A New Year & Starting From Home
What a terrific month. We’re beginning the new year and all travels emanate from home, so that is what we’ll look at first. Check out the aerial shot of Sedona and then a couple of birds…
Ted Grussing
Once Again Remembering The Seasons
It’s that time of year again as we near the end of the year and begin the season of winter. This is a time when life is shutting down, and creatures that hibernate are in shelter,…
A Cool Place
Northern Arizona is a totally cool place in all respects. It’s a cool place to be with temperatures to match. Photo 1 (featured at the top of this page) was taken at 11,931.4 feet MSL (Mean…
2025 Hot List
Welcome to the 2025 Hot List. In these pages, you’ll find plenty of small businesses, area attractions and places worth celebrating. Our team took engagement from our readers, and we checked it with recent news and…
Photography of Birds in Arizona by Ted Grussing
In this image (Above), American Avocets in breeding plumage hunt the shallow waters in Lake Pleasant looking for food, insects and crustaceans. They are on their way to breeding grounds and will be in Arizona in…
Wildlife Movers & Shakers
Animal and bird movers and shakers are largely invisible to us, but they are here and do have an impact. These are apex predators that oversee the balance of nature. In some areas of the country,…
Dining With Wildlife
There’s only one place in Sedona where you can dine with wildlife and share the same fine meal that they have, and that is at the Rainbow Trout Farm in Oak Creek Canyon. The trout in…
Only Man …
Only man has developed the ability to build structures and alter the face of the Earth to accommodate his needs and provide the technology and infrastructure that has permitted the widespread growth of our species. We…
The Ladies
In the animal and bird kingdom, there are no fancy restaurants, beauty shops or other pleasures that we have in our world. Although we do have a plethora of “salons” for our pets. Nature does provide…
Entertainment In and Around Sedona
There is a plethora of things to do while you are visiting Sedona and its environs: shopping, restaurants, vineyards, hiking and enjoying a splash in Oak Creek. There is the solitude found in the wilderness where…
Home Design and Function
Home is where you live and the type of home you have is dependent on your tastes and frequently the depth of wallet, for humans. For other species, home is not so much where they live,…
Travels with Ted: Smile. It’s Your Day!
Enjoying our days can be as simple as appreciating the small things. Opening your eyes in the morning and realizing you are still here. The early morning cup of coffee and a scone or muffin to…
Travels with Ted: Merry Christmas
It’s December. The month of religious and secular celebrations, warm fires and friendly conversations, spending time with friends and family, and taking a little break from the demands of everyday life. It is also the time…
Travels with Ted: The Joys Of Home
There are times when it is nice to take time from travels and explore the natural beauty and creatures that reside where I do. I get terrific photographs of wildlife and nature wherever I go, but…
2024 Hot List
The 2024 Hot List has arrived. In these pages, you’ll find plenty of small businesses, area attractions and places worth celebrating. Our team took engagement from our readers, and we checked it with recent news and…
Travels with Ted: Fall Colors
We’re well into my favorite time of year, fall. The heat of summer is gone. The cold weather has not yet arrived, and the glory of nature preparing for winter is on display for all of…
Fall And Festivals
HOW TO CELEBRATE AUTUMN IN NORTHERN ARIZONA Fall is a great time to be outside as the weather is virtually perfect. Here’s some of our favorite ways to soak up the fall temperatures. TAKE A SCENIC…
Travels with Ted: An Inviting Place
Sedona and Northern Arizona offer a rich history of Earth and the remarkable art forms that the geology of the area has inspired. Artists who excel in every media visit and many, like myself, cave to…
Travels with Ted: A Day On The Water … The Simple Things
I enjoy fine dining and excellent cuisine and throughout the rest of this issue you will find incredible restaurants and dishes that make us want to partake of all the glorious foods and visit the establishments…
Fire Safety: Let’s Take Care Of Our Feathered Friends
You have seen many photos in past issues of Sedona Monthly displaying the beauty of the birds who live here. They make major contributions to our lives, whether or not we are aware of it. We…
A Home Up High On The Red Rocks: Inside Red Tail Cliff
It’s safe to say that there isn’t another house quite like furniture designer Glendon Good’s home in all of Sedona, and maybe even in the world. For starters, it’s perched on top of one of Sedona’s…
Meet Ted’s Pets: Gentle Ones He Has Known
Over the years we meet and get to know many whom we deem amazing. That includes non-human creatures that we have accepted into our lives. They bring comfort and solace at times when we need it…
Travels with Ted: Photographic Art
Few things intrigue me more than the realities and potential realities that are possible when I grab my camera and set off on a journey to photograph nature and life on earth. It is the only…
Travels with Ted: My Airborne Home … How I get The Shots
I began my flying career learning how to fly gliders way back in 1996. Up until then, I had only been a passenger in commercial aircrafts. I earned my private pilot license in 90 days followed…
Travels with Ted: Fitness In Nature … A Necessity
Fitness for wild creatures is totally different than for humans and domesticated animals. Humans have developed and delegated skill sets needed for survival where we do not have to be in good shape to survive. Food,…
Travels with Ted: Life With Katie
In August of 2022, I lost my friend One, a black American shorthair cat. One’s adventures were legendary, both her real-life adventures in chasing bobcats and wildlife and the adventures I created for her in the…
Travels with Ted: The Cool Place
I like cool temperatures. So let’s look at one of the coolest places I know: the San Francisco Peaks, north of Flagstaff. They are one of the first things you see as you go north on…
2023 Hot List
Great Causes Sedona Oak Creek Unified School District The ability to get a world-class education is one of the most important parts of a child’s life. Each day the team at Sedona Oak Creek Unified School…
Travels with Ted: Where I Go!
There are a lot of places I frequent to photograph wildlife, but I have a couple of favorites and want to share the closest and best place where you can enjoy what nature has to offer…
Travels with Ted: Of Earth & Volcanoes
We’re featuring the San Francisco Volcanic Field in this issue of Sedona Monthly (see it here), and it is one of three active volcanic fields in Arizona. I love Earth, and I am constantly amazed by…
Northern Arizona’s Beautiful Volcanoes
Everyone knows that Northern Arizona has some of the most stunningly beautiful rocks on all the globe. But did you know that it is also home to hundreds of volcanoes? With such landscape gems as Sedona’s…
Travels with Ted: Dining In The Wild
While we tout the amazing restaurants, creative cooking techniques and delicious meals and desserts that we prepare from what nature provides, we tend to forget that there are other creatures on the planet that rely on…
Travels with Ted: Building A Home
Over the millennia, we humans have constantly been able to improve our living conditions, building more and more creature comforts into our residences. We have gone from the sod homes of the prairies that my late…
Travels with Ted: Why I Love Airports
As a kid, I grew up under the pattern to Wold-Chamberlain Field (now it’s the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport) and fell in love with all things flying. I am hooked on aviation. I flew free flight…
Travels with Ted: Following The Verde River
It is easy to take things that we see and interact with daily for granted. One such thing is the Verde River. Corky and I decided to find the source of the river and follow it…
Mountain Town Magic: Seven Ways To Experience Prescott
WHERE AND HOW TO EXPLORE THE GREAT OUTDOORS VISIT WATSON LAKE Like much of Northern Arizona, Prescott beckons with plenty of ways to explore the great outdoors. There’s a long list of stunning places, but Watson…
Travels with Ted: Timeless Images of Sedona
As Sedona Monthly is celebrating its 20th anniversary, I am celebrating my 31st year living in Sedona. Much has changed, but (mostly) everything looks about the same: more buildings, wider roads, roundabouts and more traffic. The…
Travels with Ted: New Beginnings, Adventures, Friends & Future Days
A new year is officially underway, and we are blessed to be here. For most creatures on our planet, it is just another day in a continuum of days that begins and ends on dates unknown…
Travels with Ted: Winter Memories
Fall is leaving, and the chilly months of winter are back. Memories of more than 30 winters are revived. There are the years when there were feet of snow, and there were years when there was…
Travels with Ted: A Heartfelt Thanks to The Humane Society of Sedona
The Humane Society of Sedona is many things, but to me, it is a place where creatures will receive care and where others can go and find animals to share a life with. Corky, my late…
2022 Hot List
Great Causes The Sedona Women Since 2000, The Sedona Women have been sponsoring monthly program meetings, hosting social events and trips for members in addition to doing many hands-on projects to benefit the community. Sedona Recycles Sedona…
Travels with Ted: Sedona from the Air
I’ve been photographing Sedona from the air for nearly 25 years and have taken thousands of photos of the area. The city is within a small area of red rocks and geologic formations that have been…
Travels with Ted: Searching For Color
September brings a close to summer and ushers in the fall season. The daytime temperatures begin dropping, and the nights are cool. In Arizona, our weather is elevation dependent. The higher the elevation, the cooler the…
Travels with Ted: The Magic of the San Francisco Peaks
The San Francisco Volcanic Field covers more than 1,800 square miles of northern Arizona beginning in the west at Williams and spreading east to Grand Falls, Arizona. It’s also home to more than 600 volcanoes. Bill…
Travels with Ted: The Lakes and Beauty of Prescott
Wherever I travel, it is with the intent of finding the natural beauty of an area. If I’m visiting more populated areas, I’m looking for the structures and people who call the place home. This month…
Travels With Ted: Jerome, the Gem of the Verde Valley
Jerome is a true gem in the Verde Valley, located about halfway up Mingus Mountain. Access is via AZ-89A from both the North and the South. The city was incorporated in 1899. At its peak, the…
Travels with Ted: Searching for Birds of Prey in Sedona
Raptors or birds of prey are apex predators that contribute to the balance of nature by keeping populations of grasshoppers, mice, rats, gophers, fish, rabbits, birds and other species in check. We have many different species…
Travels with Ted: Sycamore Canyon, the Natural Treasure Next Door
About 25 miles west and southwest of Sedona is Sycamore Canyon, the second largest canyon in Arizona. It offers an abundance of wild beauty. Sycamore Canyon Wilderness is over 50,000 acres and is Arizona’s first Wilderness…
Travels with Ted: Discover Wildlife at Bubbling Ponds
We have the red rocks, dozens of hiking trails and wildlife in abundance, but there’s one place just over House Mountain from Sedona that’s one of the true treasures in the area. That place is Bubbling…
Travels with Ted: Sedona in the Winter is Heavenly
Sedona in the winter is heavenly. Here are three of my favorite Sedona in the snow images. Top photo: A view of Red Rock Country, the Mogollon Rim and the Colorado Plateau. The photo was taken…
Travels with Ted: Red Mountain is a Perfect Fall Destination
I’m a new contributor to Sedona Monthly and have lived in Sedona (in the VOC, specifically) full time for nearly 30 years. My wife and I came to Sedona, seeking to escape California after spending 25…
2021 Hot List
Great Causes Sedona Oak Creek Unified School District The ability to get a world-class education is one of the most important parts of a child’s life. Each day the team at Sedona Oak Creek Unified School…
Birds Of A Feather
Image above: Sedona-based photographer Ted Grussing photographed this red tail hawk at Lake Pleasant in Peoria. “This was the takeoff,” he says. “It’s just the magnificent wing positions. It’s kind of like a ballet. Then you’ve…
Our Incredible Wildlife
Image above: Sedona photographer Ted Grussing took this photo of this bobcat in his backyard. She was about seven or eight feet away from him. “She was staring at me. She was really relaxed. I just…
