Sedona Vacation

Day 1 & 2—Uncle Bob & Aunt June’s House, Mesa, AZ. We spent two days with Bruce’s uncle and aunt. It’s been nine years since we’ve seen them. They used to live up north of LA but moved soon after Uncle Bob’s 80s birthday to Mesa to be near his brother Jack. He just celebrated his 89th birthday. It was wonderful to see them and to just unwind at their house for a few days. They’re looking well but it’s sad to see your aunts and uncles grow old. Their house is in a residential area for seniors. Later that night we went for a walk around the neighbourhood and there was something strange about it that I couldn’t put my figure on it until later. There were no cars in the driveways or on the street. They were all in the insulated garages because of the heat. The most amazing thing about their neighbourhood is the quails. They’ll all over their back yard. I’ve never seen them & they’re so cute. There were also doves, woodpeckers, ravens, and a rabbit that visit their backyard regularly. We also saw a roadrunner while driving through the desert. The landscape out there is very stark but beautiful in it’s own way. Everything is brown or sand coloured and it takes a bit of getting used to not seeing trees or landscape around the commercial buildings. I did notice that the highways are very clean, especially in the city. There’s no litter on the side of the highways. Bruce says it’s because everyone has their a/c on the car windows up—which is probably true. When we arrived at 7 p.m., it was 100 degrees, but as they say “it was a dry heat” so it wasn’t unbearable.

Day 3—Sedona, AZ: The drive up was nice. We got there a little too early to check into the hotel so we stopped off at Camp Verde. There’s a fort there but there’s not much left except for three houses. It was abandoned in 1891 and sold at a public auction in 1899. Who would buy a fort? The COs house was nice although I wasn’t sure where they’d put all the kids as it only had three bedrooms. As we drove up to Sedona the hills were getting larger and the red soil was starting to peek out of the white rolling mountains. I was thinking this is really nice and then we rounded the bend and all I could say was “oh my!” I can’t even begin to describe the beauty of the red rocks. All the white rolling mountains were eroded away and these tall red striped monoliths jutted into the sky. It was breathtaking. We spent the afternoon roaming around the town and driving around a bit. The McDonald’s there has a turquoise M instead of the usual yellow one. The view from our hotel room was amazing. Actually our room was very cool with a separate room with a Jacuzzi; not bad for a Hotel 8.

Day 4—Montezuma Castle & Well: Montezuma Castle is a 20-room high rise pueblo built up in the side of the mountain by the Sinagua Indians around 700 AD and suddenly abandoned in the1400s. It’s retty amazing that the Sinagua Indians built the whole thing without any tools. No one is sure why they abandoned it or where they went. Archeologists believe though that there was a draught and they started fighting over food and water as the grave site showed trauma to the bodies that were buried last. Hopi folklore suggested the remainder of the tribe moved north and merged with them. Early archeologists thought that the Sinagua were Aztec hence the name Montezuma. The well is a natural limestone sink hole from which more than a million gallons of water flows from each day. For more info on both go here. On the way back to Sedona we drove through the Red Rock State Park to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. What a beautiful view, but unfortunately it started to rain so we had to cut our visit short. I did get the chance to lite a candle for a friend while there. Since it was overcast and raining we went to Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village for lunch at a brewery and shopping. We did get a chance to go across the street to the UFO store to get a pocket alien for a friend. The place was a hoot. Sedona is on a vortex (a spiraling spiritual energy) so there are a lot of new age people and business there.

Day 5—Sedona Jeep Ride & “Don’t I know you?”: We decided we wanted to go on a jeep ride. There are tons of companies that offer them and they are very competitive. Bruce and I definitely didn’t want to go on the Pink Jeep tour. First of all we heard bad reviews on the internet and second; Bruce would not be caught dead in a pink jeep. He has his pride. The one we picked was Red Rock Jeep tour and Steve, our driver, was fantastic. We picked a 2-hour tour that would allow me to take nice photos and I wasn’t disappointed. He explained why the rocks were red and that they were basically sediment. Which explains why they look like they look like shaped clay figures. Afterwards I had one of those “Brockville” moments. A friend of mine from Brockville was in a fairly successful band in the 70s. The rest of the guys were from Ottawa and the running joke was no matter where they were someone from Brockville would show up. It’s happened to me as well. I have a co-worker from Brockville and I’ve run into other Brockvillians all over the place. Sedona was one of them. We went into this BBQ rib shack and the owner happened to have hockey memorabilia all over the place. Turns out he was from Ottawa but lived in Brockville a number of years while playing hockey with the Brockville Braves. A small world. Later we went up to the airport to see the sun set over the mountains, a beautiful site and quite popular. I had a hard time getting good shots over the people but I did. Later we went back to the airport to see the meteor shower. Turns out the airport road & parking lot are private, we learned this from the police officer that came by to see what we were doing. He was nice and said there was no problem with us staying there but that we wouldn’t see a lot until 3 a.m. We did see a few showers but there was no way we were staying up that late. We’ve been getting on the road by 8 a.m. so we’ve been knackered out by late afternoon.

Day 6—Jerome, AZ: We decided to spend the day in Jerome. It’s a copper mining town that became a ghost town in the 1950s when the mine closed. The last 50 or so townspeople decided to open the town up to artists and hippies in the 60s to keep it going. It was the 4th largest city and one of the wildest in Arizona territory in its heyday. The town is in three tiers on the side of the mountain and the mine is in the valley. The town is still very run down which adds to its charm and it’s full of art stores. We had this wonderful lunch at this little café with only three tables in it. It wasn’t one of those small quaint fru-fru “bistros” it had a lot of charm and warmth. The owner was great and the food was wonderful. I bought some turquoise earrings and copper beads to make earrings. I really dislike turquoise so I was glad to find something that I would wear. I took some amazing photos of the place as well.

Day 7 & 8—Gett’n our Kick on Rt 66: We drove north on 89A to Flagstaff. On the way we stopped off at tables the local Indians had set up to sell their wares. The drive up the mountains was breathtaking but unfortunately they were doing a controlled burn so it was hazy. Flagstaff wasn’t really worth the stop. There’s nothing there and the historic downtown was only about two blocks. We drove west on Route 66 which, truth be told, was very boring. We did stop off at Seligman, the town that got Rt. 66 designated as a historical landmark. The town was run down but quite cool. We had lunch at a diner that’s been around since the 50s. I finally got a Navajo Taco. I’d seen them listed on a lot of menus but hadn’t had one yet. It’s basically beans, Lettice and tomatoes on Navajo fry bread. It was very good and really huge. I took some pretty cool photos while we were there. Seligman was the inspiration for the town in the Disney movie Cars so there were a lot of old beat-up cars around town with eyes painted on their windshields. There’s a tow truck parked in front of one of the stores that was the prototype for Mater. We then headed across on I-40 and then south to Lake Havasu and spent the night there. We took a gander at London Bridge and that was about it. Lake Havasu is pretty dead in the off season. We got up in the morning and headed south again past the Parker Dam but we couldn’t see it and then went west on I-10 into Califor-ni-ay! The only two interesting places on the way home were Chiriaco Summit near Indio and the Windmill farms near Palm Springs. Chiriaco Summit has a post office, restaurant, gas station and, of all things, a museum dedicated to General Patton. The Chiriaco family settled there in the 30s and set up a restaurant and gas station on the new highway. In the 40s General Patton set up the tank training grounds and that’s why the museum was built there by the Chiriaco family. The windmills near Palm Springs are really cool, there’s acres and acres of them in the pass and I managed to get some pretty good shots from the car.

And that was our trip to Sedona. I’d definitely go to the area again. There were a few places we didn’t get to see and we decided not to make a day trip to the Grand Canyon.

I can't take it anymore—Nevare must die!

I've mentioned in the past that I have a love/hate relationship with the writer Robin Hobb. It's just that her main characters—male that is—are just plain stupid. I read Shaman's Crossing and true to form, it was too long and the main character Nevare is a dolt. But could I leave well enough alone and not read the next book? No, I had to buy it. I can't stand not finishing a series or book even if I don't like the characters. Case in point, The Kite Runner. Great writing but I just obsoletely hated the mealy-mouthed main character Amir. You would think after getting beaten up rescuing his nephew he would get a backbone, but nope, not him. Right to the end he's a weasel. But I digress...this is how much of a dolt Nevare is. While a cadet in the Cavalla (calvary) he's at a carnival freak show he meets this extremely fat man. The man tell him he used to be a Cavalla officer until he was exposed to the Speck plague and started gaining weight. This is not the norm, it's usually a wasting disease so you would think the conversation would stick in his head. That night all the cadets are exposed to the plague and after recovering he starts gaining weight. But, and I find this hard to believe, he can't understand why he's so fat!! I'm not kidding. Then in the blaze of knowledge he remembers the conversation with the fat man and thinks, could that be what's happening to me? His answer, nah! Just a coincidence. What a dolt! So the book is still sitting on the night table next to my bed with only a few chapters read and I can't take it. I want to finish it but I don't want to at the same time. It's like a siren's call.