Sedona to Phoenix

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Sedona to Phoenix

April 27

After one more breakfast of oatmeal, Pop Tarts, and good coffee at our new favorite Hotel McCoy in Tucson we headed to Sedona about 3 1/2 hours away.

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch

As usual, we keep an eye out for cool roadside attractions with the Roadside America app as we drive.  Not an hour north of Tucson Roadside America shows the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch right off of Highway 10 in Picacho, Arizona. Unsure of whether to stop here or just bee-line it to Sedona, it was just too intriguing to pass by, especially with a very rare 4-smile rating of “Major Fun” by Roadside America.

This turned out to be one of our favorite roadside detours…major fun indeed! At its core, this is a petting zoo…but like no other. Just the idea of feeding ostriches, stingrays, rainbow lorikeets, and other critters in the Arizona dessert is fascinating.  For $15 each we got entrance plus food to feed all the critters ($12 without stingray food…but who wouldn’t pay $3 for that!?). Tickets are bought inside a large building that houses an arcade style shooting gallery, a merch store where one can buy ostrich meat as well as t-shirts and stuff, the stingray tank, and the famous diving ducks tank.

The critter yard area is very well organized, and creatively presented. With the food comes very clear instructions on how to dish it out, and to which critters.

First stop was feeding the goats at “the hole in the wall”.

Then on to feed the ostriches…and yes ostriches do bite, as Emilie found out the hard way!!

The tortoises are fed with a clothes pin extension so as to be sure you leave with all of your fingers still attached.

After a little over an hour at about noon we got on the road again toward Sedona.  We arrived in Sedona around 3:00 p.m., and few places make an entrance like Sedona does.

Boy is Sedona BUSY! Wow. We decided to stay in the artsy Tlaquepaque section of Sedona.  This is centrally located, immediately south of Uptown so we could walk everywhere, including Uptown. It’s also less outrageously priced than Uptown. This turned out to be a great location because after parking the car at the hotel we had no desire to drive again…Sedona traffic is crazy.

Bell Rock Climb

Before getting to the hotel, however, off of Rt. 179 we accidentally came across the parking area for the Bell Rock trailhead…and there were spots available! It was late afternoon…probably why there were spots.  Well, we took full advantage of this and spontaneously decided to hike Bell Rock Climb, and part of the Courthouse Butte Vista trail.  Our intention was to relax in Sedona after the past couple of weeks of desert hiking…but “when in Rome” they say.

At after 3:00 p.m. it was getting late, and it also looked like it could possibly rain so we played it a bit conservatively.  The objective was to do the Bell Rock climb as far as we could, so we opted to not do the loop around it and Courthouse Butte…instead we did the Bell Rock Pathway to the foot of the ascent up Bell Rock…climbed as much as we could, then took the Rektor Connector trail that cuts between Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte back to the car.  It was about 2.5 miles in all, not including the climb up Bell Rock. Though Em was a bit disappointed in how far up Bell Rock we old folk did NOT get, the hike and the scenery were just fantastic.

This was a great excursion. So much for planning to not hike during our respite in Sedona. Ha…we can’t help ourselves…it’s just too fun and beautiful.

At around 5:00 p.m. we got in the car and continued up Rt. 179 a few minutes to the center of Sedona and our Tlaquepaque lodging for the next two nights.  I booked us at Los Abrigados Resort and Spa. Unfortunately this is a Hilton Grand Vacation resort…which means the dreaded timeshare.  My bad.  The stay here had some good points, like its location adjacent to Tlaquepaque Village, and the pool. Other than that…disappointing.

Check-in was a disaster…I waited in line for about 30 minutes due to “computer problems”. While waiting, the “concierge” people who are really timeshare peddlers tried to chum up to me and others in line. The pool bar was closed, the bland restaurants are underwhelming and understaffed, and our room was more like a grotto. Oh, and after the long check-in, our key didn’t work…the same with several other annoyed people who just checked in…even further delaying our getting into our room.  Yikes! My kingdom for a Super 8 motel!

We had dinner at the dull, no-atmosphere Spoke & Wheel restaurant at the resort…the pizza was very good but only one wait staff for about a dozen tables, and a small bar. It looked like the adjacent fancy Italian resort restaurant shared the same hostess and kitchen, and only one table was occupied…warning signs.

Anyway, we swam a bit in the pool. We had to hunt for beach towels…there is no pool staff at the resort…we eventually got them at the front desk.

Lesson learned…either stay at an expensive resort or a cheap hotel…not a cheap resort.

Off to bed. The room itself was fine.

April 28

Tlaquepaque Village and Uptown

We spent this whole day just walking around Sedona. It started at Tlaquepaque arts and crafts village next to the resort.  There are distinctively unique and expensive art galleries, and artsy shops here. We had fun with the gallery hopping experience, even if we didn’t buy any art. We did, however, buy a bottle of wine, and some awesome cold treats at the quaint and excellent How Sweet It Is Chocolate Shop.

 

 

From here we ventured up into Uptown Sedona.  Lots of shops and lots of people, with gorgeous Sedona scenery hovering all around. Uptown is easily walkable.

We did both sides of the street checking out various quirky shops, gem stores, coffee shops and art galleries.

We also stopped in the visitors center where a volunteer told us how many people need to be rescued from Bell Rock every year, and that some even die.  So, we felt vindicated in going only as far as we did the day before.

For dinner we scored hard-to-get reservations for the popular The Hudson.  Though the reservations were hard to get it turns out that people were being seated without them. The patio is the score here, but we didn’t get a patio table. However, the view from even inside this place is worth the price…even if the food wasn’t.

After dinner we walked back to the resort and had a lot of fun in the pool, and especially the jacuzzi. There were lots of people having a good time, and we had some nice conversations.

Off to bed.

April 29

Oak Creek Canyon Overlook

After a cold cereal and coffee breakfast in the room we checked out of the hotel and began our drive to Scottsdale where we would be spending about a week with friends.  We took advantage of the direction we were going and headed along Rt. 89A north toward Flagstaff.  This, fortunately is the beautiful Oak Creek Canyon route.  A heavily wooded, narrow, winding road paralleling Oak Creek leads to the Oak Creek Canyon Overlook Vista.  It’s the first time we’ve been back here since over 20 years ago when we stopped here with the kids and Em’s mom while visiting the Grand Canyon. The pull off is about 30 minutes north of Sedona and 15 minutes south of Flagstaff.

To get to the scenic overlook from the large parking lot you first walk through the Native American artisan market.  There is an optional short hiking path up here, but not necessary to get to the overlooks. The panoramic view of the gorge below is breathtaking.

An Afternoon in Phoenix

While visiting our friends in Scottsdale, Em and I took one day to explore Phoenix.  The highlights were the artsy Roosevelt Row neighborhood with lots of great murals, and climbing the easy  “Hole in the Rock” at Papago Park,  a sandstone rock formation with great views of downtown Phoenix and Tempe. Oh, and it was HOT!

Hole in the Rock

After our 5-day visit with friends in Scottsdale we headed home.  The end of our 5-week, 7 National Park Southwest U.S. Road Trip!