Sedona and 'first Saturday'......NOT!

Monday started off kind of slow, but finally around 11:30 we decided to drive into Sedona for the afternoon.  Normally I would call Monday first Saturday, but we both forgot something important about this particular Monday, which would have immediately disqualified it from being called first Saturday.......

Have you ever wondered where the name 'Sedona' came from?  According to AZCentral.com Sedona was the name of the first postmaster's wife whose full name was Sedona Schnebly.....somehow Schnebly just does not seem to go with Sedona.  Some speculate it means expensive restaurants, spas, and hotels, and I would have to agree, especially on this St. Valentine's weekend.....even the thrift shops were pricey!  Well whatever the meaning I cannot imagine another name that would remotely capture the beauty of this place.

Speaking of 'beauty'....look at the gams on that lady!

Everywhere one turns in and around Sedona is another 'picture postcard' view.  On a clear day like Monday the colors just popped.

We decided to take the bikes into Sedona, find a place to park, and then just ride around seeing everything along the main drag.  Before we got into town proper we took a short detour to Red Rock State Park.....interesting, but way over priced at $10/person.  There are so many places to hike and/or bike that are free around the area that paying $20 for just a view seems a little over the top.  This did not seem to stop the four Prevost passenger buses crammed full of young Chinese tourists from forking over their money.  When we arrived in the park it was literally swarming with a few hundred of these kids, but within a few minutes they were back on their buses headed off to another overpriced adventure.

Red Rocks State Park

 The 'free' views

We found a parking spot a the local Walgreen's, unloaded the bikes and began riding.  Of course, we had both forgotten that this past weekend was not only Valentine's weekend, but was also President's Day weekend........the triple dog whammy.......and the town was extremely crowded with above average vehicle and pedestrian traffic.  So, in short, this particular Monday bore no resemblance to what we have come to define 'first Saturday'.

We had planned to stop into Oak Creek Brewing Company  (one of our favorites from last year) for a latish lunch, and some brews, but they did not open until 4 pm......nuts!  Around 2 pm I was getting hungry, and figured if we were going to eat a late lunch we might as well do it in a place with a view.  Open Range Grill and Tavern offered such a view....we would have sat outside, but there was long waiting list for those tables.  On the positive side they did have one of my favorite Oak Creek brews on tap.....Oak Creek Amber, so I ordered a pint of that and a plate of Chicken Quesadilla's.....TLE was not too hungry and just ordered a bowl of their Corn Chowder, which she thoroughly enjoyed.  I thought the quesadilla's were quite good, as well as the service, but Yelp only gives this place 2.5 stars.  I would give them at least 3.5, but that's just me.

The view from our lunch spot

As we rode back to pick up our car I couldn't help but stop and take more pictures while I waited for TLE to catch up......we had to climb a 1 mile hill at about 5% grade to get back to Walgreen's.....wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

We were home by 5 after making a few stops in Cottonwood for a few miscellaneous items such as a color ink cartridge for our HP printer/scanner, two extra keys for that cool lock I got at the Wittmann flea market a few weeks ago (Ace Hardware), & some AA batteries.

The sun was dipping below the local mountains as we unpacked, and I was able to capture a pretty good picture of our 4th Cottonwood sunset.

Thanks for stopping by!