Wayne- Scottsdale

Mom and I set out Monday morning for Arizona. We chose the 'get south fast' route, although it seemed the less scenic way (and it was until into western NM). It was a great trip, no car problems or other incidents. We even had the problem of too much food, which hardly can be classified as a 'problem'. We made it to Dalhart, TX the first night, then planned in a little time to see Albuquerque on Tuesday and we made a mostly-unplanned visit to the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. We spent Tuesday night in Flagstaff (choosing the hotel based on its accommodations: breakfast & a hot tub). That left us with enough time to drive the scenic route to Sedona Wednesday morning, then on to Phoenix for Mom to catch her 3:47pm flight to Omaha.

Old Town Albuquerque

Mom in front of the church that Old Town was built around

Proof that I was there

Scenery since this was the first time a Mann family member was out this way (or at least this far southwest, that we know of)

Continental Divide... very anti-climactic

Execution of the penny press: purses down method

Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park

The park was a mixture of the Badlands and Craters of the Moon

Trying to show the huge size of some of these trees!

Petrified wood

We finished the loop in time to be ushered out of the park by the ranger

Scenic route 89A from Flagstaff to Sedona... quite the hidden treasure

Just arriving into Sedona

Mom found her favorite statue in Sedona

Snoopy Rock in the distance

Execution of the penny press: automatic method (Mom got 3 pennies in Sedona and I got 2)

Lucky Rotary Javelinas

Stations of the Cross at the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona

Chapel of the Holy Cross

My 'residence' for the next 2 months

My room

Bath

Common area

Thanks again, Mom, for riding/driving with me to Scottsdale and talking me through a few tears at lunch yesterday. All you've done is much appreciated...