Red Rocks

Cumulative Miles: 5,296

Number of Speeding Tickets: 1

States Visited: 16

Lesson Learned: The rocks are red because they contain iron oxide....isn't that rust?

Before packing up the cabin in Flagstaff, we took another morning hike, pretty much along the same route we did before. The scenery never gets boring. After that we hit a local diner for breakfast, where I had some delicious huevos rancheros and some really bad coffee. Can't win 'em all, I guess.

We then headed south toward Sedona. It's only about 30 miles from Flagstaff, but the GPS said it would take us an hour to get there. I wasn't sure why it would take so long, given that it was relatively close, but I soon found out. We were only on the interstate for about a mile when GPS told us to exit for a smaller state highway, which was one of the twistiest roads I think I've ever been on. Almost immediately we started an incredible descent into a canyon and stayed in that canyon all the way to Sedona. The canyon walls got progressively redder the closer we got. A few miles north of town the canyon opened up and we were presented with a view of huge, rust-colored mountains and monoliths, rising up sharply from the canyon floor in all directions. When we got to Sedona, these surrounded us on all sides. It's other-worldly.

Now, the town of Sedona itself is kind of like two towns. "Uptown Sedona" is for tourists and is as mindless as it comes in my opinion. Shop after shop hawking crystals and incense and ice cream and coffee and t-shirts and coffee mugs and native crafts and chocolate and jewelry and bad art. There were places to sign up for pink jeep tours, palm readings, photographs of your aura, chakra realignment, salt rooms, spiritual counseling, reiki, meditation, tarot sessions, and voodoo lessons. Ok, so I made the voodoo part up, but you get the picture. It's new age heaven...or hell, depending on how you feel about that stuff. The only saving grace is that the town seems to enforce some pretty strict architectural rules, so at least the buildings were attractive and somewhat uniform. West Sedona is a town where actual humans live, work, and play and I bet the 9,000 year-round Sedona residents do their best to avoid Uptown as much as possible. I don't think we'll spend any time in Tackytown either.

We made our way to our airbnb, which is north of uptown thankfully. From the back where we parked, it looked like nothing special, but the view off the front deck is spectacular.

I'm not kidding. This is what we stare at while we sip our morning coffee.

It was a pretty hot day and the traffic was intense. The house has a very nice kitchen and a grill, so we decided to shop and cook, rather than try to find a restaurant for dinner. Being the alley cat that I am, I quickly found the back streets and shortcuts to avoid the traffic snarls and we found our way to Safeway in short order. Steaks on the grill, broccoli rabe, sweet potato and salad satisfied our tummies. The sunset on the red rocks was the only evening entertainment we needed. We're here for about five days, so we're looking forward to some hiking and scenic drives and general relaxation. Come visit! We have a spare bedroom.