Joe and Françoise's excellent adventures!: We "get" Sedona.....

In the first blog entry for this trip, I wrote that we "escaped" from Las Vegas as soon as we could, and that I just did not understand places like Mesquite, AZ. That's not true of Sedona. We "get" Sedona. It is just beautiful, and, because of the altitude and the very pretty Oak Creek that flows through it, it is green and has a lovely climate (at least this time of year - it does get hot in July and August, but not Las Vegas hot). And the red rocks that surround it are indeed spectacular. I wish we could stay a bit longer to enjoy it all, but this is our last day.... sigh.. I could spend a couple of days just sitting by the creek doing nothing....

I went for a short walk in the Red Rocks national forest this morning.

The sky was a beautiful blue against the background of the red rocks!

The trail was supposed to be an easy climb to Brinn's mesa. Which it was - but I mis-identified where Brinn's mesa was, and kept on going up
to the top of the next ridge.

In my defense, the trail was not marked at all, and at some point, there was a fork in the road, so - obviously- I took the road less traveled.... (the "right" trail is on the right, the one I took is on the left - see, it's not just me, it's not clear....).
It became clear pretty soon that I was not on the trail, and I ended up rock climbing up, and bushwhacking my was back down..... It seems that even when I try to do things that are non life threatening, I just can't help myself.......

Here is Brinn's mesa btw, viewed from partly up the rocks I climbed. The trail was actually very easily visible going through the mesa, which helped finding the trail back on the way down.

Here is the rock I mistook for the trail..... and climbed to the top off.

I was rewarded at the summit with a broad with of the valley.

On the way down, I saw this stark reminders of why they are so careful about forest fires around here - although this year, it has not been a problem here.

And I met this little guy.... I suggested to Joe that it may be a baby dinosaur. But he thought that instead he may be a horned toad. Goggle confirmed that he was right, but I still like my idea better.....

Then Joe and I went to see some of the more famous sites, and visit one of the "vorteces": Sedona is supposed to be a place where the energy of the hearth gets out as positive, negative and neutral energy, in specific places called a vortex. People go there and it makes them feel good. I say... If it makes them feel good, I'm fine with that... Then again, i was feeling pretty good all day, so maybe... :-)

Here is one of the vorteces - people built a lot of rock things (A LOT!) there. not sure why. Again, if it makes them happy, i'm all for it....

More rock things....

And here is the most photographed spot in Arizona (google it!) - Cathedral rocks, seen from the Oak creek stepping stones. And below, Joe and I, in front of the rocks, near one of the vorteces (don't we look happy and calm - that must be the reason...)

From there we went to slipping rock state park, which I found simply delightful! It's just a strech of the Oak creek, with a lot of gentle rapids and - as the name indicates, slippery rocks- and people go for the day and play. It's just fabulous to see! I wish I had had a bathing suit with me, as I would have loved to join them.

Then we spent the hottest part of the day just hanging by the creek at the hotel- I just love it there..... It was not that hot in fact, I think the high was a dry 84 - pleasant. But the sun is very intense.
Finally, we took a back-road jeep tour in the national forest - which was a great way to see much more of the red rocks. A storm was around - it never got to us, but it made for fabulous skies: Here is a very small inkling of how beautiful it was.