Sharing My Joy!

Join the Fun Katherine’s Corner!

 

 

I love Sedona, Arizona!  It is a beautiful little place. I am thrilled that I get to live here about 7 months out of the year and can’t wait to be here year round!!  Many people have labeled this little town with different descriptions.  “Treasure of the Southwest”  “Little Grand Canyon”  and most commonly “Red Rock Country”.  Sedona, Arizona is surrounded by beautiful Red Rocks, the picture of above is Bell Rock, the most famous formation.  Technically,  the Bell Rock formation is located in The Village of Oak Creek but the two areas are so close that most people connect The Village or VOC both nicknames for The Village of Oak Creek with Sedona.  In addition, The Village has many other Red Rock formations therefore it is a delightful place to live or stay while visiting Sedona!   The Village is roughly 6 or 7 miles from Sedona.  You must take Highway 179 between The Village of Oak Creek and Sedona Highway 89A.  It is the most beautiful scenic drive!  I get to drive it ALL THE TIME!! Lucky me!! Oh, and another awesome drive is Highway 89A heading North to Flagstaff, it is a must!! Another drive I do often since my daughter is attending Northern Arizona University and it is located in Flagstaff, lucky her!!

If you asked me where to stay while visiting Sedona, I would say,if you don’t mind driving then definitely stay in The Village and my favorite place is Bell Rock Inn!  It is reasonable and The Village is beautiful!!  If you are looking for a secluded resort,well, Sedona has that too.  Enchantment Resort!  It is gorgeous, secluded and they will pamper you!!  Of course Sedona is a tourist haven and you can find it all! Come and take a Jeep Tour, that is a  must, if you spend your money on one tourist thingy, it has to be a JEEP tour!! Definitely Hike yourself, they have all levels of hikes, visit a psychic,browse the galleries and soak up the sky and sun!! Sedona is the perfect place to unwind!!

Things to keep in mind!  Sedona, Arizona is NOT WARM/HOT all year round.  I know people hear ARIZONA and they tend to think Desert,  Phoenix and HOT.  Sedona is located at approximately 4500 feet!  It sits between the Desert to the South (think Phoenix) and the Mountains to the North (think Flagstaff, and Flagstaff is a SKI RESORT TOWN) Therefore, the Sedona experiences some interesting weather!!

On record the highest temperature reached 112 degrees but that is not TYPICAL.  In the summer, Sedona typically stays in the 90′s and taps out around 105 degrees.  The wettest months are July and August, the monsoon months.  If you are from the Midwest or my Home state OHIO, it is still a JOKE, the amount of precipitation all year doesn’t even come close to what we get in OHIO. What Sedona gets in a year, we easily get in a month LOL.   HERE IS WHAT I LOVE!!! 82%  of its days are SUNSHINE.  Did you see that? 82%, in OHIO it is the opposite, we 82% grey days!!  Sedona does have a day here or there of snow, it usually melts by the afternoon but it is beautiful on the Red Rocks.  Overall, know what you are looking for when you come to visit. Check out A Day in the West for some fun! And, it is where I got some of my background information!!

Notice we are wearing shorts and the Fall colors are beautiful. It is the end of October and still very warm!! Oh and remember,  it is the Southwest so the colors are not as vibrant as the New England or Midwest areas but it definitely is not PHOENIX and brown!

And a Winter Hike!

As you can see we are wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.  It is a little cooler in the winter.  Early January!!

But beautiful!!

As you can tell we LOVE to HIKE!! It is important to note that we read and follow the HIKER suggestions.  Hiking is dangerous and I am sorry to say many tourist do not follow the advice of all the HIKING GUIDES and therefore they meet tragic ends.  Recently, just this past Fall, a young 21 year old man died while hiking in Sedona.  His family was here on vacation and they did everything that you are NOT SUPPOSE TO DO.  Oh, how I felt so bad for the family and my heat broke when I heard the news.

Listen,NEVER and I MEAN NEVER HIKE  ALONE.  The young man went off alone thinking he was safe because he had his cellphone.  Please,for the love of GOD, remember your cellphone is not a substitution for a REAL LIVE person.  Tourist think because the trails are so well developed and used often that they are safe.  (oh and men seem to have a tendency to think they are invincible or they know more than the experts,ugh)

Hiking is hiking.  The Red Rock Country is beautiful because they have kept it BEAUTIFUL and untouched (well as much as possible) meaning it is really wilderness.  Many times cell service is lost.  In addition it is easy to get twisted, even on the most developed trail.  It is nice to have someone with you.   We always bring a trail guide book  and study the trail before we go.  We bring a ton of water and some food, SALTY FOOD.  Peanuts and pretzels.  In addition, I bring a flashlight, and a small first aid kit.  We never go close to sunset but just in case I still have the flashlight because if we get twisted and lost then we have light.  Tourist forget that the sun goes down fast and there are no CITY LIGHTS.  If you are hiking and are in those Red Rocks without light, oh, my gosh.  Please, if you choose to hike follow all the suggestions and if you get lost DO NOT WALK while talking on your phone (if you manage to get service), one misstep and you are DEAD.  The rocks are beautiful but when you are lost they become deadly.  I don’t write this part to scare you.  I write it because I read about too many deaths.  It seems every year Sedona loses a few tourist to the beautiful rocks and that is sad.  Come for the beauty but please heed all the advice of the experts because you still are going into nature! Oh, and don’t hike your first day.  Most tourist forget the elevation and they forget that on most hikes there is a fair amount of climbing.  Chances are you are not use to the elevation and this can cause problems while hiking.  Wait a day or even two if possible.  Do your shopping first!!! Or take a Jeep ride, there is plenty to do!!

Next week I will give you fun shopping tips!! Please feel free to email me if you have any questions about Sedona, I will try to help you.  I love it here!!

Have a wonderful vacation place to share?

P.S. the places I shared above have no clue I shared.  In other words I have received nothing from no one.  I just have experienced the places myself and thought I would pass on my first hand knowledge of them to you!

 

Tagged as: Arizona, Bell Rock, My dream place, NaBloPoMo, Red Rocks, Sedona, Vacations