Grand Canyon

The final stop of this Christmas trip....Grand Canyon!  We arrived at the East Entrance right at sunset.

The next day, we were planning on hiking down into the canyon on the South Kaibab trail....

....but the trail was covered in ice.  Crampons were needed and we couldn't find any that were our size...AND they cost $25 a pair, so we elected to just enjoy a nice leisurely walk along the South Rim trail.

Down there where the trees are is the location of a ranch where you can stay.  Someday....

I got Onions to agree that someday, I could sign us up for a river rafting trip.  I think we are going to have to work up to a Grand Canyon trip!

As we were leaving the park....we saw fauna!!  Sunlit white butts.

And a fox!

Sunset at the Grand Canyon....makes you feel small but also amazed at the beauty on this earth.

Walnut Canyon National Monument and The Meteor Crater

Leaving Flagstaff, we headed east for the day to visit Walnut Canyon National Monument.

It's in this canyon, that the Sinagua people lived here in the cliffs.  You can see that there is an overhang on the right hand side of the canyon, which is where the Sinagua took advantage of the natural erosion to live.

So this is the view from on dwelling across the canyon.  Across and all around were their "neighbors".

35 miles east of Flagstaff is Meteor Crater.  At first, it was thought to be a volcanic feature, but by 1961, it was declared the remains of a meteoric impact.  It is so well preserved because of the dry desert climate and the lack of vegetation.

At one mile in 4000 feet across and 700 feet deep, it's considered a small meteor impact.  There was significant mining activity here in the 1920's as a geologist was mining for iron ore.

One key piece of evidence that it was a meteor impact and not volcanic is the inversion of layers of rock.  This sandstone is on top of younger layers of rock.

I thought it was cool to see the rocks that had rolled to the crater floor.  I didn't expect to enjoy Meteor Crater so much.  The history and the geologic explanation of how they proved it to be meteoric was fascinating.

Sedona

I planned for us to have four days in Northern Arizona, so using Flagstaff as our base, we spent one day in Sedona, which is about 40 miles south.  Flagstaff is a flat city on a plateau, but driving south into Sedona, it's a valley surrounded by red rocks.  This is the famous Church in the Rocks.

This is the view from the church....do you see the SIZE of that house there at the base? 

We spent the afternoon just going to many of the places where you could get up close to some of the outcrops.  This is Courthouse rock.

There is these "vortexes" around Sedona, which people claim have energy.  Here's I am on top of the vortex near the airport.

The balance of the afternoon was hiking the "airport" loop, which is about 5KM.  We ended it right around sunset.  Perfect timing.

Hoover Dam

After the two nights in Vegas, we rented a car to drive to the Grand Canyon, but our first stop is the iconic Hoover Dam.  The shadow of the bridge at the base of the dam is the new US 93 bypass bridge.  Previously, the highway went across the top of the dam.  This is a fantastic view of the dam.

The reservoir behind the dam.

So,  for those of you who go and drive, here's a tip.  Don't pay the $10 to park in the lot next to the dam. Drive over/across the dam to the Arizona side and park in one of the free lots there.  This is the bridge that crosses over the spillover pipe.  There hasn't been spillover since 1983.

Looking down into the power plant.  The tour costs $15 and you go down to the base and the plant.

First stop, IN the rock wall is where you see one of the pipes with which they used to divert the water before the built the dam. 

Then you walk through the rock to get to.....

....the power plant.  The water is funneled through smaller pipes to gain velocity to rotate the turbines to generate electricity.   Pretty cool.

The US 93 bypass bridge at sunset.

Built in the 1930's, Hoover Dam has an Art Deco design as seen by the tops of the intake towers.  And off to Flagstaff.