In the winter of 1990, I spent six weeks traveling in the canyons of Utah and the redwoods of California with a dog, car and oh yeah, a boyfriend. The following year, we bought a small pop up trailer that we towed with a VW Golf and traveled to Ashville NC, Charleston, Okeefanokee Swamp, Edisto Island in Georgia and landed at Mardi Gras in New Orleans just by luck. I was hooked. For the past 25 years I've been wanting to do this again, but one thing or the other made it just not feel like the "right time." So now it is. Me, dog, car. No boyfriend.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Oh, Sedona! Part Two


The not uncommon sights when driving in Sedona..... this time south on Route 179 where the most famous rock formations are. This one below is "Bell Rock".



This one is Courthouse Butte. These are absolutely massive and stunning.  Again, so hard to capture the impact these have on a photo.



Who else would have a statue in the middle of this magical town but Merlin?



Our hike up to "Chimney Rock".


Trailblazing friends and great hosts Paula and Scott. I went to high school with Paula and coincidentally, Scott is my brother's client in Ithaca, so it's been a great re-connection. They have been coming here for about a decade and currently come in the winter. Both have recently retired, though Paula is continuing on with many landscape architecture projects she has funded through grants. She is/was a professor of Landscape Architecture at Cornell.



Paula waves from the trail.



This was a pretty strenuous and intense hike, especially at the end when we scrambled up to the base of the chimney. Choochi handled it like a champ.



Of course, all of these hikes reward you with phenomenal views.



More shots from around town. There is some traffic, but nothing that horrible. Besides, this is what you get to look at if you're stuck in a traffic jam. Even the most commercially developed part of the town has been designed to "blend" into the landscape, and there are few jarring inconsistencies in that regard from the canyon floor. Some jerk put blue doors on a storage facility at the base of one of the more popular hikes, don't know why he got away with that one, but that's really the only thing I've seen that seems out of touch with the aesthetic that they work hard to maintain here. 



The other wonderful aspect of Sedona is that it's called "the Verde Valley" or the green valley. There are deciduous trees here, so it's quite a mix of desert and forest, dry and damp, lush and sandy.


Looking out across the town.




We took a short walk up to one of the "vortexes" and Choochi is feeling the vibe.

Sad to leave, but I have a feeling I will be returning.
Might head to the Grand Canyon for an overnight before I do the long drive back to the east coast. Keeping my eye on the weather map for which route I'll be driving.

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