DAY 34 JEROME, AZ

Sedona is a bit warmer than most of the other places we have been the last few weeks. The temperature during the day is high 80's and 90's, and at night it is about 60. The kitties are much more relaxed, not having to worry about the big elks.

We decided to let the kitties out in their play pen to enjoy the morning. The CG is large, open and very shaded by the big cotton wood trees and oaks. The kitties even had a couple of visitors this morning.

If you look far to the left you will see 2 kitties that came to visit.One of them walked right up to the playpen and was nose to nose with Bentley. They just said "Good Morning" an kept on going. No hissing or anything.

Then we got another visotor. Now the boys are really starting to have fun.

This was a very nice CG and very close to town on the other side of the creek.

 

 Sedona is such a beautiful city. We were here about 10 years ago and have always wanted to come back. It is incredible how much it has grown and expanded with new areas. Sedona, like Santa Fe is a very artsy and spiritual area. Lots of art galleries, crystal shops and people willing to read your aura.

 When we were here before we flew in to Las Vegas and drove to Sedona. It was the second week of October and just starting to turn cold. We stayed in Oak Creek Canyon in cabins across from Oak Creek. We were lucky to be on the right side of the creek. While we were here it rained quite a bit and the creek flooded. Everyone on the opposite side of the creek was unable to get to their homes unless they lived by the walking bridge. They could park their car on the east side of the creek and walk across the bridge to the other side to get to their home.

The next day we were to drive back to Las Vegas. When we got up it was snowing and snowing hard. It was a little tricky driving down Oak Creek Canyon in a snow  storm.

Well, since we were here and it was nice and sunny we decided to take a ride up Oak Creek Canyon and visit the area where we stayed. This road is so beautiful.

After Oak Creek we drove back through Sedona headed for Jerome, AZ

 Jerome is an old copper mining town that was built on a steep mountain about 5200 ft. high. The roads are narrow and winding with many switchbacks. This is the view part way up the road to Jerome.

 Jerome was very inhabited in it's hey day, but eventually became a ghost town. Today it is a major tourist attraction with restaurants, bars and gift shops. It is a favorite of motorcyclists.

 We had lunch at The Haunted Hamburger which is in Jerome Palace. The Haunted Hamburger was featured on Rachael Ray's program a couple of years ago. The food was quite good even though it was quite a hike up hill to get to it. Actually every thing in Jerome is up hill.

 

 We drove back to Sedona to give the kitties a little more time out for the day.

Tomorrow we plan to see a little more of Sedona. 

 

 

Day 33 Leaving the Grand Canyon

We woke up this morning to a herd of male mule deer walking through the CG between our MH and the next. We counted about 10, but there could have been more that were between other MHs. At least we did get some sleep. The mating calls were not as bad and seemed a little farther away at least. During the night David woke up and saw a large male elk at the back window of the MH. Unless they are doing their mating call thing they make no noise at all, so they can really sneak up on you, which can be pretty scary. Until you see them next to you, you can't appreciate how large they really are.

Since we had a short drive to Sedona today from the Grand Canyon we thought we would walk over to the Canyon Cafe and have a nice breakfast. It wasn't a long walk----maybe what would be considered about 2 blocks. It was along the road and next to the woods.

As we walked over we actually found some wild lupines growing next to the road. They don't quite look like our Maine lupines, but they were lupines just the same and here they were growing in the fall rather than the spring.

On the other side of the road we heard out elk buddy. He was probably the one we heard during the night and the one that walked by the MH. He was sitting there doing his mating call thing with his harem, about 6 to 7 females around him grazing.

 These are a couple of the females.

 About 25 yards down the road were 2 large females near the road and right where we were going to walk. A couple of park volunteers were driving by, stopped their car, got out and started yelling and waiving their arms about at the females and trying to get them to move back into the woods. Finally they moved back and we continued on. When we came back by the females and the male were deeper into the woods. I'm sure the volunteers were concerned about them running into the road and being hit by a car. Look at this one's face. It's like she is saying "who do you think you are to try to scare me?"

As we walked back, we looked over and there were 4 mule deer laying under the trees. Very sweet. They are certainly not afraid of people and neither are the elk-----------unless you yell at them and chase them way.

We are headed to Sedona to see the Red Rocks.

Day 32 Continued

We had a great day visiting the Grand Canyon. The bus system here is so good and that made it so  easy to get around.

We took so many pictures I am going to post just a few. They cannot give you the real depth perception, but here goes....................

 This is HOPI HOUSE.

El Tovar Hotel

Towards the west side you can see the Colorado River.

 

We returned to the CG at 5:00 and opened up the door. Finnegan took one look outside and did a double take. This was behind me at the next campsite.

There was another on the other side and big male elk right at the entrance of the CG.
It's going to be a LONG NIGHT!!!!

Day 32 No Rest at the Grand Canyon

We arrived at the Grand Canyon about 4PM yesterday. It was an uneventful check in and nice evening. We did notice a lot of deer poop around the CG and the man that checked us in told us not to hook up our sewer until we were ready because the ravens peck holes in the hose. That sounds like a funny RV movie just waiting to happen.

The boys were all settled in for the night. They love sleeping in the bunk.

About 12:15 am we were awakened by this noise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uat6YCngv4

It went on and on and on so that we couldn't sleep. It was very dark, but there was almost a full moon, so we could see a little. I was able to get this picture in the dark.

The elk and mule deer were every where----all night long. They were still there in the morning so we were able to get better pictures.

 

 The one above is an elk.

This one is a mule deer and it explains why there was poop every where.

 

 More elk.

 More elk.

 Mule deer.

Nice big elk---he was probably the one responsible for all the noise. Fall is the mating season.

 

 

 The kitties reactions were as follows:

Bentley was at the window watching every move made by anything outside.

Nicholas could care less what was outside.

Finnegan was hiding under the chair and didn't come out for anything==all night.

 

Day 31 Arrived at the Grand Canyon

We arrived safely at the Grand Canyon, but it was another long day of driving.  This morning when we were in Barstow CG David opened the side MH door and Bentley jumped out. Bentley
had been waiting for that opportunity for a long time, I'm sure. Luckily, he just likes to eat grass. He was in for a surprise because this CG had zero grass---only dirt. David and I just surrounded him and when he knew I was going to pick him up he just laid down and rolled on his back in the dirt just to mock us. Silly kitty. Back in the MH he went. The CG was very small and was also fenced in, but we would have had one heck of a time chasing him all over the place if he had run from us. He would have just laughed at us if that had happened.

I found a few more pictures to post from Yosemite. 
    Almost a full moon.

 The boys are waiting for their "go out time".

 We had some nice camp fires. This night we cooked our hot dogs over the fire and had roasted marshmallows.        Ryan----are you jealous?

 

 I took a few pictures as we were driving out of the park.

 Are they relaxed enough?????????????

 

 David is in first of me in the MH and I'm in the rental car.

This is California leading into Arizona. The hills are nice, but very boring other than that. On to some nicer views.

Tomorrow we will see the Grand Canyon. It has been about 10 years since we were here.