Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Sedona


Our last day at Grand Canyon was spent doing a few housekeeping chores, mailing postcards, buying food; you know the boring day to day stuff. We got going around 11:00am and headed south to Sedona, and the trip along highway 89 was mesmerizing to say the least. Taking the scenic rout straight through the heart of the San Francisco Peaks into Flagstaff, it could not have been a nicer drive as we wound our way through the high desert and alpine forests. The only downer was old Rout 66. Supposedly one of the best strips of the old mother road as it is called runs straight through Flagstaff. If that’s the case then we missed it or something. I must say that old Rout 66 has been a big disappointment for us; no tacky hotels no worlds biggest ball of yarn, just some old dilapidated motels and stuff.

For the uninitiated, Sedona is located in central Arizona and is supposedly a corridor of great cosmic power and energy. With so much having been written about the area, we decided that we just had to see it. Now I want to be clear that our attraction to Sedona had nothing to do with the physic energy reportedly emanating from this place, nor were we interested in the cosmic vortexes, palm readers, soothsayers, or alien masseuses. No for us the attraction to Sedona was its unique geology and natural beauty. The drive from Flagstaff to Sedona is a sight to behold as is obviously the case for so much of this part of the country. You take highway 89A out of Flagstaff and slowly wind your way down the side of the mountainous plateau into an area called Oak Creek Canyon. The geographic features of Oak Creek Canyon mirror those of Flagstaff and much of the surrounding area…that is until you reach Sedona. Highway 89A hugs the steep canyon walls and follows Oak Creek as it descends into the canyon. It is a two lane mountain road, with more that its fair share of steep drops and hairpin turns. My wife was absolutely terrified on the way down; barely looking out the window as we slowly worked our way down to the canyon floor. It was hard to believe that this was the same person, who fearlessly and without batting an eye, marched across the upper rim of the Grand Canyon on dangerously un-maintained loose gravel trails, many of which were less than three feet wide. I mean the Turd was geared all the way down and I rarely if ever hit the 20 MPH mark. It must have been a dose of that good old cosmic energy or something.

As you enter Sedona you experience a landscape that is completely unique and unlike anything we had ever seen. Sedona is built in an area dominated by red rock. The more traditional colorings of the central Arizona landscape abruptly disappear in Sedona as the mesas, bluffs and canyon walls are all colored a deep, purplish-red hue. A real Kodak moment if I ever saw one! According to books, local legend and the Travel Channel, Sedona sits on top of an intersection of major psychic fault lines which apparently bisect the entire planet. Picture the lines of longitude and latitude on a map. According to those in touch with their cosmic inner child, when these lines cross, vortexes of psychic energy are produced, opening gateways to the soul and psychic portholes to the cosmos. Sedona sits on one of these sites as do the ancient Mayan ruin of Chichen-itza and the enigmatic Stonehenge in England. I don’t know about all that, but I do know that we had the best Mexican food any of us had ever eaten right down the road in Cottonwood. Keep your cosmic portholes and pass the tacos por favor.
A few miles north of Sedona is Slide Rock State Park, a popular local attraction that provides a cool respite from soaring mid-day temperatures and the hot desert sun. Slide Rock Park is located on a section of Oak Creek and encompasses and area of the creek where time and water have worn an 80 foot section of the river bed into a natural, smooth rock slide. It was a blast as the boys and I spent hours traversing the creek, sliding down the rock slides and jumping off cliffs into the deep and dare I say chilly mountain waters. Afterward we hit downtown Sedona for a little shopping on the town’s main drag. Did I say a little shopping? How about a lot of shopping? We hit almost every downtown store in Sedona and finished off the day having a great dinner at the Casa Bonita in Cottonwood. It was the most authentically prepared Mexican food any of us had ever had. What is that they say? When in Rome? Anyway, my oldest son ate so many tacos that I thought we were going to have to pump his stomach, I devoured a plate of Carne Asada and my wife enjoyed her first margarita of the trip. My youngest son, easily the pickiest eater in the family, has now developed a love and passion for chicken quesadillas. All’s well that ends well and today ended great. My only question was if and at what time did Casa Bonita open for breakfast?

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