Less than a five-hour drive from Las Vegas is the vibrant town of Sedona. People from the Pacific Northwest come down to Sedona to ‘winter.’ People from Phoenix (about 1000 feet in elevation) drive to Sedona (over 4000 feet in elevation) in the summer to escape the heat.
Most of the drive from Las Vegas is along picturesque I-40.
A drive through and possible stop in historic Seligman is warranted for first timers.
This small village was at one time an Important stopping point on Highway 66.
Today, Seligman is more of a tourist trap, but an interesting one.
The Grand Canyon is along this route and worthy of a view.
A right turn at Junction 89A will take you down a two-lane canyon road. The Midgley Bridge is about the northern entry point to Sedona.
Nestled in a valley with mountains in each direction, is the quaint community of Sedona.
In the beginning about 1876, there were peach and apple orchards as well as ranchers.
Starting from the 1920s, Sedona became host to Hollywood. Well over 50 movies, mostly westerns, were filmed in the community. Some of you may remember National Lampoon’s Vacation which was filmed here in 1987. The famed actress Lucille Ball had a home right near the center of the town. The owners of today have placed a mannequin to show tourists where she once lived.
Sedona comprises of just a few main streets. There are a number of art establishments with “high” tastes.
There is also a considerable number of tee-shirt stores. We found reading the shirts fun.
Sedona has a number of rather good and tasty restaurants. On St. Patrick’s Day in 2015, we enjoyed a lunch at Judi’s.
The Hudson is more upscale. We found the view here exceptional.
For dessert, “The Black Cow Cafe” in town has delicious pies.
We went several times to “Mesa Grill Sedona” which is right at the airport. Ironically, we only saw one plane ever land.
It is close to the airport that we came across one of Sedona’s spiritual places referred to as a “vortex.” I don’t know about spiritual, but the views on top are magnificent, enough to “move” you.
There are all types of accommodations in Sedona. Our first stay in Sedona was at a Best Western Plus. It was right on top of a hill with magnificent views of the area. The company actually provided shuttles into town. Today, this fine hotel was taken over and renamed “Sky Rock Inn of Sedona.”
In 2016, we stayed in a budget hotel called “STAR.” The room was less than half the price and as comfortable. The big advantage to Star is its downtown location.
The views down the street from Star Hotel can take your breath away.
A major highlight for us in 2015 was to take a “Pink Jeep Tour.” A guy named Don Pratt in 1960 developed the company. He liked the colors of Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, and changed the name to “Pink Jeep Tours.” His jeeps were colored pink too.
Next to the Pink Jeep building is a 2005 sculpture of “Hairalina’s” made by a renowned artist known as Barbara Brown. It was paid for by Pink Jeep Tours, and thus it was painted “pink.” Javelina’s resemble small pigs, but they are not pigs. They are known to be aggressive if you get too close to them. We never did see them.
Pink Jeep Tours is the only company allowed to do the “Broken Arrow Trail.” Likewise, we did their famous Honanki Heritage Site tour. The cliffs were a smaller version of Mesa Verde in Colorado.
Close to the Honanki ruins is the exclusive “Enchantment Resort.” The pool looked inviting.
Not far outside of town is the Chapel of the Holy Cross. A Catholic church, 90 feet tall, is on a side of a 1500 cliff rock. It is, indeed, impressive.
Looking out from the church is a valley with several spectacular homes.
In 2016, we joined Pat and Joe Brannin for a day. They live in Buckeye, Arizona—just west of Phoenix. Pat was an excellent guidance counselor at Matin County High school where my wife and I taught. We have stayed in touch.
One of the neat places the Brannin’s had taken us was the small town on Cleopatra Hill known as “Jerome.” In 1920, there were 10,000 people in Jerome—mostly mining copper. Today, except for the summer, less than a 1000 people now live.
Along the main—and really the only street—are cafés, antique stores and more cafés. We had lunch at the “Haunted Hamburger.”
Most of us had a hamburger. I remember the onion rings to be most tasty.
If you were lucky and came when the place opened, there were front row seats out along the patio with spectacular views.
We came across an authentic western abandoned building.
In another building was a “wishing well.”
I like this quote at one of the cafés.
Our next stop was at a bigger town known as “Prescott.”
It was developed in 1864 when Abraham Lincoln was President. It had a beautiful city hall around a plaza. The statue in the picture is called “Bucky O’Neill.” The Sculpture was by Solon Hannibal Borglum known as “America’s First Cowboy Sculptor.
Not far is Tuzigoot National Monument. Pueblos built a 110-room complex (circa 1200AD) on top of a hilltop.
In 2016, Kathie and I drove to Montezuma’s Castle. Like Mesa Verde, Indians built into the high cliffs, circa 1100. A small hiking trail followed a creek to make this visit enjoyable.
In the northern end of this National Monument is “Montezuma’s Well.” More like a spring. Just 55 feet deep, there is a constant temperature of 74 degrees. Divers have come across thousands of fresh water leeches.
Our last stop was at the “V Bar V Ranch” heritage site. On the dirt road, we came across a dead Gopher snake.
The old ranch is gone. The only remains is the chimney.
A short trail will take the curious to see “petroglyphs.”
I was amazed how large several trees—looks like Cottonwoods—grew.
On our last night in Sedona in 2016 I became deathly ill—Norovirus infection. Kathie drove the five hours to Las Vegas and took great care of me.
Two days later, she came down with the virus. Luckily, it was not Covid.