LeslieC

Looking for feedback and suggestions on our 2 night itinerary in Sedona and dinner options:

We'll be driving to Sedona from LA with two young teenagers. Staying at the Hilton.

Day 1 - Check in, swim, relax after long night's drive. Then into town for a Trolley Tour, see the shops at Tlaguepague and have dinner. Are their any fun Western, Cowboy or Mexican restaurants or other places with alot of character - not too fancy.

Day two. Have booked the Pink Jeep Broken Arrow tour for 5:00 pm due to summer heat. We also want to go to Slide Rock (but could save that for day 3 as we will be heading to the Grand Canyon via Williams.) What do you suggest? I see that slide rock is north of Sedona and the Hilton is south so I'm concerned about too much driving and getting back in time for the jeep tour. Any other suggestions for kids ages 13 and 16?

Day Three - driving to Grand Canyon via Williams. Would like to reserve a time for the IMAX theatre enroute. Do you think we'd be crazy to stop at Slide Rock on the way? I know we'd have to change out of wet clothes afterwards. How much time will this take at Slide Rock. I see the drive from Sedona to Williams is about 1.5 hours.

Thank you.

emd

When is this? I am assuming July or August??
I would put Slide Rock in day two. It is not far from the Hilton, just up to the "Y". take a right, and it is 10 minutes up the road, a total of 15 min. from Hilton. On the way back to the hotel, you will be going against any traffic (traffic will be coming in towards the "Y" and you will be going the other way), and there will only be traffic if it is Friday or Sat. It's not a big deal at all to get there and back. Is it a weekday or weekend? It will be much more crowded on a weekend (but that shouldn't stop you from going- Slide Rock is a big place). I would give Slide ROck the better part of day #2 before you do the jeep tour. You could probably go on the jeep tour right after Slide Rock (and it might help to be damp for that tour due to the heat). I am assumning you will catch the Jeep tour at your hotel.
Re Slide Rock- You want to get to SLide Rock, set up your chairs (or pads or covers- you need something on those big rocks to sit on), bring a nice picnic lunch and drinks, bring something to read, and find some shade. You'll end up moving around throughout your time there to stay in the shade of the rocks. You can play in the slick rock stream, it is so much fun, like a natural water park. Bring water shoes- the rocks are very slippery in the water and you can take a bad spill. You could do a few hours there and fit in something else before your jeep tour, or just hang at Sldie Rock for longer period (once you get there and get set up, it's the coolest place you can find in summer there).
Read reviews of the Cowboy Club- it may or may not be what you are looking for on night #1. I stick w/the normal places and haven't done the theme dining.
I would just check out and head to Williams and GC on day #3. You might want time to stop on the way in Sedona to shop and walk around, or even hike a bit in the early a.m. Bell Rock is a good, level/flat, easy early a.m. (very early in July or August) hike, and is close to your hotel. Cathedral Rock is also close, but is a moderate (and wonderful) hike. Good photo ops. I would not do Slide ROck on day 3. It is a destination on its own.
My kids like fishing

emd

oops- continued: They liek fishing in Oak Creek (it is stocked w/trout in spring- and there is also a fishing farm place in area of Slide Rock), but you may not have time or inclination to do that, since you are heading out of town. We actually cook the fish at the place where we stay w/a kitchen.
There are many more fun things to do, but you may not have the time. Two great little Indian ruin areas (run by Park Service) to visit out West 89A, 20 min. from the hotel. I could go on and on, but you'll have to go back w/more time to do the rest.

LeslieC

emd - thank you for the great advice. Yes, it will be late August and day 2 will be a Saturday. The lady from Pink Jeep tours talked me into changing our 5:00 pm res to 9:00 am as she said it will be hotter at 5 than in the morning.

I'm thinking we will try to go to slide rock in the afternoon, following the jeep tour.

I'll search for the Cowboy Club. Sounds interesting.

Would love to find some native american sites. I just don't want to do too much extra driving (after GC, we're heading to Bryce and Zion - this will be our first big family driving trip so I have to let them rest a bit or they'll all be complaining at me!

The Bell Rock hike morning of day 3 before check out sounds perfect for us!

rutgers77

Just as an FYI, we stayed twice at the Best Western Arroyo Roble Hotel in SEdona. The location was perfect (in town) and the view from the back was outstanding. If you get a room facing the back, don't pay for a higher floor because the view is identical no matter where you are. Also, I found the rooms cleaner and the staff friendlier than most large hotels.

cassidy2002

LeslieC
Don't know what you consider to be too much driving, but Montezuma's Well & Montezuma's Castle aren't too terribly far from Sedona. That's a really neat Native American site. You can google both and get some pics & info. I'm guessing that it's about 20 minutes from Sedona? Maybe a little more?? The "Javalina Cantina" is a fun, good Mexican restaurant to try. Have fun, Sedona is lovely!

utahtea

If you are going to go to any of the National Park IMAX theaters, I recommend going after sunset. This way you can see the REAL thing while there is still daylight. Sunsets are really a special time at the Grand Canyon.

The I-MAX is just a few miles from the S. Rim.

Utahtea