We flew from the craziness of New Orleans - YOLO as the locals call it to Pheonix, Arizona with great service from American Airlines including a check in facility at the drop off zone so our suitcases were in the airport before we were! We had arranged Broome Transport to take us on to Sedona, a favourite place of my Detroit family - Broome were prompt, efficient and in no time at all we were on the road into Sedona. Not many folk outside of America have heard of it but it is a most magical place.
Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavpal counties in the northern Verde Valley. It has a population of 9,684 and it lies within the Coconino National Forest. We arrived in the dark and checked into our appartment in a vacation club - main thing was it had a washing machine because when you are travelling for months you need laudry stops! Sedona's main attraction is its array of pink sandstone formations. The formations appear to glow in pink when illuminated by the rising or setting sun. So we awoke to a room bathed in pink as the sun rose and opened the door to see we were surrounded by rose pink mountains! These rocks form a popular backdrop for many activities, ranging from spiritual pursuits to the hundreds of hiking and mountain biking trails. Sedona is also home to several vortex sites and a place that attract creative, spiritual people along with people who see UFOs. It really is a magical place and one of outstanding beauty - a perfect place to spend my birthday. We had ten days to explore and thought we had perhaps booked too long but not so, we enjoyed every single day and when we werent out riding around on pink jeeps we realxed in our resort and swam - yes the temperature were in the high teens and the pool was heated,
We explored those pink hills with a guide called Snake - who wore one around his neck - well the skeleton of a rattler's head that is. He took us out on a Jolie Trolley and pointed out local businesses to enjoy and those to avoid and was very knowledgable about .....snakes and other wildlife. Thanks to him we found a great American Diner to enjoy a burger - one of the best we had in the US! We explored off road in pink jeeps going up to a chapel built into the rocks designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's grandson with panaroamic views which was worthy of the adjective 'awesome' and a perfect place for worship. It's still a working chuch but I am so glad we got taken up there in a jeep - even the walk from the carpark was almost vertical. We did one of the most challenging jeep rides right up into the red rocks a scenic rim tour where I hung on for dear life coming down the devils staircase - we were the eldest in our group of six and have the bruises to prove it! Oh but the scenery was so worth it! We explored by train too and took a day trip on the Verde Valley railway where we sat in comfort and watched the world go by - snacks and drinks provided and the company of some great folk - four ladies on a school reunion aged in their 70s and celebrating over 50 years of friendship - when I mentioned my upcoming birthday in two days - gifts appeared out of thier bags - chocolates and keepsakes that they insisted I took and then a bottle of champagne appeared and when the rest of the guest in our coach saw this a whole choir singing Happy Birthday surrounded us! It was a magical birthday memory...... A great day our!
Sedona is also well known as a food destination and we soon discovered Wild Flower bakery for breakfast and bought a delicious artisan loaf that looked like one of those moutains! We tried all the restaurants over the ten days we were there and were not once disappointed. However Mariposa - where where we had lunch on my birthday was a standout latino inspired grill that had the most magnificent views - it was a perfect place to celebrate another trip around the sun and following lunch we went out on another jeep to a sacred vortex site where we used divining rods which whizzed back and forth and my hair actually stood on end, For days I was electified and got shocked when I touched anything metal. We visited a replica Mexican village, Tlaquepaque a replica of a village of the same name in MExico. It was full of galleries, boutique shops and restaurants where spicey margueritas were enjoyed with authentic quesadillas. We found a great supermaket called Whole Foods full of amazing produce and also home cooked ready meals and a huge assortment of treats.
So our ten days flew by and we were packing again for our return trip to Pheonix - again we thought five nights in Phoenix was far too long but it turned out to be such an interesting place and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Our hotel was huge - and we racked up hundreds of steps just getting to breakfast and in the grounds - a JW Marriot property the staff were the epitome of great American service. Highlights here were the Botanical Gardens...... full of gigantic cacti and a great restuarant that served the best margherita of the trip! We went to a Japanese reataurant reccommended by my son - the best dinner we had of the trip with amazing food choices and we rode there in a driverless taxi just Nick, myself and the invisible man at the wheel - freaky but very efficient! Our last trip in Pheonix was to Canyon Lake where we had a great bob around the Lake after visiting Superstition Mountains where the community are still looking for the Dutchmans Gold fifty years after he took his gold find to the grave. We also called at Apache film studios where many of the Westerns of our youth were filmed including High Noon - we stopped up the road for lunch on a ranch and there was a real/mock gunfight in the street to remind us that we were in the Wild West!
A great stay and time to head for San Diego where the ocean awaited us.
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