A Most Perfect Day................25th March 2013

Today we take off  (pun intended)  for a most perfect day.........we have booked onto a tour leaving Sedona Airport flying in this 6 seater Cessna to The Grand Canyon West Airport.......even the alarm call at 5.45 couldn't dampen our excitement.......I'll apologise now for the amount of photos on this post, I took over 400 plus videos......apologies also if I go on a bit about how awesome it is....

We had thought that this trip wasn't going to come off as we were let down twice by another company we had a booking with but luckily we found Sedona Sky Treks and they were first class......

Our travelling companions for the day are a really nice family with a little boy called London.... 

Mrs Blogger......the co-pilot ! Hey this time I get to sit up front they usually put one of the men in this seat........

The stunning red rocks of Sedona from the air..........

More of the Sedona area......

Our flight to the G C is just over an hour and it is wonderful......our pilot and guide for the day is Paul,  a real character, not in a funny way but in a grouchy way, he admitted that he doesn't like people but having said that he was fantastic,  really knowledgeable,  never stopped talking and a great guide....Michael says his workmates will understand that he's a Jim Bloor !!

Although this looks like desert it's actually dead grass/grazing land which will rejuvenate  when the summer rains arrive.....

Our flight was mostly at 2000ft although we are actually at 8000ft above sea level, much higher and we would need oxygen........

Our first sight of the amazing area that is the Grand Canyon.....being a bit ignorant about the area we had thought the Canyon to be just one big canyon but not so, it is masses of canyons........ 

The Colorado River.......

After landing at the airport we now transfer to a helicopter to take us down to the bottom of the canyon and the Colorado River..........

WOW & WOW it takes your breath away descending into the canyon.......

Words fail me it's so amazing............

Down at the bottom, The Colorado River......

This is the natural colour of the river due to the silt........

A different type of holiday.....raft down the river for 2 weeks primitive camping and bringing out everything, yes everything, even the honey-pot and contents........

The next part of the trip is a short pontoon ride on the Colorado River......again we had a character driving the boat and very nifty with the cameras.......the temperature at the bottom of the canyon is a lot higher than up on the rim hence layers.......

Our helicopter on route to pick us up.......do have to say the whole helicopter tours set-up are a very slick operation and  very big business........

More fabulous views on the ride back to the top.......

The helicopters are sooo small against the size of the GC......

Eagle Point on the South Rim....... 

The much advertised Sky Walk, we consider (along with many others) that it is carbuncle  !!!   Nope we didn't pay the £25 each to walk on it......Paul said they used to include the ticket price in the tour but cut it out after 80% of folk didn't want to do it.......needless to say the Chinese do although there has been a falling out with the money man behind the walk and the Chinese tour operators so numbers have fallen dramatically for the walk.....ummm not so in general, at one stage we thought we were back in Beijing !!! Still haven't figured out the 2 finger salute and standing on one leg for photos !!!

A traditional sweat house........

Lunch on the edge of the Canyon at Guano Point....about 2 feet from the edge in fact..... and we thought yesterday's lunch spot was as good as it gets :)

Tradition has it that the red rock formation is a guardian angel of The Canyon.....

We were not rushed at all and had loads of time to absorb the awesome views...........

Beautiful blooms on a desert yucca.......

Yes we climbed to the top.........

Back onto our Cessna for the return journey and more spectacular views from the air.........

And back to the red rocks of Sedona.....

Our destination and end of a brilliant day out.......Sedona Airport.....
Well folks we have had the most amazing day, it's our last adventure for this trip and boy what an adventure..... tomorrow we are back down to earth packing up our home on wheels ready for hauling it down to the storage facility in Phoenix and flying home.....
We have had a fantastic trip again, seen wonderful sights and met very interesting people on our travels....so many memories to take home with us.......we flew into Houston (The Eagles Have Landed) Waltzed Across Texas through New Mexico into Arizona......lots of great Country music on the way thanks to Willie's Roadhouse......staying as we have for the past 2 and half weeks in Camp Verde at The Distant Drums RV Resort  hearing the fabulous Jim Reeves on our radio was very apt.......so until we are "Back On The Road Again" it's goodbye from YorkieMan and Mrs Blogger..........we will be heading off shortly and singing By The Time We Get To Phoenix......maybe we can end each trip on a Glen Campbell song.......