More Trip Pics

On our way to breakfast at one of the lodges our last day in the National Park, we saw a group of six elk grazing right by the road. They were used to traffic I guess! Breakfast was a treat that day. We had been at our campsite, and we were down to oranges and granola bars. We had biscuits and eggs at the lodge. After that we went to the IMAX theater to see an IMAX movie about the Grand Canyon. Well worth the time! After the movie, we got back on the road in our little rental car - a Chevy Cobalt, with a very little engine. Driving through the mountains, James had it floored going uphill - and as fast the car could go was about 40 mph. Our next destination was Sedona. On the way there, we saw this sign on the highway. We passed it up at first, because it sounded like a hoax. I mean, who's ever heard of a white buffalo? We decided to turn around and see what it was all about.
We walked into a small gift shop, and there was a lady in there to greet us. They charged $5 admission, and she gave a little bit of history about how their ranch got started, and she had pics of the animals - sure enough, they had white buffalo. They had genetic testing done on the first white one that was born to make sure that it was 100% buffalo - no cattle in its ancestry. It was all buffalo.
The Native Americans in the region come and bring offerings to the buffalo. These are the 1st white ones documented, and the Indians believe they are the fulfillment of an old prophesy to bring peace.

There were other animals at the ranch. They had Pygmy goats, doves, a bunny, and an alpaca.

After we arrived in Sedona, we went to see the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is a catholic church, built in 1957.
A bird's nest we saw in a cactus outside the church - it was occupied. The bird flew out when we walked by the cactus.

The next morning we went to Slide Rock State Park. The photo above is a rock formation at we saw while hiking on one of the trails at the park. The photo below is of the park's swimming hole, which was named one of the top 10 swimming holes in the US by Life magazine. The water was very clear, and very cold!