Day 7 - Sedona and snow

Not much driving today. We started with an excellent breakfast in a sunny Cottonwood. Cottonwood has one street full of old style shops - mostly cafes and antique shops. The rest of the town is terrible - but the one nice street makes it worth a visit.

Next the short drive to Sedona - another surprising location.

As you drive into Sedona the view is spectacular. Huge red cliffs and buttresses rise up in front of you. It is often described as being similar to the Grand Canyon and we could see why. It was really amazing.

We headed off road for a few miles to get to the start of the Devils Bridge Walk. In perfect sunshine and cool conditions we started our hike through this amazing landscape to the 'Devils Bridge' - a natural rock bridge - about 6 feet wide and 50 feet long.

Our walk allowed us to take in the colours of the rock in Sedona. This whole area (Death Valley, Sedona, Grand Canyon) has layers of coloured rock that have been exposed through erosion. The effect is that the mountains look like the layer cakes my mum used to make when I was a kid.

With Jack on my back we had a great walk - the kids did well and we made it to the Devils Bridge and back in good spirits.

We did a quick drive around the Red Rock State Park road - also pretty but by now we had seen so many amazing things.

Lunch was in the Red Planet diner - a diner with an 'alien' and 'space' theme. Food was OK.......and it started to rain.

We then headed along Oak Creek Canyon....and the rain got heavier and started to look like sleet. Quick stop at Sliding Rock Park (a pretty river where you can slide off rocks into the freezing water) and we started to climb towards Flagstaff - which is over 7,000 feet.

The rain was really sleet now (and heavy). The temperature was about 2 degrees and yes, it started to snow. As we got to the top of the Colarado Plateau there was a good inch of snow on the ground and the kids had a quick snow ball fight to celebrate the 2nd time they have ever seen snow!

Onwards through the snow towards Grand Canyon. We made it in time to get to the visitors centre and have a quick 'look' over the edge. We are at the South Rim which is around 7,200 feet. When you look into the Canyon it is over a mile down to the Colarado River.

The view into the Grand Canyon was yet another stunning experience.

More on that tomorrow.

Only 1 photo today as the Wi-Fi signal is rubbish.

Ken