Celebrating 18 years of marriage in Sedona. 

We hiked, ate, and explored for five wonderful days.  

Hikes:

• Soldier’s Pass Trail – This was our first hike Friday morning.  Our bodies naturally woke up early, so even after breakfast out at The Coffee Pot, we were on the trail by 8:50 and that included catching the short shuttle from the Soldier’s Pass Trail parking lot to the trailhead.   The hike was easy to moderate most the way…it got steep towards the end.  A cave was the destination, which was pretty neat.   We took a short detour on the return trip to make our hike a little longer…it was just us and nature…pretty serene and peaceful. 

• Devil’s Bridge Trail – A popular hike for sure.  Devil’s Bridge itself was spectacular.  The line to take a picture on it was over an hour long…neither Justin nor I had interest in risking our lives for such a picture, so we watched others do it for a few minutes. 

• Boynton Canyon Trail and Vortex Vista – This was our longest hike at 8 miles.  We first explored the Vortex Vista and I’m telling you I felt the energy (or peace), whether from the vortex or simply being that high up in nature, not sure…but it was peaceful.  The hike to Boynton Canyon was the most secluded, passing some people early on in the hike and less as we got closer to the end. It was an overcast day when we hiked, and we were shaded by trees much of the time. The hike took around three hours, less time than we anticipated.  Since we got an early start on our hike, we were done with the hike by about 11:15 SO we decided to do one shorter hike. 

• Fay Canyon – This short 1.7 easy hike was just a 15-minute walk from the Boynton Canyon trailhead so we decided to do it to add a little more mileage to our hiking.  I’m so glad we did.  We ended up hiking over 10 miles in five hours.  I had my all-time best step day at 35,300 steps! 

Food:

For not being much of a “foodie” town, Justin and I ate delicious food.

• Rock Springs Café – Our first stop on our 2-hour drive from the Phoenix airport to Sedona.  Right off the side of the road, this place is well known for its pie, which it ships nationwide.  The pulled pork was good, but I can only guess the people come for the pie and not the pulled pork.  On the way out, we could smell the pies…I wish I could have packaged up the smell….so sweet, delicate, and sinful.

• The Hudson – Great first dinner spot.  Justin and I shared the Street Corn Bruschetta for appetizer.  Delicious!  Justin ordered the chicken pot pie, one of their specialties.  It was comforting, piping hot, humongous, and delicious.  I ordered the Sesame Seared Ahi Tuna Salad…also humungous, satisfying, and delicious.  

• The Coffee Pot – We ate here Friday morning AND Sunday morning.  The location was a 5-minute walk from our hotel.  Home of 101 omelets and order by number.  A full coffee pot left at our table.  A side of cottage cheese as an option with the omelet AND toast…yes please!  Yummy and reasonably priced.  

• Café Jose – We ate here for lunch.   A local no frills Mexican and American joint the shopping center over from our hotel.  I got the beef taco salad, and Justin got a chicken quesadilla.  A solid lunch. 

• Dahl and DiLuca – We had reservations at this special occasion Italian restaurant for over a month. We honestly felt “fooded out” but we couldn’t cancel without a charge, and we wouldn’t have been able to get a reservation another evening, so we went and we were so glad we did.  This is probably one of the best Italian restaurants that I have ever eaten at.  The service and food both stellar.  We shared an appetizer of burrata, mushrooms, artichokes, arugula, Marcona almonds, and grilled focaccia.  Every bite was mouthwatering and the presentation beautiful.  I had one of their specialties pollo al rosmarino (chicken breast sauteed with pancetta, mushrooms, onions, rosemary-marsala, with gnocchi primavera.  Heaven.  Justin had the halibut special with spinach.  So good.  This was our introduction to chef Lisa Dahl who owns six restaurants in Sedona.  They gave us a special Neapolitan ice cream covered in chocolate shell. Delicious!!!  Truly a stellar meal.

• Pisa Lisa – Knowing that Pisa Lisa not only had great ratings, but also that it was one of Chef Lisa Dahl’s restaurants where we ate Friday night, we decided to go there for lunch after our Saturday hike.  We shared a mouthwatering kale Caesar and grilled chicken salad and pesto chicken mozzarella pizza.  We also had a few beers…Wren House Spellbinder Hazy IPA – Prescott – a fantastic hazy sweaty beer!  I haven’t had a beer in a long time so it was definitely a treat!  There was a framed signed Messi jersey framed.  Bonus was that this restaurant was right across the street from our hotel.  We went back a second time for a beer before our late dinner reservations Sunday night (and to take a picture of Messi’s jersey since I forgot to the day prior).

• Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill – This is another one of Lisa Dah’s restaurants where reservations are often booked a month in advance.  Even booking almost a month in advance, 8:15 was the earliest dinner reservation I could get. We had patio seating and there was some light rain in the late afternoon so I was a little worried…turns out their patio is a heated enclosed space.  We shared the empanadas.  We got the wild card special which was chorizo and potato.  They were good but I was left wondering what the beef and the mushroom and cheese empanadas tasted like.  For my main course, I ordered the Pollo Rustico, wood roasted chicken breast with lemon curry, and rosemary au jus on Spanish pilaf rice.  I don’t order chicken entrées out much but it was so good at the Italian restaurant that I had a good feeling about it. It was exceptional.  Justin got the skirt steak…delicious as well.  For our anniversary, they gave us a scoop of vanilla ice-cream covered in praline…so yummy!

• Sunset 89 – We ate here for lunch in Page, AZ after visiting Antelope Canyon.  There were a handful of restaurants that were on the recommended list we had.  All appeared to have ok food.  I didn’t expect it to be as great as the food in Sedona, but I did expect it be good.  My house salad with chicken was $28…it was gross, I couldn’t even eat half the chicken.  After we left, I saw a McDonalds and a Subway…both would have been far better choices. 

• Butterfly Burger – Another one of Lisa Dahl’s restaurants…specializing in burgers.  I got a burger with pesto, melted burrata, and San Marzano tomatoes on a toasted brioche bun. It was one of the best burgers I have ever had.  Justin had one with guac, bacon, and chipotle cream sauce…delicious as well. 

• Safeway – Safeway was right next door to our hotel so we went there and a few mornings made ourselves Greek yogurt bowls with banana and berries since three meals out a day was too much.  We also stocked up on jerky for our snacks on our hikes. 

• Whole Foods – I couldn’t stay away!  We stopped here for lunch after our long hike Sunday needing a break from a meal “out”.

Excursions:

• Pink Jeep Tour – We opted to do a Pink Jeep Tour late Saturday afternoon.  We chose the Broken Arrow 2-hour bumpy tours with stops at Submarine Rock and Chicken Point.  Wild Bill was our tour guide, and he was a great tour guide!  The scenery and the 360-degree views were stunning…pictures don’t even capture the true feeling of experiencing the views in person.

• Chapel of the Holy Cross – A catholic chapel constructed in 1956 built directly into the Red Rocks.  While they still do hold services, it is a popular tourist destination.  We had to circle the parking lot a few times before finding a spot.  The chapel itself is pretty small.  The glass window and Jesus on the cross were stunning. 

• Antelope Canyon – Three hours north in Page, Arizona, sits Antelope Canyon in Navajo Nation.  We debated if it was worth it to spend six hours in the car on our trip just to see this.  We decided with having three full days in Sedona it was worth it.  We chose to do the tour of Lower Antelope Canyon since the views and light are great no matter what time of day and in October, whereas Upper Antelope Canyon has a much smaller window of season and time of day where the light is good.  We were in the canyon for over an hour, took a ton of pictures, did not feel rushed, and were surprised when we exited the canyon that all that was truly underground.  It was truly spectacular. 

• Horeshoe Bend – A horseshoe shaped meander of the Colorado River, located a few miles away from Antelope Canyon.  The overlook is less than a mile walk to the overlook. The overlook is spectacular…..its 4,200 above sea level and the Colorado River is at 3,200 above sea level, making it a 1,000 foot drop….needless to say, I did not get too close to the edge. 

Hotel:

We stayed at The Wilde Resort in West Sedona.  Would I stay there again.  Maybe. But now that I am more familiar with the area and where I would want to stay and be close to (West Sedona area and walking distance to a few restaurants and a grocery store is nice), I would find a place that has the best value.  The resort was a 4 star, but I felt like the service was missing.  And the gym was disappointing.  It had two treadmills, one bike, one elliptical, one weight bench and one rack of weights.  It was more like a closet and more than three people working out of a time, would have probably been over capacity.  I could have looked up what the gym was like in advance, but I like some element of surprise, and I assumed a resort and spa would have had a proper working gym.  

Car Rental: 

We rented a car – absolutely the best way to get around especially since Sedona is a two-hour drive from the Phoenix airport, where we flew in.  While Flagstaff is significantly closer, there are no direct flights from home to Flagstaff.  Arizona car rental and airport taxes are some of the highest in the country!  Note for future!

Flight:

Our flight was 4.5 hours.  We departed early right after breakfast at home. I wore my new comfy Aerie sweatpants, took my Dramamine, and slept much of the flight.  Note for future flights, they don’t serve a meal….not that I needed a meal, but surprising since it was a 4.5-hour flight.  I was thankful I made the decision to buy some overpriced turkey jerky at the airport. 

Now that Justin and I have been hiking out West in three different states (Colorado, Utah, and Arizona), we often find ourselves comparing.  And it is so hard…. each state is so beautiful.  Sedona is truly spectacular….it’s a little more spread out than I anticipated, but the views and food were amazing. 

Colorado probably wins our heart, with Utah a close second.  Sedona though, I would go back to as well.  We saw so many older people on the trails….Justin and I want to continue to hike and take these types of trips.  The craziest part is that in just a few years, my parents won’t need to watch the girls.  They will be old enough to stay home themselves!

Where will we go next????