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Sedona

We left Flagstaff for Sedona on a pure beautiful sunny morning. We had no definite plans for the day, except to see more of Sedona than we had on our first visit in late winter of 1997. Then, we had simply driven through on our way back to Phoenix from our stay in Grand Canyon Village. We spent so little time there that Jan retained absolutely no memory of it whatsoever!

When is comes to Sedona, we are rank amateurs. Others come and spend a whole vacation. We, unfortunately, for us, just pass through. If two visits are enough to make a trend, things are improving. Both of our visits started from Flagstaff. The first one, we just drove through, staying on the main road and not even making a stop for a meal. This time we did a little better, taking two of the recommended drives off the main road, and even having an excellent lunch at "Mom's" (or something like that.)

Sedona

When we arrived in Sedona from Flagstaff (and after a morning hike in Oak Creek Canyon) we stopped at the Arizona tourist info office to find out where to go by car for the best views of the rocks. A friendly lady recommended several routes, pointed out some Indian sites, as well as a good place for lunch. Lunch was our first stop and from there we drove to Tuzigoot, a ruined Hohokam village about ten miles out of town. The site is fantastic as it gives 360-degree views of the valley. Off in the distance we can see the mining town of Jerome up on the hillside, which is where we headed after Tuzigoot. It took us a while to find the road into the old town, and arriving late in the day we were happy to get 20 minutes in the parking lot of the state park which has spectacular views of the whole area, before being chased out.

Sedona

From Jerome we headed back to Sedona to drive the Red Rock loop for super views of some of the red rock formations that Sedona is famous for. The best view we found, however, was from the airport road where there is a parking lot and lookout that gives great views across the valley. The sun is not really in the best position for photos, but we are nonetheless happy to have seen it.

Sedona

And there sadly we had to leave it as we wanted to be in Phoenix before the end of the day, there to enjoy the luxuries of a fully-equipped kitchen, private bathroom, air-conditioning, swimming pool, and of course high-speed internet, all courtesy of Allen and Barbara Chandler