Monday was rather uneventful here at our “home away from home” for the week. Dick spent a couple hours in the morning working (No, we didn’t close e-Merge Online Marketing down for vacation, it’s not really that horrible though, the view from the “office” is just that much nicer. Theresa worked hard at eradicating the albino look we Minnesotan’s seem to take on during our excruciating long winters.

Spent a couple hours in the afternoon wandering about the coolest outdoor shop called Son Silver West. The place was simply loaded with everything you can imagine to “Sedona-ize” your indoor and outdoor living. If I had a dollar for every time Theresa said “We are going to get that for our house here”, we could afford to have a house here!

The hot afternoon sun called for an ice-cold beer. One of our favorites in the Hillside shopping area is an Irish Pub named Mooney’s The views from the front patio are to die for. A couple cold ones and we were on our way back “home” for a little cook out and yet another night of deck dwelling.

Today was hike day. we decided to take it a little easier and hike to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. There is a hiking trail just south of the Chapel called Little Horse. The Little Horse trail provides one of the best pictures of Courthouse Butte in the area. From there the rocky trail meanders some 1.5 miles or so where it intersects with Chapel of the Holy Cross Trail. From there, another 3/4 of a mile on Chapel Trail ending up at the Chapel of the Holy Cross. The rest of the tourists came by car (most likely with their air conditioning blasting). We walked up in hiking gear.

The route back was the same path although we did take a little detour thinking we would just pick up Little Horse trail back to the parking area until we discovered the trail we were on would be another 3 miles before we picked up yet another trail back to the car. The 5 mile hike was enough for us for the day. Pictures of the hike are in the Gallery under Hikes – Enjoy!

At home for a bit, scraped another layer of red rock dust off (except our shoes, we are keeping the dust on them as a “badge of honor”. Uploaded pictures, enjoying a cool beverage on one of the decks, enjoying the view (and the heat). Later, it is off to Javelina Cantina for “Taco Tuesday”.

Cheers!

Another trip to Sedona. November seems like an eternity since we were here last – especially due to the harsh, brutal, long and ugly winter we had in Minnesota combined with the fact that we have had little to no spring. Something about this place “does a body good”.

First, our home away from home this time was a unique find on Craigslist. We stumbled across this listing and while I generally shy away from Craigslist, I did as much checking on this place as possible and have to tell you, no website or Facebook page can do it justice. It is absolutely stunning. Anyone wanting to get a better handle on where we are, visit their website at Best Sedona Vacations.

Our first order of business (after the grocery store and the beer store that is) was to scope out the first hike of the week. One of the most popular rock formations in Sedona is called Bell Rock, located between the Village of Oak Creek and the town of Sedona itself. Bell Rock has a neighbor called Courthouse Rock.

The Bell Rock hike consists of three levels, the first (and easiest) is called “lower Bell Rock trail” and is a relatively easy 3/4 mile walk about around the base of the formation. The second is a little more difficult called “upper Bell Rock trail”, there is a little more ascent to the base of the spires of the formation. And of course the third is the most difficult, actually involves climbing to the tops of a couple of the spires on the formation itself. Guess which one we did?!

Pictures of the hike are on the blog site under the Gallery Section / Hikes / Bell Rock. There are a couple great shots from the top of the spires and one of my favorites; Theresa sitting at the top, absorbing the view.

Back down the “hill” and home to scrape several layers of red rock dust, a little deck dwelling then uptown for a little shopping and dinner at a Open Range Grill and Tavern.

Back home, enjoying another stunning sunset, waiting for the stars to come out and planning our adventure for tomorrow.

Come back!