DAY - 02: Sedona - Arizona on the Rocks

Day - 02: Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Beginning Location: Sedona, AZ
Ending Location:      Sedona, AZ

Pop Quiz: I slept well last night because _________
     A. The bed and mattress are of a great design and were super comfortable.
     B. I was so tired I could have slept on rocks.

Seriously, it was a very comfortable night of sleep. Sheila was up around 3 AM local time trying to run down the battery on her iPhone but I hung in there until about 5:30; that's not bad, it's like 8:30 in Florida or North Carolina.

The morning was slow to start but it provided time to better organize our packing, break out some of our travel gear and also to catch up on a little Helium business. By 10:30 we were ready to hit the streets of Sedona.

We began with a drive toward the west, again there was some force pulling us toward a red rock mountain, probably another vortex. We passed any number of retail stores and found the McDonald's that has the "teal" arches, no golden arches for Sedona. We back tracked and headed south stopping at a couple of scenic overlooks where to our wondering eyes did appear, more red rock.

During our travels in the area Pat & Jack had mentioned that they had been to Sedona before, actually staying in the L'Auberge Inn (maybe the priciest place in the area); they also remember the pink jeep tours but after that the details are a little fuzzy.  No one seems to have a good handle on when and why they were in Sedona. So if anyone out in the blogosphere has any evidence that could assist with this determination, let us know.

We visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross, located atop a rock formation in Sedona.  We walked up to the chapel and had a great view of the general area.

While at the chapel, we had a good overlooking view of an enormous house located atop a rock knoll with outdoor gardens, a water-lily pond, an astronomical observatory and any number of other ostentatious features. Apparently no one lives there and it's on the market for $25+M.










We returned to Sedona for lunch having decided that the Heartline Cafe noted as the 2nd best lunch restaurant in Sedona was worth a try. The results matched the expectations, the food was great in presentation and more importantly in taste and nutrition. Sheila had some kind of egg and salmon concoction, Pat had a nice tuna salad, that would be tuna filets not out of a can, Jack had sausage soup and I had a multi-meat rolled toasted bread sandwich with a side of Mac & Cheese. Pat and Jack had Bloody Marys; after all it was a brunch type meal. I'm not saying the "Bloodies" were hot, but it sure took a long time to get them down.

Following lunch we headed south toward the Hilton Sedona Resort & Spa. Along the way we took in Cathedral Rock and other outcroppings of red sandstone. The Hilton Resort had many amenities including a very green (something other than red) golf course. While out on the road we encountered any number of mysterious sensations, again we must attribute them to the vortex phenomenon in the Sedona area.

Proving the Vortex Theory!

Vortex Pentagram

Actual Vortex

Could Be Us But It's Not!

Artist's Conception of Vortex

We then headed to the center of what we would call "old" Sedona. We walked the street, stopping here and there, pausing in the shaded zones and hanging out by the places with water spray misters. Pat and Sheila came upon a Pandora shop, that would be wrist bauble Pandora not the music kind. Jack and I hung out on a park bench to await the inevitable purchases talking with "the most obnoxious man in the world".

Our last mission for the afternoon was a stop at the local Walgreens, it's just something that people of our age and older do.  It was evident from observing the Walgreens clientele that there are a lot of people in Sedona hoping for rejuvenation and enlightenment.

By 4 PM we were back at our hotel to rest up for dinner.

Dinner was to be special tonight. We had long ago made reservations at the L'Auberge Restaurant on Oak Creek. Ranked at the top of local restaurants, L'Auberge would be a repeat experience for both Pat & Jack and Sheila & me.  Our table was on the planked walkway adjacent to the creek. At the time of our arrival the sun had just set and the local cicadas were in full chorus as an accompaniment to the gurgling sound of the babbling brook.

After downing our pre-dinner drinks (Martinis, Kir Royales and a Hendricks G&T) our appetites were teased with, and I'm kinda quoting from Pat, "an amuse bouche of Salami Tartare with Assorted Herbs on Toasted Brioche".

Come-on now does anyone really think I know what that means other than it being a spoon sized mouthful of meat on toast that you eat without utensils, simply firing it down the hatch.

For dinner we had a variety of well presented entrees including: Beef Carpaccio, Dungeness Crab Crepes, Goats Creme Salad, Filet Mignon, Cured Duck Beast and Colorado Lamb Loin.



It was a great meal in a great environment.

Following dinner we weren't long for this world. We returned to the hotel and the evening came to a close.

Tomorrow will begin early, around 5 AM as we have planned a hot air balloon ride over and amongst the red rocks of Sedona.

DAY - 01: Westward Ho - Outbound for Sedona

Day - 01: Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Beginning Location:  Kitty Hawk, NC

Interim Locations:     Orlando, FL to Austin, TX to Phoenix, AZ

Final Location:          Sedona, AZ

It was only 0437 when we awoke to begin the day's trek westward. Our upcoming travels will take us from Kitty Hawk, NC to Sedona, AZ and on to Lake Powell, AZ/UT where we have reserved a houseboat for four nights. Joining us on this venture are Pat & Jack, with us from Kitty Hawk, NC and Diane & Greg from Carlsbad, CA who will join the adventure in Flagstaff on Thursday.

Sheila and I last rented a houseboat on Lake Powell in September 2001, thirteen years ago this week and as for some of the parks we'll visit, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, we've been before but are looking forward to seeing them again.

A few air travel comparisons would be in order:

1903 Airplane at Kitty Hawk









2014 Airplane (Norfolk to Orlando to Austin to Phoenix)










Southwest Airlines flight attendants; actually it was the same crew of flight attendants as pictured, naturally they've aged a bit and the outfits are slightly different, but the Southwest crews are still smiling!

So here we go.

As mentioned we were up at 0437, much too early for our planned departure at 0630. With time on my hands I videoed one of Carrie's cats chasing down a moth.

As planned, we were on the road from Kitty Hawk by 0630. The ride in was uneventful and my concern for morning traffic around Norfolk was unfounded. We were in the terminal, checked-in and bags turned over to TSA by 0745. Pat and Jack arrived soon thereafter and we met at the Southwest gate for our flight. There was plenty of time for provisioning as such we visited various purveyors of food, returning with cookies, chips, sodas and even a Starbucks coffee, latte, frappe, hurapi or "something".

By 0945 the Southwest jet was loaded. Did I mention the multitude of strollers, small children and babies? Anyway, we departed a few minutes ahead of our 1000 scheduled time and were winging our way south toward Orlando. Did I mention the small children and wailing babies?

Good thing we have taken care of the flight provisions, Southwest may have a new logo and paint scheme but the snacks haven't changed.









Back to history for a moment, surely Orville and Wilbur were smart folks visualizing the idea of flight but could they have done a "one star" sudoku puzzle?






As Sheila will be anxious to tell, yes I did sleep en-route to Orlando, obviously the small children and babies didn't disturb me. As for my sleep, though it might have provided a head rolling, neck-breaking visual, according to eye witnesses, there was no audio, aka snoring to be heard.

We arrived in Orlando or as the flight attendant announced, "the home of the mouse" at 1133. As is a tradition at Southwest, through passengers, that be us, just kind of hang out while the plane is tidied up and the new passengers arrive. The more luxurious exit row seats did not become available so the four of us remained in our plush and spacious economy seats for another 2-hour flight, this time to Austin, TX.

The flight to Austin departed on-time at 1236. Pat & Jack had scored a row with an empty middle seat, a rare occurrence these days. In flight a call went out "Is there a doctor or medically trained person in the house?" Soon the nose of the plane pitched up as about 1/3 of the passengers headed to the tail to tend to the medical emergency. Turns out the flight was loaded with MDs and PAs returning from a convention in Orlando. I suppose they immediately thought, aha, billable hours and procedures, let's go. One of the MD's was my seat mate, some kind of ear bone specialist. Apparently the person needing the assistance didn't need any ear treatments so "my" doctor soon returned. Turns out the ailing passenger had passed out but soon awoke realizing they weren't in Disney World any longer (Dorothy, Toto, Kansas, etc.). It was probably the peanuts or pretzels.

In flight, I finished off an Asiago Cheese Bagel wisely purchased while in Norfolk, did a little reading, finished the flight magazine Sudokus and was ready for our arrival at 1347 (CT) in Austin.

Ray's Chuck Wagon

With a two hour layover the four of us headed over to Ray's Chuck Wagon for pulled pork BBQ and hot dogs. While there we were entertained by a local performer onstage in the terminal.

Austin stakes claim to being known as "the live music capital of the world".

Nothing pretentious with that claim.

Tie Dyed Baldwin Piano

Confirming, we are in Texas!

We departed Austin a few minutes late thinking we had a 1+ hour flight over to Phoenix. Seems that we were time zone challenged as for this time of year Phoenix aligns with Pacific Time. The net result was a 2+ hour flight to Phoenix. We arrived about 15 minutes late at 1612 (PT).





We were off the plane, had bags in hand and were headed to the car rental facility when Sheila was flagged down by a TV news crew, on the scene to shoot a video; something to do with baggage tags. As you can see from the pic, it's Sheila, a cameraman and the TV reporter holding for display one of Sheila's baggage tags.



We soon picked up our Enterprise rental car, actually a tricked out 2015 Chevy Tahoe. We spent a few minutes familiarizing ourselves with the bells and whistles, we should have spent more time and perhaps even looked at the owner's manual. It's a good thing we rented a large car, if we had brought anymore stuff we would have likely needed to move over to the UHaul place for a small paneled van. Anyway we targeted Sedona with our GPS and we hit the road around 1745 for a 2-hour drive. The traffic through Phoenix was not bad as we were able to use HOV lanes where available and we apparently were not going where everyone else was headed.

Did I mention that we should have spent more time familiarizing ourselves with the Tahoe's bells and whistles. My guess is that during the first 30 minutes we likely had several near-death experiences as we tried to decipher the connectivity menu options for the radio, Pandora, my iTunes and any number of essentials for our travel. It was about 60 minutes before we had the HVAC figured out such that everyone could control temperature and air flow for personal comfort levels. Sometime around 1830 Jack and I tested out the air conditioned seats as a shot of refrigerant shimmied up our spines followed by the heating coils roasting our butts. 

Around 1925 we suddenly felt the car shake violently, after a moment of troubleshooting we realized that there was nothing wrong with the car, seems we had just passed through the first off many Sedona "vortex zones". Actually we came out of the shake feeling uplifted and renewed. 

Nevertheless, we pulled into our hotel at Sedona without any damage or injuries around 1930.

Oak Creek Brewery and Grill

After checking in at the Hampton Inn we backtracked to the Oak Creek Brewery for dinner. The beer selection was good, the salads and pizza were large and the burgers were okay but nothing to write home about. So, you might ask why am I writing about them?





We returned to the hotel; there is not much left to say for the day, after 20 hours from the time we awoke, our day was done.

We're off to a good start, let's see what tomorrow brings.