Sedona, The Home of Pluto, and some superstitious mountains!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am currently on my October Break from school. Which provided a great opportunity for me to see some of the sights that Arizona has to offer, the beautiful countryside in particular.

Monday, my hostfamily decided to take me for a hike in the Superstition Mountains, one of the many sets of mountains that surrounds the valley of Phoenix. The name comes from the story of the Lost Dutchman's Mine, a rich gold mine that is believed to be hidden somewhere in the mountains. Also, the Apaches, one of the Native American/Indian tribes that used to live in Arizona before Americans and Mexicans got here, believed that the "hole to the lower world" is found somewhere in the mountains. On my hiking trip, I found neither. But, I got some great pictures.

If you're wondering, we went on the Dutchman's Trail. 

What you see in the background is a mountain called Weaver's Needle. 

I should mention that this rock that I'm standing upon was great for finding out how solid my camera was. Me and my hostdad had climbed up there, along with the dogs. I gave my camera to my dad, so that he could climb down and take a picture of me. On his way down, one of our dogs knocked the camera out of his hand and it slid down the rock and further, beyond the part of the rock that is shown. But, as you can see, the camera was fine! It did get some scratches though.

A tarantula that we found on the side of the hiking trail.

A jumping cactus. It gets the name from how easily the stems (the little "hairs" that sting) fall from the cactus and onto anything that touches it.

Wednesday, we decided to take a day-trip to Sedona and Flagstaff, both are further up north in Arizona. I had heard a lot about these places before, especially Sedona. I was told that this is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. They were right.

On the left is Bell Rock.

After having eaten lunch in downtown Sedona, we went for a hike in West Fork.

To my dismay, we did not see any bears...

One of the many streams that we had to cross on our hike.

After more than an hour and a half, we had reached the end of the trail. It is possible to continue, if you're willing to go upstream in the cold water that you see behind me. 

The hike took three hours in total, since we had to go back along the same trail. 

After our hike, we drove up to Flagstaff, known for the mountains that make it a ski resort during the winter (Yes, skiing in Arizona), and the Lowell Observatory. 

Since we had neither the time or temperatures for skiing, we went to the observatory, after eating dinner with one of my dad's friends who moved to Flagstaff, a former colleague and fellow attorney.

The Lowell Observatory is known for discovering Pluto. Of course, Pluto is no longer a planet, but still. We got there about half an hour before they closed, a little before 9 pm. So it was dark, and perfect weather for looking at the stars and planets. They had one main telescope, but the line was long. We figured that we wouldn't get a look before they shut the place down, so luckily, they had a portable telescope from which we could see Jupiter. Instead of leaving, we decided to stay in line. Coincidentially, we started talking to a group behind us, and thus we met an American from Ahwatukee (Phoenix suburb) that had been an exchange student herself in Switzerland 25 years ago, and her former Swiss hostfamily was in Arizona on a visit. We had a great time talking to them, which was convinient, since we stood in line for an hour. Even worse, it was only about 40-50F/5-10C, and I had dressed for the warm Arizona weather in a t-shirt and shorts. It was cold, I can tell you that much. I totally envied one of the observatory employees, who was wearing a thick winter jacket and gloves. 

Standing in line was worth it though.

This telescope was built in 1896, but it was not the one used for discovering Pluto.

We still got a pretty good look at the Moon.

By now it was past 10 p.m., and we decided to go home. Since Mesa was over 120 miles from Flagstaff, it was a two-and-a-half hour drive. Getting home a bit before 1 a.m. was not that cool, since I had to get up at 6.15 a.m. for a 7.20 a.m. football practice, weightlifting and conditioning. I didn't get the whole week off from football, since we're doing the same thing tomorrow, at the same time. It's early.

Yours truly, Thomas.