Arizona's Majestic Land

Property of sedonaviews.com
Arizona’s Majestic Land
In the summer of 2003, I went on a vacation of a lifetime. This vacation was well-planned and talked about beforehand. In one-car there was my grandmother, sister and cousin. In car two, there was my grandfather, call him Papa, my brother, and myself. The cars were packed with at least four weeks of stuff. A quick prayer and we were off to the great open road. Papa would always open and say, “Lord please bless our trip today, we ask you to bless our cars from front to back and give us peace, amen.”I remember that prayer word for word. While we were on this incredible journey, we hit Idaho where the car had to be fixed. We stopped in Montana for a few days of Yellowstone National Park. Through Utah for a Salt Lake experience and then we were in Arizona. In the deep part of the state we could see the Mexico border. Let me start off by saying that Arizona is one the most unique places on earth. The many desserts, extreme warm weather and the many rock formations are a one of a kind. It was a week and a half into the trip, we left Saint George Utah. The skies that day were as dark as a black hole in space. Furthermore we enjoyed an intense thunderstorm from the hotel balcony. The rocks were a sought for sore eyes; unforgettable. We visited both Zion and Bryce Canyon and this was by far the best part of a vacation. These many rocks are like no other in the world. You look out in the distance and just gaze at the majestic scenary.Looking off into the horizon you see canyon after canyon of bright orange and red rocks, illuminating the area around. I think this is one of the most spectacular sights known to man. We passed through Sedona where the rocks are red and bright as ever. We had a bite to eat and it was getting late, so we decided to settle in the town of Sedona. There I encountered my first scorpion sighting. This sucker was as huge as my shoe. My shoe is no ordinary size, I wear a size 13.I wanted to nickname it Mr.Scropio the steroid user. Well my new friend went on his way and I got back to the pool swimming in the Arizona night. This was our last day in Sedona; tomorrow we were headed to the Grand Canyon. The skies that day weren’t looking promising. The weather man had predicted heavy showers. In Arizona if you get a major rain storm, you have to be careful of flash floods. Some of the roads leading to the Grand Canyon are plain dirt roads. So you’re always cautious. Across the canyon we could see the fierce looking clouds looking straight at us. We got that feeling that Zeus was eyeing down on us. He wanted to ruin our day at the Canyon. One strike of the old triton and we would be heading on our way.
The skies cleared up, and we enjoyed a nice day of sightseeing at the Canyon. It was terrific and at the end of the day, we spent the night dining in an old saloon type restaurant. It reminded me of a movie I once saw with John Wayne. He took out the bad guys in the saloon, and rode off into the sunset. I was starving of hunger, so I ordered myself a great Angus steak, very tasty if I do say so. One of the greatest steaks I have ever eaten. My grandpa ordered the same thing. He always has to have mash potatoes, he always asked the waitress, “Are they canned mashed potatoes or real?” I started laughing he would always ask that question. My papa cracks me up. After dinner we settled into a Best Western and called it a day. The next day we woke up to the sound of the trucks compressing brakes .The sound of those brakes were more annoying than your three year old cousin hungry. If you ever stay at a hotel, you don’t want to be close to a highway on a hill. The hotel should accommodate you with a Bad News Bears movie because that’s exactly what it is.
So as morning broke;that was our last day in Arizona. I was sad to leave this great state. A quick prayer and we were off to California. Eventually we landed back home. We just completed a trip of a lifetime. With the time spent in Arizona I got to see things that I would only see there. I got to see the Grand Canyon and the many different formations of rocks in Sedona and many other sights that I didn’t even get to mention. There were so many memories from this trip, and Arizona really stands out in my mind. I will never forget the four weeks I spent traveling the open road. I got home the day of my birthday and celebrated that day. This trip couldn’t have gone better. It was one of those trips that you take to the grave with you.