South Mountain

South Mountain is a great place in Phoenix to visit. Mr. Shaun Perfect brought Katie and I there, and I thought it was so inspirational that I took Denise there when she arrived in Arizona. They offer guided walks of the area and have horses to borrow so you can go for a ride at the park. The two occasions when I went, because of timing, we opted for the much faster truck route. You can drive to top of South Mountain for an impressive view of sprawling Phoenix. It somehow made me feel closer to nature staring at all those city lights...not sure how that works.

Back to Sedona

Sedona is such a beautiful place, it deserved another day trip. It's amazing how different things can look because of the weather. During my first trip up there, it was sunny with blue skies. On this trip it had rained the night before (usually a rare event in this area) which made the red rocks look even redder. Clouds filled the sky most of the day and that changed the way that the giant rocks looked.
The Chapel in the rocks is in the distance here:
This is the kind of bright red I had been hoping to see.

Much closer to the Chapel:
I just loved this funky cactus.

Talk about an expensive house!

Inside the Chapel
When the sun broke though, it made the rocks shine!

This is a little area in Sedona that was fashioned after a Mexican town. There are a lot of art galleries, shops and restaurants to check out.


Up on Airplane Road:

Puerto Peñasco, Mexico

My aunt Donna, her friend (Toni), my friend (Katie), and I took off on a road trip, our sights set on Mexico. From Phoenix, we drove through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, some small border towns and straight on into Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point). Puerto Peñasco is a touristy town on the Gulf of California where many travelers coming from Arizona visit from time to time. It was my first time in Mexico and I was thrilled. We had a great time, drank Tequila, ate shrimp tacos (only $1.50 and super good!), hung out at our fancy hotel and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was a great trip to Mexico - hopefully the first of many!




Katie took this one of me and my Auntie:


I'm pretty sure you're required to stop at JJ's Cantina while you're in the area.
These guys were very patient waiting for the scraps of the daily catch.