Flagstaff, AZ to Albuquerque, NM

We were real tourists today - driving over 500 km but stopping to take in two famous tourist destinations - the Arizona Meteor Crater and the Painted Desert. 

Here we are looking 170 meters down to the bottom of the crater!

and 1200 meters in diameter.

Later we stopped at The Painted Desert - really colorful rocks and such.  Here are a few photos - thanks to Den Daddy.

Oh, and we tried to make a new friend but he was stand-offish.

So, we had fun on our road trip today.

So good-night from ...

The Grand Canyon

Hi folks - Rudy here!  What an adventure!  We drove to Flagstaff, AZ today.  By the time we reached there we saw SNOW!

Surprise, that's NOT the big adventure!  After lunch we drove out to see the Grand Canyon - and here we are!

The depth of the canyon is hard to convey, even in Den Dad's photos.  The altitude along the top of the rim is around 7,000 feet - the Colorado River is almost a mile below.  Here are a few photos - but you really have to see it to believe it - and WE DID!!

So good-night from northern Arizona.

Here and There

Today is our last full day in the Phoenix area so it was a miscellaneous day.  The Den Parents were up early to go to church.

 Then they went to the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Phoenix where they had gone to a conference 16 years ago.  The staff did not recognize them!

Then they drove out to Scottsdale where the PGA golf tournament was in its last day.

The Met Life blimp was over the golf course

Parking extended many miles from the golf course

 Then there was a tour, east and south of Scottsdale:

Mayo Clinic - Scottsdale branch

Mountain side homes abound ...

... and even more mountains.

 So tomorrow we will be off to Flagstaff, AZ - another adventure!

 

Chase Field

Today we all went to Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team.  

The tour guide showed us some memorabilia from the D'Backs 2001 Championship
- center is the "World Series" Trophy

A ball and batting helmet used in the 2001 Series

The tour guide told us many details about how things in the stadium work.
There is an 8 ton air conditioner that can drop the temperature 30 degrees F in 2 hours.
The retractable roof can close in 4.5 minutes - the fastest in the majors.

There is a swimming pool beyond the right field fence.
So far, 70 home runs have been hit in the pool.

The interior of a private box

Rusty tried to get me to order treats from the concierge.

We got to visit the Visitors Dressing Room

and the D'Backs dugout!
[of course Rudy wanted to know if we should spit as some ball players do!
the answer was "No!"]

Here we all are in the Diamondbacks dugout - wow!

Then we all went for lunch at Fridays - a restaurant right in the ball park!

So good-bye from Chase Field - we can't wait for baseball season to start!

Papago Park

Hi Folks! Rudy here!  Today Den Dad took us all to Papago Park. In case you can't guess - it's a desert park.  So this is our third desert park - not to mention a thousand or so kilometers of desert along the way.  Even though we've seen lots of desert - there are still some unique scenes.

For example - this feature is called "Hole in the Rock"
Wow - creative naming!

We saw this strange bird waiting to go fishing.

But mostly we saw our friends the cacti

We saw more desert flowers and more mountains with holes.

There was another unique thing - we all went hiking on this desert trail.  Then Den Dad's scooter got stuck in the gravel in a wash we went through.  Fortunately some hikers (Bill & Vicki) came along and it turned out that Bill actually had training in "off-road rescue".  So we all got rescued and made it back safely.  It was Bill's first scooter rescue.

So good-bye from the heart of Papago Park.
Remember - always travel with friends when in the desert.
We bears do!!!

Arizona Mills

Today we all went to Arizona Mills - a shopping and entertainment center.  The entertainments were too expensive - $18.00 each for the Arizona Aquarium.  Some of the stores were too expensive as well.

We bears offered to set up a business to earn more money but apparently there are "legal implications"!

Future home of "Bears 'R Us"??

At least we got treats at the DQ!

Den Mom "helped" us finish our treats!

So good-bye from Arizona Mills.  It was kind of an adventure.

Visiting a Friend

Today, the Den Parents went to visit a friend from our Lloydminster days.

The Den Parents with their friend George - in Mesa, AZ

The club house at Fountain of the Sun
Golf Carts outnumber regular cars by a wide margin

George lives on a golf course - this is a view near the 1st tee

 We enjoyed our visit to Mesa, AZ.  Looking forward to another adventure tomorrow.