Sedona, AZ

The VERY early wake was tough, but we knew our adventure was going to be awesome. We were on the road at 2:12am . . . it was SO dark and very few street lights. We were told it would take us any where from 2 hours to 3 hours to get to Sedona from Carefree . . . it was only 100 miles so we had no clue who to believe. Being late was not an option as we had to be in the parking lot of Bashas' Grocery Store at 4:45am sharp or be left. Long story short we arrived at 3:47am (only took 1 hour 35 minutes) almost a full hour early and there was NOTHING open in town except a gas station. We sat and waited and complained about being so early . . . we tried unsuccessfully to figure out how to get the top down on the car. We were bored . . . we noticed a guy on a motorcycle pull up to which Marilyn says, "are you an axe murderer?" He laughed at us and drank his coffee. Our pick-up arrived at 4:37 sharp and off we went . . . have you figured it out yet?

Hot Air Ballooning! The photos are a little fuzzy but those specks are left over dirt/dust from the storm earlier in the week. It was so cool . . . I am very scared of heights but not one time did it bother me. Firing it up . . .
. . . and we have lift off . . . my photos are a little blurry because well I was nervous . . .
. . . one of the other balloons in the group . . .
I was so tired but having fun, back on ground, my certificate and a mimosa


We were done with the Hot Air Balloon adventure at 8:15am . . . we went into Bashas' and bought stuff for a picnic lunch. Our plan was to explore the Red Rocks with our first stop being the Chapel of the Holy Cross . . .
. . . and Bell Rock and several others that I have no idea their names. . . we did see one named Snoopy.


It was only 9:30am and we had no where to go until stores started opening at 10 so we drove around . . . we walked around and then departed Sedona with the top down . . .
. . . we had to stop and put it up because it was so bloody hot! Time to head back to The Boulders for a poolside nap.

We relaxed for several hours by the pool and met some interesting characters. Got back to the casita to get ready for dinner . . . was watching the news and found it funny that they have a monsoon alert . . . apparently it was the middle of the monsoon season . . . maybe that explains the good rates. We drove to downtown Scottsdale for dinner. We were sitting outside when 40mph winds hit so we moved indoors so we did not have to eat dirt in our food. We were exhausted so called it a day . . . no critters on the walk back to our place but someone thought it would be hilarious to scare me; SO not funny my friend.