| Upon arriving in Phoenix, the first thing I did was leave town and drive North. Ever wonder where the old hippies are? They're here, north of Phoenix, making bronze bells and trapping tourists. |  |
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In Sedona, I stayed at the Radisson Poco Diablo
Resort. It's actually a few miles outside of town. Very
comfortable, quiet, small golf course and some nice scenery. My room was
big enough to play hockey and included a nice balcony overlooking the
golf course ( guess what I used it for), as well as a fireplace and a Jacuzzi
tub. (maybe in winter it's cool enough to use the fireplace and tub....
but not in August). Actually Sedona weather was beautiful...
around 95. This pic from the hall. I'd stay there again! http://www.radisson.com/sedonaaz A good omen to start the trip: |
| This the Amara Resort where I had originally planned to stay. Very nice, right on the creek. But notice the downtown tourist shops at the top of the view. Definitely a nice place if I had planned to spend my time shopping. Actually, there is a Hyatt which is a nicer location above all of the shops. And, while I'm at it... be very careful about where to stay in Sedona. Many of the hotels look nice in the pictures, but they are right on the road and nothing better than a Motel 8 with a fancy name. |  |
| Everyone goes to Sedona to see the rocks and desert. Lots of beautiful homes, lots of tourists, lots of money. But the views are free (mostly) and smart people do more hiking and less shopping. | |
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The preceding are from my hike up towards the Cathedral Rock Vortex. No I didn't go all the way up. Finally realized it was a little steep for me to do alone in tennis shoes. Damn, I must be getting wiser in my old age! |
| Did I mention that I took a jeep tour? No not one of
those ubiquitous and nasty Pink-Jeep Tours. I used an outfit called
Earth Wisdom Tours. Mostly Native Americans. As the marketing director
said while I was chatting with her, most of their guides are Native Americans
who had been with the company for a long time. One of the guides
standing nearby explained it was because their parole officer owned the
company.
I do recommend them. Contact Pat and ask her to set up a special tour. I chose the sunset vortex tour. Yes you can have a fun rough ride if you want... but these are jeeps, so even the gentle rides are dusty and bouncy. http://www.earthwisdomjeeptours.com/ O.K. so here's the best part. My tour guide Hoji is most probably a free spirit that got a little too much freedom. A friendly lady who's knowledge was boundless and surpassed only by her ability to mix Native American legend, science, mysticism, and metaphysics into a never ending dialog. She identified plants by their scientific name, common name, Native American name, added half a dozen uses for the plant and probably had microscope slides in her backpack. Rocks, geology, plate tectonics, earth's magnetic field shifting were all just part of her normal conversation. I wouldn't go with a different tour guide unless it was one of the Native Americans to the Medicine Wheel tour. She was awesome! |
The best part was her interaction with the other guests. Oh yes.. I had company. Fortunately it was just two ladies form LA (they say they can put 7 guests in the jeep but I don't believe it) . So what's with older ladies who hold themselves together with makeup and polyester pants? [Not sure I really want to hear an explanation.] These two were really outside the warp field and into some form of energy (I suspect antimatter). They had a great time with Hoji exploring the meaning and power of the vortex, crystals and magnetism as it relates to just about everything. Needless to say, I just enjoyed the ride and kept my mouth shut. (Note to Mr. Pierce, leave your logic at home... if it sounds good, it must be true, just go with the flow grasshopper). Don't get me wrong, I had a great tour guide and other guests who were into enjoying the experience. I couldn't have hoped for anything better. We had a great time driving around looking at the sights and watching the sun go down over the rocks. I'd do it again in a minute. |
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A coyote family serenaded us The Trickster of Hopi Legend A trick to lure us beyond reality? A trick to scare us away from ancient truths? A sign I think, |
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On the way back to Phoenix from Sedona I detoured past the Hohokam ruin at Tuzigoot. Interesting farming culture, building freestanding buildings rather than living on the cliffs like their neighbors. |
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A surprised Road Runner paused long enough to tribble tribble at me before running and jumping over the edge. I'm sure I saw him stick his tongue out! |
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I stayed as far north of Phoenix as I could and still be
in the metro area. Carefree used to be a long way from the town.
Now it's on the edge. Nicely landscaped hotel, beautiful lobby but a
dinky little room!
The best part was that it was on the edge of the desert and I managed to take a 3-mile hike into the Saguaro cactus. Following are some pics from the hike and around the hotel landscaping. |
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 Don't touch these things!!!!!!! I accidentally brushed against one and got thorns all the way through the leather in my shoe. |
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| No the desert isn't empty nor quiet. It's just that if you
move, nothing else does and if you make noise, everything else stops to
listen.
The desert is only quiet if no one is
listening. Opposite is a watcher waiting for me to pass. On the trail, you can find him by feeling his stare and following it back to the source. View the full size image and you may see him staring at you. Hint, he has long ears and a fluffy tail... can just see his eye glaring at the iterruptor. |
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| Do you know what a dream catcher looks like?
http://www.dreamcatcher.com/customer/home.php I had a living one actually about the size of my hand in the hallway outside my room at the resort the last two nights I was there. Living dream catcher I didn't mind him a bit. |
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I spent my day |
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All of the images and words on Mikey's web site are copyrighted and may not be used or distributed without permission. |
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