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