We left Buckeye at 9 am this morning and headed north towards Flagstaff. We took Interstate 17 to 89A just south of Flagstaff. The stretch of 89A between Flagstaff and Sedona is listed as a scenic highway in my book of scenic drives.
As we climbed in elevation we noticed more and more snow along the side of the road. Near Flagstaff at just over 6,000 feet there was lots of snow. They received over 2 feet last weekend. We haven’t seen snow in a while, and it was very pretty as long as we weren’t dealing with driving on snowy roads.
We saw this gorgeous view from the Oak Creek Canyon Vista Overlook.
I did the tourist shuffle with some people, I’ll take your picture if you take ours.
The drive down into the canyon has lots of switchback turns. I wouldn’t want to be towing (there is a 50 foot limit on the highway), but I didn’t think it was as bad as some other roads we’ve been on.
The scenery along the canyon was fantastic. It took about an hour to get to Sedona once we were on 89A. Sedona is quite the tourist trap type of town. It’s location among the red rocks makes it a beautiful place to visit. But, with visitors comes lots of shops and restaurants. We decided to take the trolley tour. The tours were booked until 5 pm so we bought our tickets and spent three hours wandering around.
It took an hour to check out all the shops. We didn’t buy a thing. Then we spent another hour enjoying margaritas and bottomless salsa and chips at Taos Cantina. Their salsa was the best I’ve ever had. We finished off two baskets of chips and two bowls of salsa. We are so full we aren’t having any supper. We spent the final hour sitting on a bench enjoying the wonderful views and weather and people watching. Here’s the view down the main street.
The trolley tour was interesting. We learned about the history of the area. The driver pointed out lots of rock formations with goofy names. There were some that I just didn’t see what it was supposed to look like. I’m thinking there may have been alcohol involved in the naming of some of them :) This was one of the prettier views.
We stopped at this spot which is supposed to be a vortex. In the 1980s some psychic lady came to Sedona and claimed there were certain areas that were a vortex where there are special energies coming from the earth. Supposedly some people experience intense feelings at these sites. We didn’t feel a thing. There are lots of spas and shops selling crystals and psychic type items in Sedona.
After the tour we drove up to an overlook on Airport Road. Our trolley driver told us it had the best views of the red rock and Sedona.
It was almost time for sunset and there were lots of people at the lookout. We waited for about 20 minutes and were rewarded with this gorgeous sunset.
We’re now in our very nice room at the Days Inn watching NCAA basketball. Wisconsin lost by one point earlier today. Marquette is losing at half-time. Hopefully, they’ll pull out a win. More sightseeing tomorrow.
Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!
