Scottsdale

Unfortunately, I had to hop on to a work call first thing, but afterwards, Marie and I went on a hike near her house at Pinnacle Peak. It was packed with kids and hikers, but we had fun chatting and doing the hike up, down, up, and down again and doing the reverse round trip. It was about 2 hours round trip and since it had rained recently, the shrubbery was all in bloom - collages below from our hike:

I was nervous I wouldn't be able to keep up with Marie, because she's very active and athletic, but I survived! To celebrate, we had lunch with Steven at a restaurant called Isabella's that's on a golf course. We shared a mushroom pizza and had salads while Steven enjoyed a crispy chicken sandwich along with tasty pomegranate margaritas. Here's a photo of Marie at our lunch table - a better view than our pantry lunch at work and very "Scottsdale" to be on a golf course!

After lunch, we headed to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West which is where his architecture school is located. I've been to the Robie House in Chicago and other Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, but this felt different with the students, to this day, working away in the draft studio. Here are a few photos from our 90 minute Inisghts Tour (you have to reserve and there are several tour options):

When the tour was over, Marie and I rushed to the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess where I will be at a work conference for a few days and the work part of my Arizona Adventure begins. I'm sad that my personal part of the vacation is over, but the conference was the impetus and motivation to plan such a fun Arizona itinerary! 

This is where my blogging ends for the trip, but I hope to return to Arizona again to hike some more, visit Marie, and enjoy the warm and sunny weather!

Montezuma

Our first day of sleeping in! We slowly made our way out of our hotel and waited to have breakfast at Brandy's Restaurant and Bakery in Flagstaff where they are famous for pancakes and Eggs Benedict which is my favorite. The restaurant was also on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Our waiter recommended the Avocado and Proscuitto Eggs Benedict with cream cheese and tomato. A buttermilk pancake is included on the side - a photo of our satisfying breakfast:

 

After meandering through old Flagstaff, we headed off to Montezuma Well, a naturally occurring spring in the middle of the desert. The Well is just south of Sedona and was a nice walk to work off our breakfast. We made sure to stay on the trail to avoid any rattle snakes!

After the well, we drove a few miles to the Montezuma Castle where there is a preserved 5 story home in the wall. The Native Americans lived here to protect themselves from heat and sun, as well as to stay above the flash floods that the region is known for during the summer. These homes are near rivers and water sources for easy access. There were even some homes on the side of Montezuma Well. 

 

Then we continued our drive down to Phoenix where we tried to get in to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, but all tours were sold out for the day. As such, we headed to Old Town Scottsdale that tries to look like an Old Town. We had a little trouble finding it, but it was fun to walk through. 

We had plans to have dinner with my friend Marie and her husband, Steven who live in Scottsdale. I chose a restaurant by the airport called The Wild Thaiger - a Thai restaurant that was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Marie and I worked together back in NY and we probably had lunch together 3 out of 5 days a week and became very close. We had fun catching up and talking about the trip. 

After dinner, Yoonjoo and I returned the car rental and Marie and Steven followed us to the airport where they took Yoonjoo to the terminal. 

Here's a link about Arizona scenic roads - we had fun pointing out the different scenic roadway signs during our car rides and since we saw so much of Arizona! http://www.arizonascenicroads.com/

5 days, over 900 miles, 3 hotels, endless laughs, tons of photos, and wonderful memories - I'm so grateful that my cousin, Yoonjoo was so enthusiastic about joining me on this Arizona Adventure. I knew she would embrace every angle considering she's a professional photographer and appreciate every opportunity to explore Arizona together. Thank you so much and I look forward to future family fun!

Our goodbyes were quick as the airport was a bit of a zoo, so our car hurried off back to Scottsdale where we did a quick grocery trip and gelato run. Then I was at Marie and Steven's beautiful home that has a pool and an immense amount of space. You definitely don't get this kind of space in NY! We chatted a little longer over coconut vodka cocktails and then went to bed. I was so glad to be done with the driving part of the trip, but now the work part of the trip begins....

Navajo Nation

So usually I title a post with a city name and since we were in multiple areas of Arizona today, but both on Navajo tribal lands, I named this post Navajo Nation. Here's a picture from the Monument Valley museum that shows how vast the Navajo tribal lands reach:

After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to our tour operator's office, but quickly realized we had to go down and across the street - we had incorrectly scoped out the wrong one on our drive around Page last night! We had reserved with Chief Tsosie's Antelope Canyon tours. Only a few operators hold permits and I read this was one of the best. 

Upon arrival, this Navajo Hoop dancer who is placed top ten in the world in a contest last year, performed an impressive dance with hoops forming animal shapes. He said the hoops represent negative energy and frustrations that should be let go. The first was for money, health, then your ex, your other ex, wifi connection..... The Navajo people are indeed very zen-minded. 

We piled into the turquoise jeeps that drove us 15 minutes to the entrance of the tribal land. Our ticket included a tribal land fee and our tour started at 8:30 am. 

 

Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon and I struggled to pick which one to see - ultimately I opted for the Upper Canyon, but there is a Lower Canyon, Canyon X, and Secret Canyon. Vera was our amazing tour guide who had a great sense of humor, managed the group well in the tight spots, and took great photos after positioning us in choice spots and angles. Here are a few photos that don't do the canyon justice:

We were on the 8:30 am tour which is $10 cheaper, but the midday ones from April to September have incredible sun beams that shine through. As it was March, I picked the cheaper one, but also to get a jumpstart on the day. Even without the sunbeams, we enjoyed the light and awesome colors. 

Here, Vera positioned us in front of "the Wave" and had us look up so our faces weren't too dark. The swirls and grooves are formed by the waters that rush through during monsoon season. 

The canyon is 8 stories high at its tallest area and here's us in front of the back opening - Vera did a nice job with a vertical panorama:

And here's a beautiful shot as we left the slot canyon:

As our entrance fee included the tribal land daily fee, we rushed over to the Lower Canyon tour so we could possibly squeeze another tour in before Monument Valley. But the next tour didn't leave for another hour, so we started our 2 hour drive east. The travel gods were trying to tell us something! 

Monument Valley is most well-known for being the backdrop of many John Ford directed John Wayne westerns and is listed in the "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" book. After a fake out at the Navajo Welcome Center that was practically deserted and closed, we made it to the real Visitor Center where we paid a $20 entrance fee. We also learned we lost an hour driving as Utah was in a different time zone as Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings. 

Here's a map of all the monuments and the red outline is the 17 mile scenic drive:

A description of many of the monuments which we digested over quick sandwiches and at one of the viewing points in the Visitor Center:

 

The drive takes about 2 hours as you can drive only about 10 - 15 miles per hour on gravel and unpaved roads. It was super bumpy and we felt nauseous at times, but this was something you definitely could not rush through. Here's a photo of the road and driving:

We made our way to John Ford's point after some confusion and the point is named after the director of the John Wayne movies. Apparently, there is a scene where John Wayne is sitting on a horse on this point. You can tell from the photo of Yoonjoo below, the awesome magnitude of these monuments as she points to them: 

The monuments had signs in front of them, like this one for the Three Sisters. Yoonjoo was a good co-captain, but she sometimes was so eager to read the signs, she would yell out "road closed"!

Here's a photo of us in front of the West Mitten, East Mitten, and Merrick Butte:

After our 2 hour loop, we were so glad to be on paved roads and perused the gift shop and museum back at the Visitor Center. I enjoyed an exhibit on the Navajo Code Talkers who were instrumental during World War II. Vera had told us the Navajo language is the 3rd most difficult in the world. Here's a small shot of some of the different words used by the military and translations:

After 2 days of driving our mystery was solved. We knew Arizona didn't participate in daylight savings, but our GPS and phones kept changing on us. Since we were so close to the Utah border and the Navajo Nation does observe daylight savings, we finally corrected our GPS and drove 3 hours to Flagstaff. I knew the GPS had to be wrong when it said it would only take 2. Here's a photo of the "Welcome to Utah" sign as we hop over and back as part of our drive to and from Monument Valley:

We drove straight to Salsa Brava, considered the best Mexican in town and was on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I had the sopapilla which is like a calzone made of fried bread and Yoonjoo had steak and shrimp fajitas. 

We started to feel sleepy after finishing our margaritas and made our way to our hotel, the Doubletree Hilton where we learned I was the guest of the day and they gave us a bag of complimentary goodies. What a great way to end a wonderful day of beautiful sights and an issue-less day of driving!

Sunrise, Sunset.... Canyon style!

During our entire trip, I couldn't stop thinking of this clip from the Flintstones cartoon - enjoy! 

We slept surprisingly well last night and woke up to catch the 5:30 am shuttle to see the sunrise at Hopi Point. Here's a picture with the moon while we waited in the wind for about an hour:

It's hard to look at the sun and take good photos because it's so backlit, but the reflection of the changing colors on the Canyon rocks is incredible. Also, it felt even bigger than yesterday with all the clouds gone. 

We were told there would be tons of people, but only one tour bus stopped and joined us. Here's the sun finally rising!

After watching the sunrise, we walked down to Powell Point as Hopi is only a one way drop off. We picked up the shuttle back to the Village and walked back to our hotel. We organized ourselves, packed up, and checked out. We then grabbed breakfast at the Maswik Lodge cafeteria again. I ordered a chicken fried steak, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich - but they only had sandwich bread and no rolls. So they gave me a croissant which I thought was a culture clash with the chicken fried steak, but also tasty. A photo of my fusion breakfast:

After breakfast, we made our way to the Bright Angel Trailhead. It's very accessible and the most popular. Here's a collage of the Upper Tunnel:

And here's one of me at the Lower Tunnel:

The views were spectacular and being in the Canyon was so different from looking down into it. Here's Yoonjoo enjoying the views, a photo of us, and one of me on the trail:

Hiking in the Grand Canyon is interesting because it is the reverse of what you're used to. You have to save your energy for the return up and we saw many folks running down which I think they'll regret later. Originally, I wanted to hike down to Indian Gardens which is about 6-9 hours round trip. But with our schedule and the fact that I was struggling a little with the elevation, we opted for the 1.5 mile rest house hike which is supposed to take 2-4 hours. Here's a photo of Yoonjoo in the rest house:

It took us less than an hour to get down and about 1.5 hours to get back up. We were told to budget double the time coming back up which is pretty steep. But we were done in less than 2.5 hours total and enjoyed many views as we rested on our ascent. 

After our hike, we drove about 25 miles east to Desert View Watchtower where we had a late lunch at the Trading Post. Yoonjoo ate a chili dog and I had a bread bowl chili. It was actually quite tasty and nourishing after our hike. Here's our meal:

Desert View Watchtower is a historical landmark and has 360 degree views of the eastern part of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Here's a watchtower collage and some views including several ravens that entertained us:

After our two days, I truly feel that we maximized the Grand Canyon. Perhaps we could have hiked more or done a mule ride, but considering our trip length and the energy to hike, I think we did an awesome job in adapting to the weather and taking it all in. I was sad to leave the Grand Canyon, but I have completed something that's been on my bucket list for a long time. 

Although my legs were a bit tired from the day, I powered through with some singing and tea, for a two hour drive to Page, Arizona. The scenery was unbelievable and the roads very straight. Here's a collage, although I wished we could have stopped and taken some proper photos of the landscape:

We included Page so we could visit a Slot Canyon which we're doing tomorrow, but also to see Horseshoe Bend. This is where the Colorado River meanders in a horseshoe shape in the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area.

So after checking into our hotel, the Courtyard Marriott, we drove a few miles to the parking area. You then walk a little less than a mile to the viewpoint on steep cliffs, looking down at the river. There were tons of people waiting for sunset and many were sitting a little too close to the edge. There were also a lot of bugs as it was dusk. If I had known, I would have brought bug spray. You can even see them in the photo:

However it was worth the short trail walk and timing our departure from the Grand Canyon to see this unique formation. Here are a few photos at sunset:

Following all our adventures and drive today, we decided to explore the town of Page which is quite small and had dinner at State 48 Tavern, a Gastropub recommended by our hotel clerk. Upon entering, you wouldn't think it was a Gastropub as it was incredibly unassuming, but the menu had creative dishes and even several items with kimchi. Yoonjoo had a beet salad and I had a pulled pork sandwich which was incredibly tender. We enjoyed our beers and had a nice meal before heading back to our hotel. 

All day long, I had the Flintstones in my head, but also the Fiddler on the Roof classic, "Sunrise, Sunset" as we enjoyed both today and at two different canyons! Coincidentally enough, Yoonjoo's dad, my uncle, performed this song at Yoonjoo's wedding! "Sunrise, sunset......"