When noodling around the internet, the hubster found (or already knew about) Sunset Crater, which is a volcanic ash field between Flagstaff and Monument Valley on the Arizona/Utah border.   While I was in Flagstaff waiting for Paul and the boys to arrive, I noodled around on the internet and found out about the Wupatki Ruins (in a subsequent post).  As luck would have it, both Sunset Crater AND the Wupatki Ruins are on the same loop road off the main highway from Flagstaff to Monument Valley.  SO, on the way back to Flagstaff, guess where we went?

This is a different view of Arizona than what typically comes to mind (the saguaro cactus and desserts):  mountainous, cooler, still dry air, snow even in April, skiing in the San Francisco mountains behind (north of) Flagstaff.  And it is GORGEOUS!

There was a nice trail (thanks to the National Park Service and the cash-strapped Arizona State Park system) to follow–look at all of the black volcanic ash as ground:

There were several downed trees, and we wondered about the spiraling grain/growth pattern.  Before too long there was a sign that explained that trees with spiraling grain sway better in the wind, and so stand a better chance of surviving the windy storms.  Fascinating! Plus the bark makes really cool patterns…again, thinking quilting designs:

And volcanic rock:

And SCREAMING BLUE skies:

The requisite “if it is Sarah taking the pictures, there must be a photo looking through tree branches”–again, fodder for quilting designs:

And more fodder in the gnarly roots and bug-nibbled wood:

It turned out we had a bit of extra time that day.   MANY folks had told us how wonderful Sedona is, and we hadn’t realized it is a short half hour south and smidge west of Flagstaff.  So down we went.  Hmmm…   the surrounding area was gorgeous, and I’ll bet if you went out of town, it would be wonderful (Red Rocks is near there).  But the town itself?  Ick.   Serious tourist schlock and stores and junk wall-to-wall on the main streets.  All four of us took one look, said let’s eat lunch and leave!   At least the drive down was nice:

We were treated to a spectacular Arizona sunset while staying at Monument Valley, and an almost as wonderful sunrise.  These photos were taken from The View Hotel, third floor–and note, reservations are ESSENTIAL…book EARLY.  These photos are taken (duh) looking West, over the parking lot…in the first photo you can barely spot the glimmer of a car up and to the left of the (c) symbol:

And sunrise, looking (duh) to the  East over Monument Valley:

(Notice the photographers set up on the stairs, on the left, by the restaurant…the best spot to get the classic shot of both “mittens” which you can see in this photo, above.)

OH do these photos make me want to play with cloth and dyes!

Hubby does most of our vacation planning;  he loves to research things on the internet and plan things out, make reservations, and have everything scheduled.   When he mentioned Monument Valley, I will confess, I had to say “what’s that?”   He replied that when I saw it, I would recognize the distinctive rock formations.   Well, alas, I did not, but it was a totally cool place to visit.  here’s the quintessential view–this is the “left mitten”…notice the fingers on the left, the thumb sticking up on the right:

To backtrack, Monument Valley is on the border of Utah and Arizona, about 2 1/2 hours drive up a nice highway from Flagstaff, so we stayed the night at The View Hotel, a new facility.   The entire area is within the Navajo Nation.

On the way, I snapped some pictures from the moving car of the striated bluffs; it was spring, so there was a flush of green on them:

and:

I loved the gnarled and twisty trees, and wish I had been able to get more and better photos as they whizzed by:

The View Hotel is incredibly well designed to meld into the scenery.   I’ve highlighted it below.

There has been a store and restaurant there for some time, but the hotel–the left side in the photo above– is apparently fairly new, and quite nice.  I love when architecture blends into the environment…the tiers of the hotel on the left look like more levels in the rock cliff!

Since the climate is so arid, and since so many families on the Navajo reservation do not even have running water, they made a deliberate decision NOT to have a pool.  I also noticed that there is no alcohol for sale in the restaurant…no wine or beer.  There are big problems with alcoholism in some Native American communities, and I applaud their decision to forego the income from tourists and choose not to offer alcohol for sale.    Our room was on the third floor…here is Paul at the balcony.

We had hoped to see a zillion stars this far from any large cities, but alas it clouded over (this was the storm that pulled in to the Grand Canyon in my earlier post).

There is a 17 mile loop drive that you can see in the photo above.  I took TONS of photos… I particularly was entranced by the colors of green (remember these were taken back in early spring):

And Eli sitting half-out of the (stopped) car to take a picture:

Then those ROCKS and bluffs:

That boulder in the one above is bigger than a car!  And more…even I, who pretty much always makes representative art, am thinking abstract work inspired by these rocks:

And to prove that inspiration is EVERYWHERE…this is dust on the bumper of the rental car…. won’t that make an awesome screen for printing on fabric?

I actually managed to play with my watercolors, sitting on the balcony to our room, and painted JUST the wall/face of this bluff:

STUNNING!

On one of my internet groups, a friend from Scotland posted a link to this YouTube video.  It has been around a while, but I hadn’t seen it, and like it so much I too wanted to share.

She wrote:

The Palindrome Video

“This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forwards.

Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite.

Confused ? I was … but just take 1 mnute 44 seconds to read and listen to this video.

It was submitted in a contest by a 20 year old student – the contest was called ‘U @ 50’

It won 2nd place and everyone in the room broke into spontaneous applause when they saw it.

Sometimes the simplest things are the most brilliant !”

And here is the link, and now I’m going to try to embed this in my blogpost:

Like Jan, I invite you to enjoy!

Well…I’m only 2+ months behind on some blogging!  I’ve been busy on the road teaching in Arizona, Massahusetts and Ohio (at the NQA show!), and then Knoxville (AQS), TN, in July!   But I am trying to get caught up and share some of the lovely things I saw while on our family vacation after teaching in Arizona for the statewide quilt guild. Here is what the Grand Canyon looked like when we arrived at the South Rim in late April:

Notice that dark cloud on the horizon, especially to the left…well, it moved fast!  The following sequence of photos was taken as we walked along the rim…took all of 40 minutes.  We went from overcast:

Notice the cheerful (sigh…) family…woefully underdressed for the weather we were about to encounter:

All I can say is THANK HEAVENS the boys got this glimpse…even the jaded teenager went “WHOA!!!!!!” on first looking over the railing/wall!

To mist moving into the canyon about (literally) two minutes later:

Then looking down into the canyon:

And watching the veils of mist and snow and rain and shafts of sunlight–it was actually pretty cool to see this, as opposed to screaming blue skies and sunshine typical of summer:

To rain:

To clouds down in the canyon:

And the markers explaining the stone layers that you see:

And drifting cloud wisps–you can see the snow gathering on the north rim:

Then the north rim disappeared:

To SNOW…a late spring snowstorm.

To WhiteOut:

On the drive back to Flagstaff, cars on the Interstate highway had slowed to 25 miles an hour the road conditions were so slippery!  So before we got on the road, we went into the big old inn for some hot food.  I loved the table setting: