Sedona

My wife and I just celebrated a significant wedding anniversary and wanted to make it a memorable one.  We looked into going back to Hawaii, but while plane fares were reasonable, the cost of hotels and restaurants since COVID has skyrocketed on the islands.  We thought about Boston for a moment, but we kept coming back to a place that we had been thinking about for quite some time - Sedona, AZ.  We had airline and hotel points stocked up and we took off for a week in the desert Southwest.  

We stayed at 3 places while we were in Sedona - well, actually just two places.  We had originally booked the Hilton Sedona Summit, but they pissed me off because I didn't realize that it was a time share property with no bar or restaurant; the room they had us in was huge, but had no view; and they kept trying to get us to attend time share sessions.  I already had a bad taste in my mouth from the pressure we got upon checking into the property, but then after looking at the room my wife and I determined that we weren't going to stay there.  

We saw a Hampton Inn along the stretch of Arizona Highway 89A in Sedona on the way out to the Sedona Summit and we ended up staying there for three nights.  Then one morning after a long and strenuous hike south of Sedona, we ended up in the Village of Oak Creek to have breakfast.  After breakfast, we drove around town and my wife saw a Hilton sign off in the distance.  "There's a Hilton property," she said as she pointed to the sign.  We drove around the property and determined that we wanted to get out of the Hampton Inn in Sedona and relocate to the Hilton Resort at Bell Rock.  

This is the place where we should have been staying at the whole time.  They gave us an upgraded room that overlooked the mountains east of the Village of Oak Creek, a full living room with a kitchenette and a balcony, a king-sized bed that was in its own room, and a full bath with a private shower room.  The staff was unfailingly helpful and pleasant during the three nights we were there, and it was close to some good restaurants.  

But the great thing is that it had a great pool area (with a bar), a nice patio off the main lounge area, live acoustic music at night in the patio, and one night they had a local amateur astronomer set up his telescopes behind the hotel to allow people to see far away planets and galaxies.  We saw a number of shooting stars and satellites in the clear desert skies. While we thought Sedona was too touristy in some parts, the Village of Oak Creek was green and lush, the people were laid back, and there were some excellent views of some of the rocks and buttes in the area.  

That's not to say Sedona didn't have many great vistas within the city.  There were some high spots that you could either drive to or hike to that offered some spectacular views over the city.  And we hit the weather at the perfect time the first two days we were there - bright blue skies, light winds and temperatures in the upper 80's with humidity levels at 15% or lower.  

We were able to make it to a viewing area near the airport in Sedona.  The airport is built on a mesa and you literally have to go up a winding roadway to get to the airfield.  Just before the airport is a scenic overlook that we went to first in the morning, then later in the day, then finally just before sunset.  While most people left just after the sun went behind the hills and buttes in the distance, we stuck around for a while longer to catch the colors of the sunset.  This is the video I took of the scene about 20 minutes after the sun set that day.  (Click on the square in the bottom right corner to enlarge the video.)

There were some interesting drives around the Sedona area including the Oak Creek Canyon road that went from just outside Flagstaff to the eastern edge of Sedona.  There was also another shorter drive that has a number of great views - the Red Rock Scenic Byway - that is on the far west side of the city.  It is the gateway to Red Rock State Park which we visited one afternoon doing a nice little hike and hanging out in the hummingbird garden they had there.  

While many of the areas majestic rock formations and buttes were visible along the 7.5 mile road, probably one of the more interesting views were of this house that was built near the top of one of the buttes about halfway around the loop.  This modern structure is owned by furniture designer Glendon Good who also designed the house and built about 25% of the building on his own.  

The 2,170 square foot home is only accessible by a gondola that makes the approximate 200 foot trip in just over 3 minutes.  Good bought the land that the house sits upon in 1999 for about $250,000 - a rock bottom (get it?) price because it was thought that nothing could be built on the property.  He started work on the house in early 2018 with much of the building material hauled up via a makeshift gondola or via helicopter and dropped down into place.  Good, his wife and their young son moved into the home in October of 2021.  (For more information and pictures, click here for a Wall Street Journal pictorial article on the home.)  

Another interesting home in Sedona is one that is known locally as the House of Seven Arches.   Built in 1978, it somehow became known as "Lucy's House" after actress  Lucille Ball, but it's a good probability that Ball never set foot in the house.  However, Ball and her brother Fred owned much - if not all - of the land in the immediate area as Ball vacationed in Sedona on a regular basis.  The main contractor on the home was Herb Wineberger with an assist by Ball Brothers Construction - relatives of Lucille Ball who owned a construction company in Flagstaff.  Wineberger then sold the house to someone in Ball's family, but it was sold a handful of years later.  Easily one of the most recognizable homes in Sedona, the property is now owned by author, playwright and composer Terrie Frankel.  Frankel is more well-known - along with her twin sister - as the original Doublemint Twins for the Wrigley Gum company.   There is a popular webcam site that runs a live-stream of scenery from the side of the House of the Seven Arches 24/7.  

One of the other more popular places to visit in Sedona is the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a small Roman Catholic church built on one of the small red rock mesas that permeate the area.  We went early in the morning - the church gates at the bottom of the hill open at 9 a.m. - and it only has spaces for 100 vehicles along a winding road that takes you to the top where the church is located.  We got there just after 9 a.m. and many of the spots were already taken, but we were able to find a parking spot up near the top of the road.  

The building was finished in April of 1956, but was beautifully maintained.  The chapel features a small congregation area with small benches and a stunning view just beyond the altar.  There was a gift shop in the basement of the building and - I swear - that space was larger than the floor space of the chapel.   My wife, who grew up a good Catholic girl, lit a couple candles while she was there.  We took in the great views from the outside of the church including Cathedral Rock, one of the more famous sandstone rock formations in Sedona.  


Just south of the small chapel were two of the more familiar rock formations in the Sedona area - Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte.  Those are the two rock formations in the picture above right with Bell Rock in the middle of the picture and Courthouse Butte to the left side of the photo.  (As always, you can click on the pictures to make them larger.)   

We took a major hike one morning not expecting to take a major hike.  There are trails out around Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte that go from fairly easy to moderately hard to trails for experienced hikers only.  We ran into all three on what turned out to be a pretty aggressive hike one beautiful desert morning.  

Once we got deep into the hike and as it became more challenging, I sort of felt like the guy in the old joke who said he tried to swim the English Channel, got halfway across and decided he couldn't make it, so he swam back.  But the views were spectacular each time I stopped to look up at the rock formations.  You could walk 150 feet and get a whole new perspective of the buttes.  It took us two-and-a-half hours to make the 4.6 mile loop around both Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte and it almost ended our marriage two days after celebrating the milestone.  (That's what I would tell people, only half-jokingly then.  But more of a joke today.)  

We took some side trips to other areas around Sedona.  One day, we decided to get lost in the backroads outside of the town.  Paved roads became dirt roads which became non-maintained roadways that weren't much better than the paths we took when we hiked around Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte.  But, once again, the vistas were spectacular along the way.  

We drove out to the Honanki Heritage Site, the former home of members of the Sinagua people who lived in cut out dwellings of the cliffs of the butte.  Well-preserved rock art and cliff homes are the big draw to the site.   It was quite the trip out from Sedona, but the place was pretty interesting.   

Another place we were told to go to was the small former copper mining town of Jerome, AZ.  Located about 30 minutes south and west of Sedona, Jerome - at one time - was a bustling city of over 5,000 people, many of whom worked at or relied upon the copper mines in the area for commerce.  Jerome was a notorious town due to the mines with a number of illegal speakeasy's and brothels during the height of the mining boom.  At one time, it was known as "The Wickedest Town in the West".  Today, it's a fun little hippie town with a laid-back vibe.  We liked it so much that we went back after visiting there earlier in the week.  

The small town was originally built on a hillside (Cleopatra Hill) above a vast deposit of copper in the valley below.  The first claims for copper mining were staked in 1876 and the small town grew from a tent city to a prosperous community by the turn of the 20th century.  Financiers from around the world bought billions of dollars worth of copper, gold and silver that were mined in the valley.  At least three times the city was devastated by fires, but continued to thrive after whole sections were rebuilt.  However, the fluctuation of mineral prices along with the Great Depression, labor unrest, and World War II caused uncertainty with the mines in the first half of the 1900's.  Jerome's final mine closed in 1953.  

From a population of nearly 5000 in 1930 to a population just over 200 people by 1960, Jerome became known as a ghost town and a number of years ago enterprising locals jumped on the notion that many buildings that had been empty for years were actually haunted prompting a slew of "ghost hunters" to descend on the town in search of spooks, ghouls and paranormal activity.  A renaissance of the town took place in the 1980's when a number of shops, restaurants and galleries came into the city making Jerome a great day trip from places such as Sedona, Prescott and Flagstaff.  

It has also become somewhat famous for being the home of Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer of the progressive metal rock band Tool (and other bands over the years).  Keenan owns vineyards around the area, as well as a couple winery/restaurants in nearby Cottonwood.  He's a philanthropist for many causes in the area and has been called the catalyst for many of the positive changes in Jerome and Cottonwood.  

In Jerome, we were directed by a longtime resident to a shop that was touted as having the largest collection of kaleidoscopes in the world.  Nellie Bly Kaleidoscopes featured over 200 of the eye-pieces on display and for sale.  Originally opened in 1988 by Mary Wills, she had been fascinated by kaleidoscopes after buying one in New York City in 1969.  After opening the store with another partner, Wills met Sally Dryer who was running a frame shop in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Dryer was a former child voice actor and was the voice of Violet in A Charlie Brown Christmas, and then became the voice of Lucy (and other characters) in subsequent Peanuts television specials and movies.  Dryer met Wills through a mutual friend and Dryer moved to Jerome to join Wills as a business and life partner.  The kaleidoscopes on display were fascinating and people were encouraged to view the changing images inside each kaleidoscope.  We spent a fair amount of time at Nelly Bly's one afternoon.   

I hate the term "bucket list" but one of the things in life that I've always wanted to see was the Grand Canyon.  We drove up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon one beautiful morning to experience one of the seven natural wonders of the world.  Everyone I've ever talked to who has gone to the Grand Canyon has said that any picture they've seen of the huge gorge doesn't capture what it's like in person.  

And they were right.  I took a lot of pictures and the interesting thing was that you could walk along the south rim for a couple hundred feet and see a completely different perspective of the canyon.  I don't think there was a view that wasn't breathtaking.  

But the big treat was taking off to the east from the main entrance to the south rim and heading along Arizona State Highway 64 through the park where there were four or five places where you could turn off the road toward the canyon and get a whole different - and equally spectacular - view.  The video below left was from one of the turn-ins along the east rim. (Click on the square in the bottom right corner to enlarge the video.)

I understand most people just go up to the main viewing area along the south rim and then turn around and head out of the park.  But the views to the east were just stunning.   Once again, I couldn't capture the superlative vistas we experienced while we were at the park.  At some point in the future, I'll have an entry on our trip up to the Grand Canyon on Road Tips complete with more pictures and videos.  

And with that our week-long trip to Sedona ended way too early.  While we ate at some very good restaurants, there were still some places that we didn't get into, a couple spots we neglected to visit, and some trails that we didn't take the time to explore.  While the start of our trip to Sedona was shaky, it turned out to be one of the more memorable places we've ever visited.  My wife and I usually don't like to go back to a place we've visited within a year or two after going there, Sedona is a place where I'd have no problem heading back to sooner than later.