The one full day in Sedona

Whenever we go to a new place I like to go for a walk and see where we are. Today I didn't want to just screw around, because we're probably 150 feet down from street level and at 4000 feet, so I didn't want to exhaust myself just getting to wherever I was going to walk. So I asked the concierge at the hotel. he showed me a map, told me how to get up the hill by stairs and "just go up this street and there's a nice trail at the end."

I'm sure he's right. But he didn't mention that the end of the street, which looked like a couple of blocks on the map, was in fact a mile away, uphill. By the time I got to the trail head, it was time to turn around. I did go onto the trail for about 3 minutes, and it was quite beautiful, but that was the extent of it.

After that we had breakfast and departed on a Pink Jeep Tour. Not sure what the origin of that is, but everyone knows about Pink Jeep Tours. There are a bunch of trails through public lands that are dedicated to jeep and ATV driving. They're bumpy and steep at times, but they take you out into the middle of stuff you wouldn't be able to get close to otherwise. The rocks here are really quite amazing. Mostly reddish, but with striations of grey as well. The erosion patterns are very cool. It must be a great place for rock climbing and mountain biking. 

Our guide was a 40-ish guy who did no dumb cutesy shtick, for which we were very greatful. In the jeep with us were 3 little girls, aged 2-4, who giggled throughout the trip. They had a great time and were very cute. Their adult companions, not so cute and a bit annoying at times, but it was all in all a lot of fun. We will see how my back feels tomorrow after all that bouncing around.

That was pretty much it for activity for the day. We had lunch at the edge of town, having gotten a ride up to the top of the driveway, but still having to climb everywhere we went. The town is at 4500 feet- not extreme altitude, but still noticeable altitude, so that was no particular fun. But we got through it and were able to get back to the hotel by stairs, which were okay for going down.

After that, it was time for our spa treatments, which we got down by the stream in a tent. This was quite pleasant, especially the absence of the spa music. Who makes up that stuff? It's awful. I had told them that I didn't care whether I had a male or female therapist, so they assigned me someone where it was impossible to know the difference. It was a little disconcerting, to be honest. Not the most obvious choice for deep tissue work, but it was fine.

We then sat and relaxed until dinner, which was pizza at a cute little place about 5 miles out of town. Not too bad for the middle of Arizona. Then back and to bed. Home tomorrow.