Story without pictures

Here is a little catch up of the trip without pictures because the internet is sooooo slow.  Takes too long to upload pictures.
On Saturday morning we sadly left beautiful Sedona and drove out across the mountains to Snowflake,  a cute little town.  We headed there to go to the temple.  It was built nine years ago and was quite lovely.  Another little temple, but everyone was so nice and helped us get clothes together since we mistakenly thought they had rentals.
On Sunday we drove to Casa Grande where we thought we were going to go to Baccalaureate.  Instead we went to Skip and Jans house for a surprise birthday barbie for me.  Steaks, veggies, baked potatoes, and cream puffs for dessert.  Yum!
Today I ran errands with Angie and helped prepare food for a graduation party for Kylie.  Dan worked at the hotel until mid afternoon catching up on work and stake clerk work.  The party was at Skip and Jans and was real fun.  About 20 people showed up and at the very end Kylie and a couple of friends went swimming in the pool they have.
A really nice day and evening, good dinner, catching up with friends and family, what a way to spend a sunny day.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Love, love, love!
Dan and Nic

Traveling in Style

Today was a good day in Sedona.  We left our room about 9:45 and drove to Jerome to look around some more.  It is so cute and worth a visit.

After a little more than an hour we drove to Clarksdale to take the Verde Canyon Railroad trip.  It was a 4 hour total ride.  Two hours into the canyon and they moved the engine to the other end of the train, and than it pulled us back for two hours.

We had sparkling cider and a little snack buffet available on the ride.  Here are a couple of the scenes along the ride including the front and back of the train from where we were.

Here the train is going over the SOB trestle.. No it doesn't mean that! It stands for Superintendent Of Bridges, you silly peoples.

This was a lucky shot of the Verde River.  It is surprising how such a little bit of water can bring life to a whole valley.  It is not quite as much water as the canal that ran through Logan.  Only about twice the water that usually goes through Woods Creek by the cabin. 

After the train ride we drove back to Sedona and went to see The Chapel.  It is a very spiritual little place and in a most beautiful spot.  Built into the rocks it almost has to be seen to be believed how it was done.

And the views from the Chapel, how many times can amazing still be an effective to discribe anything?  The two rocks standing together are called the Nuns, and the rock formation at the left is Cathedral Rock.

On the right of this picture is bell rock, and the left in Montezuma's Castle.
We had dinner at the Cowboy Cafe again.  A fun local place with good food. and took a stroll down the street again to finish off the day.
What a good day it was. Thank you all for your texts, calls, messages, and the love I felt today from friends and family alike.  It was a great birthday and I love you all.
Ma and Pa say goodnight.

Adventure in Sedona

On Tuesday the 17th of may we rousted Ashley out of bed early so she could drive us to the Airport.  We were on our way to Phoenix, where we rented a car and drove to Sedona.  What a gorgeous drive it was.  And then we got to Sedona and found how really gorgeous the scenery could be. 
    Tuesday was a long travel day so we just went across the street to the Cowboy Cafe for dinner.  Cowboy it was, but it was good food.  Dan had a hamburger that he had to send back because it was too raw.  I had a pork loin chop with sweet potato mash, fresh steamed vegetables and a reduction of onion, apple and bacon as a finish on the meat.  You all know I love my meals and this one was good.
     Wednesday we went to check out a time share in the valley.  Interesting hour and a half.  We had lunch in a little local place and drove to Jerome.  It is a little mining town perched on a hill. Steep windy road and steep hill.  There were lots of windy little streets to walk with dozens of little shops to see.  All sorts of things, antiques, papers, books, clothes, gifts, and more.  One of my favorite stores was a giftshop that specialised in Kaleidescopes.  I spent at least an hour in there playing with their toys.  Finally Dan told me to just buy something already so we could just move on.  I found a beautiful wood teleidescope made out of black walnut and maple.  A teleidescope is a tube with a clear lens on the outside so that anything you see through it is multiplied by the mirrors inside.  Great fun to play with. On the drive home we stopped for mexican food,(ok) and ended up in our hotel early.

     Today we had breakfast at the hotel, (good!) and hit the streets for a little walking before our activity of the day.  Pink Jeep Tour.  It was so much fun.  They really are pink jeeps decked out for sight seeing and it was such a good, fun ride.  We took the Broken Arrow tour and it was hard core country four wheeling. 

Here I am on submarine rock with the tour guide, Dan.

And here was the first of the stunning views of the tour.

Dan is standing on Chicken Rock.  It was so named because the early jeep drivers would drive around the point to scare everyone in their cars.  Thank goodness they don't do that any more.

And these are the before and after shots of a 45 degree grade.  We had a quick explanation of what a controlled slide was and off we went.

This was so much fun that I can't wait until we get another chance for a ride.

We should have further tales tomorrow.

Love you all!