Cacti & Canyons Mar/April 2015 - Day 4 Sedona

[katiebaz]

After a brilliant sleep we were all up early and headed across to the reception area for breakfast. It was a bit chilly as we had gained quite a bit in elevation, but the sky was a brilliant blue and the scenery surrounding the Days Inn was stunning. We hadn't noticed it much arriving in the dark the previous day, but we took a few moments to take it in and breathe in the cool, crisp clean air.

Breakfast was okay - a bit of a small room for the size of motel but being early we managed to grab a table. There was the usual muffins, bagels etc as well as some fruit and cereal. It was quite funny to watch some people stuffing bananas in their pockets thinking no-one was watching them!

We were planning on a days hiking, so headed off to the Red Rock Ranger station to get some information on the best trails. The drive through Sedona was gorgeous and the red rocks looked amazing against the cobalt blue sky. At the ranger station we bought an "America the Beuatiful" national park pass as we knew we were heading in several national parks and although Sedona is not counted as a national park, the pass meant we could park for free at the the trail heads. The rangers were really helpful and friendly and we soon had our days walking planned. Sedona is famous for energy lines or vortexes that converge there and we did love the amusing sign up in the ranger station apologising that the Vortexes were closed that day for maintenance - well it was April 1st!



We had decided to walk Bell Rock and the Courthouse Butte trail and headed over to the car park. We were so glad we were early as the car park was heaving and we just managed to get a space - well it was Easter weekend so very busy. We had a brilliant walk and climbed part of the way up Bell Rock before heading off on the 5 mile trail around Courthouse Butte.


The rocks all were stunning and once we had gone a short way from the car park the trail wasn't that busy. We did meet a lovely couple from Chicago who struck up conversation as Steve and Dan were wearing Baltimore Orioles baseball hats - they were big baseball fans too and had come down to Arizona for Spring Training, guess it beats the cold of Chicago at this time of year. The sun started to heat up and it got really warm and we even saw a snake who had decided to catch some rays - although we didn't get close enough to find out which one it was!





After our walk we wanted to find somewhere to eat the lunch we'd bought earlier from Subway, Sedona by this time was really busy and it was bumper to bumper through the town. We amused ourselves in the traffic by looking at all the "mystical" shops and did think that the Aura photos was pushing it a bit and had a whiff of "I saw you coming!"

We eventually found a quiet spot by the river in Oak Canyon to eat our lunch and had a bit of chill after our morning's exertions. We then headed back to our hotel to have a swim whilst the sun was still warm. The pool was lovely and made even better by the beautiful backdrop of Sedona's mountains.

For dinner we headed off to a diner recommended on Trip advisor, which was handily across the road called Nicks Diner. It was a proper locals restaurant with good traditional American food - steaks, ribs, pulled pork etc, which after days of fast food we really enjoyed. I can't remember what we ate, but I wrote down in my notes how good the meal was and how lovelt the home-made lemonade was. After dinner we wondered back the hotel, the temperature had dropped now, being up in the mountains so we snuggled up together on the bed, watched a bit of TV, read and fell asleep very contented.

[CrispyA]

Great pictures - Sedona is lovely. Cool hats too!

[Pussycat Doll]

Lovely day and great photos, we've been to Sedona a few times, we loved it there. Pussycat

[katiebaz]

Thanks we loved Sedona so much too

[Cloverlady]

Great day, stunning scenery!
And that's a lovely family photo too