It's About the (RV) Journey....: We have visitors!........

My sister Joann and her daughter Elaine arrived in Phoenix for a few days! What perfect timing! Seeking respite from the cold east coast weather, they have come to the perfect spot. And we could use a diversion right now too:) The weather lately has been sunny and 70's-couldn't ask for better January weather.

Our first full day, we left rather early in the morning and headed out to Sedona. None of us had been there before, and of course we heard what a beautiful area it was. We had to check it out! The drive, about 2 hours, was pretty nice too.

nice place for a balloon ride

driving up to Sedona

is that snow?

the red rocks are all around us

A stop at the Visitor's Center to get some hiking information and a map, and we were all set. Actually, from the visitor center we had great views of some of the named rock formations, many of which are vortex centers. For more information, click here and here and here.

Visitor Center-Sedona

Bell Rock

friend of yours?

nice

Chapel of the Holy Cross

On our travels, we also passed the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which is set in the red rocks. This is a popular stop for many tourists and is listed as a must-see in some of the google searches we did for the area. For more information, click here.

beautiful scenery

perfect day, right E?

happy tourists

front of the church

what?

see Mom, we went to church!

just beautiful in spite of the commercialism

pretty views

driving into "Old Sedona" area

feel the energy?

Our itinerary included a hike, a visit to a vortex site, and shopping-of course! The hike we picked out was the Airport Mesa hike, a moderate hike and next to the airport mesa vortex. Perfect. However, yours truly could not handle the height/trail scene once we got there. We were still able to admire all of the infamous red rock formations, but we had to forgo the hike. We had lunch right at the base of the mesa with the strong vortex. What can I say.

at the Airport Mesa Hiking area

a little windy up here

just gorgeous

the town nestled amongst the red rocks

beautiful

a "vortex" site....you can hike (actually rock scramble) up to the top for the strongest energy vibes

or just eat lunch like we did

Tom at the Vortex site....get the good vibes!!!

salmon salad? fancy for a picnic!

feeling the good vibes and energy from the vortex!

actually, a great lunch spot

starting a hike

narrow, slippery trail

maybe not a good hike for us

one slip and your down quite a ways

i don't think so....let's get to another trail

the trail is quite slanted too! and slippery!

nice view though

maybe we should head up the mesa (a known vortex site)

pretty views

you go first Tom

nah..let's skip this one too...

nice views though

enjoying the start of the hikes....

such great views...and hoping the power of the vortex works :)

nice

pictures don't do it justice

As we drove a bit more through Sedona, we were quite surprised at how built up and commercial some of the area is. Still beautiful though!

nice driving views too

too bad its commercial so close to these views

Old Town Sedona

good shopping here

No worries about not hiking - we then had time to explore Oak Creek Canyon a bit. The road winds up to Flagstaff, and is one of the most scenic byways in the country. We stopped at a scenic overlook and took a little walk down to the overlook to view the river below and the surrounding rock formations.

beautiful area

careful everyone

heading down for the view...come on guys!

actual water in the river here

feeling the power of the vortex yet?

selfie

fun times

careful there Jo

heading through Oak Creek Canyon

really nice views that I can't seem to capture with the camera

nice

One of our stops was Slide Rock State Park. It was not crowded on this winter day, however, we hear it is quite a different story on a nice sunny warm day. I'm sure its a blast to slide down the natural water slide! I would even do it! Since we couldn't partake in water sports though, we did enjoy walking down to Oak Creek, and also walking along the Clifftop Nature Trail, that overlooks the creek. For more information, click here.

theses were summer cabins at one time

Another

nice park!

heading down to the river

walking around the river

the slide rocks....

must be great in the summer

checking out the water-its always cold

how pretty is that?

a little slice of heaven right here

scary looking tree

who's hat is dorkier?

pretty cacti

walking on the overlook hiking trail

careful now!

cacti grow in the sides of the wall here

beautiful park

nice place!

After Slide Rock, we continued up Oak Creek Canyon. At one point, we were seeing a lot of snow on the sides of the roads and on the rooftops of the houses nestled in by the river. We decided to turn around and head back to old town Sedona for a bit of shopping. Afterall, Jo and E came to get away from winter weather! Haha.

heading toward Flagstaff through Oak Creek Canyon

snow from a few days ago

quite different weather here

Our guests were more of the "Troop Beverly Hills" stereotype, so we could not leave without a bit of shopping in town. The old town section had lots of shops to explore, and some of us may have made a few purchases to remember this trip for a long time to come. Right Jo? (Good choice).

back to old town...shopping!

hey...its a "mini-me" with the camera (great sculpture!)

hello!

getting a coffee fix before shopping?

oh boy...Tom will be getting in some reading while he's waiting...hahahha

lots of men hanging around outside the shops

yes? (kidding!!!!)

this is actually true!

where to now?

only an engineer would be checking out the solar powered trash cans here in beautiful Sedona!

great views everywhere

nice

To end this magnificent day, we had one of the most delicious meals we've had in a long time. We had dinner at Elote, a highly recommended restaurant that serves authentic southwestern food. Its often crowded, and we were advised to go right at 5 when the restaurant opened for dinner. Even though there was quite a line when we got there, we were seated at a nice table with a beautiful view! Our meals were fabulous.