It always astounds me how much natural, raw beauty is in nature. Really, it continually catches my breath in new and exciting ways. Our vacation in Arizona really showed me a whole new side of nature with its desert beauty with thriving cacti and incredible places like the Grand Canyon. After our day at the Canyon we were so buoyed by the new sites that we were all ready to hop in the car for another road trip to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.
It was about a 2.5 hour drive from Sedona through desolate, desolate desert. You never realize how much more comforting it is to drive through living, thriving forests instead of deserts. It was totally worth it once we arrived at the park.
Once you get in the park there is a visitor’s center which has some great information about how the petrified wood was formed. Basically, this park used to be way south in the world when there was just one big continent. It was a forest then until a giant storm made the river rise up and uproot the trees into its current. Once the logs were saturated, they sunk to the bottom where many layers of silt and soil formed on top of them, which is where the colors come from. Finally, the continent broke up and moved to where we have the current continents and basically the wood fossilized. History is pretty awesome, right?!
The visitor’s center also had a great little walk where you could see a concentration of the petrified wood. You had to stay on all the paths to preserve the park but the path meandered through the logs showing you the stunning colors and patterns preserved in the wood.
Since the park was pretty big (it took us hours to work our way through) they gave you a map that showed you where all the lookout points were. There were a few places to take short walks and other were just viewing points.
One stop that I loved showed petroglyphs, or old etchings in the stone from hundreds of years ago. Due to vandalism you couldn’t get close but had to look through binoculars to see these amazing etchings.
However, at another stop you could see more of these close-up where there were remains of an old village that used to be in the park (waaay before it was a park) when a river ran rampant through it. You could see the outline of the village and the different etchings they left behind.
After winding your way through the Petrified Forest part of the park, you all of a sudden found yourself surrounded by stunning views of the Painted Desert. Pictures really don’t do this place justice. It was just so vast and stunning.
There it is; another roundup from our vacation a few weeks ago. If you missed my first post about the Grand Canyon check it out here. I’ll be back next week with our final vacation wrap-up post!
[…] another installment of our vacation chronicles (check out our Grand Canyon adventure and our Petrified Forest/Painted Desert extravaganza). Unfortunately it is the last post of this kind since it wraps up all of our adventures in […]ReplyCancel
Hey everyone! Yes, yes, I know it’s Tuesday, and I don’t usually post on Tuesday. But as I was doing one of my spring chores this weekend, I thought it might be helpful to share. Let’s back up a little bit so you get the whole story. In our first year of home ownership, I hated the basement. Why, you ask? Giant, jumping crickets.
They would linger in the shadows of the basement and jump at me. Boy, could they jump. Going downstairs to do laundry was hilarious to watch, as I would sprint through the basement on my tip toes. Not sure why I would run on my tip toes. I guess I thought I had less of a chance to squash or disturb the crickets…?! So after a year or so of that ridiculousness, I finally wised up. People, they make products to help with these types of problems. As an animal-lower and vegetarian, I believe in all things living in harmony but I drew the line at the crickets. I couldn’t take it, or them, in our house.
So what is my solution to de-bugging the basement (the only place we have had problems)? It is a twofold solution = sticky traps and home bug spray.
Yup, those two products have fixed my problem! I spray in the spring, mid-summer, and sometimes in the fall when the bugs like to start migrating inside. You can find these products in your home improvement store along with all those other buggy sprays. I picked this product up last year, but I was recently at the store again and saw a more “green” solution that I will try next. Once you get the spray, just follow the directions. Basically you just spray around doors, windows, cracks, and the foundation, both inside and out.
As for the traps, I like to hide them under furniture so no one knows they are there. Just remember to check on them and change them out when they are full. I think you will be shocked at how many bugs you will collect. I will save you from that picture. Yuck!
So there it is, my quick tip on how to stay bug-free inside the house all year long. So long creepy crickets!
I was not paid or perked by any of these products. I just picked them because I like them and they work!
After quite a few torrential downpours and bursts of sunshine, everywhere we look green showering around us (quite different from the desert we were in last week). It was looking green everywhere except in the garden. Wah wah. Vacation got in the way along with an unseasonably cold spring, and here it was mid-May again without having the garden planted. I would just look across at our neighbor’s beautifully planted garden that is already sprouting (granted they are retired and it’s all they do) and shake my head. Oh well, not worth comparing yourself to. Anyways, you may have remembered my seriously lacking garden posts from last year: oh wait, there was only one. This year, I vow to give you garden updates and all the tips I learn while I master my brown thumb. Although it may have a tinge of green on it now. Hurray! Although you couldn’t tell by this weed ridden hot mess of a garden.
Here is my step-by-step gardening guide:
Step 1: Buy seeds. We order ours from a gardening catalog but you can always pick them up locally at any garden store. If you are planting beans, you will want to soak the seeds in water a day or two before you plant. I also buy plants instead of seeds for some plants, like peppers, eggplant, and some squash, since they take a long time to sprout.
Step 2: Pick a day to plant in early spring (or as early as you can) after all frost possibilities are over.
Step 3: Gather all your supplies. These are the ones we used.
A rototiller. You can buy one, borrow one, or rent one from a home improvement store. We borrowed. Thank you neighbors!
A metal rake
A hoe…(the tool type, not the person – sorry, parents – inappropriateness over)
Fertilizer (we use 10-10-10 and a bag of cow manure – eewww)
Sunscreens for all you fair-skinned people out there like me. It’s a must.
Step 4: Till up the ground with the rototiller until it is really loose. You may have to go over it a few times. I recommend going up and down, then left to right. Rake up any loose stones and big weeds. I also recommend having a very strong and handy father-in-law who actually likes doing that!
Step 5: Plan out your garden. You may have to get a little strategic here. We put all the actual plants in first and grouped them. Then we did all the “mounding” seeds. Many types of vegetables require you to make mounds (mainly vine plants like cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers, squash, etc.). I like to put those around the perimeter so they can grow up on the fence and don’t get as entangled with your other plants. After those were put in, we filled in all the extra space with rows of beans.
Step 6: Fertilize. Sprinkle a thin layer on the plants. You will want to do this about once a month. Also, you will want to use a bug repellent about once a week. I am going to wait until the first time we water (in a couple of days since the ground was SO wet now) to put down the first bug repellent.
Step 7: Let Mother Nature take her course. Of course your job is to water (at least twice a week if it doesn’t rain), weed the garden, fertilize, and de-bug.
That’s it, my guide to gardening! Hope that makes it a little easier for you to tackle. I know when I first started it was quite intimidating but, just like anything else, if you break it down into steps, it becomes that much more manageable. Having a garden is totally worth the work! I had a huge amount of fresh veggies June through August last year, and I STILL haven’t finished all the frozen green beans I put away from the garden last year! Also, to keep you up-to-date with the garden and to share any tips along the way (as well as my bounty), I will try to do a monthly garden update post.
Are you doing any planting or gardening this year? I would love to hear your tips and tricks!
Thanks Whitney! I checked out your garden post too. It looks great! It definitely is harder than it seems. I have set myself a watering schedule so I remember to keep those plants alive!ReplyCancel
[…] through with my promise of actually doing garden updates this year. It all began when I first planted the garden and explained my method. Here is what it was looking like just […]ReplyCancel
[…] last left you holding your breath about my garden progress after this just planted garden post and this post that brought us through week 4. Well here we are in week 9, and I can finally say […]ReplyCancel
Happy Friday everyone! Don’t you know it always is a happy day to reach Friday after a hectic week back from vacation. Speaking of vacation, I thought I would start my sight-seeing posts from our trip today since I am missing it a little bit. Also, the pictures are just too beautiful to keep to myself any longer. To get you all caught up, last week Eric and I (all by ourselves!! Our first vacation just us two since our honeymoon three years ago!) vacationed in Sedona, Arizona where we were able to soak up some rays, relax, and do some major sight-seeing. Our main day trip goal was the Grand Canyon, as neither of us had visited before. It was about two-ish hours north of us (a mighty pretty drive may I add) but the destination was too spectacular for words. So I will keep a minimum of words and stick to the pictures (which don’t even do its beauty and majesty justice).
Once you park there is a really nice visitor’s center that we stopped into. It gave us a great sense of the vastness of the Canyon.
The visitor’s center was great and all but we were itching to just see the Canyon already! Here was our first look.
So awe-inspiring and made us a bit giggly. Look at the excitement on our blown away (in both senses since it was the windiest day I have EVER experienced) faces.
Then it was time to hit the shuttle bus, which is a great service. It takes you from one hot spot to the next, making your trip very easy and all about the views.
Can you see the trail on the back canyon wall? That is the Bright Angel trail, one of the most famous trails that brings you all the way down to the Colorado River. That’s one intense hike! But it would be pretty awesome to do as well. Maybe next time. Or maybe a mule ride instead.
It was definitely a day filled with these moments. Of just standing, staring, and taking it all in, ogling at the power of Mother Nature.
It was thrilling to get glimpses of the Colorado River which carved out the Canyon. Kind of mind-blowing, right? Here is a view from where we were standing, just to give you some perspective.
While out there I definitely like to stick by places with railings or stay a safe distance from the edge. Then you see these types of people…
And these guys. One of them even tried to take a little nap. In my mind I went like this (WOOBGOBSJ*&*^$@?!) Then I walked away. So kind, right?!
The craziest (eh hem, sarcasm implied) moment I had was my Titanic “I’m king queen of the world!” moment. Classic.
We also had a fun time doing a few short hikes in between the lookout points instead of taking the shuttle.
After spending about four hours walking, shuttling, and drooling over viewing the park, Eric had one of his dreams come true: lunch in the famous Bright Angel lodge. There were many gleeful (and yummy) moments with a hint of nostalgia with these throwback menus, replicas from 1937.
With our tummies full and both mental and actual pictures taken, we gazed forlornly back at the Canyon and drove away, promising to each other to one day come back (and ride a mule).
PS – I promise to have fun décor/DIY projects next week as I have a few up my sleeve for this weekend. Thanks for the patience as I get settled back home from vaca and get geared up for home projects!
[…] whole new side of nature with its desert beauty with thriving cacti and incredible places like the Grand Canyon. After our day at the Canyon we were so buoyed by the new sites that we were all ready to hop in […]ReplyCancel
[…] another installment of our vacation chronicles (check out our Grand Canyon adventure and our Petrified Forest/Painted Desert extravaganza). Unfortunately it is the last post of this […]ReplyCancel
I know I have been MIA and also straying a little bit from house updates and projects. Please forgive me as I have been living it up in vacation land (Sedona, Arizona to be exact). I have a TON of pictures that I want to share with you, but I thought I would sprinkle them in over the next couple of posts/weeks since I have multiple posts to do about our amazing trip (catch a sneak peek by following me on Instagram). So to ease us into the land where vacation meets design, I thought I would share the coolest. store. ever. Hence the name of the blog post. Gee, aren’t I clever?!
The store is Son Silver West. Even if it isn’t your style (it gets a little wrought iron Southwestern) it is an inspiration minefield for DIY folk. I’m telling you, it’s the Mecca of cool upcycling projects. These pictures just scratch the surface since this store literally had a map it was so large. Let’s jump in, shall we?
What first caught our eye from the road as we drove by (which takes a lot with the glorious red rocks of Sedona everywhere) was the giant chicken on the corner of the store. From then on, Eric and I said we were going to visit the chicken when we talked about going to the store.
This is what you see as you walk in from the parking lot…or half of what you see. The other half of the store winds around behind me. You know it’s going to be cool when you see a metal shark, an old wagon, and metal cacti.
There was even more awesome metal sculptures inside, like this peacock made from horse shoes.
Or how about a metal dinosaur. Now this is the type of garden sculpture I would embrace!
I also fell in love with these giant metal flowers. I think they would be lovely inside or out. Their large-scale is just so great!
There were also some great natural items, like stone door pulls. How easy to make and pretty would those be for side tables or dressers or bathroom vanities? The options are endless!
For some reason I fell in love with these chili’s. I don’t know why. They aren’t normally my style but they were just so vibrant!
Then there was this baby…the wooded wonder. That would be the greatest coffee table ever! Look at those colors and patterns!
Then there were just beautiful items, like this seating set in vibrant colors.
And this cactus room. Say goodbye to greenhouses and hello to cactus rooms. It’s what all the cool kids are doing!
Don’t forget to look for unusual items as stand-in planters!
I’m not usually one for wind chimes but I thought this vintage collection of bells was a nice touch.
For the grand finale, a horse shoe coat rack and a table made of random items stacked together!
So if you ever find yourself in Sedona, stopping at Son Silver West is a MUST! The imagination just goes wild! So what’s your favorite piece? Mine is a tie between the dinosaur and the bells…
I could not remember the name of this store. So I google “The Coolest Store in Sedona” LOL Your article nailed it! If you do not spend at least two hours in this place there must be something wrong with you! Well done! And of course my Boyfriend has a picture with the chicken 🙂ReplyCancel
[…] another installment of our vacation chronicles (check out our Grand Canyon adventure and our Petrified Forest/Painted Desert extravaganza). Unfortunately it is the last post of this kind since it wraps up all of our adventures in […]