Sedona, AZ - Mornings

Usually on vacation, I try to catch the sunrise and sunset each day. The advantage of traveling to the west coast is that I have the time difference to my advantage. The unfortunate side to that, is that I end up waking up so early. On this vacation, that was usually 4:30am, even though the sun didn't rise until 6:45am.

Because there is not a natural horizon in the valleys, the sunsets and sunrises were not as grand as you get on the coasts. Nevertheless, the sun at a low angle, is always good light to shoot in, as can be seen in the shots below.

Sedona, AZ - Pink Jeep Tour

On our first full day in Sedona, we went on a Pink Jeep tour. The tour consisted of the Broken Arrow jeep trail, and a ride up Schnebly Hill Road.

Along the ride, the driver points out some of the recognizeable rock formations, directly below is Snoopy Rock and the one below that is the Indian Head on the rock. Further down below is Barney rock.

The view below is called "four points", see if you can make them all out.

Not sure what the real name of the formation below, but I'm going to call it pipe organ rock, as all of those individual tall formations remind me of a pipe organ.

The tree below is growing out of solid rock. One of the strangest sights I've ever seen.

The shot below is purposely dark, so that you can make out Barney Rock, the rocks make it look like Barney from the Flintstones.

Sedona, AZ - Red Rock State Park

The following images were taken inside Red Rock State Park, where we walked a trail along the water's edge.

Sedona, AZ - Around town

Various shots taken around Sedona, when not on a tour or a trail.

The road leading to the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which is built upon one of the red rock formations.

Sedona, AZ - Out of Africa

On our last day in Sedona, we visited a wildlife park called Out of Africa. It consists of exotic animals that normally make their home outside the U.S.

The park is broken down into a hands-on area wher they showcase lizards and snakes, as well as some smaller animals. The snake below is an Anaconda, and unlike the movie, it's top speed is about 3-mph, so you don't need to run too fast if you ever encounter one in the wild.

I can't recall what type of Lizard this was, I think it may be a type of iguana.

They have a safari park, where you tour in an open bus through the park, with various animals coming up along side the bus. The girafe here was one of two at the park, and he prefers carrots over any other type of food.

There was also a family of zebras at the park.

The more wild animals are kept on the upper part of the park. These consist of lions, tigers, pumas, leopards, white tigers, as well as a host of other exotic animals. We stayed for the feeding time, and that is why in some of the pics below, the animals were so welcome to have their photos taken.

Before feeding time, the park puts on a show called Tiger Splash. The show features four trainers and two tigers. The trainers entice the tigers to run around the arena chasing toys made out of rubber pool toys filled with balloons. As part of the enticement, they trainers will have the tigers chase after the toys and then dive into the pool, with the tiger following straight behind them.

A little gentle playing before the fun begins.

During the show, some of these tigers were leaping 5 - 6 feet in the air after the toys.