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Published: August 6th 2007
Mon, 19th February 2007 in Sedona Every day so far, has been tiring. Days zap by seeing & doing so many things. Evenings fly off on the drive. Nights are just a memory.
Navigating to our hotel in the dark was not very enthusiastic!
I think I woke up in the night often to the whistling of the train. Night was too dark to see any tracks. Thought would figure it out in the morning.
Surprisingly, I was fresh in the morning. Got up to the train whistle again. I could not take it anymore. I got up to see a train going on forever(never seen such a long train in my entire life) just about 30 yards from our room. uh oh!😱
Enough surprises there! Day was cold, but we were all geared up.
We'd heard so much about Sedona's red rocks. Finally we are driving down the scenic hwy 89A down through Oak creek canyon to Sedona.
The advantage of staying in Flagstaff:
Its central location!! I remember reading somewhere that you need to buy a red rock pass to pull over/ park in any of the viewpoint along the
Sedona overview
from airport roadhighway. Unfortunately, there was no information where we could buy it😞. We came across US forest service office, but that would not open until 9.00 am. We'd probably be in Sedona by then. We missed the Oak creek canyon overlook because it was closed.
We stopped at a couple of places to take some snaps. We could not get a pass until some 4 miles from Slide rock state park. Ganesh was just fascinated with the place. I had to be in the car, just in case I do not get a ticket. So, I dropped him off & picked him later. Oh! yeah, he was taking snaps😊
With the parking pass, we stopped a lot more then.😊
We reached Sedona & started looking for the visitor's center. We found one, center of town. To our surprise, he was totally not helpful & offered us to visit a timeshare property. We politely declined, but were surprised. Generally, visitor centers are very helpful & informative.
And huh...I forgot to mention how beautiful Sedona is. Absolutely awesome. Imagine a hill station at 5000 ft? Sedona is that with beautiful red rocks all around it. The place
is good for honeymooners. Awesome condo's to rent & own😊
I really envy people who stay close to the area. There are miles of trails for hiking & enjoying the beauty.
Our first scenic drive was on Airport road. It is a short drive awesome because, it gives a 360 view of Sedona & the surrounding rocks😊
The most popular "Red Rocks loop road" was next. We stopped at
Red Rock crossing State Park. Ganesh wanted to take shots of Cathedral rocks. It started to drizzle off & on. It is one park where you might want to spend a whole day!. We did not stop by at
Red rock State park(no time😞)
Before turning right onto hwy 179, we just wanted to check for the visitor center again. We took the same turn onto Forrest road(right opposite the famous Jeep tours) & guess what! There were 2 Arizona visitor centers. This time we stepped into the other one. And Voila! This was the one. The other(where we went in the morning) was privately owned😞
They did suggest the red rock scenic drive along 179.
With no time to waste, we took the scenic drive along 179. Going south, our first
Lava trail
Sunset crater volcano national monument stop was the
Chapel of Holy Cross It was a wonderful experience to just be there. Obviously, a lot of people knew about it & finding a parking lot might be a little difficult! Its just red rocks all around the place.
After digesting the place for a while, we got back to our car. From out of nowhere, the dark clouds poured in rain. We stopped by Bell Rock to have our lunch inside the car. Visibility came down to just a bit & we thought there was no point in sticking around. We had to get back to Flagstaff & we were concerned about driving in snow. So, to ease out things, we decided to take I-17 instead of hwy 89.
It was still raining when we reached the interstate. Slowly the rain stopped. Or so it seemed. It took me a while to realize it was snow😊 I was so excited. It was the first time I am driving in a snowstorm. Ganesh was pushing me to reduce speed & within no time all the trucks & cars came down to 20 mph. It was a freezing 32F outside. That gave us ample time to look
around while driving. It was like a fairy tale. Everything was covered in white. Some of the exits were buried in snow😊 I was scared & fascinated at the same time. It was all so new to me!
Getting out of the storm & plowed roads made getting back to Flagstaff a breeze. We were a little disappointed to see lesser snow in Flagstaff. 😞
For the first time in 4 days we had time at our hands. So, we wanted to check out a local theatre; But getting there was difficult than we had imagined. I somehow missed an intersection😱 & did not seem to find it again.
So, we stopped by the downtown to take some pictures & mmm...just be there😊
It was an old historic downtown on one side with railway tracks on the other(that seemed busier than ever).
With some snow still around, it was a freezing 0 degree outside.
When it got really dark & really cold, we decided to come back to our hotel.
Somehow nights seem to fly fast.
Tuesday, February 20th 2007: A fresh next day! Sun was out & we were really worried that all
this snow would be short-lived.😞
Our last day in Arizona. We reached Walnut Canyon National Monument around 9.20am(they open @ 9.00am). Unfortunately, the Island trail to all the ruins was closed due to ice on the trail. 'Treacherous' we were informed.
Plan B: Head to
Sunset Crater Volcano National Park &
Wupatki National Monument We took the 1 mile lava trail at Sunset Crater & pretty much everything in Wupatki. I would recommend Wupatki to anyone. Eternal bliss! I can imagine how native Indians lived there(in that desert) 1000 years ago.
We reached Walnut Canyon just in time to finish our trail before they closed for the day. Only a part of the trail was opened- still icy!
We were up by 4.45pm. By the time we relaxed & decided to leave AZ, it was 5.00pm.
A long drive back. Fortunately, no traffic bottlenecks anywhere.(Except for construction along 8 miles on I 40)
We reached home early Wednesday morning around 3.00am(thanks to the time difference)
This time, really really tired when we hit the bed.
Returned the car next morning & off to routine work.
5 days just zipped, zapped & zoomed by! Memories are here to stay😊
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Anu
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Great pics!
I envy the energy you guys have de..so many trips :) have fun!