time out

 Squeezed in between our Thanksgiving holiday and commencing the Christmas season, we (Bob and I) have snuck away for a little vacation.  Someplace warm!  We are visiting Sedona, AZ, for a week of basically doing whatever we choose to do!  It's not very often that we get the chance to do that, so I have been trying to take a bunch of pictures so I can always remember what it feels like!

So far we have had temperate weather and mostly sunny skies.  Just right for some great short hikes in the surrounding areas.  There is a plethora of trails around here, so there is no shortage of outings.  Yesterday we took a trail that crossed back and forth over a creek bed--

It is dry at the moment, but only about 1 week ago they had a heavy rain and this would have been full of water then.  The effects of the erosion were easy to see.  Glad we could get around without waders!

We haven't really seen very much wildlife here, other than ravens and this little guy--

He seems to have staked out his territory near the entrance to our unit, and just watches us go around him!  He's really little and helpless, so we are fine with sharing our roomy space with him!  

Here's a scene from another hiking area--

These colorful cliffs and landscapes are such a contrast to our usual surroundings in MN, so they really catch our attention.

Today we drove up to the Grand Canyon, and witnessed a unique phenomenon.  The area has been experiencing an "inversion" which creates thick fog in the canyons, resulting in this--

It was like the whole canyon was full of fluffy cotton candy!  We didn't realize just how special this experience was until tonight when I was looking at headlines on the Yahoo homepage, and saw a picture and story about it!

By lunchtime, the fog was mostly lifted, and we had the usual magnificent views of this wonderful National Park.  I think I am adding 2 more things to my "bucket list"--an overnight at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon, and a Colorado River raft trip.  I would love to see the view of the canyon from way down there at the bottom!