Sedona: One of the Most Beautiful Places on Earth

It was blogging from Sedona because the internet was extremely slow! But I wanted to check in and say hello! How are you? I hope you are having a fabulous September week!

I hadn’t been to Arizona since Scottsdale, so I was pumped for this trip! We arrived in Arizona on Wednesday and headed to our hotel, the Orchards Inn, in the heart of Sedona. You can NOT beat the view. We found the place on Google and decided to go with it according to good reviews on Yelp.

They were right on. At about $200/night, it was worth it for a view like this out our back door:

We were immediately pleased with our choice! The room was spacious, with a fireplace (not that we need that right now), a very comfortable, King size bed and couch. Thank goodness our gamble worked out.

Day #1: We headed to the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a highly sought tourist destination. It was, as you can imagine, beautiful.

Thankfully, the weather has been great for us. After that, we found a random trail on the side road and hiked for about an hour up some steep rocks. We were just raring to get started! Here are a few photos from that little adventure:

That night, we had dinner at TAOS Cantina, a Mexican restaurant right in front of our hotel. The food was pretty good (chips and salsa were amazing although they charged you $5 for them, which I found to be a downer) and the drinks were also good. I had a jalapeno margarita — I’m always a sucker for things that are made with jalapeno. The service left a little to be desired but okay overall.

After dinner, we stopped by The Sedona Fudge Company and holy goodness, do NOT miss this place if you visit. I hadn’t had fudge in years but this turned my taste buds around. They had every kind you can think of. I went with Triple Chocolate because it’s “like dark chocolate” according to the person working. Rick got Cookies n’ Cream and we went back the next night too. I’m thinking they will also get a visit today!

Day #2: First, we woke up ready to go do a little workout at the local gym (no CrossFit gyms, boo!) but had a little snafu there so Rick created our own personal hotel room WOD of:

• Pyramid push-ups/sit-ups from 1-10 and down again. 
• 4 down and back wheel barrow crawls
• 4 sets of 10 elevated diamond push-ups

Then, we were ready to hike big time. At a local woman’s suggestion, we went to the Crescent Moon trail that took us to Cathedral Rock, one of the most photographed places in the world. Unfortunately, I was the stupid one who decided I didn’t want to lug my nice camera on the trails so I didn’t get anything other than with my iPhone.

It was a gorgeous trail and certainly a sight to see. We got so high and I was absolutely amazed by the natural beauty on every side of me. I have only seen the red rocks and mountains in photos and they are much more glorious in real. Honestly, no photo could do this justice.

After that hike, we grabbed the camera and went to the trail that lead to the famous “Devil’s Bridge,” a rock formation high up in the mountains that extends out over a very high drop. You can walk out on the bridge and it’s a bit scary! It’s less scary when you are actually on the rock because it’s pretty wide but from the side or a distance, it looks like you are really risking your life!

I actually looked up how many people die on it each year. It wasn’t a lot but a 53-year-old woman did die just his April after slipping on some rocks on the side while watching her husband take a photo of their daughter on the bridge. Awful! There were some young guys running around on it while we were there and it freaked us out completely.

We accidentally went the long way on that so I figure we ended up walking at least 10 miles that day — probably more. It felt GREAT to workout. Believe it or not, I was actually wearing my Reebok CrossFit sandals that I love more than life — and they were great. Yes, I hiked a mountain in sandals, it’s true.

We were so exhausted after that day and headed to the Olde Sedona Bar and Grill for a local beer before eating dinner at Oaxaca Mexican Restaurant. I had the shredded chicken quesadillas and thought they were really good but Rick wasn’t a huge fan of his meal. We both agreed the chips and salsa were way better at TAOS.

The next day, we were up early again — so hard not to be with the beautiful weather, plus that we are three hours behind the East here. This time, we went do the Bell Rock Trail for a simple path with some major climbing.

We visited Snap Fitness later in the day to pump some iron. I never get to workout with Rick so I was glad to do it for once. He lifts reeeallly heavy and I lift verrrry puny so there was quite a difference — but he knows what he is doing and helps me with form.

Then, we went to Montezuma Castle, which are homes preserved from the 1400s! The homes (and castle) were made within the mountain walls and you can see the “windows” and where people lived. We caught some other good photos as well.

Later that day, we took a scenic drive through the southern part of Sedona and stopped at a cute little place (wish I could remember the name!) on the side of the road for local draft beer at only $3 — a bargain. It was a beautiful backyard setting and we sat soaking it in until returning to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

After dinner, I checked out the Black Cow Cafe for some ice cream. I got espresso fudge (I think) and it was amazing! They did have a specialty ice cream called Prickly Pear — didn’t sound like my idea of good but certainly a novelty.

Day #3: Saturday we were up super early to drive from Sedona to Sierra Vista and Tombstone. Tombstone is a pretty well-known old Western town — a movie was based on it and it’s symbolic of all the old Western films. They have play gun fights and lots of folks are dressed up like its the 1800s.

We passed by the famous Big Nose Kate’s bar, as well as the OK Corral and a few other notable spots. It was cool to see it and say I’ve been there but I’d say we only stuck around for about an hour.

Later that evening, we took a 6-mile walk around Sierra Vista, where Rick spent a lot of his childhood. The majestic beauty of those mountains as dusk falls is indescribable. I’m so not used to being around the mountains so I was just in awe. The air was clean and it felt good to just be in nature so much this week.

It was also great to get a chance to see where Rick grew up, see his high school and all kinds of stuff that helped me get to know him even better. It was perfect weather and a wonderful end to our trip. We packed a lot into four days but I’m so glad we took this trip. I would recommend Sedona to anyone — especially if you want an action-packed, healthy vacation!

Good-bye, Arizona 😉