Cacti & Canyons Mar/April 2015 - Day 5 Sedona to Flagstaff

[katiebaz]

We woke up after bright and early after another great sleep - it must be all the fresh air! We grabbed a quick breakfast from reception before the crowds and took a bit of time to take in the view surrounding the motel and of course check out the swing:





As it was still early we decided to fit in another walk before moving on as Sedona is so beautiful and headed off to a nearby trail called Chimney Rock. As it was only about 8am we had the trail to ourselves and the stillness of the early morning made the rocks even more atmospheric. Maybe there is some truth in all the mystical talk and vortexes...

The walk was only a couple of miles and made even better for me as for once I was right about which way to go. I am notorious in my family for my terrible map reading skills and general lack of sense of direction. However, after about 10 minutes into the walk when we were ended up "off road" and tramping through the cacti, Steve and Dan had to concede that I had been right when I suggested an alternative route was the right way a few minutes earlier. Rather enjoying being right for once I led everyone to the right trail in a gloating manor and we completed the rest of the walk!







We then headed back to the Days Inn and checked out grabbing some supplies at Safeway before we made our way to Flagstaff. The route is gorgeous and you drive through Oak Creek Canyon, where we stopped for some mid morning doughnuts by said creek



Oak Creek Canyon was lovely and has a great sounding place called Slide Rock Park - where the rocks have made a natural water slide into the creek. We thought this sounded awesome but sadly it was a little cool today for swimming so a good reason to come back to this beautiful area in the summer sometime.



We drove on up the canyon, steadily gaining Elevation and stopped at the top to take in the views. By now we were up to 7000ft and although still very sunny was starting to get a bit cold. So we took in the views then had to retreat to the car for lunch as the wind made it a tad uncomfortable to eat outside.



After lunch we drove on to Flagstaff, famous for being a stop off on route 66 and had a look round. The old town is quite historic but small, so we had a quick wonder round, called in the visitor centre and got some information on the area. We were really interested in visiting the observatory that evening as I am particularly fascinated by all things astronomy related and also this was the observatory from where Pluto was first discovered. Falgstaff was a nice town but the change in elevation was a bit of a shock as the temperature dropped dramatically and we were back in jumpers and coats. We decided to do a bit a shopping at the local mall as Daniel wanted some new trainers and then headed off to our motel to check in and have a swim.

This was our third Days Inn of the trip and quite how we had managed to book 3 in a row we are not sure. As a chain they are okay, good value for money but we were looking forward to staying elsewhere! That night we headed off to chillis for tea - and had great fish tacos topped off with one of our all time favourite desserts - warm skillet cookie topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce - yum!

After dinner we had intended to head to the observatory but Daniel was feeling very tired and his tummy hurt ( too much pudding? !) so we called it a night and headed back to the hotel for more cookies and bed.

[CrispyA]

Great pictures again - would love to go back to Arizona.