Searching for my lost shaker of salt.....

We have been enjoying our time exploring Sedona, a beautiful, well-off city surrounded by lovely vistas. It is an upscale version of Moab, a little expensive for our tastes but certainly a nice place to spend a few days in. Yesterday we visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed Catholic church built into the mountain rock in 1956. It still looks modern today. After that we did a strenuous 3 km hike up to Cathedral Rock which overlooks Sedona. Many rock toe-holds were required on the scrambling ascent and Rhonda managed it well. She is back to normal, confirmed by her desire following the hike to go shopping for some local Indian crafts.

Today we left early in the morning to head into the Oak Creek Canyon which had a highly recommended hiking trail, the West Fork Trail. We were advised to go either early in the morning or late in the day because the limited parking (50 spots) filled up quickly and a car wait line for open spots started shortly after 9 am and lasted most of the day. Our 7:45 am arrival netted us a parking spot and we had breakfast in the van before departing on the trail. The 11 km (return) hike was spectacular. It followed a creek through a canyon with 13 different creek crossings, stepping or jumping across rocks in order to keep our feet dry. The canyon floor supported some small maple and oak trees so the contrasting red, orange and yellow leaf colours against the red and white rock canyon walls (sandstone and granite) was pleasing to the eye. By the time we returned to the van in the early afternoon there were plenty of cars waiting for our parking spot so it was fortunate that we had spoken with other travellers and made the decision to arrive early.

Tomorrow we will start heading towards Las Vegas where we will hook up with our Calgary friends on Friday. Our next report will be sometime after the week-end Jimmy Buffet concert when we have all recovered :-)