The unexpected "24's"

Linda and the
 "Monster Truck" she drives

So to continue our journal from my last blog posting, we have been at my daughter, Linda's, for nearly 3 weeks in Morenci, Az. Had a great Christmas and New Years with her and husband Jim. Watched any and all Patriots and Cowboys football games, gained about 20 pounds from Linda's superb cooking, and thoroughly enjoyed time spent with Jim (even though he had to work on emergency call-outs more than normally expected). We left Morenci on January 4th and headed up to Flagstaff for a 3 night stay.

Betty (wish you were here Lynn)

Our first excursion from Flagstaff was to visit the Grand Canyon. In one word..... AWESOME! Betty and I hiked about 2 miles along the canyon rim (elevation, 7,120 feet at the rim - 6,000 feet down to the river) and took about 65 pictures (which I won't bore you with). We also viewed an IMAX film presentation documenting the first transit down the Colorado River thru the canyon in open boats by John Wesley Powell in 1869'ish. Dizzying!

On our second day in this area we drove to the town of Sedona (on strong recommendations of my daughter, Nancy, who had been there). I have to say, in everything I have seen so far in our 5 1/2 thousand mile venture to date, across many states, Sedona is the absolute highlight, and I fully expect that our 5 1/2 thousand mile return trip to the east coast, will confirm that nothing could or will surpass it. Thanks, Nancy, for encouraging us to visit Sedona and the "Red Rock Canyon" area. I could really live there, it's probably as close to heaven as I'll ever get.

Oh Yeah, about those "unexpected 24'S".......

#2  -  We are staying for 3 nights at Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in a "Deluxe" room that sleeps 4 for a mere $24/night! Can you believe that?

#1 -  The temperature at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon just a few days before our visit was -24 degrees (that's a MINUS 24 F or a -32 degrees C) - I still can't get my head around that. Here I am in the American Southwest, maybe the Arizona Desert, and looking forward to visiting the Grand Canyon and it's 24 below zero? Cool hey! I know it was 60 degrees warmer back in Maine ~ 35 above. Actually, on the day we left for there it was only 9 below. Our day there was great though and very comfortable. Sunny, calm winds (no wind chill), 10 degrees when we started the hike and it reached a balmy high of 38 by the time we finished our hike along the rim.

Tomorrow, it's on to Hoover Dam and 3 nights in Las Vegas. Stay tuned........... and Yahoo!

p.s. - If ya'll care to send me some money, I'd be happy to "invest" it for you in Vegas.