We packed lunches, had a cooked breakfast and picked up Chuck and Melissa at 9 to drive about 26 miles into downtown Sedona. This area is just hard to describe. It is as beautiful as I remembered from when we were here in 2010 on a road trip. The red rocks are breathtaking!
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| What a view from the car! |
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| If you look closely you can see that it snowed last night on the top of the mountain. The gentleman at the visitor center told us that is unheard of for this time of year! |
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| Now you can see the snow! |
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| The happy passengers! We get to enjoy all the sites as we travel! |
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| Now you know for sure that it snowed! |
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| Amazing, huh????? |
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| It is just amazing no matter which way you look! |
It was in the 40's when we left the CG this morning and not very sunny. Matter of fact, most of the day was rather cloudy and cool. I think it reached about 58 in Sedona and about 63 here at the CG. So, we decided to stop at the Visitors Center in Sedona, where we had a very knowledgeable gentleman who gave us "tons" of ideas for fun things to do and trails to hike while in the area. From there we headed to the downtown area and went in and out of most of the shops looking at beautiful jewelry, some amazing sculptures, and of course the standard T-shirts and caps. We were also a bit chilly so coffee and chai were a necessity!
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| The metal sculptures throughout the downtown are beautiful. |
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| This cowboy is painting the mountain you can see in the background! |
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| There are many shops in the downtown, but they appear to almost blend into the background! |
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| I never saw so many varieties of caramel apples including s'mores, Snickers, Butterfingers, Rocky Road, etc. |
Chuck and Melissa have never been to Sedona, so it was fun for Ken and I to drive around showing them some of the special sites we remembered from when we were here before. We drove to the Cathedral Rock trailhead and planned to eat our packed lunches at a picnic table, but we were unable to find one. Just as well, for it got very cool and even rained lightly for a short time. So, we ate in the car. Then we unanimously agreed to take the trail up the rock face. Well, it was a bit more difficult then we anticipated, since it was rated as a moderate trail. Not quite the case for this group of hikers. You had to climb up the rocks with some small foot holds and other places where you just climbed up the rocks. Most of the trail was up hill. We did about 3/4 of the trail, opting not to climb up the narrow gully that was extremely steep and deep. Going up would have been okay, but coming back down an extreme challenge. We know our limits!!!!!
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| Some of the views when driving to the trailhead! |
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| That is where the hiking trail would take us - to the upper green part of the rocks! |
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| Well, here we go! |
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| It started out fairly level! |
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| But before too long, we were on a "plateau area! |
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| What a view from there! |
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| I think we are about to do more climbing! |
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| Up we go again! |
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| Well, I must admit the view keeps getting better and better! |
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| Wow, we are up high!!!!!! |
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| If you look closely, you can see the parking lot where we started this hike! |
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| It really is incredible! |
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| Coming down was harder than going up! |
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| It was fairly steep! |
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| We needed to be very, very careful!!!! |
From there we drove past the Bell Rock and the Courthouse Butte Rock and then stopped to see the Chapel of the Holy Cross. Frank Lloyd Wright was a consultant on the design of this Chapel built into the red rocks. The view from there is spectacular! What a feat to build this Chapel and go through all the "red tape" necessary to make it happen!
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| This is Bell Rock! |
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| In the background you can see Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock, but aren't the blooming cacti in the foreground beautiful! |
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| Inside the Chapel of the Holy Cross! |
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| What a view from the altar! |
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| I wonder who lives in this mansion looking down from the chapel??? A waterfall begins near the house and goes all the way down to a lily pond. There is even a bridge! |
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| Love the background for these happy campers! |
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| Ken thought this looks like an eagle. Looks like it had to be carved, but I don't think so!!!! |
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| Melissa thought it looked like a lion lying down! |
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| A view of the Chapel in the rocks when we were leaving! |
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| Amazing! |
We were back to the CG by 5 and stopped to play a game of Foosball and another round of mini-golf. I can't believe it, but the men won both. What is happening?????
While I made dinner, Ken sat at the table with all our brochures and pamphlets trying to decide what trails we should hike, what we should see, etc. So much to see and do and so little time!
After dinner, Ken did the dishes while I worked on the blog. Fortunately, I was able to get on the internet this evening. We went to Gregorys to play games and we each won 1 game. Back to Waldo by 9:45.
Another great day in the beautiful USA!
Such a beautiful area! Can't wait for our trip out west! Keep enjoying!
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