Sedona to the Grand Canyon

Wednesday, May 26th
Because our motel in Sedona had such gorgeous views, we decided to get a later start so we could sit on the terrace after breakfast. We also literally stopped to smell the roses that were blooming in the lovely gardens. BTW, I want to make clear that Bill wrote yesterday's blog, as those of you who know his humor would know from his reference that our motel upgrade was due to his good looks. Bill has written all the blogs, but today you'll have to put up with me.

We had heard so much about a charming old-town shopping/eating area called Tlaquepaque--pronounced Tah-lah'-key-pah-key--in Sedona and we're so glad we spent an hour walking among the boutiques and galleries. Flowers and statues set among the buildings were lovely and made it hard for us to leave, but we needed to get a start up to the Grand Canyon.

We're staying in the town of Williams for two nights. Williams is located on the old Route 66 and appears to be a thriving community as "the gateway to the Grand Canyon". Since we'll be in the GC on Thursday and Friday, we didn't originally plan to go there today. However, we decided to watch the movie on the GC at the Imax theatre near the park entrance and afterwards drove into the park just to talk to someone at the Visitor Center to plan the next two days. We ended up walking along the rim pathway as the sun was setting and Bill took these photos which show the sun shining on some rocks while others are in shadow. Needless to say, it's a breathtaking sight. It will be interesting to see the difference in shading tomorrow.