Episode#35: Brad And I Conquer The Sites Of Arizona

 When thinking back on this trip to Arizona which was the first of two dad and son solo trips we took together, the stop at the Grand Canyon will always be a major highlight. Though this story starts a long way from this location, I wanted this photo to be the cover picture of this episode. This is one of the many favorite photo memories of the trip, when Brad took it of me at the edge of this unbelievable canyon.

I wanted to take this trip with Brad immediately after he graduated high school in May of 2008, but he already taken a full time job for the summer that ended just before he started fall classes at North Central Texas College in August. The following February my position at Redi~Mix was eliminated as a result of a corporate downsizing event due to a national recession. Since I now had the time, we took this trip during his college spring break of 2009.

I chose to make this trip by car instead of flying for a few reasons. Primarily I wanted to spend time with Brad knowing he would be moving out on his own soon. Since I wasn't sure when I would go back to work and have any vacation time this seemed like the right time. Plus I was still in the mental process of getting past this whole Redi~Mix debacle. 

The morning we left home we drove straight through to El Paso which was almost 700 miles  of the 970 miles of the trip to our first destination which was Tombstone. We stayed here over night, the next morning we drove around town for a bit then we head west to Arizona. 

We made it to Tucson about five hours later that day and stayed in the area driving and looking around the town. We get up early the next morning, grab some breakfast and make the 90 minute drive southwest to Tombstone. We arrive and it is a bit misty and much cooler than I had expected. I generally will wear shorts and tee shirts during this time of the year, but on this day I was wearing  jeans and a light jacket all day. Being a huge fan of the 1993 movie Tombstone with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, I was curious to see how the town looked based on how the movie depicted it. I was not disappointed, the town has done a good job on keeping the layout and flow of the town fairly gritty without a lot of 21st century reality visible. Of course there were wagon and stage coach tour rides, shoot out scenes at the OK Corral, plus several characters interacting with the tourists and it was really a lot of fun.

After we spent the entire day here we felt like we had seen what there was to see so we headed headed on north to Phoenix to spend time with Patty and Mike. The picture below is me, Patty, Mike and W. C. (Buck) McCommas who is my paternal father. Brad took the photo here and it would be the first and only time Brad would meet him.

After a day or two visit here we head on north with our next stop being in Sedona. As we drive through the town, everywhere you look there are new age stores and vendors. They are all selling crystals, gemstone pendulums, and every kind of metaphysical accessory you could imagine. As beautiful as this part of state is, it is simply eaten up with all of this 'spiritual' wellness and lifestyle. Sedona has been referred to as a 'spiritual mecca' due to reported concentrated spiritual energy contained within the red rock formations. As we looked around town we see an advertisement for a helicopter tour of entire area of Sedona. We also see an opportunity for an open air cockpit biplane tour throughout the Grand Canyon. I left the choice to Brad and he wanted to do the helicopter ride. The following several pictures are just a few of the many I took. The ride was great and the views were beautiful.

After this aerial tour we drive around town a bit longer and then out for the 30 mile drive north to Flagstaff where we find a hotel for the night and prepare for the hour and a half drive to the Grand Canyon the next morning. Here is one last picture with the red rock formations of Sedona behind us just as we leave the area. 

The next day as we drive between Flagstaff and the canyon, I am not really surprised at the snow we see in the mountain tops, but I was a bit surprised to see this much on the shoulder of the road and in the grass along the highway since it is already mid March.

I was expecting the canyon to be an amazing site but was not fully prepared for the magnitude of the expansive views to be had as we hiked from the parking lot to the edge of the Southern Rim. It was absolutely breath taking, beautiful, rugged and any other astounding descriptive words you can come up with. It was truly an amazing site. Below are just a few of those pictures, which in no way capture the majestic views we would see here.

 

We hike around the area and see different amazing views through out the day. Later that afternoon we come across an outfitter that offers trail rides along the canyon trails riding mules. I was curious and asked why they use mules instead of horses and was told that mules are more sure footed than a horse. We sign up and take the tour and so glad we did, it was a different perspective for sure.

The next morning we get up very early so we can be at the canyon before dawn and to see the sun as it  comes up and watch it cascade over the canyon. It was well worth the early up and drive.

After a few hours we decided it was time to head back toward the farm in Callisburg. After about 2 hours we see a sign that interests us so we pull over at a road side natural landmark attraction a few miles south of I40 called Meteor Crater. As it namesake states, it claims to be a crater caused by the impact of a meteor that is 3900 feet in diameter and 560 feet deep. Regardless of what caused this, it was a cool stop and look at attraction.

Another 25 miles or so we stop off in yet another road side must see, only this time it is an iconic stop related to pop culture. Here I am standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona, just the way the Eagles sing about it. Brad captures this picture of me and my buddy Don Henley.

We push on through a few more hours and spend the night in Albuquerque, New Mexico and make it home the next afternoon. I was a good trip and I will treasure this time spent with my buddy Brad. 

This is the first of two trips Brad and I take together. I will share the story of the trip we take to Washington D.C. a few years later in an upcoming post.

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