A DAY IN BEAUTIFUL SEDONA, ARIZONA

SUNDAY DEC. 2/07
So happy to be rid of the past couple of cloudy & rainy days. The morning dawned clear without a cloud in the sky. We waited until the sun was up awhile & warmed the air before our morning walk. Finally, we are getting a little now older & a little now smarter:))

Headed off for Sedona around 11. Nice 20 minute scenic drive to what I think is one of the prettiest towns & have ever seen. Sedona is ringed by beautifully colored mountains & huge rock formations. The first thing I noticed as we drove into Sedona was that there are no tall buildings & the second thing I became aware of was the colors of the buildings themselves. It's obvious that a lot of thought & planning went into Sedona to make it a "pleasing to the eye" kind of town. The buildings, sidewalks, curbs, walls etc are all colored the same as the surrounding mountains. Beiges, browns, topes, tans, sand colors & red rocks tints are used in everything. I only saw one white house & it stood out like a sore thumb. The east side of Sedona is very commercialized but it's commercialized in a very nice way. The architecture of the buildings, the many statues, the old west flavor, artsy shoppes, cafe's, high end hotels, restaurants, gift shoppes, plaza's, it's all there & it all fits to-gether to make one of the prettiest towns in one of the most beautiful settings I have ever seen. Yes, the shoppes are pricey, & a cup of coffee can set you back $1.85, & there are some flim flam time share bandits trying to talk you into time share deals but overall, Sedona is a beautiful place & a "must see" for anyone in the area. Reminded me a little of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The commercialism in Sedona however, is done with taste & respect for the traveling public & most of all, in respect to the beautiful mountain terrain that Sedona is such a part of. They have done such a fine job of blending the town into it's environment.

We spent about 6 hours in & around Sedona to-day & were actually in & out of the town 3 different times as we explored up & down surrounding canyon roads, suburbs, & main highways. Didn't get a lot of hiking in but it was just one of those days to do something different.............and we did:)) WEB ALBUM...http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy