Grand Canyon and Sedona: Part Two

Sedona here we come!

We made our way to Sedona from the Grand Canyon, arriving to the Matterhorn Inn a little before 3:00 p.m. and were allowed to check in.  We were staying in the heart of Sedona, in an area known as Uptown.

We reserved a second floor balcony unit but were given a patio unit on the first floor instead. Too tired either to argue or haul our heavy suitcases up the stairs, we accepted the first floor unit, which was at the very end of the hotel.

Well thank goodness we did because we got the best room at the hotel!  Not only did we have a covered patio with a great view, but we had a huge rooftop patio that we could walk out to and sit with a view of Uptown.

We had a view of Snoopy Rock from our room -- can you see Snoopy?

We got unpacked and unloaded our supplies and freshened up for dinner at Elote, a very popular Mexican restaurant in Sedona that was right next door to our hotel.

We each got margaritas, the Elote appetizer (because when in Rome!), Ben got chicken enchiladas and I got brisket enchiladas, both of which came with rice and refried black beans. It was all very delicious!

Yummy.

I was even given birthday ice cream!

I'm going to bed as soon as I eat this ice cream.

After dinner, we got in the hot tub and then went to bed pooped!

The next morning, we had an 8:00 a.m. tour of Sedona with Pink Jeep Tours.  I had not done this tour on either of my previous trips so I was really excited!

We went next door to a little coffee shop called Cuptown for some caffeine!

Then we walked over to Pink Jeep to check in for our tour.  We had a great driver who was happy to take pictures and explain what we were seeing.  We went to two stops on the jeep tour, Chicken Point and Submarine Rock.  It was a blast!

Mushroom rock.

Submarine rock.

On the way back, our driver was pointing out places to eat and mentioned Pump House so I suggested we go there for breakfast. There was a short wait so Ben and I walked around the shopping center called Tlaquapaque North. 

We went to the crystal store Ann and I visited on our trip last year.

I found the fountain where Ann and I took our picture in 2011 and sent it to her saying, "Wish you were here!"

Breakfast at Pump House was nice. 

After breakfast, we went out to the back of the restaurant which is shady and has a view of the creek and planned our next move. We were eager to do a Sedona hike but we needed something close by or else we had to walk back to the Matterhorn to get the car. 

We decided we could walk to the Marg's Draw trailhead, which is an easy out and back hike with a view of Snoopy Rock.

This was a fun hike with red rocks all around so a good first hike for us to do!

We got to the view of Snoopy Rock, but decided it looks alot better from far away!

Where is Snoopy?

Thunder Mountain, the biggest hill in Sedona.

It was a hot walk back to the Matterhorn and 85 degrees so we went straight to the pool.  

We relaxed at the pool until around 4:00 pm when it was time to get ready for my birthday dinner at the famous Sedona restaurant, Mariposa.

Ann and I went to Mariposa for our birthday dinner last year and I was excited to go back.  It did not disappoint!  It's a beautiful restaurant and everything was great!

I ordered my favorite cocktail from last year, the Mate Latte.

My cocktail is better than yours.

We started with empanadas.  These were not as good as I remembered, but we ate them anyway!

I got the sea bass, sooo good!

Ben got steak.

The Birthday Girl

I even got birthday gelato just like last year!

What a great birthday dinner!

Day 3 was Sunday, and we decided to have breakfast in West Sedona (after stopping at Safeway for more water), and then do a couple of hikes in the area.  This is something Ann and I did last year on our trip and I was happy to do it again!

I had told Ben I wanted to see sunrise at some point on the trip so he woke me up at 5:30 a.m. so I could see it.  I wasn't quite ready.  Oh well, at least we got an early start!

Where am I?

This was not worth getting up early for.

After picking up water, we went to Mesa Grill for breakfast and got there right before it opened.  

Everything was really good!

Our first hike was the Sedona View Trail, 1.2 miles to a hill called Airport Mesa where there would be a beautiful view.  I didn't tell Ben about the end so it would be a surprise!

Made it to the mesa!

These orange flowers were starting to bloom everywhere.  Our Pink Jeep driver said they only bloom for two weeks.

Then we took the beautiful Red Rock Loop drive over to a hike called Secret Slick Rock. The trail begins across the street from the parking lot, which I had forgotten. So we kind of wandered around a bit, which Ben wasn't thrilled about. 

Yay, we found it.

Finally we found the trail and took the .70 mi down to the "slick rock" where you get a great view of the rock formation, Cathedral Rock. We had the entire trail and view to ourselves.

On the way back, I told Ben  I wanted to stop at Lover's Knoll to see it as I had heard it had a pretty view for weddings. It was basically just a big hill, we climbed to the top and took a few pics. Maybe at sunset, it's more spectacular.

Cathedral Rock peeking out.

It was getting hot by now, so we went over to the Wilde Resort, which is the hotel Ann and I stayed at last year and ordered an appetizer and iced tea at Rascal. The iced tea never came but the ahi nachos were good.

Then we went and got homemade ice cream at Rocky Road Ice cream -- Rocky Road of course!  It was sooo good!

Back in Uptown, we rested in the room for awhile before walking around the shops and then over to The Vault where I had made a reservation for dinner. 

We were seated on the patio and shared the mushroom ravioli appetizer and split a burger and truffle fries. This ended up being our "worst" meal, but it was still very good!

Back at the hotel, I poured a glass of wine and Ben grabbed a beer and we sat out on the rooftop patio and watched a beautiful sunset.

Cheers!

Then we hit the hot tub before bed!

The next day was Monday and the day I was most looking forward to.  Today, Ben and I were going to hike to Devil's Bridge, which is a large, 50 ft high sandstone formation that you reach by hiking a 2 mile trail.  Everyone takes their picture out on the bridge and it's probably the most popular hike in Sedona.

Let's do this!

There is a small creek crossing. 

We thought this balancing rock was cool.

Near the end, you get a great view from far away of the bridge as you approach it. 

Finally, there is a small section of rock climbing at the end, nothing too strenuous, we did it easily.  Then you're at the bridge!

Here I go!

I did it!

Then it was mine and Ben's turn -- the person behind you takes your picture.  It looks really far away but you are close enough to talk to the person across the bridge.

We did it!

This hike was so fun, and I can't wait to do it again next time I'm in Sedona!

After Devil's Bridge, we drove to The Coffee Pot for breakfast. We waited about 15 minutes and sat down to look at the menu. They have an entire page of omelets so we figured that must be their specialty. 

It was delicious!  One of the best omelets (and hash browns, and biscuit) I've ever had!

Google Maps was showing over an hour of traffic to get back to the hotel.  We assumed there must have been a terrible accident. So we decided to do a hike nearby, and decided on Sugarloaf Mountain, a 2 mile loop with about 350 ft in elevation. I love being able to do a hike to the top of something so it sounded perfect.

You start on the Teacup Trail with a view of Thunder Mountain.

This was a really fun hike, one of our favorites. The views were really beautiful and going up to a summit in Sedona is always thrilling. We really enjoyed it.

The cave in this picture is called Keyhole Cave.  It is a popular location because you can get a cool picture from inside the cave, but it's a difficult hike.

At the top!

We decided to stop somewhere for coffee on the way back to the Matterhorn and I suggested The View Coffee near our hotel. 

I got a coffee and Ben got an iced matcha and we sat outside and relaxed and enjoyed a beautiful view.

I had made a reservation for a fancier restaurant for dinner but after all the traffic, Ben didn't feel like driving.  So I consulted my list of restaurants and told Ben we could walk to Salt Rock Kitchen at the Amara resort.  

We were seated on the lovely patio and ordered empanadas, which were delicious.

Our amazing waitress recommended the butternut squash chile relleno and it was to die for!  Ben got the carne asada, which comes with blue corn tortillas so you can make tacos out of them. We shared both of these and it was one of the best meals we had in Sedona.

Back at the hotel, we watched sunset before getting in the hot tub.  The moon was almost full!

The next day was our last full day in Sedona. I had tea on our patio and tried not to think about leaving!

Today our plan was to hike up to Bell Rock, have breakfast nearby and then possibly do one more hike while waiting for the traffic to die down -- we had learned that the traffic was from construction on one of the main roads.  

Bell Rock is another very famous rock formation in Sedona.  You can climb to the top of it but it's a very difficult hike.  Ben and I just planned to hike to the base of the rock where the view is still beautiful.

 It is just a magical place and I am always so moved when I am there. 

At one point, I looked over and pointed to this little knoll and wondered aloud to Ben if it was something we could climb to the top of. It looked like it was just asking to be climbed! Ben looked on Google and said it was Baby Bell and that there was indeed a path to it. So we headed that way.

We ended up doing a series of trails along the pathway, basically just making a loop back to the parking lot. We saw almost no one and it was a nice easy walk to do.

When we got to Baby Bell, we couldn't find a way to the top, but that was ok, we still enjoyed the hike.  

Look at all the flowers!

Back at the parking lot, I turned and saw Bell Rock and the field in front of it covered in wildflowers and took my last picture of my favorite rock in Sedona. 

We decided then to drive to Chapel of the Holy Cross which is a famous chapel built into the red rocks.  I visited the chapel in 2011 with Ann and wanted to see it again.

We visited the chapel and then walked down the hill to take a picture of the outside. 

There is this huge house next to the chapel.  It is owned by the guy who invented Lasik!

Wonder how much he'd take for it?

After the chapel, we checked the traffic which was still terrible, as we suspected.  So we decided to keep going south and do the Baldwin Trail to Oak Creek. I knew it would be a pretty area and we'd get another view of Cathedral Rock.

We decided to get breakfast at Red Rock Cafe first but they are closed on Tuesdays, darn it! So we stopped at a place called Fire Creek Coffee and got a yummy breakfast burrito and a scone and I got the best chai tea I've ever had in my life. It was all delicious.

This breakfast was much better than it looks.

We got to the Baldwin trailhead around 11:00 am. 

Once again, we had the trail almost to ourselves. This was another beautiful hike we enjoyed.  

I am not sure what we were taking a picture of here but we look cute.

Once we turned the bend of the loop, we had views of Cathedral Rock.

Near the end, we took a spur trail to Oak Creek. We were so tempted to soak our feet in that crystal clear water! Next time I will make sure we have a towel in our pack.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip.

We made our way back to the Matterhorn, taking about an hour to get through the traffic. On the way, I suggested we stop at Salt Rock Kitchen again and have margaritas on their patio!

We had chips and guacamole, and margaritas and split a burger and fries on the beautiful patio, it was all delicious and a lovely way to spend our last afternoon.

Back at the hotel, we got in the pool and hot tub.

I'm never leaving.

Then we watched our last Sedona sunset.

All good things must come to an end and the next day it was time to pack up and leave.  I stayed in bed as long as I could staring out at the view. The bed was placed facing the window so we could see the view from bed which was really neat. 

We got coffee at Cuptown which I brought back to our patio.  And then, sadly, it was time for the dreaded last Sedona selfie!  

Don't make me go!!

We had decided the night before to drive to Red Rock Cafe for breakfast and then take the main highway back to the airport for our flight.  There was a short wait for breakfast but the food came out in record time!

I had the best avocado toast I have ever had and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was soooo good! We definitely ended our vacation on a high note!

Don't hate me because my breakfast is better than yours.

And then we were back on the way to the airport...

...then home!

Except for the travel snafus, this trip could not have been any more perfect!  The hiking, the weather, the food, the views -- everything was magical!  This is definitely a trip we would repeat again and again, and probably will.  It's not goodbye Sedona, it's just see you later!

Ben and I will have a few months of rest before our fall trip with the Gratts to New England.  Time to plan the next vacation!