We arrived in Sedona in the early afternoon on Thursday. After a disappointing experience checking in (they lost our reservation and because of that our room wasn't ready), we walked up to the main drag and had a couple afternoon beers at the Open Range Grill and Tavern. Below there's a photo of the cloudiest Hefeweizen beer I've ever had. I thought I heard the bartender say something about how the keg was just about spent, which made me even more suspicious of my fuzzy beer. But it tasted great, so I had nothing to worry about, I guess! I've expressed this in past posts, but it's really hard to beat a cold beer in the afternoon when you're on vacation...especially when you know you have the whole vacation ahead of you! After our beers we browsed through some shops (and made some gift purchases!), then walked back down to the resort. Our room was nice, but the best part was the great bed...king sized with a super soft down comforter and cushy mattress. We also had a small balcony (that overlooked the parking lot) with a couple chairs and a small table...perfect for after dinner drinks. :-) Once we unpacked we looked for a place to have dinner. After a quick search on yelp.com for good dinner places in Sedona, we decided on the Hideway Restaurant. It wasn't far from our hotel and had an amazing view of Oak Creek (the same creek that our hotel backs up to). We sat outside on the deck, which made us feel like we were straight up from the water. We both decided on pasta and definitely had plenty of food left over to bring back to the room. After taking some time to digest, we walked back up to the shops to walk around some more and get a little ice cream dessert.
On Friday we had grand plans to take a hike, but after sleeping in we decided to scrap it and walk up to check out a breakfast spot. We ended up at the Hitching Post, and for any Sideways (movie or book) fans, it was nothing like that Hitching Post. This Hitching Post was basic diner foods with so-so service. Although our food was fine (omelet for Sean and corned beef hash and eggs for me), we realized when we got our bill that this was truly a tourist town with tourist prices. We walked around a little bit more afterwards, then headed back down to the hotel. The resort has a spa on site, so we just walked across the parking lot for our treatments. Sean got a deep tissue massage and I got the Coconut Rub and Milk Ritual Wrap. The spa was nice, but for a spa-spoiled Phoenician like myself, it was nothing compared to the Camelback Spa back home. And what better way to top off an afternoon at the spa than a dip in the hot tub? This was one of the few times during the weekend that we weren't threatened by lightening so we decided to take advantage of the clear skies. Our luxurious day continued with a nice dinner at the resort's restaurant, Hundred Rox (until recently, the Gallery on Oak Creek). We had a delicious dinner with great service and a wonderful view of the red rocks. We started with the calamari, Sean got the free range veal duet (veal scaloppini and veal sweetbreads) and I got the filet. For dessert our server treated us to free blackberry panna cotta, which was always one of my favorite treats to get at Dean and Deluca the summer I lived with Joel and Lisa in Leawood. After dinner, our stomachs extremely full, we returned to the room and sat on the balcony for a while enjoying the cool weather.
Saturday morning we were a bit more virtuous and drove out to the Coconino National Forest for a hike. Our trail head was just west of town, but involved more "back woods" driving than I expected. I have now been proven wrong in doubting a Toyota Camry's ability to drive on glorified gravel paths only traveled by Jeeps, ATVs and people on foot. Evidence of Sean's off-roading is in a photo below. Our trail was very scenic, crossing a dry river every few minutes, with red rocks towering above us. Our elevation change was only about 400 feet, so this was definitely an "easy" hike when it comes to hiking standards, but it was nice to spend the time outdoors and work off a small portion of the million calories we'd consumed by this point. After we emerged from the park we were pretty hungry for lunch. Having already dined at places we scoped out online before arriving, we decided to just keep our eyes peeled for something that looked good. Sean had to turn around and go back to a place I spotted that we whizzed by when he heard me say the name: The Red Planet Diner. Sean, self-admittedly, is a sucker for kitschy, hole-in-the-wall, dive, you name it. The decor definitely lived up to the name, with UFOs painted on the walls and several alien figurines/decorations all around. As we scanned the menu, one appetizing item stood out: a milk shake. As I looked at the price, I saw it was listed at $5, which reminded me of the movie, Pulp Fiction. In that movie, in LA, it seemed fitting to pay $5 for a milk shake. But at the Red Planet Diner in Sedona, AZ? Seemed a little out of place. Regardless, Sean ordered the chocolate milk shake and I drank close to half of it! In the afternoon we walked up the hill to get a coffee and browse around the shops some more. It was fairly cloudy and even sprinkled a little bit, so thankfully most of the shops had good overhangs and coverage from the rain. After our coffee, we got ready for dinner and headed to Tlaquepaque where we had a reservation at El Rincon, the place we had dinner the day we got engaged. We arrived about an hour before our reservation, so we stopped in for a pre-dinner drink and appetizers at Oak Creek Brewery, coincidentally enough, the place we had lunch right after Sean popped the question. The little shopping village was fairly quiet, as most of the stores were closed, but there were plenty of people still milling around taking photos. Between drinks and dinner we stopped in at a few of the galleries that were still open and took in some interesting artwork: everything from jewelry to wall installations to oil to glass. At dinner we sat outside on the Christmas light-lit patio (very similar in ambiance and feel, but on a smaller scale, to Old Town Tortilla Factory in Scottsdale) and dined on chips, salsa, chimichanga and tacos. On our last night in Sedona we spent some more time on the balcony in our room chatting about the fun things we did.
Sunday morning we left town pretty quickly, stopping at a place we'd eaten breakfast three years prior (what can I say, we're creatures of habit). Continuing the pattern of re-visiting places from the engagement trip, we stopped at Cliff Castle Casino on the way home to try our luck on the slot machines. As a couple we ended in the black, but if there is such a thing, Sean is much better at slot machines than me! It was nice to get back home by mid-day so we could do our usual weekend errands and house things, and still feel relaxed knowing work was waiting for us the next day. Brinkley, who spent the weekend with our friend Matt, was happy to see us, although I think he's happy to see any human being that will let him out of the man cave (where he stays during the day)!
Now we're back to the grind of our usual routine. However, we have a lot of things to look forward to coming up very soon! Jim and Robin are visiting for the ASU-Georgia football game in September, Sean and I just planned a trip to Seattle in November to meet up with Joel, and rumor has it Bob, Ellen, Christian (and hopefully Anna!) will be coming to Phoenix for my birthday, Thanksgiving and the ASU -UCLA football game.
The fall always brings two things that are exciting for us: ASU football and cooler temperatures!
