Day One - Phoenix to Sedona

We arrived in Phoenix after a very smooth flight. There was a wonderful woman on the plane near us who had her five children with her. They were seated all over the cabin split up, and she had to constantly move around to tend to them. It was amazing. They were very well-behaved, and she was so patient with them. It was calming to be in her presence.
We rented a car in Phoenix and drove north toward Sedona, stopping along the way to stand amazed before the magnificent views that unfolded. The look of the land was constantly changing, and so very different from North Carolina’s lush foliage. Around Phoenix was desert, and as we headed north to higher elevations, gradually there appeared more and more green. We saw many mesas, and from the top of them, the view was so different. Below, there is desert rock and cacti, and on the top it is flat grassland extending up to a sheer drop-off.
We stopped in the little town of Cottonwood near the Verde River. We went to a riverside park, and walked through a “forest” to the “river”. It was very small and local people were using it as a cooling off swimming hole. The temperature in Phoenix had been 108, and here it was 104. We saw a lot of plants that we could not identify, and two types of lizards.
We went to Tuzigoot National Monument near Cottonwood, an ancient pueblo ruins that we climbed up to and explored. It was very interesting to see the “condos” they built in the year 1200! The artifacts they have found there include cloth, pottery, religious and hunting fetishes, and tools.
As we approached Sedona, the mountains became steeper and rockier, and multicolored with strata of red, white, black and grey. It was breathtaking. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, very good but very spicy. And enough left for our lunch Monday.
Speaking of saving money, in Phoenix we stopped at Wal-Mart to get a case of bottled water. Daddy saw a sign that you could get a free case of water if you applied for a Wal-Mart charge card. He talked Mama into it, and –surprise- they gave also gave her a $10 Wal-Mart gift certificate. So, we also got a cooler and still have 54 cents left on the card!

Ray's Journal:
After a very pleasant flight from Greensboro to Phoenix we rented a car from Hertz (an upgrade to a Toyota Avalon) and traveled north on I17. a lunch stop at WalMart where Gwen signed up for a charge card (a free case of water and a $10 gift card). Linda found a very nice cooler for $9.57.
We continued north with a temp of about 105 then went to Cottonwood and ________. we visited Yuzigoot National Monument - the first pueblo we visited - very interesting with a museum. We purchased gas for $3.89, then on to Sedona for the next two nights. We stayed at a very nice Hampton Inn. Dinner at a fairly good Mexican restaurant.