What do the Grand Canyon, a deploying soldier and Arizona have in common?

ROAMY!!!!!!  read on.......

Click on images to enlarge... the Grand Canyon is truly spectacular....

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

~ God Bless Our Soldier(s) & Blogger Gathering, Roamy~

When Roamy & Juliet were in the airport, they ran into the most HANDSOME & CHARMING soldier, named Mason Moore. He is enroute to Iraq to fight for us & our country.

Roamy said he wanted to climb into Mason's pocket next to his heart, to share some love & say a prayer with him.

Mason was delighted, as you can well see.

Thank you, Mason, you are the sweetest!

We so appreciate your service to our country.

 Godspeed! Let us know when you return.


Now Roamy was not thrilled leaving AZ, one little bit. He had made that very clear, so we wrote his note, & took him back to
Sherry-sis' home, attached him to the
front gate. When she came home we were
sitting in the street with the camera to
capture her reaction when she read the
note ... let me tell you, she can JUMP pretty
high. Chuckle!






Tony & Sherry with Roamy. Roamy was
so excited to introduce them to his Ansel.














Meeting with our lovely friends at the Cheesecake Factory, Joe our waiter was a sweetie to take our pics.

Julie from http://thetuckerwolekclan.blogspot.com/,
Laura from
http://decortoadore.blogspot.com/
Sherry-sis
http://countrywingsinphoenix.blogspot.com/



Nothing like having a grand time with truly wonderful ladies.
Thank you for your friendship.

As you can see Roamy & Juliet enjoyed the visit, also.

Tomorrow St. Xavier Mission, Tucson

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

~ Jewels Of God's Earth, Grand Canyon Roamy~

Mercy, when God decide to quiet the streams & uncover the earth beneath, He gave AZ. beauty beyond ones imagination.

I do not know where to begin. We have traveled all over this world & are now focusing on the USA & sights we didn't get to enjoy in all our many trips across country.

Roamy & I had to sit down we were so awe struck with the majestic sights ...

Unless you are a professional photographer with the proper cameras, there is no way one can EVER capture the beauty of the Grand Canyon ... but I tried.









A few years ago my son, Emery, walked the entire canyon with Indra. I remember him sharing with us this awesome place, but
could NEVER have imagined what I had missed thus far.





The trees have such unique structures & barks ...


















Juliet & Roamy needed a touristy pic.
Aren't they just charming? Look at that scenery behind them.













Peaks & valleys, to the mid-right the river W AA YYY down there, if you look hard.














Now Roamy got really brave & conned Harold into rock climbing ... uh-oh! I see trouble coming. Roamy didn't realize Harold is a little stinker sometimes.
Harold put Roamy's climbing ropes securely on
him.















Juliet & I were worried sick that Roamy would take a fall ... with a wee bit of help, I'd say! HAROLD FORD!!!!

Thank goodness Roamy's rope kept him safe. Roamy had a special look for that
Harold, let me tell you.

After a full day of spectacular beauty, it
was time to move along on our travels.















The meteor crater is an unbelievable sight.
Who would think this big hole in the ground -- 570 feet deep and 4,100 feet (1.25 kilometers) across -- was blown into existence 50,000 years ago by an asteroid roughly 130 feet (40 meters) wide, is still there. Time has not hurt it one bit.






 

Did you know that the Apollo space mission astronauts took their first moon steps right here in northern Arizona? Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and other astronauts trained for the moon landing at Arizona’s Meteor Crater. You can not only see the massive impact crater itself, but learn all about the space program at the park’s interactive visitor center. It boasts the most extensive collection of exhibits & artifacts related to the solar system. There is a lot to learn and a lot to see at this world-class space exploration attraction.

In January 1963, a group of astronauts were taken to Flagstaff, Arizona. From there, they visited a number of sites in the area where it was believed that the terrain resembled that of the moon. These sites include Sunset Crater, parts of the Grand Canyon, and the Barringer Meteorite Crater, known also as Meteor Crater.

The Barringer crater was chosen for the most extensive training because of its resemblance to the moon’s surface with its many craters of different sizes.

In the hot desert sun, astronauts put on their heavy space suits and practiced collecting soil and rock samples from the canyon floor using specialized lunar tools. Astronauts continued to train here until the mid-1970′s.

The Homol'ovi cluster of archaeological sites includes seven separate pueblo ruins built by various prehistoric people, including ancestors of the Hopi people, between approximately 1260-1400 AD.

This fertile area is on a flood plain of the Little Colorado River, and the inhabitants grew cotton, beans, corn and squash. The people of this period are called Hisat'sinom, which is the Hopi word for "long-ago people".

They are often referred to as Anasazi, as the Navajo guides who helped nineteenth-century anthropologists and archaeologists called them. However, the word "Anasazi" is Navajo for "enemies of our ancestors", and the present-day Hopi population prefer to refer to them as the Hisat'sinom.

Roamy was fascinated with this Indian history.

This is where I shed tears again ... such beauty escapes description. Harold said he had never heard me say 'Oh, my God' so many times in one day. IN ABSOLUTE
AWE, MOVING, a beauty of God's art.











I remember my Mother in the late 1930s visiting this on one of her several trips around the USA. She had a small dome cloche filled with sand from here, that we kids always enjoyed looking at & listening to her tell of this trip.

The colors are beyond ones imagination.














Swirls of pinks, blues, greens, tans, yellows, salmons, lavender ...














We ventured on to the Petrified Forest.

Stepping back in time, over 3 million years, and follow the trail of majestic petrified redwood giants arrayed before you in a fascinating grove in beautiful California wine country.

Once these fields were filled with wood
that has been pilfered & is now protected
by law.

Juliet told Roamy this was better than any gem ... she loved standing on sparkley stones. I hope he appreciates her not being materialistic.
















The tee-pee peaks are in the Petrified Forest. They resemble haystacks or teepee, thus the name.

This link will give you a wonderful history of the camels that first were brought to this region as pack animals, hence turned loose.

Route 66 was meant to serve two purposes.It was intended as an all-weather highway to bring goods and services between Chicago and L.A., and to be an economic engine for small-town America.

Juliet & Roamy were amazed at how Harold's parents traveled this road from OK. to Fresno, CA & then to WA. ST., as did many Okies in the Dust Bowl, in the late 1930s.

This is just one of the kinds of vehicles the Okies drove west in.













Juliet just had to have her picture taken with this antique car.


Here is a wonderful piece on the history of Route 66 ...
http://www.azcentral.com/travel/articles/2011/07/05/20110705arizona-route-66-highway-history.html



Heigh-ho, merry-o! Phoenix, here we come!
Giddy -up, old paint.

Tomorrow visiting a soldier

Monday, July 25, 2011

~ Leaving On A Jet Plane ~ Roamy in AZ.

I have to give United Airlines a huge THANK YOU for allowing a guest pilot
to take the controls of this cockpit.

Smooth flight for a rooky. Juliet nestled
in Ansel for this ride from Roamy.










Andrea & Babs (r) were so gracious to the celebrating couple. They showered them
with champagne.













Now not to leave Ansel out, this family was given their 'wings'. You can see they were beaming.


















Roamy just HAD to take a peek out the window to look at this vast land that God
created. He hadn't seen it on his trip to
MD as he was inside a box. Roamy decided that the BOX is not his cup o'tea for
travel.









Roamy was so excited he jumped up to make sure the sign said we were half way to Phoenix. No, no time for skiing this trip.












Good golly! We are in Arizona!
Sometimes Roamy gets a wee bit TOO excited & this time he got into a prickly situation. Marydon saved the day.














 

Roamy couldn't figure out WHY these catcus were
all pointing in different directions. We explained to him that Ms. Sherry & Tony would tell him all about this soon.

Juliet was fascinated with the story of covered wagons & how the pioneers traveled across the United States in pioneer days. She made it very clear she was a modern gal.

We had such a beautiful clear gorgeous day as we all headed to Flagstaff to begin a journey of a lifetime. Harold & I had been thru AZ many times but had not had time to thoroughly do the sights.

Roamy said they were up to lots of traveling, so off we are on our 50th
anniversary trip.

The countryside is breathtaking. This rain storm was in sheets ... quite spectacular.

Every which way you look there is an
awesome view of the mountains & landscape.

I heard Harold say 'PINK SATURDAY' ... welllll, not quite.














Sedona is a lovely city, breathtaking surrounded by awesome mountains of brilliant colors. It will suck your breath away.
Rather touristy, but who cared ... God's
beauty is magnificent!












The marbleized ribbons of color that thread through these spectacular hills, are far more brilliant than the picture shows.














It was a very emotional time for me to see
God's brilliant artwork He creates on this earth.

Roamy & Juliet so enjoyed this view of the river near this site.

This link will tell you some wonderful rich history of the area.
http://www.visitsedona.com/article/82

T.C. Schnebly named this town after his wife, Sedona, in 1902.














The terrain of Arizona is like a rolling slide show, it changes around every bend in the road.

We explained to Roamy & Juliet that this was only the beginning of an exciting trip.















Desert one minute, lush green forests of juniper, pine & birch, the next ... crisp bright blue skies filled with billowing puffy clouds of white.

Tomorrow the Grand Canyon & more