Tucson, AZ ~ Living Desert Museum

This morning we stopped here on our way back to Phoenix.  At about 10 AM we arrived it was already in the high 90's and by the time we were finished it was over 102.  Jenny decided to use a rented scooter which turned out to be an excellent idea or she never would have made it through the different habits.  Some of my favorite plants were the cactus in one of the gardens.

AZ ~ Butterflies & Birds around Patgonia

Sleep Orange Butterfly

Sleepy Orange Butterflies Puddling

Acorn Woodpecker

Curved-bill Thrasher

Canyon Towhee

Patagonia, AZ ~ Patton's Center for Hummingbirds

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Broad-billed Hummingbird ~ Life Bird

Magnificent Hummingbird ~ Life Bird

Violet-crowned Hummingbird ~ Life Bird

AZ ~ Birds around Patagonia

Gambel's Quail

Western Wood-Pewee

Rufous-winged Sparrow (Life bird)

Inca Dove (Life bird)

Patagonia, AZ

Chipping Sparrow

Today we drove from Cottonwood down state to Patagonia.  Our plans are to do some birding while here.  The drive was about 5 hours and the scenery along the way was just beautiful.  I certainly appreciate it now whereas when I was here as a child I am sure I just wanted to "get there."  Here in Patagonia there is a community park that has a butterfly gardens where I took a walk finding this lizard and a few birds and butterflies.

Gila Woodpecker

Sedona, AZ ~ Balloon Ride over the Red Rocks.

What an awesome experience....

Cottonwood, AZ ~ Butterflies

Ceraunus Blue

Dainty Sulphur

Sedona, AZ

Today we did a lot of driving around Sedona viewing all of the sights.  Beautiful, just beautiful

Montezuma Castle National Monument

This afternoon we drove down to the Sedona area. On the way here we stopped at the Montezuma Castle National Monument. These are cliff dwellings in the limestone mountains.  I saw Cliff Swallows while there and also  a Western Pygmy butterfly (life butterfly) We are staying in Cottonwood which is about a 1/2 from Sedona in a cute 2 BR Air BNB.  It is a perfect size.

Prescott, AZ

Yesterday, we ended up driving to Prescott, AZ where we spent the night.  We had a good afternoon touring the area.  I actually am in an online quilt block swap group where one of our members lived in Prescott so I attempted to get in touch with her to meet for lunch or dinner.  Sadly, Kim had left 2 days ago for a European River cruise so we weren't able to meet.  Today, I asked if we could do some birding before we drove to Cottonwood which is our next stop.  Al & walked around Lynx Lake which is about a 2 mile hike.  Lots of birds were around including lifer ~ Painted Redstart
along with some life butterflies

White Northern Skipper (lifer)

Painted Redstart (lifer)

Grand Canyon, AZ ~ South Rim sunrise

We spent the night on the South Rim last evening in one of the Lodge's but unfortunately, there are issues plus a forecast for rain all day so after some deliberation last evening we decided to move on today after sunrise.  Sunrise was another fantastic experience and different from the NOrth Rim because of the cloud cover.  Due to this there was only about 15 minutes of sun on the canyon before it was gone.

Grand Canyon, AZ ~ South Rim via the East Entrance

 After leaving the North Rim we had to backtrack over Rt 89 through the Vermillion Cliffs and down to the Marble Canyon where we stopped for a short while.  While there we saw rafters and kayakers floating down the Colorado River.

Desert View Watchtower at the Grand Canyon ~ South Rim

South Rim

South Rim