Roadtrip #4A: Sedona, AZ and back

===== DAY 8 =====

Wednesday was one of our top days to look forward to, and you'll find out why...

We left the resort just before 9:00am MST and headed across the way to the neighboring town of Clarkdale. Our first stop of the day was the Tuzigoot National Monument. Now we've already seen a plethora of pueblos, and this monument just had one. But the difference here is that this one had 110 rooms over 3 stories. We headed around the path detailing each of the areas, and also headed up the stairs to the 3rd story roof with once-again panoramic views all around. There's never a shortage of photo opportunities.

After heading out from there, we loused around in Clarkdale for a bit before heading to our highlight of the day (and perhaps the entire week) of the Verde Canyon Railroad. We had made 1st-class reservations a few months ago to secure our spot on the "longest running nature show."

Upon reaching the station, we found and entered our "Yuma" car, where a set of couches, a nice table and some snacks awaited us. We had our own bar and buffet along with very nice servers. Right out the door was our viewing car where we had Brandi, who shared her knowledge about the canyon, the river, the structures, and whatever else you had questions about.

We departed shortly after 1:00pm MST and spent the next 2 hours heading northwest to the remote railtown of Perkinsville. Over the route we headed along side the Verde river, which had carved out a nice canyon complete with the accompanying flora, fauna, and formations. We had hoped to see the bald eagles in their nest, but they were out to lunch at the time. Traversing through the 680-foot tunnel near the end of the route was pretty sweet as well.

We reached Perkinsville shortly before 3:00pm MST and hung out for 15 minutes while they moved the engine to the other side of the cars using an auxiliary track. When that was completed it was time to make the return trip to Clarkdale. We made sure to spot the features that we missed on the way up. We tried to even out our time between the viewing car and our comfy area in the car.

Our journey came to an end at 5:00pm MST as we pulled back into Clarkdale station. That was a pretty good ride I must say. Definitely worth the price, and then some. Our guides/servers were awesome as well. If you're in this area, do it. Do it now!

We headed back and I topped off another night in the hot tub, of course meeting new people since the spa is by itself in an intimate setting. It would be awkward NOT to talk to everyone that was in there. Good times.

===== DAY 9 =====

All right, this is it, our last full day here in AZ. We figured to fill in the missing cracks before prepping our journey home.

Our first stop of the day was back in Flagstaff. On Tuesday we drove to the Lowell Observatory, but it was in between their hours and wasn't an optimal time, but we made sure to get it in this time.

We caught the 10:00am tour as the guide took us into the old observatory from the late 1800s, complete with the original telescope and the revolving dome. We were also led into the neighboring museum that contained more ancient telescopes, as well as the machine that helped discover Pluto. Awesome stuff.

We were on limited time so we made a quick jog of the exhibits in the main lobby, bought our souvenirs, and headed out in time for the next thing on the agenda.

We arrived at the Riordan Mansion State Park at 11:30am, where we had scheduled a 12:00pm internal tour. We first walked around the outer perimeter of the mansion and got in what pictures we could (since we couldn't take any inside).

Once that was all said and done, we had our tour guide take us inside and spend the next hour showing the old authentic rooms up and downstairs. I think the coolest part was the old 1904 Steinway piano they had in their entertainment hall. Even though the group was not allowed to lean on or touch anything, the guide asked the group if anyone played the piano (which I do) so I had the privilege of getting to play on a 105-year-old Steinway. It was only for about 30 seconds or so, but it was awesome.

The tour ended inside the "West Wing" where there were little exhibits (and other pianos) to look at. We thanked the guide for the great presentation and headed down and out of Flagstaff. This was also the first time it rained pretty hard while on the road.

We stopped in Uptown Sedona on the way back to do another hour's worth of shopping and memorabilia collecting. I was afraid we'd go the whole week without doing this.

I think this was the earliest we got back to our room. We decided on our final "fancy" dinner at the Cucina Rustica, since it was close proximity to our resort. Pretty good Italian food. I recommend it if you're in the Village of Oak Creek.

Looks like that's all she wrote for this trip. I doubt we'll be doing anything special on the return trip home since we have to get our rental van back by 5:00pm PDT. But who knows? There might be something unexpected. Isn't that what makes it fun?

I'll give you the wrap-up soon...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kinless

===== DAY 4 =====

Saturday was mostly a chill ride-around-town kinda day. We didn't do much except drive to all the scenic points on Hwy 179 south of Sedona and snap the 'ol tourist pics of the rock formations and valleys. I did a small hike to the mid-point of Bell Rock, despite the 95°F weather. Soon after we headed a bit north to the famous Chapel in the Rock, as well as the controversial multi-million dollar mansion (complete with observatory) directly below, which we found the owner to be the patent holder of Lasik. It's a sight to behold, no matter which side of the fence you stand.

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I don't know what yours was like, but my tour trolley driver last month was not happy that the doc had been allowed to build the house, he thought it ruined the whole area.
I wasn't so against it, but I guess it isn't really in keeping with its surroundings.

For those that don't know, this is the p(a)lace in question.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...9/IMG_8246.jpg

===== Day 10 (FINAL) =====

Nothing too exciting today folks. We left super early (7:30am MST) to make sure we got back in time to return the van rental. But the weather was drizzly-dreary, and the sights of the low-hanging clouds among the rock formations made sure we stopped at all our previous scenery points to take more pictures. I'm glad my SLR and wide-angle lens are weather-resistant, because it was still raining at a pretty good pace while I was out there snapping shots. What I won't do for a Kodak moment.

We took the scenic route out of Sedona, courtesy of Hwy 89A, all the way to I-17 north. It was still raining, in some spots pretty hard, and continued to do so as we transitioned to the I-40 west in Flagstaff. From there we slowly descended from the high altitude forest to the desert floor as we neared the Arizona/California border.

The rest was blue skies and mild-to-warm weather as we connected to the I-15 in Barstow, and then to our grid of highways that got us home, albeit with some lovely Memorial Day traffic near the end, delaying our end destination until 4:15pm PDT.

Stats will be coming up. Oh, and I literally took over 1,000 pics so I have to choose the best 60 for y'all to see. I'll probably get it all posted this weekend sometime...

Good to be out, but good to be home too.

We're back at the fort, with a semi-full report.

This was not our "official" annual road trip for the year, although it certainly felt like one. Getting to stay in one place for a week and yo-yo out from there really allows you to explore the immediate vicinity in detail, which is in sharp contrast to traveling in one direction the entire time.

Favorites: Hmm, well if I had to pick one, I suppose it would be the Verde Canyon Railroad train ride. I think it was that much better because we sprung for 1st-class tickets instead of coach. If you don't like sitting on soft couches, getting a buffet meal or being served drinky drinks, then by all means go for the coach price. Honorable mentions are the Queen Mine Tour in Bisbee, and the lightning show in and around Sunset Crater Volcano NM.

Improvements: I really don't have much to complain about here. The Best Western in Tombstone could have had better breakfast accommodations. It's almost better to go into town and get a worthy breakfast. And while all the Indian pueblo ruins were cool, once you've seen a few types, you've seen them all. (We saw probably 20 or more over the course of the trip.) It was starting to get redundant after a while.

What's next? I mentioned this in my last field report, but we're going to the northeast U.S. in October, starting in Washington DC and looping up and around, hitting all the colony states. We've already bought our airfare and van rental since tickets have been going cheap. We just need to figure out the accommodations and the activities, which I'll be doing over the summer as long as it's economically feasible.

Stats are as follows:

Total miles: 2,137
Total stops: 18
Total elapsed time: 9 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes
Total states: 2 (Just CA and AZ this time)
Total national parks: 0
Total national monuments: 5 (Chiricahua, Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano, Walnut Canyon, Tuzigoot)
Total state parks: 1 (Riordan Mansion)
Type of rental: 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan
Gallons of fuel: 95.67 (22.34 MPG)
Total cost of trip (estimated): $868 (my share of hotels/resort, van rental, gas, food, train ride, and souvenirs)

Oh yes, and pictures have been posted to my albums, marked as Roadtrip #4A. It's hard to get in the best 60 pictures when you have over 900 to choose from.

If all goes well, I'll be reporting to the forums again in October 2009. See ya.

I looked all through the photo album. Without question, my favorite shot is this one:
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum...pictureid=1044
But there were plenty of excellent ones!

Thanks for posting them!

Mark

Not only nice photos, but some excellent observations and some great choices of venues to begin with. It's wonderful to see my own home through the eyes of another. You've piqued my interest in some local attractions and I'll have to get out soon and do some more exploring. Thanks

AZBuck

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist

Without question, my favorite shot is this one:

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Haha, you can thank my mom for that one. We passed the family of quail as we were leaving the resort (there were twice as many chicks as you see in the pic) and she absolutely insisted we turn around and go back so she can take pictures. The intersection at the bottom of the hill was a roundabout, and I'm sure I looked like an ass to all the other drivers yielding to me as I made a complete circle to come back up to where they were feeding. I figured it was a good time to test my 300mm telephoto lens.

She ended up using my pics instead of hers. Too funny...