Rocks, jeeps, ducks, ersatz shopping malls and moonrise

This morning we got up close and personal with the red rocks on a jeep with a "cowboy" driver who took us up a rutted, rocky road to the Mogollon Rim, an escarpment that runs for 200 miles across Arizona.

This is Hoss with Jan and the other couple who bounced along with us for the two-hour ride.  Here are a few images of more rock formations:

This one is called the bat. You can see his head in the middle with outstretched wings on either side.

And this is called Kissing Rock or Window Rock for obvious reasons. If you look to the right at the bottom of the formation you can see Fred Flintstone in profile with his sticky-outy hair. I think it is so funny--and so human--that we find these caricatures in so many of the rocks.

These next two may have names but I don't recall.  I'm including the photos to show how close we got to these formations from the steep and torn-up road.  

At least we were in a jeep with an experienced driver.  I can't stop thinking about the guy from Europe who came in the back way by mistake in his rented Kia. He was about six miles into it and absolutely panicked. Hoss says that Mapquest shows the road we were on as the shortest route from Flagstaff to Sedona. I think by the time he made it down that his rented car would be a write-off.  So sad. He won't be doing that again.

As for me, I won't again ride in a jeep on a road like that after drinking a cup of coffee!

This afternoon we explored Tlaquepaque, an ersatz Mexican village shopping area with lots of lovely stores and restaurants.  Behind it was a park on the edge of Oak Creek with a bunch of resident ducks.

And here's your goodnight moon photo. Miss Luna rose above the rocks as they were glowing red from the sunset.  Sedona is full of moments like this. In spite of touristy shopping and jeep tours, the sublime beauty of the place keeps shining through.