park had started out as a homestead, and up on the ridge is a home built in the 1940s by whoever owned it.

We found this gnarly tree.

There were also a few river/creek crossings with bridges over them. It was a very pretty area, and again, I loved the fall leaves.

Sedona: Sunset from the airport mesa

Friday night we went up the mesa where the airport is to watch the sunset along with at least 50 other good friends strangers. We had a great view of most of the valley and wasted used a lot of film memory trying out the different settings on the camera while we waited for the sun to finally set.

There was a controlled burn south of Sedona the day before, and the remaining smoke made for some hazy hills in the distance.

I picked out a few of our MANY sunset pictures to show the progression from when we first got to the overlook to when we left.

Doesn't it look like the sky is on fire?!

It was another one of those great Arizona sunsets. If you've never seen one, come visit. ;)

Sedona: Schnebly Road

Once upon a time, many years ago, people wanting to go from Flagstaff to Sedona would take Schnebly Road, which continues much like it has always been: dirt.

After eating lunch in Flagstaff on Friday, we drove down I-17 until we came to Schnebly Road, then took the 12 mile road back to Sedona. The first 6 miles looked a lot like the picture above.

We found this cool shelter someone had made out of lots of branches and pine needles.

The last 6 miles had some pretty cool scenery, but was REALLY rocky. I guess Wilma (our 4-runner) finally got a little excitement after all these years, being able to go off roading as she and Jacob have been wanting to for so long. But I don't plan on doing it again any time soon. At least we got some pretty pictures.

This is what a lot of our drive consisted in:

There were a ton of jeep tours and even some helicoptor tours going on in the area. Apparently a lot of people like the pretty red rocks.

Sedona: Slide Rock

Last week Jake and I celebrated our anniversary a little early by taking a trip to Sedona. Rachel stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Knight and had a blast, even though she was sick with a cold and a cough.
We took A LOT of pictures, and Jacob taught me how to use the manual settings and such, so I took even more pictures, practicing using the different settings. So instead of a 40-picture post, I think we'll split the posts up a little.

The first morning we were there I woke up early (even though I was excited to be able to sleep in) and read out on our little balcony and saw the sun rise.

Then I went back to sleep.

After breakfast we drove up towards Flagstaff on a very scenic drive.

We stopped at Slide Rock State Park and hiked around for a while.

I tried to figure out how to get the cool waterfall effect with the camera, though I think we need a tripod because with the shutter speed that slow, it's hard to hold the camera still, even setting it on a(n uneven) rock.

It's a pretty place. If we go again when it's a little warmer we plan on swimming a bit.

Halloween fun

Yesterday morning we went up the mountain one last time before our pass expired at the end of October. There was hardly anyone up there, since apparently there were better things to do on Halloween than go up the mountain (and we had 3 days of cooler weather this week that made it feel like fall/winter, so people probably didn't feel the need to go cool off at higher elevations).

We hiked around for a while and had fun exploring a bit.

The trees have been shedding their leaves/pine needles, so we made a little pile and Rachel had fun jumping in it. Poor kid-it's a lame substitute for a real leaf pile, but it's better than a pile of cactus, which is all we could scrape up at home.

When we went back to the picnic area for lunch we were almost swarmed by birds. Apparently they're used to eating leftovers from picnic-ers. Some of them got soooo close we could touch them if we wanted to. They either had no fear or were really hungry. A few chipmunks got in on the action, too.

It was a short, but fun excursion.

After trunk-or-treating last week Rachel learned the TRUE meaning of Halloween and was plenty excited to do it again on real Halloween. Grandma Knight came with us to some of the houses around our little block. Rachel had a really good time and is SOOO excited to have a big stash of Halloween candy. Too bad (for her) she has such mean parents that ration it out just a little each day.

(ignore the panties on the ground-Rachel is in the undressing/naked-is-fun stage)

Friday we carved a pumpkin. Rachel had a good time picking out the seeds, and after we roasted them enjoyed eating them for a while. Unfortunately our in-action shots of the pumpkin carving accidentally got deleted. But here are the finished products: Jack, Fred, and Mummy.

And Rachel making her own Jack-O-Lantern face, I guess:

Hope everyone else had a Happy Halloween, too! Now that Halloween is over I've gotten out the Christmas music! My favorite time of the year. (I know Thanksgiving comes next, but I see no harm in getting into the Christmas spirit a little early.)  =)