RED ROCKS OF SEDONA, AZ on "TRAVEL TUESDAY"

Feel like taking a little hike today?  Come on along...you'll be seeing red...

The area surrounding the town of Sedona, AZ is home to some of the most spectacularly beautiful southwest scenery you've ever laid eyes on.  RED ROCK STATE PARK offers up a myriad of easily accessible hiking trails, or just beautiful vantage points for photos, for those less inclined to traipse around in nature. 

I had to laugh a week ago, while out to dinner with my husband and friends - I married someone who absolutely hates to travel, but has been more than willing and happy to let me do so, on my own, as the occasion arises.  Conversation turned to trips that evening, and he actually said he felt bad enough to feel I should have been dealt a luckier hand in life, and married to the "travelin' man" at the table with us (though he already had a wife, and I wouldn't have married him anyway).  I asked later, if he wanted to travel with me this summer...the answer was still a resounding "No...but you go right ahead and I'll be waiting when you get back." 

I HAVE been lucky that my folks are still as incredibly active as they are...and still seem to like me!  They love road trips, and I have been fortunate enough to tag along the past few summers - they haven't even driven off and left me at a gas station.  Yet.  My kids were taken on a few of these trips when they were smaller.  Seeing the sights and gathering knowledge of different places through Grandma and Grandpa's eyes was a pretty wonderful experience for them. 

The beautiful American Southwest is still a favorite destination - always enchanting, this ancient wonderland. On this day, I enthusiastically drug my poor Dad up the red dirt trail to see what we could see from the top of the hill (actually, I drug him over quite a few roads in the two days we were there). This is a 78 year old Superman/Walking Encyclopedia, who fell from a tree 10 years ago and broke one lower leg in 21 places (19 pins in it to this day, I believe).  SUCH a good sport, and nimble as a mountain goat, yet (that's what got him in trouble with the tree that day).  Mom just recovered from Rotator Cuff surgery, and has amazed everyone with how fast she has healed (a lot of hard work was involved, though)...no one is more amazed at them both, and thankful for them, than I.

The clouds were ominously beautiful this day, providing a reprieve from the desert heat - make sure to take water with you if you start out on any hike.  Or any road trip.  Sage words of wisdom from my dad, that have stuck with me, forever.  You might want a whistle, too...just in case.  He got me mine at the Army/Navy Surplus Store in Denver - WORLD'S LOUDEST WHISTLE (for serious). 

These red rocks are some of the most breathtaking you'll ever see.

Jaw-dropping scenery, just a hop, skip and jump from the main drag of Sedona.  And, like I said, you don't need to hike it...a lot of these shots are accessible, and just as impressive, from the front seat of your car...

Let someone else do the driving, though -

"Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel..."