Red Rock Adventures

As promised, I bring you part two of Adventures with Sarah. As you will recall, we left off on the drive from Flag to Sedona. It's a quick jaunt down a windy road, lined with pine trees. The first sign that you're getting close is a magnificent scenic outlook at the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon.



We arrived just in time for dinner, a lovely Italian spread on the Veranda at Dahl and DiLuca where I sipped on Cabernet and contemplated 'borrowing' a seat cushion as a sleeping pad for the evening. I decided against it as I've been making a more concerted effort to make grown-up-like choices in life. Turns out, I was able to make a pretty comfortable bed inside The Pebble (my tent) with my yoga mats and some strategically placed sweatshirts and bunched-up clothing.

It's always my hipbones that hurt from sleeping on the ground. It also poured rain all night, but a drop we did not feel. The Pebble, trusty as ever, kept us warm and dry throughout the night. I love the sound of raindrops on tent fabric. To me, it's the most true expression of pitterpatter. We woke up and decided to hike around here:



The weather was spectacular! We could see the rain in the distance, showering down on the red rocks, moving through crystal blue skies. The storm clouds cast shadows over the landscape that made for some incredible views.



We hiked up a little trail, greeting many friendly travelers along the way and kicking up red dust and trying to identify all the yuccas and century plants around us. We talked a lot about red rock crust. It looks like coffee grounds or dirt but it's a living thing that contributes to the balance of minerals and nutrients in the desert. Pretty neat. This is a flower I looked at for a while.



Up the trail we came to the main event, a natural bridge. It's called Devil's Bridge, it's made of sandstone and it's 50 feet high. As I stood on it, I wondered just how long it would take for this thing to destructuralize and fall down. It's going to happen one day and that will be a real shame because this arch is cool. Here's a picture of me sitting on it.



And the view from below.



This is what the walls looked like.



I just love Sedona. It's beautiful and full of energy. The only thing that sucks is the tourists but even they're not so bad. I'm excited to go back this summer and play in the creek.



We made a quick stop at Montezuma's Castle, which is comprised of 20 rooms over 5 stories nestled into a giant limestone cliff cave. Montezuma never actually stayed at the cliff dwelling, actually it was abandoned over Century before Montezuma was even born! It was built in the 1400's right above Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley by the Sinagua, an ancient desert people who originally settled around Sunset Crater.



The only thing to watch out for there is the rock squirrels. Apparently, they carry the black death.