Sedona Thursday and Friday

Our last day already! At the beginning it always seems like there’s so much time, and then it is over too soon. Dave got up very early and went out to look at a comet, which he liked but which was not worth waking anyone else for, then went back to sleep. When we woke up for real it was time for a cardio hike, and we wanted to try the bottoms up trail, which we’d seen the end of when we did Girdner/Axis.  Unfortunately we misread the map, which had the trail name between two trails, and went the wrong way. We had a nice hike which stayed up on the top of the hill, then found the Bottoms Up trail and followed it for a short way – it’s along a stream bed and looked fun, but we had another big day planned.

We’d moved the kitchen table from Lynn’s apartment into ours (did I mention that like last year, we had two apartments that connected?) to do the puzzle, and when we got back we moved it back into her apartment and then moved Dave in there with his kindle and duolingo and astro-imaging, and Lynn and I got to sit and knit and talk, which is actually the whole point of the vacation but seems to get crowded out. We had a good talk and I wish we could do it more often! Before we knew it it was time to go get Dave and try for lunch at Shorebird once again, and the third time was the charm. My potatoes were the best thing.

This is a sunset photo, not a Mescal trail photo.

After lunch we drove out to the Mescal trailhead to do our final hike, another recommendation from Karen at the chamber of commerce. I was a little worried because we really wanted to do some red rock hiking, and this trail seemed to be pretty far from anything but scenery. I was wrong. It went right up onto the rocks and we had a great hike. It didn’t occur to us until the next day that we might have been able to use the trailhead shuttle to do a one way hike with more time on the red rocks, but this was a fantastic hike.

It was almost sunset when we got home, and Dave and Lynn thought it would be fun to go see the sunset from the hottub near our apartment from last year. We went and it was good but Dave and I wanted a little more, so we walked over to the centennial trail and saw some amazing views. When we got back it was already time to head out for our final dinner, which we had at Javelina. Dave and Lynn had chili rellenos which they had been looking forward to all week, and we all had margaritas. After dinner was packing, and then it was pretty much bedtime. My fitbit showed a personal best 26,064 steps for the day, a fitting end to our walking vacation.

Friday January 20

The wind howled and the snow fell during the night, so we were up a little earlier than we’d planned. Dave went down and used our room keys to scrape the windshield clean, and we checked out and headed carefully out of town. The roads were kind of nasty, and we passed several accidents, but we got to the Sky Harbor airport exactly when we’d hoped to. Lynn dropped us off and went to have a couple of donor visits before her Saturday AM flight. We went in and dropped off our suitcases (actually, we printed the tags at the kiosk and then a baggage guy came to the kiosk and took them, which was nice but kind of weird), and had a little lunch at PHX Beer Co. We got to the gate just as they were starting the boarding process and had an uneventful trip home.

We had a great time and we’re glad to be home.

Sedona Wednesday

It's my birthday and the sun came out!

We were patient and good natured about the rainy days, and I think we made good use of them, but let’s face it: we came to Sedona to be outside in the sun. Today’s sunshine charged our batteries and we charged off into a full (perhaps over-full?) day of birthday activities, starting with all three of us taking Lynn’s advice to go for a walk around the Centennial trail in the Cultural park area to get lots of beautiful morning views.

It was still sunny when we got back, and we were all itching to get near some of the big red rocks, so we headed out for the Bell Rock loop. Sedona in the rain and snow is kind of cool, because the red rocks are realllly red, and you get to hike along bubbling streams, but Sedona in the sun is what it’s about. The hike was just what I wanted, with lots of good views and walking on the slickrock and surprisingly little mud compared to the day before. There’s a spur trail that goes higher up on the bell, which is in our list of things we wanted to do but didn’t.

Once we finished the hike we were actually hungry (a rarity in Sedona), and since Shorebird was on our way back to the Sedona Summit (have I mentioned that’s the name of where we’re staying?) we stopped there, only to find that google was wrong and they were still not open for lunch. Across the street is a restaurant called Hdeaway House, “curious country Italian food”. I’d been curious about their curious food since last year and had checked out the menu online and it looked ok. So we went there. It has beautiful views and many levels of outdoor dining, but the food was, like Creekside, just ok. Lynn didn’t care for her soup and salad, but fortunately Dave’s sandwich was big enough for two. I had the polenta with roasted vegetables which was presented with three asparagus spears standing up like a teepee, held at the top with an ring of onion. The veggies were not quite as roasted as one might have liked but I definitely won the meal.

Back to the resort for a quick stop to change out of our muddy pants and we were off again, this time towards the town of Jerome. We stopped on the way for a Karen-suggested hike around the Cliffrose trail outside of Cottonwood – an interesting hike on flat open country along a shallow canyon with interesting crumbling rock sides. Next stop was Tuzigoot national monument, an early pueblo settlement built on the top of a hill.

 Lynn and I both got our permanent senior passes there – after all, it was my 62^nd birthday – and we all enjoyed walking around the area. We were amused by the plant signs, because by some sheer stroke of luck many different native species just happened to be growing, evenly spaced, between the parking lot and the visitor’s center.

Are you exhausted yet? We’d hoped for a stop at the mining museum, but it was too late to go in when we got there, although we did get to see the Audrey Headframe. We continued on up into Jerome, where we finally got to go to the kaleidoscope store, which is so full of fabulous things we could have stayed there all day. I got a small kaleidoscope and Lynn got some rainbow colored bird scissors. They had the most wonderful rube goldberg mechanisms for turning light switches on and off, and a lamp made from a saxophone, and of course the birthday hat.

We visited one more store and then we were ready to eat, delicious burgers at the Haunted Hamburger, where you can sub onion rings for your side but not fried artichokes, which is why we had fried artichokes for an appetizer. The sky wasn’t quite right for a fabulous sunset, but we enjoyed looking out over the valley as the sun went down. We were home pretty early and had time to learn how to play “Azul”, a game that Lynn brought. I liked it but was very bad at it! We played two rounds (Lynn won one, Dave won one by one point) and then we were so exhausted we had to go sit on the couch.

Things to do at the Haunted Hamburger

A moment here to talk about the couch – in our first apartment we had a big comfy couch with two comfy chairs; in this one the couch is a smaller hide-a-bed with only one comfy chair. The couch may be the most uncomfortable couch ever, with cushions that are designed to slide off as you sit on them. Lynn discovered that you can turn them around and they don’t slide anymore (they do look ugly, though) and we brought out extra pillows from the other beds to add some back support and it all worked out fine.

Sedona Tuesday

 I woke up and looked out the window and it was mostly clear, with a beautiful 3^rd quarter moon in the sky! We suited up and headed out for another walk in the cultural park area. We chose a hike which looked to be about 2 miles on the map. It went down to a creek - out on Girdner, back on Axis with very short detour on the Bottom Out trail.  While we were walking the sun came up and made gorgeous views everywhere. The creek was overflowing, so we got to walk in this desert landscape with the sound of running water, a big thing for me. The trail turned out to be a little over 3 miles, which explains why Dave had to rush to finish it last year. Lynn went on a shorter paved walk on the Centennial Trail in the same area.

 It was still clear, just barely, when we got back, so we had a quick breakfast and headed to the high school to take one of Karen’s recommended walks, up to Shuerman point. The sunny weather we’d had on the early hike was already being overtaken by clouds when we headed out, and by the time we got to the point it was almost completely cloudy. Fortunately it didn’t matter for the view which was breathtaking, overlooking Sedona and many of the best red rock features. There were quite a few mucky bits on the way up, and we could understand how the ancient pueblo builders used the local clay to cement the rocks in place in their dwellings. (Editor’s note from the future: Mucky was the wordle of the day on Wednesday). As we started back down it began spitting little snow pellets, and by the time we got all the way down it was snowing hard, but the trail was fine and we had warm clothes so it was very fun.

We stopped at the house for a short break (and a cup of vortex energy tea for me). Then it was lunchtime, and our plan was to go to Shorebird again but they weren’t open, probably because of the snow. (Another editor’s note from the future: they don’t seem to be open for lunch on Tuesday and Wednesdays)

 Sedona Beer Co is closed on Tuesdays so we ended up at Creekside, which is just ok food, except because I had all that vortex energy my crispy chicken quesadilla hit my spot and my tortilla chips made their chili yummy. We went back uptown and did some more shopping. More stones came home, as well as a cool sweatshirt like mine for Lynn – they had her size in my favorite color scheme.

We got a little downtime to finish the puzzle after the shopping and before heading out to Elote restaurant – Elote and Mariposa being the two restaurants that we weren’t able to get in to last year. Unlike high-end Mariposa, Elote is friendly and unpretentious. This is delicious southwest food. Our ensalada de romaine was a nice twist on a Caesar salad; the nopales salad was tasty and only a little slimy, and the vegetarian green corn tamal was delicious, as were our two mains, the smoked brisket enchilada and the smoked pork cheeks. We even had room for TWO desserts, a pumpkin flan and a Mexican chocolate pie. My white sangria was way too sweet, so our server turned it onto a margarita – we all had different ones, and Dave’s was the best.

The snowy view from our balcony

Last year, this year

Sedona Monday

 

Montezuma's Well

...and his castle

            

The second of the expected rainy days started with a stop at Enterprise (or The Enterprise, as Dave called it, which confused me a bit) to get Dave put on the rental paperwork as an additional driver, which was not quite as smooth as it might have been because the Enterprise airport rental place isn’t on the same computer system as the suburban rental places; go figure. We got it done. I was crabby from too much alcohol and not enough breakfast. We went back to Uptown to do some souvenir shopping and the day got much better. First I found a shop selling Sedona teas infused with Vortex energy which I bought a box of, and clearly just having the vortex energy tea in my possession changed the vibration of the day. Lynn stopped to look at wallets, while Dave and I kept walking and I found a fantastic Nepalese sweatshirt/jacket and Dave found a crystal sphere that spoke to him. He’d found one at Tlaquepaque the day before that had spoken to him but sadly what it had said was “you can’t afford me”.

Arizona Sycamore wrinkles

The day kept getting better because lunch at Shorebird was very yummy and had very good views. I’d avoided Shorebird because, well, we’re not near any shores and it seemed like it couldn’t be good, but I was wrong. After lunch we headed to Montezuma’s Well, a small pond fed by an underground stream, and Montezuma’s castle, a cliff dwelling of the ancient pueblo peoples. They are named after Montezuma because the early naming people thought they were Aztec settlements. I liked both places a lot not just for themselves but also because they had two kinds of signs, the big table like ones that do geology and ecology and cultural significance, but also small low to the ground ones labeling the plants with their names and uses.

I liked the low signs because they linked to the crystal stores. In the crystal stores the rocks all have labels on them that tell you the name of the rock and its energies, for example aiding memory, clearing blockages, discouraging thieves, enhancing spiritual power, etc. And the plant signs did the same thing – the latin and common names of the plants and their uses. It’s all very helpful.

Dinner was a delicious composed salad at home, plus puzzle doing. Another good day, even if the weather was not ideal. We had a fair amount of sun while we were at the well and castle, but it was dreary and rainy in Sedona.

Sedona Sunday

Sunday the 15th was the first of the true bad-weather days; gray drippy skies and cold temps had us planning a mostly home morning the night before. Everything changed, however, when Dave was woken by a water drop landing in his ear at 6am – our roof was leaking. A couple of phone calls to the front desk later and we were packing up to go to a new apartment, since it was obvious to the manager that the leak couldn’t be repaired while it was raining. We had our choice of two apartments and chose the one on the second floor, which has the exact same layout and décor as the one we had last year and a nicer view than this year’s first apartment. It was a flashback to last year when we ended up moving after the second night as well due to a booking issue.

Once we’d finished moving we headed to the Tlaquepaque to look for puzzles at the toy store (no) and have lunch at Oak Creek Brewing (good beer, ok food). We headed to Uptown Sedona to look for puzzles and found a very good 500 piece Sedona one, and I also got a very nice small whisk at the tea store in Sinagua plaza. Back to the hotel, and Dave and I went out for a short hike in the cultural park area (Girdner-Axis-Lasso-Stirrup, if you’re curious).

Our big event for Sunday was dinner at Mariposa restaurant, which we wanted to do last year but had waited too long to get a reservation. This time Dave made the reservation 6 months in advance, and while their dress code and rules about how early you could arrive and the woman at the front door talking into her secret service earbud to let the inside people know we’d arrived and the mechanical delivery of the waiter were all a little offputting the food was absolutely spectacular and made it all worthwhile. So if you go there don’t worry about any of those things and order the octopus and OMG the mussels with tomatoes and chorizo that I’ve ordered in many places but never in a cream sauce like this, and put aside your skepticism about chocolate mint desserts and get the chocolate mint dessert with its unbelievable melty creamy warm chocolate pie and cold creamy mint ice cream. A bottle of the malbec blend and some cocktails wouldn’t hurt either. Lynn and Dave split the ribeye which was fantastic and deserves an honorable mention, along with Lynn’s butternut squash soup and the mashed potatoes. Totally delightful, would highly recommend. A perfect place to celebrate our 35^th anniversary.

Sedona 2023 - Friday and Saturday

Friday 1/13

We had a very early (8:00 am) flight, so an uneventful trip in. Across from us on the bus at 6:00 am was a family (mom, dad, daughter) whose flight left at 7; the husband was going on about how stress was just another word for excitement and adventure. As the bus pulled up to the terminal she looked at him and said, “Can we not do this again next time?”

We had waited too late to get our tickets, so our flight went through Boise. We had a forgettable lunch there and an easy flight, and Lynn was at the airport to pick us up and take us to Sedona. We remembered to get gas before we left Phoenix (so as not to repeat last years dark-of-night, miles off the highway, $5+/gallon stop) and arrived at the Sedona Summit around 5. We got checked into our slightly larger and brighter apartment, which sadly did not have as good a view as last year's, and headed to Javelina for dinner, where I had my long-awaited cheese crispy.

Saturday 1/14

We had a true vacation morning, starting with a walk to the “Cultural Plaza”, which we never knew what it was but which turned out to be an abandoned concert venue, followed by knitting for me and Lynn and playing with astronomical image processing for Dave. We eventually headed out, first to the Chamber of Commerce where Karen gave us lots of good ideas for hikes, then for lunch at the Sedona Beer Company, which is a couple of blocks off the main drag through Uptown. It used to be a sushi restaurant – Lynn had been there when it was one – so it had a slightly oriental vibe to the building, which is unusual and fun for a brew pub. The food was very good (especially the deviled eggs!), as were the beers. There was a particularly good blackberry/cherry kettle Cameron Sour and the Good Vibrations fruited hazy double ipa. And the best thing was that they had a large beer can filled with stones on each table. One end was red, and the other was green. When you need something, you flip the can so that the green side is up. It makes a noise and they come right away, help us out, and flip it back over. It also had good views.

We stopped at Safeway to pick up stuff to make dinners and breakfasts, and then at Whole Foods to get the things the Safeway didn’t have. The eggs were crazy expensive – in some cases, almost $4/dozen more expensive than at home. We took our purchases home and relaxed before heading out for a yoga/meditation walk which Lynn had found for us. It turned out to be pretty disappointing. The guides only took us to places we’d already been, and since they’d only moved here 4 years ago they didn’t have any Sedona history or culture to share with us. It ended up being a lot of standing around and listening to them talk about themselves, ending with a guided meditation that was fine but which Lynn could have done better (I know, because I’ve done guided meditation with Lynn). The trip was at a disadvantage since the weather was cloudy, so no sunset, but overall not something we’d recommend or do again. Afterwards we went to a very very cute restaurant called Tamaliza, where the food didn’t quite live up to the décor.  Highlight of the day was definitely Sedona Beer Co.

Our evening was once again knitting and image processing.

A moment here to talk about the Cultural Park area; it’s officially called the Western Gateway area, and it’s an easy walk from Sedona Summit, especially if you go behind building 40 and step over the single strand of the fence that hasn’t been cut. It’s a nice area to hike in, and we did a lot of it this trip, so I thought you might like to have a map of it. You can aso get an interactive map here.