Sedona, Camp Verde, Jerome AZ, Montezuma Castle National Monument, Tuzigoot National Monument

     I went with a friend from high school, Tammy, to Camp Verde,  Arizona. She had business and I got to check the area out. The trip down was extremely beautiful as was Camp Verde and nearby Sedona. We drove down on a Tuesday. It's about a 5 hour drive. We stayed at the Comfort Inn. On Wednesday I went exploring while Tammy had meetings. She was buying back a girls home that she had sold years earlier and I took some pictures of the campus for her. Then on Thursday we drove home through Sedona. We did eat dinner at a nice restaurant Wednesday night in Sedona. It was sooo good! And it was so much fun to catch up with Tammy. She has the cutest two daughters and is always so much fun to be with. She just laughs all the time and makes me laugh. Those are the best kind of friends! I had some problems with the color on these photos. I tried to tone it down but Lightroom wasn't cooperating.

The road is a long, lonely stretch and I loved it. I guess I just love road trips

The drive up and over Jacob's Lake was gorgeous as was coming down the mountain back into the desert

We crossed the Navajo Bridge

The Colorado River seems pretty tame here

Tammy likes to stop and buy jewelry now and then. I bought some cute earrings

Like I said, it's a long, lonely stetch

I checked out the Tuzigoot National Monument Pueblo ruins

They were pretty cool and had a little bit of a vista

After Tuzigoot, I drove up to the town of Jerome which is up on a hill. It totally reminded me of Tuscany except desert instead of green and it wasn't old architecture. It had some cool views though and I got out and walked around taking pictures

Grand Hotel and Asylum. It started out as a hospital

All the buildings were built on the slope

I saw these pretty wild flowers growing along the side of the road and had to stop

Next I visited Montezuma Castle National Monument which was very close to Camp Verde. There were hordes of people and the season hasn't even started

It certainly reminded me of Mesa Verde National Park but there was only this ruin

These caves were where other ruins had once been built

Dinner in Sedona

On the way home we drove through Sedona and drove up to the airport which had some nice lookouts

We stopped at a cool bridge

It was just gorgeous driving through the canyon which took us about 30 minutes

The drive home looked different than the drive there

Northern California, Aptos, Santa Cruz, Sequoia National Forest, Point Lobos, Monterey Bay Aquarium

This  was a road trip to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Aptos, California. It was my parents, my sister Monterey, and my Aunt Roma Ann. The first fun stop was to Sequoia National Forest. The trees were so amazing and the forest was so quiet and the trees so grand they demanded respect. I would describe is as a spiritual experience. We went on this trip back in March.

Where my aunt Phyllis is pointing is to the time of Christ. There are plaques that label different historical events

The pictures could not do the size of the trees justice

My sister Monterey and my Aunt Roma Ann

 Roma Ann's daughter in law, Miranda was there with her cute babies

This one was 17 feet wide

John C Fremont stayed inside this one for one night

Mom looking beautiful as always

Banana Slugs were everywhere

Austin was the cutest, happiest, little guy ever

Then we took a drive along the beach in Santa Cruz

We stopped at the Santa Cruz pier for dinner and browsing

We saw lots of Sea Lions

We drove along the coast to Capitola

The next day we went to Monterey and the amazing aquarium there

The different jelly fish were my favorite

We saw a cool, giant octopus. The reflection is kind of cool but not intentional

Since my sister's name is Monterey, this was a must take photo

We ate lunch at a fabulous seafood restaurant in downtown Monterey

We drove the 17 mile drive that includes Pebble Beach

We saw the lone tree on the drive

We stopped at Carmel by the sea. The beach was beautiful with nice, white sand

We visied the Carmel Mission which was amazing

Then we went out to Point Lobos and did a hike. It was absolutely breathtaking!

And another great seafood meal with my beautiful sister Monterey

Moss Landing

The blossoms weren't quite out yet but the weeds were blooming beautifully!

Moss Landing Marina

One of our favorite places to stop was a farmers market in Moss Landing

There was lots of agriculture and I especially loved the artichoke fields