[ tlaquepaque ]

In between our hike and driving up to Oak Creek Canyon, Sandy & Ed took us to Tlaquepaque, this beautiful area of Sedona. Stuart has actually shot a bunch of weddings there, so I've edited images of the area, so it was really cool to see it in person.

We had an amazing lunch there, and then walked around. It was so nice out, and so beautiful.


For some reason, one store was selling seashells. Strange, considering we're in the middle of the desert. Pretty, though.


There was a section of sculptures that moved in the wind. So pretty.


Lovely door, with lovely light, and a lovely chair. Lovely.


Another door. Apparently the builders modeled the whole area after a market in Mexico City. It looked pretty awesome to me.


More fabulous buildings.


And last, but not least, an awesome sculpture of a rock climber. Reminded me of Dustin.


Excellent day trip. We'll definitely be going back to hike and explore some more.

[ sedona ]

Jesse and I spent a glorious day in Sedona yesterday with Sandy and Ed. I took a gazillion pictures, split between digital and film. Once I get the film back (I shot with three of my fun cameras: fish eye, 4 lens & 8 lens), I'll get some of those up too, but I don't know if the rolls are finished yet. Anyway... here are my favorite pictures from the day:


Driving up. The weather was beauuuutiful:


We went hiking with Sandy and Ed. We did the Cathedral Rock hike, although we didn't do the whole thing, because we started to get really really hungry. The hike wasn't too strenuous, but since I'm not used to the altitude, it was a little hard to breathe after a while. I survived though!

First view of the trail:


Cathedral Rock in the far far distance:


Jesse, Sandy & Ed walking the trail:


Big, gnarly tree:


Other amazing landscapes. I forget the name of these formations. I think the one on the right is called the Two Sisters:


The trail we were walking was called Templeton Trail. Every once in a while there were some really neat, weathered signs:


Getting closer:


Sandy told us these are called Century Trees. They only bloom once before they die, and it takes 25 years. She didn't know why it was called a Century Tree, when it only lives for 25 years, not 100:


Fun shadows and the crazy leafy spikey plants. Sandy and Ed told us that usually these aren't nearly as abundant or bloomed as they have been lately, but Sedona's been getting a ton of rain lately:


The actual spikey, leafy plants:


Jesse, taking a picture. He always sneaks pictures of me taking pictures, so I got him back:


After the Cathedral Rock hike, we went to Tlaquepaque. I'm going to put those pictures in another post, just to keep everything separate.

After Tlaquepaque, we drove up to the top of Oak Creek Canyon, so we could look down at the landscape. And it was hiiiiiigh. You could see the roads winding around the mountains:


A better view of the canyon:


I was apparently really into taking pictures of the signage:


After Oak Creek Canyon, we headed back down into town, and then Jesse and I headed back to the Valley. We got stuck in insane traffic, because there was an accident at New River, and traffic was backed up something like 30 or 40 miles. It took us three and a half hours to get home (compared to the one and a half hours to get there). But we did get to see a pretty sunset:


The mountains looked really cool, all misty and layered. So very pretty:


It was a really good day, although today I'm a bit sore from all the walking we did!