Arizona and Sedona

Driving near Tuzigoot

After two nights in Flagstaff we headed south to Sedona.  The red rock area that's part way between Flagstaff and Phoenix is a must see. It may not be quite as well known internationally as the Grand Canyon and I won't venture to guess about it's domestic reknown.  I had been to Sedona once as a teenager when we stopped there as a family.  My mom went to school at the University of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff and consequently had spent plenty of time in Sedona, less than a hour drive.

Sedona near Chapel of the Holy Cross

In many ways I prefer Sedona to the Grand Canyon.  The rock formations extend up above car level, not below like the Canyon.  The colors are more vibrant.  The formations lend themselves to imagination.  They are named by what people thought they looked like: Bell Rock, Snoopy Rock, Coffeepot Rock, etc. The colors change a lot as the sun moves.  The color contrast between the bright blue sky, the green scrub brush and the red rock is breath taking.

Jerome Saloon

While staying in Sedona we saw Chapel of the Holy Cross, and day tripped to Cottonwood, Jerome: an old mining town that was nearly abandoned in the 1950's when the mine closed and the population dropped from 1000 to less than 400 people.  The town still has an old west mining feel and is mostly supported by tourism now. We saw the Tuzigoot National monument which is Native American ruins from roughly 1125- 1400AD.  On the drive down to Phoenix we tried to go to V-bar-V to see petroglyphs but it was closed so we made do with Montezuma Well and Montezuma Castle which continued the trend we saw starting with Tuzigoot of really poorly named things. 

Montezuma Well: a self sustaining well with a constant spring in the bottom, middle. Two Native American groups consider it their source of origin.

Tuzigoot is a derivative of Tuzighoot which means crooked water in an Apache language, named for the creek that runs nearby. Tuzigoot (with a different emphasis) means nothing in any language. There was a reference at most National monuments in this area to the Sin Agua Indians.  That name comes from a Spanish explorers name for the  hills nearby, Sierra Sin Agua, though most historians now recognize that there were never a people who referred to themselves or were referred to by others as the Sinaguas. Montezuma, of course, was never in Arizona but the inital discovery team thought that both the well and castle may have been part of the Aztec empire ruled over by Montezuma.  Hey, it was the 1800's, no google back then. There were again references to the Sinaguas at MC and MW.

Old World Brewery sampler.  The Season was Yard Dog - a sour version of the Dark Knight Porter.

The last night in Arizona we stayed in Phoenix due to our 5am flight the following day. I wasn't sure how we'd pass the time until I found a LivingSocial deal for Old World Brewery. Two tasting flights of five samples each, two pint glasses, a six pack for $17. We met Matt, the head brewer and chatted him and another employee up about their beers.  That earned us three more tastes, two off the tanks in the back. The Dark Knight Porter is their most popular beer and I can understand why.  The guys then recommended Angel's Trumpet to us.  Wow.  I wish that Angel's was in Seattle.  35 taps including local beers and imports.  Three taps turned over in the hour and a half we were there.  We each got a six place sampler for $9 and picked different from each other to have the biggest spread. What a stellar selection.  The food was plentiful and very good.  We even saw Matt from Old World again!

Final thoughts on the trip:
It proved to be a very good, potentially important step in my still budding relationship with 25. We got along through navigation snafus, nights of very short sleep, familial trials and lots of time together. We stayed near our loosely outlined budget, neither left the other on the side of a road, and, speaking only for myself, I enjoyed my time immensely for the historical aspects, the romantic possibilities and the breathtaking scenery.

I Survived!

We both did actually.  I didn't kill him nor vice versa, though we all know which was the bigger threat.  I made it through my first trip with a someone-I'm-dating. Prior to this, my only trip with a someone was when I came back to Washington to visit family.  That doesn't really count because the stress was about a 1.2 on the Richter scale, not a 7.5.  There wasn't any flying, setting an agenda, navigating, etc. We had all of that plus he met my mom and step dad.

We flew out at before the crack of dawn on Friday.  It was painfully early, and I'm kind of a morning person. The flight to Phoenix was direct and by the time we picked up the rental car it felt like it should have been three in the afternoon when in reality it was 9:30 am. We snagged a quick bite and headed for Flagstaff, where we would stay two nights.  He very wisely suggested a nap and we were both semi-conscious at best by then. El Capitan provided a great pre-nap snack complete with high class beer  . . . a PBR tall boy in a paperbag.

We went to Lowell Observatory that night and saw Jupiter plus four of it's moons.  There is a telescope there that was built about 1906. It was educational and interesting.  The area smelled like the world's best campground, wood smoke and piney.  The staff were all amazingly friendly and knowledgeable. There is a AAA discount and we spend a whopping three plus hours there. I recommend it.

That night we went to Beaver Street Brewery that wasn't far away.  We split a sampler of all eight beers they had on tap, all their own.  A couple were very good, like the Red Rock Raspberry.  A few were disappointing.  My Pesto Cream Cheese bake was stellar though to claim it was unhealthy was an understatement. His chicken soup taste like it had been left out in the woods to get gamey.  ick.

Saturday we went to the Grand Canyon.  I'd never been and was excited to go.  It's a couple hours drive there and we had a stutter start with low tire pressure and snack finding. The weather was good enough but without direct sun the Canyon takes on a strange 2D quality. It looks like all the postcards you've seen.  The closer levels of red rock look 3D and have depth and detail.  The North Rim (we were standing on the South Rim) looks very flat and the edges are fuzzy. The point of focus in the distance isn't really one point but a line.  It's strange but not entirely unappealing.  We spent about six hours walking around, taking in the visitors center and geology museum.  We walked about five miles, walked, sat, snacked, people-watched and really enjoyed the day there.  It was a fantastic day.

I do need to comment on some of the looney toons at national parks.  I understand that National Parks are made for the public, but I don't really like the public.  If I were ever to be ridiculously wealthy I would pay for the privilege to go to some of these sites alone. sort of a "I'll make a huge donation if you close the park for me for half a day" kind of thing. End of March/early April is spring break for some schools and of course lots of folks take their families to the Grand Canyon, but man, why does everyone have children? UGH!! There seemed to be very few well behaved, quiet children.  There were children with whistles, children running around in the walking path of others, etc. We also noted the man who walked out to the edge of the Canyon for photos and the presumed entertainment of his friends.  He was dressed head to toe in Columbia/REI gear which was overkill considering the rims of the Canyon have paths and little trekking. There was a family who had a couple of kids.  They'd gone to the trouble to bring their kids all the way to the Grand Canyon but were "smart" enough to keep one kid in the stroller staring at an ipad so that he didn't get any exercise or enjoy/see/learn from the experience.

 It was nice to see that the US government hasn't caved and put rails and glass on every edge of the Grand Canyon to prevent people from accidentally or intentionally maiming themselves. That said, it did mean that I contemplated throwing a particularly irritating child in to the canyon. I wouldn't but it was a nice thought.

Sunday was Easter.  We found a little place called Bellevia for breakfast.  It was very busy with a high turnover so we didn't wait long.  The Eggs Benedict selection was interesting and different; I had the king crab and jack cheese.  If you need a singular reason to go it's the cafe aloha!! Think mocha but with coconut cream instead of chocolate syrup.  Afterward was a leisurely stroll around town in the sun and some shopping. Sunset crater was our destination for the day.  There were two associated sites there and apparently we missed the third/last/best site.  Other than that, the day was kind of a miss for seeing something interesting and amazing.  The company and weather were good but I got a bit surly and we gave up on the sites.  That evening we headed back in to town to meet up with my mom, stepdad, sister and a couple that are family friends. Dinner at Salsa Brava to wrap up the day before we crashed.

I'll wrap up the trip in Sedona in the next blog post.

Pre-trip Jitters

Today is a big day.  Not because I fly to Arizona tomorrow.  I'm not a nervous flyer, never have been.  I do always get butterflies for about eight to twelve hours before my flight but I reckon that's because I'm nervous about missing my flight.  As soon as I'm at the gate waiting to board, the butterflies take a nap.

Its not because I'm going to the Grand Canyon (finally, right?).

It's not because I'm once again intrusting the lives of my "kids" to someone else.  I happen to have a reliable pet sitter who, as far as I can tell, does well by my cat and dog. I will surely have several days of the shadows when I get back though.  They follow me around relentlessly for at least three days after I get back from any trip longer than two days.

No, today is a big day because tomorrow I go on a trip with someone I'm dating. This is a first. Virgin Territory for me. I didn't even go on a real trip with my ex-husband.  I don't count a trip from Utah back to Seattle to visit family, doubly so because we drove and there was no hotels or equal stressors.

We fly out Friday very, very, painfully early and we'll be back almost as early on Thursday. That means fully six and a half days together. That means practically living together for those days.  We will be eating, sleeping, um . . everything-ing together. He's going to meet my mom and step-dad for the first time too. Which I'm not terribly concerned about but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at all concerned about.

I think we've maneuvered through the minefield of expenses pretty darn well so far.  We haven't been seeing each other so long yet that we've merged incomes and unfortunately, neither of us is independently wealthy.  Instead, we had to have a talk about expected expenses for the trip, how much each of use can afford, how we like to travel (five-star hotels or one-star tragedies?), etc.  We have both put money out for reservations so that if either back out, we're equally screwed.

We've made some rough plans about things we want to see, like the Grand Canyon and a huge telescope, but left the overall itinerary mostly open. I feel like it will be a good "test" (I don't really want to use that word, but have here for lack of the exact sentiment  I want).  People are different when they are under stress, in airports, trying to give or take direction, worried about costs and keeping their partner happy.  To be honest, I'm more worried about him seeing a side of me that surprises him or turns him off than vice versa.  I've cautioned him about the seasoned traveler in me that shuns meandering in the airport and packs sparsely. I'll definitely need to remember that I'm not traveling alone for work and act accordingly.

Wish me luck. You'll hear about it next week, whether you want to or not!