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.