October Travels - Part Two

My second trip in October took me to Phoenix where I visited with Deb prior to heading to Los Angeles for another business conference.  I thought I could post my entire visit with Deb in one post, but when I started editing photos, there were just too many that I wanted to share! Rather than make this post a mile long, I decided to break it up over two posts.

When I arrived in Phoenix, Deb met me at baggage claim. So sweet of her! She was, as you would imagine, the perfect hostess. She had cleared out part of her craft room to make room for a bed for me and had left the sweetest little basket of toiletries and goodies in my room. There were small arrangements of fresh flowers everywhere. And her home is beautiful! I just kept walking around staring at all the little groupings of photos and things - she has such a flair for decorating in tiny collections. As a bonus I got to meet Doug and Carrie too! And Deb made sure I had plenty of paleo-friendly choices to eat!

The next morning, we left early and headed for Sedona. Deb wanted to show me her favorite places in Arizona.

Our first stop was the Chapel of the Holy Cross. This church is built right into the mountain. It is small inside but beautiful. You can light a candle in memory of loved ones, which I did, and I found the experience very moving and a bit unsettling. Definitely worth the drive to see this!

I also took photos of the local wildflowers

and this is Bell Rock as taken from the car on the drive to the chapel.

 After visiting the chapel, we drove to a shopping area where we had lunch at an authentic Mexican restaurant (that's a first for me... my idea of Mexican is "Chili's") and then walked around and visited a lot of shops. I definitely enjoyed the shopping because Deb likes to look at crystals and jewelry as much (or at least almost as much) as I do! And we had no men along making us feel rushed. Among my purchases - a pair of turquoise drop earrings and a small etched vase created by a Navajo artist.

 Our next stop was Crescent Moon Ranch. Here we got out and took a leisurely hike along a dirt path. Isn't that old water wheel cool? And the backdrop of the leaves in their autumnal glory was perfect!

Deb likes taking pictures as much as I do (you all know that already) and there was certainly plenty to photograph on this hike.

The path leading through the wooded area.

which ran along a creek

Can you see it? This is not something I would see hanging off a tree in Pennsylvania!

 At one turn on the path we suddenly came upon an area with these small cairns piled everywhere. As we walked further along the path there were more and more of them. It was very cool, but also somewhat mystical.

People got very creative with where they built the cairns, placing them along tree branches...

... and even in the creek!  Don't you wonder how that stays put with all the water splashing by?

And I was reminded just how adaptive and tenacious nature can be.  Check out this tree - with roots growing right into (out of?) the rock!

On our walk back to the car, we happened upon this elderly gentleman set up for painting. Isn't it just postcard material?

I realized as I was editing the photos that the only pictures taken of Deb & I together were on this walk - on her camera or phone - and I hadn't remembered to get copies of them from Deb. No doubt you've seen it on her post though!

Stay tuned for Part Two of my visit with Deb!