We arrived at the Grand Canyon area rather late in the day, but it was a perfect time to see the South Rim in the long rays of afternoon light, which was absolutely breathtaking. We stopped at Mary Colter's Desert View Watchtower where they had a snack shop and gift shop in addition to the tower, which you could climb to see the a better view of the canyon. Inside this tower were painted, by a Hopi Indian artist, beautiful images of ancestral icons and other indigenous images of sacred nature. We both were so blown away by the striking visual impact of the place our heads were spinning...
We arose with the sun, as we have been accustomed to doing on the trip so far, and proceeded to do a drive-by tour of the Grand Canyon. Driving back out the way we came, there were stops along the way where you could get out and view the canyon. I felt justified in doing this and getting a complete overview of the south rim, as the views changed at every vista point we stopped at.
CLICK HERE FOR GRAND CANYON AND MORE PHOTO ALBUM
We then proceeded south, once again to points unknown. I did find a State Park at Canyon Lake. Driving to this spot, which was about 4 or 5 hours away from the Grand Canyon, was thrilling and the sites were stunning! When we saw the lake, I had forgotten that we were going to Canyon "Lake", and immediately thought of the I-Ching hexagram of Wooing. Wooing is the image of a lake on the mountain. The Lake, Tui, the youngest daughter, and Ken, Keeping Still, The Mountain, are the two trigrams that create the hexagram of which I speak. Basically, this hexagram denotes wooing, or in layman terms, attracting what you focus your energy on. I thought it was quite appropriate for this part of our trip as we were again immersed in Mother Nature's tapestry in all its glory.
We spent the next morning and early afternoon hiking up Boulder Creek Trail. The trailhead ran adjacent to the campground so it was a no-brainer thought that's what we would do for the day. It's been a challenge not having transportation other than the bike after setting up the tent.
This part of Arizona, is in the Superstition Mountains, which by far was our most favorite spot to hike so far. The light, the rocks, the plants, and the saguaro cactus all blended into a surreal oil painting like scene, that really blew us away! Bernie had commented when we first saw the saguaro cactus that he felt like he was in the Looney Tunes cartoon hahaha and expected Wylie Coyote and the Roadrunner to go zipping by at any moment.
I will not elaborate more on this hike as the photos we took will tell much more then I could describe here in text.
CLICK HERE FOR CANYON LAKE AND THE SUPERSTITIONS PHOTO ALBUM
After our stay in the lovely Superstitions, and still freezing before bed and when we get up in the morning, we decided to head even further south in hopes of finding warmth, and also rerouted our original itinerary to fit in a visit with my nephew Chris, in San Diego.
But not before visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's home, Taliesin West.
CLICK HERE FOR TALIESIN WEST PHOTO ALBUM
It turns out that Tucson was colder than where we were in Canyon Lake! But we found a nice campground at the base of the Catalinas, in Tucson. I used this opportunity to reconnect with some people who I hadn't seen in about 41 years, the Plotners! I chatted with Jill, and Becky, by text message, and we arranged for a visit to their mother and brother, Jonathan. They live about 10 minutes from the campground so for last-minute planning everything came together perfectly. It was definitely emotional for me. And very humbling.
It was so wonderful to see Gladys Plotner, who instilled in me a sense of spirituality in finding my connection with God. Oh! and not to forget to mention a love of growing and providing homegrown food for my family.
So after our lovely visit reconnecting with kindred souls we made our next big push to San Diego.
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