Williams/Sedona, AZ

Williams was the last town to have its section of Route 66 bypassed, due to lawsuits that kept the last section of Interstate 40 in Arizona from being built around the town. After settlements called for the state to build three Williams exits, the suits were dropped and I-40 was completed. On October 13, 1984, Interstate 40 was opened around the town and newspapers the next day reported the essential end of US 66.

Williams is a small town its population was 3,023 at the 2010 census, though it boasts the only railway to the Grand Canyon, The Grand Canyon Railway sits right in the center of town, complete with pre-boarding side show.

The locals in Williams also claim that they are famous for pie, though they've never tried mine, I didn't have the heart to tell them that mine was better.

 The Grand Canyon, it is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and attains a depth of over a mile.
A local said that if you look straight down the south rim wall you can see what looks like a mountain of blue and red blurs, that's all the hats that get blown off as people look down, a park ranger has to go down and collect them once a years and they say that they bring back hundreds.

There are so many beautiful views here that pictures cannot describe.

                                                                              So many colors, its like looking at Gods paint brush,

                                                                        the Colorado River runs the length of the Canyon.  

It amazes me that they send burrows down this place everyday, I would rather walk than get thrown by an ass. Pretty sure that deserves to be a T-shirt.

This is an example of a large Indian house, its now a gift shop.

Williams is also where you can find Bearizona, one of the only drive through animal parks, though there are a few short fences in places most of the animals roam free.

Mule Deer walking around the park.

A Grey Arctic Wolf taking a nap on the side of the road, he didn't even look at me.

 The American Bison, these guys were having lunch and getting a drink off the side of the road.

 This is a Rocky Mountain Big Horned Sheep
he was trying to figure out whether or not he cared that we were there, he decided not but then walked in front of our jeep and blocked traffic for a moment.

Black Bear whom was walking towards her napping place but took her time to get there.

This is her giving us a go home I'm trying to nap look, don't worry we had the windows rolled.....

White Bison these guys were just rambling along the road.













This is a Rocky Mountain Goat, apparently he's really into Goodyear, he was licking this SUV's tires.

 This photo was so perfectly timed, its the entrance to the park, there is an arch and a howling wolf statue on top, I caught a Raven just after he landed on the wolfs mouth.













Sedona was named after Sedona Arabella Miller Schnebly (1877–1950), the wife of Theodore Carlton Schnebly, the city's first postmaster, who was celebrated for her hospitality and industriousness. The first documented human presence in Sedona area dates to between 11,500 to 9000 B.C. It was not until 1995 that a Clovis Projectile Point discovered in Honanki revealed the presence of the Paleo-Indians and they've been ruining peoples eating habits ever since.
 The first Anglo settler, John J. Thompson, moved to Oak Creek Canyon in 1876. The early settlers were farmers and ranchers. Oak Creek Canyon was well known for its peach and apple orchards. In 1902, when the Sedona post office was established, there were 55 residents. In the mid-1950s, the first telephone directory listed 155 names. Some parts of the Sedona area were not electrified until the 1960s.

With its Bright Azure sky's and its Red Rock mountains it is one of the most beautiful places in our country, it also come with no shortage of Hippies and Artist's, so if hippies are your thing than this is the place for you.

A few of views of Bell Rock, this one and Cathedral Rock were my favorites on my site seeing journey.

I don't know what the name of this one is but it makes me think of the sphinx.

Until next blog, enjoy your year and be good to each other.

Albuquerque, NM

The growing village soon to become Albuquerque was named by the provincial governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdes in honor of Francisco, Duke of Albuquerque who was viceroy of New Spain from 1653 to 1660. The name of which derived from the Latin albus quercus meaning "white oak".
 This name was probably in reference to the prevalence of cork oaks in the region, which have a white wood when the bark is removed.
Albuquerque was founded in 1706 as the Spanish colonial outpost of Villa de Alburquerque Present-day Albuquerque retains much of its historical Spanish cultural heritage.
 Albuquerque was incorporated as a town in 1885, with Henry N Jaffa its first mayor, and it was incorporated as a city in 1891.

The Sandia Mountains
Sandía means watermelon in Spanish and is popularly believed to be a reference to the reddish color of the mountains at sunset.

We enjoyed riding the tramway up the mountain,

 Beautiful painted desert in San Felipe,  with colors of red, purple, yellow and green.

 These are all taken at what use to be the Ball Ranch, of the ball canning company, now owned and run by a land management.


The red rock jutting out of the mountain looks like a work of art.

 Wild horses on the property were brought in by the Spanish in the Mid to Late 1500's, they are still the same family of horses, living and surviving in the desert still.

 There was a mare that had recently given birth to a fowl, it was in the trench, not seen here but she was watching us and guarding it, making sure we wouldn't hurt it.










 Amazing rock formations that had so many levels of rock and stone, a science dream.

Shell fossils from the ancient sea beds that use to be here, the land here was amazing, old sea beds, old volcanic lava seams, rock, petrified wood from ancient trees and minerals everywhere.  

Some of the petroglyphs that are on the land, they ranged from extremely old all the way to ones from 1913, I really enjoyed our trip here, so many things living in a land where it would seem no life should, how many uses all the plants, trees and minerals have, this area truly shows you how wondrous our planet really is.