Sedona, with all of its gorgeous red rocks and cliffs was worth seeing at least once. Somewhat underwhelmed by the number of people on the hussle to sell us something. On the other hand, we got a great suite overlooking the red cliffs for very very little cash. Just won't do it again that's all. We did take a great hike that required a 5 mile off roading adventure to find the trail but the hike was easy and amounted to 4 miles up an easy trail to a great overlook for the valley and a nicely formed arch.
Moved on to Phoenix for the sole purpose of meeting up with my nephew [son from my estranged brother Ken] and his family. I hadn't seen Travis in several decades and had never met his wife. The evening meal was everything one could hope and we immensely enjoyed reconnecting. Travis is a school principal at a Christian school in Phoenix and his wife, trained as a clarinetist, is now active in the school as well. They are hosting a strong young woman from Korea for several years now and we had the delight of meeting her as well.
We moved on to El Paso as per the 'plan' and plan to spend a day or so here in Mexico and El Paso just to get reaquainted with Mexican culture. LONG day driving though on a highway with little to recommend it except for speed. Along the way however we did visit the Saguaro National Park and got reminded that these plants fight back. Beautiful in all its bleakness if that makes any sense.
Phoenix was our turning point back East. As of this morning we are now getting closer to New England and not further away. Our odyssey continues but it now has a flavor of 'going home' now that it did not have before. So far, nearly 8,000 miles travelled and most of Texas is out in front of us yet.
Btw, if you post to this blog, it automatically sends your email to us on my blackberry...I don't have your email addresses and the blog strips the email address from the message before it sends it to us. But we get your emails!
All for now. Love, Matt
Matt
