Sedona, Arizona

The day didn't go as planned yesterday. We were making it up as we went along, but it turned out to be a good day. We saw a lot. We accomplished a lot. Our plan was to drive north to Sedona...and, check...that was about the only thing that went as planned. As we rounded the first bend on the state highway heading into Sedona, the beautiful red rock formations came into view.

We passed by the visitor center. We were on our way to Cathedral Rock. The visitor center billed itself as information for the Red Rock Scenic Byway. We didn't really know what to expect when we arrived at Cathedral Rock, and so we decided to stop on the way out, if necessary.

It was stunningly beautiful along this byway. We wondered why it wasn't a national park, and then answered our own question. It's probably because of the community of Sedona, nestled cozily among all the formations I'm about to show you.

We reminisced about why we never visited here when we lived in Phoenix. It was the first three years of our marriage, and we couldn't afford even to visit Sedona...a rather expensive place to stay, eat, and shop. Also, Mike was in school year-round...even in summer. He worked evenings and I worked full-time. We were busy. There wasn't much time for vacations. Heck, we didn't even visit Tucson until after we'd already moved to Oregon.

We pulled off at the first scenic viewpoint and found virtually no place to park. Mike ended up dropping me off for a couple of pictures while he circled the parking lot.

I climbed up on a picnic table for this pano.

And that was when our plans started to change. We drove on several miles more to where we could park for a short hike to Cathedral Rock.

Again...there was absolutely no place to park. Even the side streets were lined with cars from end to end between the signs marking tow-away zones.

Okay. So that was only slightly disappointing.

We enjoyed the sites we could see.

It reminded us of Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Arches all rolled into one.

With our Cathedral Rock plans thwarted, it seemed a good time to visit the quilt store.

It was not visible from the main road, and so it was a little hard to find. We parked up the street, and I walked to where I thought it was. Finally, I found it.

The "wearable art" part of that sign confused me a little, but I kept walking.

This little quilt was hanging to the left of the door.

Walking inside...oh...this isn't what I thought it would be. It actually was a clothing store. There were some finished quilts hanging on the walls, and some for sale, but this was not a fabric store at all. They had a few little cuts of fabric sitting around that could be purchased, but everything else was already finished. It was a little intimidating...like being at a quilt show...I didn't think I should touch anything. So I left after just a few minutes.

So...my quilt shop dreams dashed, I turned around 180 degrees and saw this shop. "You'll do," I said.

This turned out to be a fun little shop with exotic spices, teas, sauces, jams, pasta...you name it.

There were also cool beverages. The ones at the bottom of the next image in the center...the red bottles...were prickly pear soda. Very tempting, but I passed.

Instead, I amused myself with the many funny tea towels and aprons.

There were also some handy kitchen items.

These tempted me mightily, but I passed them by.

Who can relate to the next one?

They had some beautiful pottery. I didn't even look at the prices. I knew in my bones everything was going to be too expensive for this retiree.

This is what I came out with.

Below is a wooden spatula and a bamboo knife. I wanted the bamboo knife to slip between nonstick pans and baked goods. At home, I use a plastic knife, but I don't have anything like that in the RV. As for the wooden spatula, I use these all the time. The one I had in the RV was splintered after years of use, and threatening to break, and so I replaced it with this pretty one.

While I was paying for these items, the woman at the cash register thanked me for finding their store. I explained I'd wanted to visit the quilt shop across the way, but it turned out not to be a quilt shop, er, fabric shop, as I'd thought. "Well, no! It's fine art!" she emphasized the last two words so that a cretin like me could understand. Well, excuuuuuuuusez-moi! I wanted to say, but I kept my snide comments to myself.

From there it seemed like a good time to have lunch. We went to a restaurant called "The Sound Bite." It was warm enough to sit outside, and this was our view.

Of course, there was pink salt on the table.

Mike had a glass of white wine. I had the Berry Berry Sangria. Yummy.

Mike had steak tacos. I had fish tacos. We shared this Apple Brown Betty for dessert. Double yum.

And then, we headed back to the RV, stopping off first at the visitor center. I found a refrigerator magnet there.

Also, I took this picture there.

The next image corresponds to the sign above.

When we got back to the RV, Mike patched a leaking bicycle tire, and I worked on my slow-stitching. Yesterday's inchy "assignment" was to stitch the leaves and stems at the top and to stitch the thread in the needle. I'd worked on this before we left, and so I just needed to do a little more on the thread to finish it up.

After that, I finished up the stitching on the sixth snowflake.

Smitty posed for his next magazine spread. This is his "Bond...James Bond" look.

Perhaps this side is his better side.

After that, I sewed the beads on.

Then I rinsed out the Sticky Fabri-Solvy and voila! It was finished.

This was my first time using "bugle beads," which are the long thin tubes.

While I was waiting for that to finish in the washer, I made up the seventh snowflake.

So far, I've done four in true blue and two in aqua blues. I want to do them half and half, and so I'll do this next one in aqua blues too.

Today we're moving south to Kartchner Caverns State Park. This will be a first-time visit for us. We have four nights there, and we'll make a day trip to Bisbee, Arizona, and Tombstone, Arizona. I have an idea we may not have cell service there. Mike found a review of the campground, and it indicated most cell service providers were available, but not Verizon. If that's the case, I may not have internet access for a few days. If you don't hear from me, you'll know why.