your lucky man!!!!!!!!!! I know you will let us all know how you did!

I think I'll go to the Smokies a 'few' times this year! Since I live only 12 miles from the park's border and about 30 mi. to Cades Cove, I try to make it up there once a week.

Jerry, I envy your freedom to travel and see all the great places at your leisure. I do travel a lot but have to fit it into a pretty limited schedule.

The Summer of '04, we did make a Great Western Tour, 37 days from Tennessee to California and back. Alamo, Saguaro, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Petrified forest, Painted Desert, back down to Yuma and over to San Diego, then to LA, Pacific Coast Hwy., San Francisco, over to Yosemite, Mono Lake, Tahoe, Great Salt Lake, Tetons, Yellowstone, Black Hills, Little Big Horn, Devil's Tower, Badlands, and dozens of other interesting places in between. It wasn't primarily a photo trip as I had two pre-teen girls with me but did take a few thousand photos!! Might have to make a similar trip in another couple of years!

Regards,

Dick:)

To RichardR

Tell me a little about the photo ops in Saguaro and Sedona. It will be my first time there.

Thanks

Jerry

Hi, Jerry,
The photo ops in that area are spectacular, especially around Sedona. I highly recommend taking one or more of the Pink Jeep tours. http://www.pinkjeep.com/ The girls really enjoyed that! We stayed at the Best Western Inn of Sedona, (A really nice place!) and they picked us up right at the hotel. We took the Ancient Ruins trip, which was great.





The view of Sedona from the hotel was very nice, too.



Just North of Sedona, Slide Rock State Park is a fun place to visit. The stream cuts through solid rock for hundreds of yards and is a great place to cool off!



A side trip to Montezuma's Castle along the way to Sedona was really interesting.



It was very hot the day we were at Saquaro, well over 100 degrees, so we didn't spend much time walking around! It is a beautiful place, though.



I highly recommend a visit to the Desert Museum near Saquaro. A great collection of Southwestern animals and plants in natural surroundings.



Here's some more links that might interest you:
http://www.sedona.net/
http://www.desertusa.com/sag/du_sag_index.html
http://www.desertmuseum.org/
http://www.nps.gov/moca/
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/recreation/red_rock/slide-rock-pic.shtml

That's a great area of the country with much to see and do and hope you enjoy the trip.

Best regards,

Dick:)

Thank you for posting such interesting and informative information. I hope that people are able to access this post over the course of time and use this information to improve there photo-safari's!

Thanks again,

Finalshot

Hi Richard.

Thanks for the info. Will try them. We are actually staying in Cottonwood and I imagine the ride up to Sedona will be very interesting. Staying there for 3 days so I guess we can visit everything in the area. Will stop in Sagauro on our way to Cottonwood from the Tombstone area. Hope to post during the trip depending on internet connections along the way.

Thanks again

Tony, thank you for starting this thread. Lots of great info on places to go.

Jerry, you're quite welcome.

Tombstone is a lot of fun. There's lots of food and drink:



But be careful of flying lead out in the streets....



Or you could end up in Boot Hill!!!



It's a pretty long haul out in the boonies to Tombstone so plan to drive out early unless you're staying there. The Gunfight at the OK Corral is in an outdoor theater setting and usually a sellout during tourist season so be sure to get your tickets early. There are occasional shootouts in the streets, too.

Best regards,

Dick:)

Richard.

We will be spening the night in Benson and going to Tombstone in the morning. It's a short drive from what I gather.

Thanks again
Jerry

I will be going to this remote place this coming July. We are planning to spend close to a month. Otherwise, I will be climbing some in the Sierra Nevada, Yosemite and Northern Cascades.

This should be a great year!

Misha

Misha,
Who are you using to go to the Gates of The Arctic?