I am looking for some suggested hikes for Sedona. Also, which is preferred: the pknk jeep tours or the red rock tours? Any other suggestions for restauraants or activites would be most welcome. Thank you.

We loved the pink jeep tour! We went on the first trip out in the morning and had the jeep to ourselves.

I posted a trip report - Part 1 & Part 2 that lists all the hikes & meals we liked. Just do a search on adnil1962 and Sedona.

I had trouble finding it, here it is again:

Sedona, The Grand Canyon & Las Vegas

Friday, September 8, 2006
As usual I booked an early morning 6AM flight to Phoenix. John was not too happy about this and is hoping that when we get older we can book noontime flights versus loosing sleep. We rose at 2:30AM (John finished packing at 12:30AM) and headed to the airport at 3:00AM. We parked in Chelsea and arrived at the Northwest terminal at 4:30 AM. With the recent events in London we were advised to arrive two hours prior to flight departure (by Northwest personnel). When we arrived they were not even open yet. People were annoyed (including us). At 4:45 AM several ticket agents strolled out carrying breakfast. Five minutes later an alarm went off for a few seconds. The guy in front of us said loudly, “Break time!” it was pretty comical.

We flew through Minneapolis to Phoenix and slept for most of both flights. I did read a Reader’s Digest (John called me a geek). Halfway through the flight, John leaned over and said to me, “Have you ever thought about buying a house on a golf course?” The look on his face was priceless as I responded that I already owned a house on a golf course in Jackson. He sheepishly said, “Oh yeah.”

We had a quick non-nutritious breakfast in Minnesota. We arrived in Phoenix just before 11:00 AM, picked up our luggage and rental car (a Sebring convertible) and headed off. We stopped in a Quick Mart (in a scary area) and bought nuts, chocolate and diet cokes for lunch. So we had quite a nutritious day thus far. We headed off to Sedona which was 125 miles away via highway. It was a pretty day with lots of pinkish clouds.

We stopped at Montezuma’s Castle which was only a few miles off the exit past an Indian casino. It was very hot outside (90’s). We paid the $5.00 admission and headed to see the famed castle. It really was not a castle at all. It was a grouping of ancient cliff dwellings. It was an okay experience. You could only view from the outside it would have been more interesting to walk through them. There was a small museum and a park guide who seemed to be giving periodic lectures. We were too tired to wait for the lecture. We viewed Sycamore trees and Beaver Creek. John headed off a dirt path because he heard a noise and want to explore (perhaps a rattlesnake??). Luckily the creature departed before John arrived. We were exhausted and headed off the last few miles to Sedona. John admitted later that he closed his eyes a few times on a straightaway. Apparently girls are not allowed to drive no matter how tired the boy gets.

As we approached Sedona the red rocks came into view. Words can not accurately describe what we saw. They were 10 times more impressive than we ever imagined. The rocks tower into the sky. They are bright reddish brown and come in all shapes and sizes. This is one thing that everyone should see in their lifetime. Both of us are still amazed. I had to continuously remind John to watch the road instead of the rocks. Luckily we weren’t killed. The tour book actually discourages road biking as most drivers look at the rocks instead of the road and there is a small shoulder so you can be easily hit.

We found the Fairfield easily (we did a time share swap and the Fairfield was recommended by our friend Michelle Levesque). It’s in West Sedona a few miles away from the “Y” (the town center), a great location. The place is great. It’s a newer, well maintained property. We have a huge two bedroom (sleeps eight). It has washer/dryer, two baths, one with a Jacuzzi tub and a large kitchen, living room and dining area. The front desk staff was very pleasant. The condo is a bit larger than our townhouse in Jackson. It sleeps 8 (6 in beds and two on the coach).

We took a few hour catnap and then headed out to the airport to watch the sunset. The view was very nice. I did not get any great pictures as we forgot the tripod. After a bit we went grocery shopping at a fancy healthy grocery store. We attempted to go to an Italian place recommended by the concierge but there was and hour and 15 minute wait. We returned to the condo a few doors away and had chips, homemade (excellent) salsa and water rather than wait in the crowded lobby.

We headed back over to the Italian place (Dahl and DiLuca) at 8:00PM and they seated us immediately. It was on highway 89A, a one minute ride from the condo. The restaurant was nicely decorated with Italian and Southwestern décor. We each got a glass of red wine and split a polenta appetizer with sauce and cheese. The warm fresh bread was accompanied by a garlic basil sauce. John had a chicken/mushroom dish and I had linguine in a vodka sauce. We split Italian wedding cake for dessert. The meal was excellent and in the $90 range including tip. John finished up with coffee (and stole a bunch of sugars for his morning coffee).

After arriving back at the condo we immediately went to bed.

Saturday, September 09, 2006
I awoke at 5:15 AM and could not fall back to sleep. I had a breakfast of yogurt, berries and granola with tomato juice and an ice tea while I watched the sun rise. I watched a bit of “Sedona TV” where I learned that the rocks are red because they contain iron.

I finally woke John up at 6:15 AM by bouncing on him and telling him it was 7:00 AM. He was not happy but he got up and had a muffin. We headed off around 7:00 AM to Boyton Canyon trail #47. We first attempted to get a trail pass for our car. The front desk sent us to Safeway, who directed us to Triple K who then sent us to Giant’s who had them available. A weekly pass costs $15.00. When we arrived at the hiking trail later we found that we could have used cash or credit to purchase the pass solar powered booth at the trailhead.

While we were at Safeway John stopped at Starbucks. The guy in line behind him (early 60’s) had two holsters – one with a giant gun and the other with a giant knife. He told us that he doesn’t even need a permit as long as the weapons are not concealed. John asked me to remind him of this if he started to have one of his road rage episodes.

We initially got a bit lost as the trail was not marked as #47 on the road, the sign just read Boyton Canyon. We stopped at the Enchantment Resort to ask to assistance. It’s an upscale resort with prices starting at $500/night. We took a ride down a dirt road for a bit and watched three hot air balloons in the distance. We also spotted a hummingbird. We met some people with a Sedona trail book who confirmed the location of our hike.

When we arrived at Boyton Canyon we heard thunder in the distance so we did the short vista hike. It was an easy uphill climb about .5 miles long. When we reached the top John decided he was going to climb a red rock. He got stuck. Luckily another hiker helped him by offering a shoulder.

The views were incredible – red rocks as far as the eye could see, cactus, yellow flowers, trees and a bright red trail. Again words can not describe.

We returned to the car to use the restroom and have some snacks. There was a couple from Wisconsin that we chatted with for a bit. We then headed off on the Boyton trail as it appeared that the threat of rain had passed. The trail was a total of 5 miles – 2.5 in and 2.5 out. John was not happy that I was using my Ipod but I find exercise to be easier when I use it and I kept the volume low. It took us about 2 hours to hike in and 1.5 hours to hike out. For the most part the trail was pretty flat except for the last tenth of a mile.

The flora changed from desert to green New Hampshire like surroundings as we hiked. We passed the exterior of the Enchantment Resort (which is huge) then headed into the Canyon. We saw another hummingbird hovering a few feet away from us but both of us missed the photo. We saw several helicopters flying above. They looked tiny in comparison to the surrounding red rock landscape. I attempted to take a few photos but the helicopters were always behind a tree. There were quite a few red ant colonies. We also saw a colorful, very loud woodpecker. We could hear some Javalina’s (pig like creatures) but we couldn’t see them. When we arrived at the top we got some more scenic views and lots of rock piles. We met a group of people from Phoenix who were here for the day. One of the girls was originally from Rhode Island and a Red Sox fan (I was wearing a Sox hat).

We arrived back at the car starving and dehydrated (we were not smart enough to bring stuff with us as we thought it was a short flat hike). We drank water and had trail mix. We then lowered the top of the convertible and headed back to the hotel which was a few miles away. John ate last night’s leftovers while watching a Harrison Ford movie. I made Black Bean Soup and a Tomato Mozzarella Salad. We both took showers and then headed out for our next adventure (John’s addition: after a quick nap by Princess Linda of course).

Next we headed off to Tlaquepaque (pronounced Til-la-key-packy). We browsed through some art galleries and took some photos in this quaint open air market built to resemble a Mexican town. We watched some Mexican dancers mostly children dancing and swirling their colorful Mexican dresses. We bought a book called “The Insider’s Guide to Sedona” by Dennis Andres. It’s pretty informative.

Afterwards we found “Bike and Bean”, a bike shop John is interested in but they were already closed. They have a full scale topographical map showing the areas biking trails. After stopping at a Giant’s for wine and snacks we headed to Red Rock Crossing to view Cathedral Rock as the sun set. We were hoping for photos of it reflected in Oak Creek. It’s the most photographed place in Arizona. Unfortunately we arrived a bit late (the guide book says to arrive 20-40 minutes prior to sunset – there are only 10 minutes of good light). We got a few photos of Cathedral Rock in great light but did not find the creek in time. Instead of following the hiking trail we only needed to follow the road from the parking area down to a dead end (a few hundred yards), the creek was right below. We did see a wedding party. Part of the drive to Cathedral Rock was on a dirt road. The convertible didn’t do so well. Next time we need to rent a 4-wheel drive beefier vehicle. There are a few places that we won’t be able to visit with the car we have.

Again I had to remind John to watch the road versus the red rocks. I offered to drive so he could just look but I was informed that driving was a boy job.

Saving the wine for another day, we drove back in the dark (tough to see the road) and stopped at Pizza Picazzo. We tasted three different wines but none of them were very good so we opted for two draft Hefeweizens (a Bavarian beer pronounced Hef-ay-vite-zen). The food was excellent. John had a portabella mushroom baked with cheese and sun dried tomato on top of a bed of spinach with a balsamic dressing. We shared flatbread with baked brie, fruit and roasted garlic. We also had a small pizza (four large slices) with Spanish sausage, red pepper flakes, pepperocinis, peppers and onions. We sat at the bar. The place was pretty cute. Our meal with tip was $53.00.

While we waited for our food to be delivered I reviewed the Sedona guide. Skydiving is offered for $150. John has talked about doing this a number of times. I offered to pay if he wanted to try it out. He is a bit scared and is not sure if he is ready yet (secretly I am glad because I would be afraid that he’d kill himself via heart attack or defective parachute).

We headed home and went to bed around 9:00 PM so that we could rise early enough to enjoy the sunrise.

Sunday, September 10, 2006
We were both up at 5:10 AM today. It was sunny, hot in the 80’s all day. We had our usual breakfast, watched Sedona TV and then took off for our Pink Jeep Tour (I had pre-booked online and paid $157.00 for the two of us). We arrived a bit early so we got John a coffee and enjoyed the view. I bought a book called “The Ten Best Hikes in Sedona”, We had to return to the condo as John forgot his camera battery (somehow my fault – I gladly took the blame as John found my missing lens cap for my new $800 lens that I somehow lost yesterday – it was in the car lodged between the seat. It was a relief as I was very worried about ruining my lens).

We started the tour at 8:00 AM with our tour guide named Scott. We did the two hour Broken Arrow tour and were the only ones in the jeep. It was awesome to have the jeep to ourselves. The only bad thing was that we forgot the video camera – big bummer!! The tour guide was a really nice guy. He had lived in Sedona most of his life. His dad lives in Maine so he’s been back to Boston. He has one son with a second child on the way. He told us a great deal about the area.

The tour started on a bumpy dirt road. John sat in the front passenger seat and I sat in back. We stopped a few times and got out of the jeep to take photos and to view the scenery. It was incredible. We had a 360 degree view of the red rocks. Last night’s moon could still be fainting seen in the sky between some red rocks. We drove up and down cliffs and giant rocks. At one point the jeep was at a 50 degree tilt. We got some good photos of another jeep coming down the rocks. They should have a photographer standing there taking photos. They’d make a small fortune from people. Overall I felt very safe. Scott told us that they only have had three rollovers in 17 years which is pretty impressive since there has been six rollovers this summer by random drivers who attempted to drive out on their own. No one has ever died. It sounds like they have a pretty intensive training program.

When we returned, we browsed the shops in the area near the jeep place (Uptown Sedona). These were more like trinket/souvenir shops and time share con artists than the upscale shops we toured yesterday. Someone told us to stay away from the tourist information booths because they were really fronts for time share salespeople. They were so right!! We came across 5 or 6 of them just in the Uptown area. We did find a very nice photography gallery; we ate some candy and fudge and bought a red rock Christmas ornament.

We returned to the condo and had a lunch of tomato/mozzarella salad, chicken and bean soup. After lunch (and checking the Patriots score – they won) we headed down to Bike and Bean. John got a bike and headed off. I was a bit worried about him because there are some dangerous switchbacks with a 40 foot drop. He sometimes forgets that he is 43 (almost 44). I set out to hike the Bell Rock/Courthouse trail which was listed as an easy hike in the book I bought this morning. It was pretty flat with a few small uphill sections. The scenery was incredible. It was very hot out though. The trail was in the direct sunlight, unlike yesterday’s trail that was mostly in the shade. I was pretty hot and sweaty when I finished. It took me a little under 2 hours to complete the 4.5 mile loop. The trail was relatively easy to follow although there was a few occasions when I wasn’t sure if I was headed the right way.

While I was driving home, John called to say that he had “trashed” his bike and he was waiting for the bike shop guy to come pick him up. I stopped at the health food store and bought water, ice tea, chips and salsa (we had the salsa the other night, it was really good). I headed home to take a much needed shower and then went to get John at the bike shop.

John came home with completely red legs from the red rock sand. He said that if I saw where he rode today I would never let him rent a bike while we were in AZ again. He missed a turn that the bike shop guy had told him about twice (I was still present when the guy gave him a map and verbal directions). He ended up getting lost and was thrown over his handle bars (luckily into sand). He finally found the trail but at this point he was mad. He picked up the bike and threw it. He then swore at the bike shop guy for giving him bad directions (later he discovered that the issue was instead poor listening skills when I repeated the directions verbatim -“go left” – John went right). He then went on a very narrow path with a cliff on his side. He went down a steep incline with a turn at the end. He missed the turn and jumped off the bike. His bike slid down the hill a bit and ended up in a cactus. He came home with one cactus thorn in his leg. Luckily he didn’t do a header into the cactus!! Somehow he broke his chain and mangled the derailer. He had cell service and was able to call the bike shop. He walked to a road and the guy found him. They were going to make him pay for the bike but somehow they let him off since it was a $4.00 repair. Overall he said that he had a really fun day.

On the ride back to the condo we stopped at the Church of the Holy Cross. It’s a Frank Lloyd Wright style church built by a woman into the side of two red rocks. It was pretty cool looking. We wandered inside, sat for a bit, then I lit three candles, one for Dad, Nana and Grampa. We then headed back to the condo and John took a quick shower.

Next we headed over to Cathedral Rock to try a second time to catch the famous reflection (it’s in all the postcards and art galleries). We arrived at 5:00 PM and had plenty of time until sunset. We walked across some stepping stones to get to the photo spot (a lady with a dog directed us – I don’t know if we would have figured it out on our own!!). There was an alternate parking lot where we could have parked and been on the correct side of the stream, oh well – stepping stones were more fun. We reached “the spot” which we shared with a man from Scottsdale and an older couple from Iowa. We spent about two hours photographing with them. We both agreed that this was the highlight of our vacation thus far. We brought wine, chips and salsa. I used the monopod and John used the tripod. The travel tripod is really short. John was quite innovative. He found a huge tree stump (it came up to his waist and was about as wide as two fire hydrants and was full of ants) and moved it about 15 feet to a perfect photo spot. He balanced his tripod for some perfect reflection photos. There was even a perfect place to hold his wine cup. We watched the light change, the clouds move in, the sun set and the rocks turn bright fire orange. There were two beautiful brides that stopped by for photos. John helped take photos for one of them. When we were finished I had more red rock dust on me than John had from bike riding.

John had a little bit too much wine and was a bit of a “d$#$head” on the way back to the car at a time when I had PMS. Needless to say we had our first big vacation fight. I had to drive home on a very dark, windy, unfamiliar road. It wasn’t pretty – we didn’t speak the entire way. We skipped dinner and headed back to the condo where we made up. We spent the evening eating more chips and salsa and finished the wine. I watched Lifetime in the bedroom and downloaded photos while he watched sports and news in the living room.

By the way - we continuously hear these very loud sounds, like a rattlesnake (but louder) or a hedge trimmer from outside of our window. The noise is so loud that John had to shut the window to block out the noise. It turns out that the noise is made by very tiny bugs (I forget the name).

Monday, September 11, 2006
We skipped sunrise today. John woke up at 5:00 AM but we opted to stay in bed. We lounged around a bit, watched the 911 five year remembrances on TV and had the usual breakfast and then headed to Jerome. It was an old mining town turned ghost town back in the mid-1900’s. Next the hippies took it over. At one point, the entire town including the mayor was arrested for growing marijuana. Today it’s filled with artists and gift shops. It was about a 30 minute ride from Sedona. As we approached we saw a giant sized “J” carved into the side of the mountain. The town was high up on the hilltop. The convertible doesn’t do well on hills.

The town was cute with lots of shops selling mostly western crafts. There were great views from above. There was a mountain road with great views but I was a bit scared of driving on the side of a cliff and made John turn around. We met a very nice couple from Australia who were visiting the US for five weeks. They had driven for hours on a dirt road before arriving in Jerome. They were excited to be back in civilization (not that Jerome is very big). We browsed a bit and had some really, really good fudge. John threw some coins in the “fountain for charity” – an outhouse with a “toss here” sign pointing towards the hole. He came close but missed.

We then headed to the “Ghost Town” just above Jerome. There was a $4.50 entry fee. It was basically a junk yard filled with old tools and cars and more old tools and trucks. It was okay but wouldn’t have been a big deal if we missed it.

We had reservations for lunch at the Enchantment Resort (you need a reservation to get through the gate). The place was very nice, surrounded by red rocks. We sat inside and had a great view. There were off and on showers from 1-3 so it rained a bit. The food was excellent. John had a few beers and I got a Prickly Pear Margarita. We shared chips served with salsa and guacamole. The chips were light and freshly cooked. The dips were homemade. John had a cheeseburger with garlic mayonnaise and fries. I had chicken fajitas in a southwestern marinade. The portions were large. After the meal we explored a bit and then headed over to Slide Rock State Park which is 6 miles from the Sedona “Y”.

The fee was $8.00 a carload up to 4 adults. This would be a great place to go it you had kids. There were lots of picnic tables, volleyball net and an area where the rocks form a natural slide down the river. We got some good photos of some kids sliding (it looked pretty cold) and of the numerous apple trees using the red rocks as a backdrop. I tried to con John into going in for a swim but he wasn’t interested in getting wet. The excitement of the day was John getting stabbed by a tiny cactus when he sat down on some grass to take a photo.

We headed back to the hotel stopping at the scenic overlook (near a bridge) on 89A and took some photos. We checked e-mail at the hotel then John headed off to check out a nearby bike shop.

While he was gone I changed our flight out of AZ so that we could depart from Vegas on the red eye (cost me 50,000 miles). I think John will be a bit freaked out (like he was in NYC) but the chances of us ever coming out here just to go to Vegas is pretty slim (John thinks that gamblers are all evil). We are staying at the Venetian and are hoping to stop at the Hoover Dam.

We left to the airport to watch the sunset. There were about 100 people there. The sunset was awesome. John got some really great photos (I thought I was the photography student???) – lots of pinks and purples. BTW – I forgot to mention – they have the John Tesh radio show here, my favorite!!! We think that the scenic overlook area at the airport (about 1 mile before the airport on top of a large easy to climb red rock might have been a better viewing sport – unobstructed by trees like our location).

John had chicken then we went to the Heartline Café for apps and dessert. The food was again incredible. We sat at the bar and had red wine, spinach salad with pecans and sun dried tomato vinaigrette, a gorgonzola torte and flourless chocolate cake.

We were waited on by Jay (I think that was his name). He was a nice guy who chatted with us through the entire meal. He was from Newport, RI but had lived in Boston & Newton and worked in Killington at the Wobbly Barn, the site of our first kiss!! Total was $72.00 including tip (meal tax is 9.5%!!)

John plans to do a mountain bike ride in the morning. I just called to see if I could do a hot air balloon ride as someone at the sunset said they had used Red Rock Balloons and it was incredible but they are already booked .

We headed off to bed (after watching Oprah of course – awesome that Oprah is on at 9:00 PM here).

Part 2

Tuesday, September 12, 2006
We had a really great morning. We got up at 5:30 AM and headed off to see the sun rise and hopefully some hot air balloons. As we were starting toward the airport, a balloon truck passed us driving in the opposite direction. John spotted it and did a quick U-turn to chase it. We thought we lost it as we got caught by a red light but we managed to catch up. We followed the truck to a balloon launch site inside of Red Rock State Park. We parked on the side of the road and headed over to the rocks.

There were 5 balloons in total. We watched and photographed as they filled the balloons and sent them off into the pink sky. They took off away from the red rocks, but we still got some great photos close up and far away. The time flew by. John is funny - he says that he gets a “rush” when taking photos. I think I have him addicted. Just two short months ago he would get aggravated with me for spending so my time with my camera. This morning I waited in the car for about 10 minutes while he photographed flowers.

After the balloon adventure we drove to a wildlife viewing area but didn’t spot anything. John got coffee at the Starbucks in Safeway. For breakfast I had the usual while John had leftover fajitas.

I dropped John off at the bike place, took a few photos of the Sedona sign, bought John a “Bike and Bean” baseball cap as a surprise for his Christmas stocking and headed back to the room to clean up and pack. The place was disastrous!! , I don’t know how we made such a mess. I stopped to get some trash bags from the housecleaners who were cleaning out the one bedroom downstairs. Our unit is so much nicer. The one bedroom is okay but the living area and kitchen were a lot smaller.

John was back by 10:30 AM. He was hot, tired and out of water. He said that the ride was incredible with great views. He saw a crater that was 70 x 80 feet. He did not have any life threatening experiences this time but said that if I had watched him, I would have tried to ban him from biking. He did run across a hiking group and the man had a knife and gun similar to the one that the guy in the Starbucks line had on a few days ago. We think that it’s a gimmick for the touring company. It only cost him $23.00 for the bike rental and $4.00 for a great map at this bike place (he forgets the name but its right near the pizza place where we ate the other night – we think it is “Mountain Bike Heaven”). The Bike & Bean rental was $40.00.

When he returned home we ate all the leftover food for lunch – pasta, sauce, onions, peppers, basil & cheese. It was pretty good. We packed up and sadly said goodbye to Sedona. On the way out John took me to see the sink hole. It was unbelievable – about a 10 minute walk in on mostly flat ground. There were giant chunks of earth in the hole. The old trail headed right over the where there is now a sink hole – I hope no one got hurt.

We headed up towards the Grand Canyon via Rt 89 through Flagstaff to Rt 64. This is the more scenic route and less congested. We stopped at the Flagstaff airport, told a little white lie that the car had been stalling (in reality it was a little scary because it was so small and didn’t like hills) and traded it in for a mini van.

We drove through Flagstaff without stopping. It was like being on Route 1 in Massachusetts. We passed two of every fast food restaurant that exists in America, maybe even three. I am sure there must be a good part of Flagstaff but we didn’t see it. There were two exciting things about our journey. We got to drive on Route 66 and John got to see a train. Actually we saw two trains passing each other from opposite directions. We drove next to one for quite awhile. This was the highlight of John’s day.

The landscape changed quickly. It was lunar like in appearance. We passed lots of roadside stands, one which advertised jewelry by “friendly Indians”. For the most part we were in the middle of nowhere. In the distance we could see a mountain range that was a pretty pinkish color. The telephone lines seemed to string on forever.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon at 3:30 PM or so. From this entrance we were about 25 miles from our hotel. After paying the $25.00 entrance fee (good for a week) we headed to the Watchtower (right at the entrance). This is a 4 level tower and is the highest viewing point. The view was incredible. It went on for miles. It is indescribable and a picture can’t capture what we saw – lots of colors and ranges in height. In the gift shop we learned that the Canyon is 10,000 square miles. The tower itself was unique. The middle was open so that you could look from ceiling to basement. The walls were covered with colorful Indian paintings. There was a telescope on the 4th floor that read, “Focus your camera near the hole and take a picture”. The hole was the size of a dime. I think they did this as a joke to see how many stupid tourists would try it (yes, I tried).

There was a book in the gift shop that outlined all the deaths at the Grand Canyon. It was very thick.

We next stopped at Lipan Point. John got a bit too close to the edge for my liking – we made a pact that he had to stay five feet from the edge (at least while I was looking). Although there is some fencing most of the area is unprotected. The view was great – unobstructed views of some rapids (bring binoculars).

The next stop was Moran Point (named after a landscape painter). As I was exiting the car, there was a giant sized bird on the car hood next to me. He was evil looking. John had to go scare him away before I could exit the car. Here we were able to climb down on some rocks. The view was beautiful (as were all the others).

We then stopped at Grandview Point – home to an old hotel which closed in the early 1900’s. In the 1900’s travel to the hotel consisted of a 12 hour stage coach ride from Flagstaff (it took us less than 2 hours from Flagstaff). There was a sign there that a 24 year old girl who had completed the Boston Marathon in less than three hours died here in 2004 from dehydration. She left for a hike with 1.5 liters of water, an apple and two energy bars. She got lost and didn’t have a map. I am glad that we are going on a guided hike.

As we arrived into the hotel area we noticed two deer on the railroad tracks. We stopped to take photos. They didn’t seem to be afraid of people.

We checked into the Maswik Hotel and got a room in Willow #6927. It’s nice – a very large bed and a rustic look. It’s the only hotel away from the rim, but it was less than a five minute walk to get to the rim. We immediately headed off to catch the shuttle bus to sunset (no cars allowed). We headed to Hopi Point and just made the last shuttle bus by minutes. The light was perfect – unfortunately we were on the bus during the perfect picture taking light. We met three women from Salem, Lynnfield and Peabody, MA.

We arrived at Hopi Point just in time to see the sunset. We missed the good light by seconds but got some great shots of the sun going down. The place was jam packed with people. It was the funniest thing – the second that the sun set, 99% of them jumped on the bus and headed back to the hotels. The best part of the sunset was after the sunset. The sky went purple/pink to pink to orange. It was beautiful but only about 10 of us saw it. I met a guy who had just vacationed in Lenox at the Kripali Center where the Ultrametabolism writer gives lectures (I just finished reading the book a few weeks ago).

We grabbed a shuttle back and walked to the room. We shared a bottle of Mondavi that I bought earlier then set off for our dinner reservations at the Tovar (the only fine dining around).

The walk to El Tovar was wonderful. It was a perfect fall evening and there were zillion of sparkling stars in the sky, more than I have ever seen. It was quite romantic. The El Tovar itself was a bit of a let down. The food was about the same quality as an Applebees but twice the price. Our waitress had the personality of a rock (or maybe even worse than a rock). The building was old (built in 1901) and looked as though it hadn’t been updated in quite awhile. John had Salmon (with rice that tasted grainy and bland), I had penne with lots of veggies. It was okay but I wouldn’t make a special trip. The wine was very good. Even though we skipped dessert our meal was $70 with tip (and I only left 10% which is very unlike me).

It took about 10 minutes to walk home. We were both beat. John was especially tired as he did a bike ride today and then did all the driving (girls aren’t allowed to drive…).


Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Today we were up at 6:30 AM and headed over to the hotel for breakfast. We had kind of gross food. I got a breakfast burrito and a bowl of oatmeal that could have fed a family of eight. After seeing my portions John got an English muffin, to eggs and a yogurt. We bought a bunch of water. As we were packing up our guide Madeline found us just as John was complaining that I bought too much. She informed us that we’d need it all.

We headed off in her car for the bus that would take us to the trail head. We were a bit concerned because she got a bit lost in both the car and in figuring out the bus system. She told us not to worry that she knew the trails well. We arrived at the trail head and started off at about 9:00 AM.

We hiked down for three miles to Skeleton Point on the Kaibab Trail. We passed some great scenery and different views. Parts of the hike down were a bit steep but it was all very safe on a wide dirt path. We passed a few groups of mules and lots of smelly mule poop on the trail. We drank lots of water, had snacks and heard some interesting facts about the area and Madeline’s life – she is currently undergoing treatments for breast cancer. Having just had chemo a few weeks ago and she was hiking. It was amazing (she is 56). She is divorced and has 2 kids in their 20’s. Her ex-husband was a priest. He did something bad (not pedophilia) but she didn’t specify what he did.

During our journey, we passed two other people with Red Sox hats. John had a bit of a coughing fit and a few weird chest pains as we started back up. We think he just got some red dust in his throat. The dust covered everything – legs, socks, cameras, face. We arrived back at the top at 2PM. We rested quite a bit on the way up there were lots of areas where it was like walking up steps – tough on the legs. Madeline warned us not to wash our red dust clothes with anything else. She said that the red acts as a dye and turns everything else red (we later found this to be very true!!)

On the way back we spotted a large Elk standing near the road. We stopped to take a few photos. Madeline dropped us off and we headed over to the campground to take showers for $1.50 each. We had no towels so we had to use our clothes. John wanted to go track down some condors. Condors are huge black birds with a wing span of 8+ feet. They are almost extinct as there are only about 40 or so left in the world. We headed over to the spot where they hang out in the afternoons near the El Tovar but didn’t see any. It was kind of a bummer because someone told us that there were lots of them flying around in that spot the prior afternoon.

I took a walk down to the gallery to see a photography exhibit of some Grand Canyon photos (about ½ mile past the Tovar) while John kept an eye out for birds. The photography exhibit was great – lots of great photos including lightening, rainbow and snow shots.

When I returned we continued to look for Condors. We met a guy who worked in the Condor program. The birds are all tagged and they are kept track of electronically. He talked to us for awhile about the program. He told us that two condor’s were nearby within a few miles. Some guy walked up and told us that he saw a bobcat just below us. We watched as the bobcat caught a squirrel and had it for dinner. He then started walking along the rim underneath us (about 10 to 20 feet away). We stalked him for over an hour and got some great photos. This was definitely one of our top five experiences thus far on our trip, as was today’s hike. I was having a bit of anxiety though because John was climbing on rocks very close to the edge to get bobcat photos.

We decided to stay for sunset since it was so late. We sat out on the El Tovar deck (which is right on the rim) and ordered Diet Cokes, artichoke dip and nachos. The food was pretty gross (worse than Applebees – soggy nachos and the spinach tasted like it came from a can) but we were hungry. We then took a bunch of sunset photos. The sunset was incredible – lots more pink than last night.

We headed off around 7 PM to Hualapai for tomorrow’s river raft ride. We were both very tired. John did very well driving. It is on historic Route 66. We arrived at exactly 9 PM. When we arrived we found that our reservation had been cancelled sometime in August. At first the receptionist said that she didn’t think that there were any rooms. She then said that she had one smoking room. After checking us in, she told us that they lock the door at 9:00 PM. We were soooooooo lucky. Five more minutes and we would have been sleeping in the mini van. There’s nothing else around here for miles and miles.

The room doesn’t smell like smoke but it’s pretty yucky. The sheets are really old and a grayish white. I found a black hair on my pillow and another on my sheet. The hotel is like a bad Holiday Inn but it’s a place to sleep. This is going to be something to tell stories about later. The train runs about 300 yards behind the hotel. We had been in the room for only 20 minutes and four trains passed. It’s going to be a long night!!

Thursday, September 14, 2006
It was like a scene from a bad movie. The train drove by every 15 to 20 minutes blowing its horn for 30 seconds the entire night. Neither of us slept at all. We headed to the breakfast buffet at 7:00 AM and ate a nice breakfast filled with transfat and saturated fat. After breakfast we noticed the sign at the front desk that warned of the approaching train every 15 to 20 minutes and offered ear plugs.

After breakfast we loaded the big yellow school bus and headed down a bumpy dirt road for the hour ride to the boat launch. Despite John’s lack of sleep he was only a little cynical. We had a really good laugh about how the last 12 hours had gone. John had me in tears I was laughing so hard as he recounted the events. Given the events so far we were a bit worried about the raft ride.

We didn’t need to be. It was a great experience. We were assigned to raft # 5 with a couple from Ohio (who had matching flip flops – they were nice but a bit dorky) and with a couple originally from San Francisco who had just moved to Vegas. They owned a travel adventure company. They were really nice and interesting.

We headed downstream on our motorized raft with our 24 year old Indian guide, Randy. We hit a bunch of rapids (class 3 & 4) during the first 30 minute. The water was cold (45 degrees) but the air was warm so it was fun. We made a stop at a waterfall. We had to hike up using ropes and ladders (not easy in flip flops) but it was well worth it – John stood under it for a quick shower. It was nice – all I had was a throw away camera though

Soon we stopped for lunch. We had a really large sub with turkey, ham and bacon – very dry (and unhealthy). After lunch we continued down the river just floating. The rapids were done. The views of the west canyon were really beautiful. The river was brown because of all the silt that it carries. At one point we got stuck in a sand bar. We all piled out of the raft and helped push it to a deeper section. We got stuck in a thunder/lightening storm for a few minutes (which scares me) but it passed over quickly. Overall we got a great day it was rainy at some points, overcast and cloudy with some periods of sunshine. It was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. John was a bit cold in his tee shirt and cute red bathing suit (or do I mean he was a fashion disaster). I brought a raincoat so I stayed pretty warm.

As we exited the raft, John was standing in line for the porta potty. A woman went in ahead of him. A few seconds later a helicopter flew directly over the porta potty. The door flew open. The woman stood up and tried to pull her shirt down to hide herself. John and the woman were both very embarrassed.

We took a helicopter out of the canyon. The ride lasted about 5 minutes but it was really great seeing the I got to sitColorado River and the Grand Canyon from above. No camera though in the front seat of the helicopter. It was awesome.

We had to wait at the gift shop for the rest of our group. While there we grabbed a brochure about Grand Canyon West. An Indian guy came up to us grabbed our brochure and signed it without telling us who he was. I asked him if he was famous. He responded that he was. It turns out that his father is the chief. He is the guy in the brochure picture (and also has his picture on the tour buses. He told us that they are building a skywalk that will be opening soon. It’s going to be an all glass skywalk that extends 4,000 feet over the Canyon (the Sears Tower is only 1,450 feet high).

We had a 2 ½ hour bus ride back to Peach Springs mostly on dirt roads. John was a bit cranky but overall he did well. We did stop for a bathroom break about ½ way – females behind the bushes and men behind the bus. There was a group on the bus traveling with the “elder hostel”. I have to given them credit for going down the river. Two of the women were in their 80’s. They rafted, took the helicopter and peed behind a bush. It was amazing. I hope I can do that when I am their age!! I felt bad for one of them. When she stopped to pee she took her pants completely off and then had a hard time getting them back on.

On the ride home we passed a Texas Longhorn lying in the road and we saw a road runner.

We arrived home around 6 PM. I had a glass of wine (the stuff we brought with us). The Reservation is dry since there is a real problem with alcoholism. Many of the Indians are obese and there is a diabetes issue. Their expected lifespan is 58 years old. It’s really sad.

The hotel had an Indian band in the lobby. They were cute.

We ate in the hotel restaurant (our only choice). The food was actually excellent and only cost us $34. We split beef flautas with spicy salsa. John had pork chops and I had spaghetti with a meat sauce made with celery, onions & tomato and garlic bread. We also had salads with good dressing. It’s the best meal that we’ve had in a few days.

I did some laundry ($1 wash/.50 dry), we both checked e-mail on the computer in the hotel lobby, we watched some TV, took Benedryl, inserted ear plugs and headed off to bed (at 8 PM). Overall we had a great day.

Friday, September 15, 2006
We slept like babies last night. The drugs and earplugs worked wonderfully.

We headed out for breakfast. This time we skipped the buffet and selected unhealthy menu items. We had Texas French Toast (mine with strawberries and cool whip) plus John had eggs and I had oatmeal. The French Toast was yummy!! We then packed up and headed out for our next adventure.

Our first stop was a few miles away. The Hackberry General Store on Route 66 (the original route across America) was very cool. The outside had old gas pumps, old cars and Route 66 memorabilia. The inside had more of the same with a men’s bathroom decorated floor to ceiling with girly posters. We bought a magnet, postcard and a genuine Route 66 “Route Beer” and took a bunch of photos.

We continued on to the Hoover Dam. It took about two hours. Along the way we saw varied gas prices from $2.49 to $2.79. Our drive was mostly through desert with lots of brush, a few towns here and there and brown mountains in the distance. It was a pretty windy day.

At the Hoover Dam we walked down separately (we were fighting again because a group of motorcycles cut in front of John – instead of slowing down he tailgated them – he felt if he ran them over it was their fault for cutting him off – I felt that it didn’t matter who cut who off that he shouldn’t risk our lives by tailgating). Anyway once we made it to the visitor’s center (about ½ mile walk) we hooked up again and went through the tour. It was pretty fascinating. The dam was huge. The water level from Lake Mead was pretty low so we didn’t see any water shooting out of the dam. They did a pretty good job of explaining the history of the dam and how it was built during the depression to stimulate the economy. It was finished two years ahead of schedule (unlike the Big Dig).

We headed on to Vegas and checked into the Venetian. The hotel is incredible. Our suite is like a small condo and nicely decorated. It took us awhile to even find the room the place is so big. We grabbed a few beers from the mini bar while we waited for the luggage to be delivered. Then we headed off to the Canyon Ranch Spa on the 4th floor for lunch. John had the Ahi Tuna and I had a Chicken Burrito. I got to have ice tea with Stevia which I was very excited about since I had diverted back to Diet Coke over the last few days. We both had yummy crème brulee and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Total with tip was about $65.00.

We walked around our hotel a bit and browsed through the shops. The area is modeled after St. Mark’s Square in Venice (minus the pigeons). We watched the gondolas ride through the canal for a bit.

We then walked the strip. We were able to buy alcohol and walk the strip with our drinks. I think John was a bit overwhelmed – too many people and too much stimulation. He had an espresso martini to take the edge off. I had a few beers. Our ultimate destination was Mandalay Bay because John liked the way that the name sounded so he wanted to see it. It was a long walk. We ended up taking a free tram part of the way. We stopped at a Mexican place at Mandalay Bay and had really bad margaritas and yucky chips and salsa served by a female bartender with a bad attitude. We thought about going to the shark show but $20 a person was too much.

We took a tram over to the Luxor. After having much better margaritas and chips and salsa there (we could have gotten giant size ones in a yard glass – scary!!), we went to the jet fighter IMAX show. It was pretty cool. It did make John a bit sad though because the kid who it focused on became a jet fighter because his grandfather was a jet fighter. He said he was ashamed of his father and grandfather. He thinks I am lucky for having such terrific grandparents and father. I pointed out to him that at least he is changing destiny by being better than his ancestors.

We headed back to our hotel via cab. The ride with tip cost about $16.00. It was 10:30 PM so we hung around for 30 minutes or so going up and down escalators waiting for the 11:00 PM volcano eruption at the Mirage. We sat for awhile and people watched. It is scary that these people are typical Americans – most and fat and slobby. We saw very few “beautiful people”. The volcano show was very lame. We headed off to bed.

The bed was very comfortable. I did learn on this vacation that John is truly my soul mate. He is the only other person that I ever met that has to have his feet untucked when he sleeps. I am not sure why it took me 3 ½ years to notice – probably because our feet are always untucked before we get into bed.

Saturday, September 16, 2006
We both slept well. We got up around 8:30 AM and headed back to Canyon Ranch for breakfast. It cost us about $50 but it was really good. I had fruit, yogurt and granola then I had a breakfast chili rellano (green pepper stuffed with eggs, cheese topped with salsa served on top of polenta). John had a breakfast scramble with home fries and oatmeal.

I returned to the room to pack and shower while John and his Nano headed out to explore the Winn Hotel. I was a bit worried because at 11:00 AM and he hadn’t returned yet. I called and he told me that he got a bit “lost” in the Ferrari store. He said that the hotel was amazing - better than the Venetian (including a really beautiful 18-hole golf course). There was a $10 admission to the Ferrari store but well worth it (according to John).

He got back at 11:15 AM. We then had to pack up and check out of our room.

We headed down to Canyon Ranch and paid the $35.00 guest fee (for both since we got ½ price by staying at the Venetian). We went to a lecture on Metabolism. We were the only two attending. It was pretty high level so we really didn’t learn much. The girl who gave the lecture had only been there six weeks so I think we knew more about Canyon Ranch that she did…. After the lecture we worked out on the treadmill. I watched a Melissa Gilbert Lifetime movie while John checked out the news. It turns out that a big crane fell over the road at the Hoover Dam blocking the whole road yesterday about two hours after we departed. No one was hurt but the road was completely shut down in both directions. They also shut down the visitor center.

We then went to a meditation class. It was a bit different, but it was good. We had lunch at the Canyon Ranch Café (our 3rd meal there). We got the same waitress all three times. She was really sweet. We shared a hummus appetizer. I got a salad and chicken lettuce wrap. John got a Bison Burger. For dessert I had warm Pecan Pie and John had a Peanut Butter ice cream Banana Split.

After lunch, we took a walk over to the Winn Hotel. It was incredible. Later we heard that they spent two billion on the place. John then headed off to lift weights. I went and used the sauna, Jacuzzi and steam room. We met up again at 7:00 PM. Both of us felt so much better. It was a very nice relaxing day. I think John likes Las Vegas now.

We headed off to a bar/restaurant in the Venetian had some amazing bruschetta and pizza bites (don’t remember the name of the place). I had two glasses of wine and John had two beers. The bartender was a nice guy. He gave us some of the area statistics. One thing that was surprising is that prostitution is legal in Nevada. It is illegal in the county where Vegas lies but through some technicality they are able to advertise prostitution anyway.

It was time to head off to the airport. We were sad that our vacation was ending. We left way too early. It literally took 5 minutes to get to the rental car place, 5 minutes to get to the airport terminal and 5 minutes to get through security. We had 2 ½ hours to kill. We bought Christmas ornaments and read the paper. I found a cute frog ornament licking a gingerbread man for the basket I am making Lianne for Christmas. I also got a Vegas Beanie Baby (I am an addict). We flew out at 11:30 PM (John let me have the window seat – a first!!) and connected in Dallas around 8:00 AM Sunday morning. We both slept the entire way. We finally made it to Boston around 10:00 AM. We got our luggage and found the car in Chelsea. Parking for the nine days cost us $134.00.

We arrived home to a big pile of mail including our tortoise and hare shirts for the ½ marathon relay that we are doing in a few weeks. John put wires on the frames for our Topsfield Fair photos. We drove over and dropped them off (Butterfly and Sunflower/Bee). It was very exciting. After a quick stop at Bertuccis for an unhealthy meal we went to Rockler so that John could buy school supplies. For the rest of the day I relaxed and John headed up to see his kids.

Prologue: A few days later I received my credit card statement. Budget had charged us $1,700 for the rental car!!! It cost an extra $1,200 for dropping off in Vegas instead of Phoenix. After a few days of fighting with them, they agreed to issue a $750 credit – so we still paid $450 for the change in drop off!

bookmarking. . . .