Canyon Roads

My anticipation was building on our (somewhat recent) 2 hour 'road trip' from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon with 2 of my favorite people, my stylish aunt&uncle, who are more like my best friends. They live in AZ, and this was my first time ever to see the Canyon! There were a few questionable truck stops we passed by (reminded us of scenes from the twisted Brad Pitt & Juliet Lewis serial killer movie Kalifornia)...however, I loved driving through the Painted Desert, the reservations, and stopping by different trading posts and Native American jewelry stands along the way. The original handmade turquoise pieces were hard to pass up...

This guy works here everyday making his own jewelry while hundreds of tourists pass through. He and his family live down the hill outside the window...without any electricity!! He was such a sweet friendly person with a genuine interest in others...which can be rare! The ring I wanted to buy was way too big so I walked away from it :( Should have probably bought and sized it down in hindsight! What I REALLY wanted was the cutest reservation puppy ever, Bear, that had luckily been rescued the week before....

 Breathtaking...no wonder it's one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The background looks more like a painting than a photograph. We had a picnic on some beach towels we found in the trunk, and made sure to NOT feed the huge crow who was eying our sandwiches. I don't think he wanted my beer though...only one allowed at high altitudes like this ;)

Not somewhere you want to be drinking very much :)
Then we had our contrived Thelma and Louise moment....we always end up somehow laughing to the point of peeing in our pants when we're together, I love that.

After a long day of sightseeing we hit the road back through 42 degree temperature en route to Flagstaff (I was so excited to see snow that we had to pull over and get a couple pics).

This place, Flintstone park and Redrock City was so RANDOM we had to swing in. I was always a Flintstone fan, I liked their dog/dinosaur Dino the best as a kid...but there was also Pebbles and BamBam that I actually had doll figures of. Who knew a place like this existed...makes me wonder what other cartoon character-type parks are out there! Anyway, we totally dorked out here as you can see below,  I couldn't even post all the pics.

Venus and the crescent moon above...so clear away from city lights...