Day 10 Sedona - Phoenix

We slept in, had a late breakfast and then headed to Phoenix. It was only a couple of hours away and we decided to take our time and get off the interstate for a while. We had heard of the little town of Sedona and decided to stop there on our way. So, from the Grand Canyon Village we headed back to I-40 to Flagstaff and then got onto Alt. 89,  The scenery was beautiful as the road wound around sharp curves heading down, down, down toward the Verde Valley until we were alongside the Oak Creek River.  The rocky hills were so beautiful that we stopped at Slide Rock State Park to take to get out and walk and enjoy the beautiful sites.

A few miles ahead we arrived in Sedona and it sits amidst beautiful red sandstone rocks and hills. The Sinagua and Apache Indian Tribes lived in this area until 1876 when they were forcibly removed and relocated to the San Carlos Indian Reservation about 180 miles away in mid-winter.  At that point the area was settled by Anglo settlers who were ranchers and farmers.  The soil was ideal for apple and peach orchards and then in the 1960s became a tourist area, which it remains today. Many Hollywood westerns were filmed in the area and Sedona referred to itself as "Arizona's Little Hollywood."

We stopped in and walked around the town area.  It was filled with touristy sorts of shops and  art galleries. We stopped in the Sedona Arts Center and then headed to the downtown coffee shop. We sat outside watching people as we drank our coffee. We walked around just a bit more but I'm just not much of a shopper so we drove outside of town toward some hiking trails. The dirt roads led far back into a canyon where  the plants there were beautiful and exotic and the rocks were a deep rusty red.  

I tried my hand at another panorama and look how this one turned out... Randy's hands and camera are missing!

We headed back into town and on toward Phoenix. As we were at the edge of town I saw a small trading post that was just amazing.... there was a large metal rooster!  "TURN HERE!!!  TURN RIGHT!!!!"  Randy whipped into the parking lot and there was the most amazing western folk art gallery that I've ever seen.  They had so many knick-knacks... it was just unbelievable.  There were indoor and outdoor decorations, small toys for children, large pieces of furniture.  It was mind boggling and the wind chimes made the most beautiful music!

We got bought a sunburst clay and metal sculpture and some ice cream and headed back to the car. Just a few miles up the road was a beautiful rock formation called Castle Rock. There was a trail to the park so we parked at the trail head and I went a little way up the trail to get a picture.

While we were in Sedona we had seen the young man pictured below and I really wanted to take a photo but was afraid to.  You never know how people will react when they are being photographed but his hair was so unusual I was just dying to get a picture.  As I headed back to the car from the trail at Castle Rock, there he stood talking to an elderly couple.  I just couldn't resist. The expressions on the couple's faces were priceless. They were trying hard to keep a blank face but they would steal a look at one another and you could see a smile flit across their face.  I would love to know their conversation when they got back into the car to leave!  

We continued down Alt. 89 to I-17 and stopped at the rest stop where I saw this....

Not much of a welcome to the Sonora Desert, huh?  From this point, I drove on to Phoenix. It wasn't far but it was mountainous. As we headed down from the hills toward the valley where Phoenix, we saw our first tall cacti. They were not really as I expected. There was still other vegetation growing, which surprised me.  I had expected that the cactus would be the only live thing in the desert. They stood pretty tall though, and were very dark green, almost black.

We hit Phoenix at rush hour. We stuck to the interstates, leaving I-17 and getting onto I-10.  My navigator guided me right to the hotel with no problems. We got checked in and rested for a little while before finding a place for dinner. We settled on a nice little Italian restaurant with outdoor seating.  After a quick (rushed by our waitress) dinner, we headed back to the hotel for some rest, check on the balloon ride and to plan ahead on our trip. The winds were still high and the balloon ride over Phoenix at sunrise would be cancelled. But something was afoot! I had looked ahead on the map and was about to throw a curve ball into the mix.

Day 4 - Oklahoma City

We got up early again and headed across the Mississippi River into Arkansas.  The landscape continued to be very much like that of the Piedmont of NC.  We stopped in Ozark for lunch and I took over driving.  Large truck traffic increased as we went into Arkansas and most businesses you could see along the highway were trucking related.  I realized that the headquarters for Walmart is in Bentonville, AK, so it is likely that the truckers were shipping things to or from there.

I had always thought that truckers were some of the safest drivers on the road but after this trip I no longer feel that way.  The truckers would weave into neighboring lanes, they would cut in front of you as you would start to pass them and for the most part their disregard for others scared me half to death.  The automobile drivers were well behaved and overly cautious.  The truckers drove as if they owned the road and everyone should move out of their way.  Driving with so many trucks on the highway was extremely stressful and exhausting.

After we had been driving for an hour or so we could see dark clouds ahead and a storm approaching.  We discussed how we were in the middle of Tornado Alley.  The sky grew darker and darker and lightning flashed in the clouds.  Randy kept a check on the radar and could see that the storm was bad but not a long lasting one.  Suddenly the bottom fell out and almost as quickly the hail began.  The sound was almost deafening and it sounded like rocks hitting the hood and top of the car

We had seen on the news before leaving on our trip where hail had broken out car windows and that was my immediate thought...that our windows would be broken and our vacation plans would be messed up.  We fully expected to have dents all over.  We continued on and saw a bridge up ahead and pulled underneath until the storm passed.  Amazingly enough, there was no damage at all to the car and it would be the following week when devastating tornadoes would rip through towns near by.  

We arrived in Oklahoma City around 3 p.m. Or so, took a nap and went to Abuelo's in the Bricktown area for dinner.  We were excited to find Abuelo's, we had enjoyed the one in Chesapeake, VA when we lived in Currituck and we had really missed their food.  After we ate we walked over to their river walk and got a little exercise.  I had remembered doing a case study on Oklahoma City's revitalization of their downtown area by adding a river walk when I was at Salem College.

View from our hotel room

Tile mosaic at the beginning of the Riverwalk

The Oklahoma City river walk is still a sparsely inhabited area with many empty spaces.  The water doesn't seem to flow very much and tended to smell stagnant.  I think the idea will eventually catch on with vendors if they are persistent and do more to encourage full occupancy.  We headed back to the hotel and stayed up late talking before we went to sleep.  Tomorrow we would drive across Texas

Day 2 - Blue Ridge Parkway, Cherokee, Chattanooga

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Today we got an early start.  We had breakfast at a little cafe in Asheville and then drove along th Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville to the parkway's end  in Cherokee.

The morning started out cloudy and within a couple of hours it was raining.  Even with the cloud cover giving the mountains that smokey look, the drive was still beautiful and I drove while Randy mastered the video feature with his iPad.  He was able to capture the curvy roads and the dark, spooky tunnels.

As we got nearer Cherokee the stress of the curvy road and the rain got the best of me and I pulled over and let Randy take over driving.  We arrived in Cherokee around lunchtime and had lunch at a local restaurant.  It was where the locals eat and they had an all you can eat buffet.   After lunch we stopped in at the Qualla Arts and Craft Center.  All of their merchandise is made by Native Americans and it was beautiful!  They had nationally known Native American brands (Minnetonka moccasins  and Pendleton blankets) as well but the majority of their items were hand made.  We then drove by Harrah's Casino because neither of us had seen it before, then headed on to Chattanooga.

The trip was very scenic because the road followed  the Oconoluftee and the Tuckasegee Rivers.  There were beautiful lakes but the drive was so curvy and traffic was so thick that it was not easy to enjoy the scenery.  By the time we arrived in Chattanooga we were exhausted and just went to bed without even having dinner.