We dwell beyond the tundra

Oops. Let's just not make mention of the fact that it's been so long since I've updated. Deal? Good. :)

Moving right along, David and I are enjoying ourselves in beautiful, beautiful Arizona! For a while it's been too hot to attempt to explore the outdoors. As a result, we've had to get creative when it comes to entertaining ourselves. Lots of cat-play time, lots of random TV shows. On particularly exciting day we kept ourselves busy making a RAINBOW CAKE! The thing took the better part of a Saturday and was quite magnificent:

Beautiful, eh? The problem is that neither of us are very big cake eaters. We shared a piece and then ended up throwing the rest away yesterday.

Anyway, after the cake-making episode, we decided it was high time we forced ourselves to brave the persistent heat. You can only stare at your interior walls for so long before you begin feeling ancy! So, randomly last Thursday, we decided to head to Sedona to watch the sunset.

We decided to hike Cathedral Rock. It was a bit of a difficult hike, but a great work out! Pics:

We found these stacked rocks everywhere.


Beautiful, huh?


Cathedral Rock in all her glory


Twisted juniper tree. They say it's from the vortexes in Sedona, but I think it may be the wind... :)


That black stuff is a living substance that takes decades to grow. It provides water and nutrients for the plants in the area.


Prickly pear cactus with a pretty backdrop.


Can you believe that view? Probably helps that I'm down there all the way at the bottom (hehe).


For some reason, I was really struck by this dried plant. What do you think about her?


The sun set behind us, but it lit our front view up in a fiery cayenne blaze.


That green plant in the front is either agave or aloe...I still can't tell the difference. :x


I found this handsome dude up there.


Cliche shot -- total must. I think I look like a turtle here. What do you think?


Oh, hello sunset peeking around the corner. :)

Naturally, being the ditz I am, I accidentally purchased a pricey 7-day parking pass instead of the cheaper, 1-day version. Oops? It was great motivation to head back again before the pass expired. Since it's only an hour or so away from us, we made a day trip out of it yesterday. It began with visiting Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma's well (both very impressive, might I add), lunch at a tex-mex restaurant (where I consumed chille rellenos and had a friendly older Native American tell me about my animal totem - polar bears:motherly/stubborn) and then hiked beautiful Bell Rock.

Montezuma's Castle


I bet the first person to discover this impressive dwelling had a heart attack due to its awesomeness!


Montezuma's Well -- a naturally occurring spring about 12 miles from the castle. Stunning view...had to have been a glorious discovery by those ancient people.


These pueblos are built right above the well. Thousands of years old.


Found this little fella scurrying across the trail


Another old pueblo. Imagine the lives they lived...wow!


Another little guy.

We got to Bell Rock just in time for the sun set. It was too beautiful for words. Enjoy:

That was a nice path to walk. :)


I love the contrast of all the green in the foreground with those vibrant red rocks beyond.


Something about this particular mix of colors intrigues my eye. I hope it does for yours, too.


Really, the views were spectacular from this particular point.


See what I mean? Look in the far right distance. It was kind of frustrating trying to capture the beauty with my camera...I just couldn't replicate the magnificent view we were looking at. I hope this photo at least hints at it.


The red is reflecting off our faces. hehe


Holy moly sunset.


And she's fading...


Fading, fading... Those clouds gave way to a few bursts of thunder. No rain on our parade, though.


The view walking back to our car. Do you see how the moon lights up that rock? I was truly floored. Stopped a few times to check my vision.

That's all for now. Hopefully I didn't overwhelm you with too many photos. I tend to do that, I think.

Peace,
Wendy