We woke up on our Phoenix hotel and had a very early 6am breakfast before sorting through the stuff and figuring out what we might go and see on the drive up to Sedona.
We started at the the Frontier Town at Creek Cave. Not really a Frontier Town (or not now), just a themed little shopping village. We got Max some very hot pepper sauce (checking so many to find the vegan one) and some shot glasses to continue our tradition of toasting each new hotel.
Then onto Montezuma Castle. The main centre was closed (boo), so there was no charge to see the monument (hoorah).
Montezuma Castle National Monument protects a set of well-preserved dwellings located in Camp Verde, Arizona, which were built and used by the Sinagua people, a pre-Columbian culture closely related to the Hohokam and other indigenous peoples of the southwestern United States, between approximately AD 1100 and 1425. The main structure comprises five stories and about 20 rooms and was built over the course of three centuries.
Several Hopi clans and Yavapai communities trace their ancestries to early immigrants from the Montezuma Castle/Beaver Creek area. Archaeological evidence proves that the Hohokam and Hakataya settled around or in the Verde Valley. Clan members periodically return to these ancestral homes for religious ceremonies. — Wikipedia
We were going to potentially skip The Chapel of the Holy Cross because there’s no real parking and it can be a bit of a nightmare, but we saw a sign pointing to it up the hill so we took a shot and luckily got the only (I think) space and snapped some photos.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross is a Roman Catholic chapel built from 1954 to 1956 into the red rock buttes of Sedona, Arizona, within the Coconino National Forest. It was inspired and commissioned by local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude, and was designed by August K. Strotz of the firm of Anshen & Allen, with Richard Hein of the firm as the project architect. The chapel is under the auspices of the episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix and its ministry is conducted by St. John Vianney Parish, Sedona.” — Wikipedia
We stopped at various Scenic Route places on the drive up to Sedona, and I tried taking some pictures with the old camera Max had brought me some film form. I’m not sure I did a good job.
I fear the first five or so will be overexposed, completely black/white or blurred. We shall find out when they’re developed back home.
I need to get better at this photography thing.
Got to our hotel for the evening pretty early (about 4pm). It was a nice big room, and had a good balcony.
We went out to eat (a cheeseburger for me - of course, and a pizza for Jane - which, despite asking for none, had garlic on.) I was still so jet-lagged I went for a ‘power nap’ at 8pm and didn’t wake until morning.
