Twenty-four Hours in Sedona, AZ

So Ren and I broke a 4 year streak of not being able to be alone together for more than 2 hours (or less!) at a time last weekend and went away on what one of my friends calls a "Love Trip". We were given a free stay at the Hilton Resort and Spa in Sedona, AZ for Saturday night through the Executive MBA program at ASU (because Ren teaches in the program and they do all kinds of perks for the Exec MBA's). I had no idea what we were going to do with the kids until I bought a "weekend of babysitting your kids" from a member of our church in a Youth Fundraising Auction a few months ago. I think the person selling this item had envisioned someone's cute little 4 year-old and 2 year-old running around her house because her kids are older and she misses holding little ones. Instead she got 5 stinky, loud boys, one beautiful teenage girl and one cranky baby/toddler dude who won't go to ANYONE except his mama (okay, maybe a sibling under duress). But she was game and we were desperate so it worked out well for all.

We got up fairly early Saturday morning to make the drive up into the mountains 2 hours away and we spent the afternoon wandering around the quaint Uptown section of Sedona with it's touristy shops, restaurants and art galleries. Ren and I love looking at all kinds of art (if we ever had to buy anything we wouldn't be able to because we'd never agree on something we both loved and would be willing to spend 1000's of dollars on.) But lucky for us, we were just window shopping the art world of Sedona (and saying all the time, "My mom can paint so much better than this!" which is true of my mom compared to so many artists we saw.) We accidentally found the Sedona Arts Center building which not only held paintings and such on exhibit, but also had studios where they held classes and a real "pottery barn" where they had a student ceramics exhibit amongst the pottery wheels and tables. It smelled and felt so arty, it just did my heart good! I'm dying to go back there some day with my mom, the artist, and take some classes. What a great art community!

When we got hungry we went to this little Mexican restaurant called the Oaxaca Rooftop Cantina. It looked cute and the menu said it was planned by a dietician, which sounded good for our new healthy eating kick. I guess the store bought salsa that came with the chips should have tipped us off that things wouldn't be all they claimed to be, but being temporarily intoxicated by the fat in the chips (it's been a long time since we ate chips...) we ignored the warning signs and looked at the menu. Listed in the appetizers, one of the "healthy" choices, a grilled Cactus Paddle served with a tomato and cheese sauce, sounded funky and interesting so we ordered it along with fish tacos and a salad of grilled chicken, jicama, oranges and tomato with a low-fat vinaigrette dressing. So they serve us our Cactus Paddle (this tiny pathetic looking thing swimming in a sea of sauce) and we each take a bite and go "Ewww!" It was sour and weird and nasty. But, hoping that maybe we'd get used to the taste (or maybe just having seen to many episodes of Bizarre Foods on Food Network) we keep eating it, torturing ourselves with each mouth puckering bite. Ren ate more than me, but even he had to give up and admit it was just gross. I tried to get the taste out of my mouth with the last of the store-bought salsa, but it didn't work very well. Then came the rest of the food which was overcooked, under-ripe, canned or just plain bland. None of it was good and definitely not worth the money we paid, but at least it was mostly healthy (why doesn't that make it seem better?) So much for yummy eating out.

We were pretty exhausted by this point, since we got up so early, so we postponed our planned hike until the morning and went back to check into the hotel and see what was there. We got a King Suite with living room, dinette area and fireplace and a teeny tiny little patio overlooking picturesque bushes which almost succeeded in camoflaging the parking lot on the other side. It had a nice view of the cliffs though and the weather was beautiful. We checked out the pools (one "quiet" with no children allowed and a bigger one for families). We chatted with a few of Ren's students who were starting to arrive (and drink)and then we hung out in our room and enjoyed the luxury of watching a movie in the afternoon and taking a nap. (When was the last time that happened at our house?)

That night was a dinner for all of the ASU MBA people (students, faculty, alumni) etc. where the food, I'm happy and sad to report, was MUCH tastier but much less healthy. I'm hoping that what I ate in Sedona stays in Sedona because I haven't seen a chocolate cake in a long time and it was too much for me to resist! We had a leisurely dinner with some of the students and their spouses and then headed back to our room around nine, declining their invite to a nearby bar. (They had apparently been drinking most of the day, how do you keep drinking into the night too? I just don't get it...) All I remember about the rest of the night is reading one page of an Agathe Christy novel that I brought and falling asleep with my neck in a strange position, ouch!

In the morning, we woke up at 6:00 a.m. to hike nearby Bell Rock. It was a gorgeous morning and we took our time on the way up the trail with me stopping to take pictures every few steps or so. Ren has come to expect this of me, so he happily carried my water and waited while I took 80+ pictures of the surrounding area. I made a powerpoint slideshow of my favorite pics which I'm hoping to be able to post with this, but we'll see how technologically savvy I am. A couple of hours later, we made our way back to the car with perfect timing as the trail was just starting to fill up with people. We went back to our room, cleaned up, ate breakfast and then drove back home in time for church at 1:30 p.m. (okay, not ON TIME, somehow we never manage to make it to church on time.) It was Zach's 16th birthday so before we left for church I got a roast in the oven and prepared stuff to make him fruit pizza. I'll do a little post on his birthday separate from this.

Sedona is one of those places you discover that becomes a little oasis in the desert of Life. I'm hoping to take the family back and really be able to explore all the hiking and beauty there, since we just scratched the surface in our wonderful 28 hours away.