Sedona … the land of the red rock

July 8 2008 – Tuesday (Hot, Dry 100’s)

The decision last night was to go to Sedona today. Sedona is an area in Arizona that has plenty of Red Mesa’s that leap out at you as you drive through the area. The elevation is about 5000 feet as compared to Phoenix’s 1000 feet. We took the Meads mini-van and off we went about 10am. As we drove, we saw many Segoran Desert cactus. These are the famous cactus that one sees in desert paintings and photographs.
The road up to Sedona was filled with cactus. They thrive in Phoenix area because of the heat. Remember it is now about 100 degrees out. The drive was nothing spectacular until we approached Sedona. One thing I noticed on the drive was all of the creeks, rivers ad draws. Here’s a picture of one creeks.
Notice that there is no river! It is dried up. This is mostly the case in summer but when there is a rain, it usually rains hard and this dry riverbed will flow like a normal river. I have come to know these dry river beds as draws, creeks, and rivers. The landscape changed as we increased in elevation. At about 5000 feet, no more senoran cactus. Only prickly pear cactus. Trees became part of the scenery. We had not see real trees since leaving New Orleans. The temperature decreased from 100+ to 90+. We began to see the large mesas in Sedona. They were bright red and again the blue sky was breath taking.

The buildings were built to camouflage them in with the scenery. The architects did a very good job. Not all the buildings were that way but most were. As we entered the middle of town, we parked the van and went to buy lunch. We sat out on a patio overlooking the mesa. This was my first introduction to mesas. The Midwest is full of them especially Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. The Indians used them to build housing and to grow crops especially corn. They populated these areas since about 550 BC and still do today according to archeological digs.

After lunch we looked for something to do. Jim and I thought a Jeep tour would be a good idea so we checked in with Red Rock Jeep tours. The 4x4 wrangler fit all 7 of us. We went on the more rocky terrain to entertain the boys. As we drove onto the rocky trail, we pulled over for some beautiful photos.

We had a little dispute about the history of Sedona with Bro. Mead. So my kids took matters into their own hands. Bro. Jim gave up. Even Daniel agreed with us!

We went to see the seven sacred pools next. Here is one of the few places in the desert where water can be found. We then went to the “Devil’s kitchen” It was named this by locals who heard a very loud crash and a lot of smoke. When they reached this stop, they had found that a large part of one mesa had caved in. Because of the water in between the rock and the cavity it left when it dried up, the rock slab above it became to heavy and caved in on itself. We also learned about the one-way bush. It is called this because when a horseback rider would fall onto one of these plants, it was a one-way trip. The leaves on these plants are very sturdy (like rock) and have a very sharp black needle at the end. Natives used them for sewing. If you fell on it, you surely were left for dead.We ended the day with some souvenier shopping. Jim indicated the restaurant where Bro. Bob and Bro. Lou had eaten buffalo. I snapped a quick photo of the menu. On the drive back, we were treated to a nice sunset just as we entered Surprise. It was a tiring day and we all were ready to retire. We stayed one more day at Val’s sister’s house.