Arizona - my top 5

Travelling somewhere you have never been before, usually requires some research. Where to go? What to see? What to do? Where to eat? Where to sleep?

Well, lucky me: travelling to Arizona with a bunch of so-to-be-locals. The standard question was more like  "What should we show Eli?" or more the persuasive: "Eli has to see this, "Eli must see that" "Oh, we must go there, cause Eli will like that"
Heaven, I tell you. What kind people. And so easy peasy: I could just close my eyes, lean back and enjoy... Oh yeah, I can like that! As a first-timer to Arizona, this is what I liked the most (in no particular order- because hey: how can you prioritise a list like this.. not possible, I tell you):

1. Route 66
Seen the cartoon "Cars"? The story of route 66. Just cruising down that road made me pinch my arm. I was there. How great was that? The old highway through the US. Now .. still route 66. E.P.I.C.

2. Zane Grey's cottage in Payson
In Payson we saw the cottage of the writer Zane Grey (31.1.1872-23.10.1939). The name sounds familiar? His work (more than 90 books) were adapted into no less than 112 films (from 1911-1996)! What I liked the most was the he was a writer who liked to "get out there". You know? It is described that he travelled (like we did) to the bottom of the Grand Canyons, including Havasupai, to be close to the Indians, and into the nature - with just a pen and a note book in his hands... That I like.

Grey was a major force in shaping the myths of the Old West and inspired many authors that came after him. He sold over 40 million books. Erle Stanley Gardner, author of author of mystery novels and the Perry Mason series, said of Grey:
He had the knack of tying his characters into the land, and the land into the story. There were other Western writers who had fast and furious action, but Zane Grey was the one who could make the action not only convincing but inevitable, and somehow you got the impression that the bigness of the country generated a bigness of character.

The Zane Grey cottage, Payson

The lake just in front of the Zane Grey Cottage

Tonto National Park in Payson, with the largest natural bridge... wonderful area. 

3. Sedona. Oh, what can I say? Sedona is the kind of place you just have to live. I think. The red, the unbelievable red mountains. The streets. The houses - built as a part of the nature. Some of them even hard to see. The hills. The trails. The bushes. The hill tops. The air. The wind. The spiritualism they say IS Sedona. That feeling. Peace. Quiet. Balance. Yes. Sedona is.. something else... 

4. Cactus land
Have you ever felt like you are walking in a film? A western movie? That's what I felt like here. The giant cactus, the sound of lizards, rattle snakes ( I wish:-(), the heat, the yellow grass. Just waiting for that cowboy to jump out from behind a cactus: Howdy partner, how's it going? Oh yeah.

Which way to take??

5. Havasupai. I saved the best till last. The adventure of a life time: our hike to Havasupai.
It left me speechless. Never had I know that nature could have such colours: bright green field, dark green cactus, bright turquoise water, red mountains. Colours I have never seen before. And. No internet. No phone. No electricity. Going to bed at sundown, waking up at sunrise. And in the company of people with good energies. Gratitude. Warmth. Laughter. Joy. Love.

Life, at it's best.

At the top - Grand Canyon

Beaver falls - in the valley of Havasupai

Our hammocks - at the camping site

Feeling grateful - checking out ... from Arizona:-)