And on our second day off....

We found our way from the South Rim to Flagstaff and the townhome we were lent to use.  What a great place!  Three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a TV that actually received a signal.  Not having seen any TV for the past two months I was itching to get me some couch potato time.  But it was not to be at this moment.  It was late and we had not eaten yet.  Time to find Oregano's.

Since we were in the big city we figured that Siri would be able to tell us how to get to the restaurant.  No way, that ditzy phone had no clue.  Luckily I had looked up the address before leaving the townhome and we plugged that into Big Gulp's GPS.  Ten minutes later and we were pulling into the parking lot.

We had been warned that this was a popular place and that there was usually a line waiting to get in.  But our late arrival worked in our favor, we walked right in and were immediately seated.  We did what we knew we shouldn't, we ordered the Chicago-style deep dish pizza.  We're going to have to hike 50 miles to burn off those calories.

After the 45 minutes it took to cook that thick pie, the restaurant had pretty much emptied out.  Just us and one other table.  When we finished and left, they locked the door behind us.  But boy was it good.  Next time in Flagstaff we'll go again, hang the calories (and salt and sugar).

Time to get back to the townhome and watch some news or something.  Yeah, who am I kidding?  After a couple hundred miles of driving, sightseeing in Marble Canyon, Lee's Ferry, Navajo Bridge, Cameron Trading Post and the South Rim/Shoshone Pointe we were exhausted.  We went straight up to bed.  Our second day off was going to be as busy as the first, we needed some sleep.

I woke at my usual 5:30am and slipped downstairs while Cyndee lingered a while longer.  I finally got to see some morning news and wouldn't you know it, there was nothing to hold my interest.  I guess I have not missed that much by not having access to TV broadcasts.  But it worked out as I had lots of prep work to do for the things you still have to do even if you are retired.  There were several things banking related that we had to do in person at the bank.  Flagstaff is one of the few towns left in the west that has a branch of our bank.  We had a number of things that had accumulated over the last few weeks that we were going to take care of now that we could get into a branch.

We had also brought along a large sack-full of items that we had accumulated for Goodwill.  The bank and Goodwill are literally within sight of each other.  Made for efficient use of our time and fuel.

It was not in our original plans but the lead supervisor for the North Rim found out we were going to Flagstaff and told Cyndee about all the shopping and Navajo made turquoise jewelry in Sedona.  With a new opportunity in her quest for earrings, Sedona was now on our itinerary.

We plugged Sedona into the GPS but I found the results to be odd.  It showed a traveling distance of only 31 miles but a traveling time of an hour.  How could it take an hour to go 30 miles across a sparsely populated roadway?

We soon found out how.  Our passage through Flagstaff was quick and easy and as we approached the edge of town on the Sedona highway the road began to narrow and the land on either side was National Forest.  Then we saw the signs warning of a steep grade ahead and many cautions to use a lower gear with speed limits reduced to 25mph.

We had no idea that there were these deep, mountainous valleys south of Flagstaff.  With our poor understanding of the local geography we thought that it was going to be a flat drive, mostly through desert.  We could not have been more wrong.  If you look closely in the above photo you can make out the thin ribbon of road that will take us to Sedona.  But first, we have to get down there.

Our GPS will display the route by highlighting the road to take in blue.  Usually it is just a blue line across the screen but today it was a line leading up to a blue blob and then a line leading away.  We have done mountain passes where the road shows squiggly lines depicting switchbacks but you could always see separation in the road.  Not today, this road was so tight and each level was practically on top of the next.  In the above picture you can see the road coming around a steep, tight bend.  But this is about the only place that it is not almost straight below the guard rail.  Cyndee and I both said simultaneously; "Thank goodness we are not towing the trailer!"

One of the many, tight switchbacks.  Lots of wheels drop off the inside edge of the pavement here.  Cyndee is doing a good job of keeping all 23 feet of Big Gulp on the pavement while I take pictures.

The trees crowded the road so badly in some places that branches hit the mirrors.

There is a pull-out at the top, right before the descent begins.  On this day there was a Native America craft show going on.  Another earring opportunity and a very nice park to get some photos.

USF Ranger Station, a hut really.  A place to buy trinkets or ask an interpretive volunteer questions about the area.

Wildflowers are still peaking in this part of AZ.

We finally rolled into Sedona, it took every bit of the hour the GPS said it would.  As we came into town we both commented on how Sedona reminded us of the little mountain towns of Red River, NM and Helen, GA.  Pretty much a single road in the bottom of the valley with buildings on either side, their backs hemmed in by the cliffs.  Very little existed outside of what was on this one road.

Looking north back towards Flagstaff.

Looking south towards the far end of Sedona and access to I-17 fifteen miles away.

Sedona is known as an artist's community, having an abundance of Native American jewelry and art as well as the typical kitschy tourist traps selling tissue-thin t-shirts and hats.  Another reputation they are building is one for spiritual crystal lifestyle.  There are a number of crystal shops and crystal healing centers.  Jeep and Hummer tours seemed to be a big thing as well, there were several tour companies in each block of town.

The store fronts and main street itself have been updated and remodeled and kept looking fresh.  Walking around and window shopping seemed to be the thing to do.

As advertised, there was lots of places to shop for local Navajo artist jewelry.  Cyndee had so many places to look for earrings that her head was spinning.  At one shop I noticed a change in her posture, she lingered a little longer than usual and her expression from the I'm just looking look to the this may be what I'm looking for look.

Purse off her shoulder and on the counter, wallet in hand.  Could this be it?

Money on the counter, it's getting serious now.  Turns out what was on the counter was just a start, she kept pulling money out of that wallet and laying it down.

Score!  She found just what she was looking for.

Treasure in hand, it was time to find some lunch.  We flipped a coin to help decide between bar-b-q and Mexican food.

Mexican food won.

The weather was mild so we opted for the roof-top seating.  The breeze was gentle and warm...

and the view was not bad either.

After lunch we walked around town a little more and got some pictures of the buttes and cliffs bordering the town.

We had seen about half of the town when we realized that if we were to get the rest of our things done, we were going to have to get back to Flagstaff.  We'll have to save the other half of town for when we come back to camp host the North Rim next year.

Cyndee had a list as long as my arm of things she needed to do at the Flagstaff Mall and we were also going to do our full-bore grocery haul.  By the time we got to everything it was almost 10:00pm before we got back to the townhome.

Tomorrow we were going to pick up some items at Camping World and return to the South Rim.  But we are beat, we'll just get to Camping World and leave from there for the 5 hour drive back to the North Rim.  We should get home before it gets dark (and the mule deer and buffalo start jumping out on the road).