Sedona continued

We drove to route 179 to check out Bell Rock and Chapel of the Holy Cross. First stop was Bell Rock, I didn’t much care to stop there, I have no interest in the vortex (if there is such a thing), but we figured we were there, why not? Well, I don’t know if was the road construction or what, but we didn’t find where to go. There was one parking lot that looked like it offered trails, but the entrance was not Trans Am friendly. We gave up and headed toward the Chapel of the Holy Cross.



The Chapel of the Holy Cross was designed by a Frank Lloyd Wright student, Marguerite Brunswig Staude, it was built in 1956 and rises 200 feet from the ground between two large red rock formations.



No services are held here, but it’s intended to provide an ideal setting for spiritual reflection and prayer.




The surrounding views and formations are spectacular!






These flowers had a sign, “Please don’t pick us we’re smiling at God”.




After the chapel, it was around 3 o’clock, we figured it was best to started heading to Flagstaff so we could be home at a decent hour.

The drive from Sedona to Flagstaff is slow-going, but beautiful. The whole way you wind up the mountainside climbing in elevation. We were going about our business enjoying the views, weather and sunshine... then we saw...



Yeah, that’s snow! We couldn’t believe it. We were cruising with the T-tops off and a few feet away there was snow. We pulled over to take pictures and touch the snow.






As we climbed higher and higher it got to be very snowy. We stopped at a rest stop and took more photos. There was a Native American craft fair going on, we picked up a present for Frank’s mom since her birthday was the day before.



As far as we could tell Oak Creek originates here



Shortly after leaving the rest area we saw a sign to watch for Elk. Sure enough we saw a herd. After that, though, there were no more interesting sightings. We took I-40 to Vegas, it’s one boring drive and the roads are in terrible condition. Here’s the sunset about 20 miles from the Hoover Dam


We made it home a little after 7:30. It was a long, but fun-filled day. All in all, it was a great trip, too!

Spring Training and on to Sedona

Sunday:

We got a late start so we didn’t do anything prior to the game. Shane’s friend, Wes, was attending the game with us, we left when he arrived. The game was at Peoria Sports Complex about 15 minutes away. It wasn’t too crowded, we were hungry we all decided on the Italian sausage and brat booth. They said the brats weren’t too tasty, but my sausage was good. We took our seats, which were along the third base line in the second row.

Spring Training is a really neat experience it’s much more intimate than a regular game. The players are right there in front of you. We had conversations with Jeff Cox the new third base coach – he’s quite the character; a real good guy.

Here’s Ozzie (the coach) waving as he went by



Stretching and practice before the game



Ozuna signing autographs



Dye signing autographs


Contreas pitching



We lost the game, they were real sloppy… hence spring training… but we saw Contreas get a base hit. It was fun watching for foul balls, and just enjoying baseball.

After the game, we packed up all our stuff, offered our thanks to Shane, and headed to Sedona. I think it was around 4:30 when we got on the road. The drive was nice, we were in awe when we got into Oak Creek at sunset. The rock formations are spectacular; they got us psyched for the next day. We checked in our room at Kokopelli Suites. It was decent, the Jacuzzi was too small for two, the bed is two twin craftmatic adjustable beds. We had fun toying around with those, at least until Frank’s got stuck. Then we only played with my side.



Once we got situated we set out for dinner, we ended up at an Italian restaurant down the street, I think it was named Troja. Frank had veal parmesan and I had chicken cannelloni, both were good. We had tiramisu for dessert. That was yummy, as well.

We crashed not long after we got back to the hotel.

Monday:

We loaded up the car and decided to have breakfast at L'Auberge Restaurant on Oak Creek supposedly, one of the best places to dine in town. We were seated on the sun porch overlooking Oak Creek. Frank had an omelet, with sausage and toast. I had banana nut pancakes with walnut butter. Both were very good, but not worth $38.

From L’Auberge we went to Red Rock State Park.



When we paid admission into the park they failed to mention that many trails were closed because all but one bridge was washed out from floods that Oak Creek had experience this winter (lots of snow in the mountains).

While there, we were able to hike a portion of Kisva trail and Eagle’s Nest Trail (3 orange and 4 blue) if you click here

Along the Kisva trail...



Oak Creek



Washed out bridge



Eagle’s Nest trail meanders around the top of this mountain



Along the Eagle’s Nest trail



That’s Oak Creek and Kisva trail at the bottom left (dead looking trees)



Whew! We made it to the top.



I handled the trail really well, all my treadmill workouts are good for something. Frank was a bit winded when we made it to the top. He sat while I captured the beautiful view.





We were up there...


We made our way back to the visitor’s center and decided to see other sights since so many trails were closed.

more to come...