Our trip started from the airport. DFW was hustling and bustling with travelers from all around the world. It’s always fun to people watch for a bit and wonder where all the people are traveling to.
As we began to board the plane, I noticed there were a lot of people going to the Phoenix area. Was this a sign? We will see. The flight was a full flight and a bit cramped. I had asked the person in front of me not to lean the seat back. He was nice enough to oblige.
My wife and I shared a movie and then napped a little bit. We finally landed in Phoenix 2 1/2 hours later.
The Phoenix airport seems to be a very busy airport. Lots of hustle and bustle. We made our way to the baggage pick up and quickly found our bags. We then headed towards the car rental location to pick up our car. At Sky Harbor airport the terminals are separated and a tram has to be used to travel from one terminal to another. This included getting to the Car Rental Center. We rented from Hertz and we had an exuberant employee help us with our rental. She was new to the job and had only been working for three days. The car rental company had a philosophy of picking out your own car. This process seemed rather frustrating in that we kept finding cars without keys, or I was unable to fit in the car, or it smelled like smoke. After some deliberation and pacing of the parking lot, we visited the Hertz secondary rental office, letting them know we were having trouble. We were finally able to find a car that I fit into, had a key, and didn’t smell like smoke. We were finally on the move, sort of. Getting out of the rental facility was also a challenge. There were check out stations in which they were checking everything about the car before you left. Once we finally left the gate the garage itself was rather winding.
We finally made our way out into the Phoenix metroplex and started to think about food and what we should eat. After some observation we felt like we were not in a very good part of town as we tried to find something. We finally came across an In-N-Out Burger. Two burgers, two fries, and two drinks please. My wife and I both agreed we were not a fan of Phoenix so far. We got onto state highway 17 and did not look back.
We were now making our way to Sedona. This was approximately a 2-hour drive that was very scenic once we left the city of Phoenix. We could see the mountains in the background, and as we got closer, we could see the plateau formations as we came into Verde Valley on a steep incline. This gave us some wonderful views of the Verde Valley basin. We also saw lots of cactus in their human silhouette shape. We headed west for a little bit and then north finally arriving in Sedona. We quickly found our way to The Wilde Resort and Spa, checked-in, and went straight to our room.
Our room was very cozy with a fireplace and a very comfortable bed. We went down to the spa area, checked out the pool and the hot tub and made reservations for a small spa day. We also received suggestions on where to go eat that night. We wound up picking a restaurant called Hudson’s. By the way we had first heard about Hudson’s from our exuberant car rental employee. We figured with two recommendations; how could we go wrong.
Well Hudson’s was an excellent choice and it did not disappoint. The atmosphere was very nice and the service was excellent. My wife had baked crab stuffed shrimp and I had a pot pie. I know, pot pie? This pot pie was roughly 12 inches in diameter, had a wonderful crust, lots of shredded chicken, with the right amount of cream, and was probably the best pot pie I had ever eaten.
By the way, before dinner, while we were waiting for a table, we did a little shopping at some of the local boutiques around the area. One in particular, we met a store employee by the name of Abigail. Abigail noticed that we had a pink Jeep brochure, and asked if we were planning to take a jeep trail ride. She then proceeded to tell us about the jeep tours facility that her fiancé works for. She told us we should try them out and then gave us a 10% discount card. We asked if her fiance would be able to do the tour. So, she called him to see if he was working on the day and would he be willing to do a private tour. He was all in. As we were walking out, Tommy happened to be walking in to see his fiancé. He told us he was very excited to take us out and looked forward to driving us and telling us stories of the area.
After we got back to the hotel, we were full and ready to relax. We went down and sat in the hot tub for a while and enjoyed the relaxing view of the dark skies and beautiful stars. Welcome to Sedona.
On the second day, we woke up, got ready and went to breakfast at Café Jose. This was a quaint little family owned restaurant that we were told had the best breakfast in town. My wife had French toast and I had breakfast quesadillas. They were both delicious and the service was very good.
We had been given some choices for hikes by the hotel front office, and the Crescent Moon Ranch was at the top of the list. Everyone likes to say that everything is a short distance drive. It does seem to be true. We drove out to the national forest location where Crescent Moon Ranch was located. There was a $12 entry fee and we were instructed by the ranger on how to go about hiking the area.
The Crescent Moon hike followed along a creek. It is very visual as you approach the side of one of the red plateaus. They say the area has healing powers due to the iron ore and the crystals in the ground creating what the locals call the “Vortex”. Apparently it has been studied by professionals and has some merit. As we walked along the river bank, we came across a crowd of people doing yoga and cold plunging. They were very exuberant and were excited to tell us about what they were doing and why. We walked for approximately a mile and enjoyed the scenic views for about an hour and a half.
After leaving Crescent Moon Ranch, we decided to drive to the other scenic view that we were told about. Oddly enough it’s the drive to the Sedona airport. The airport is actually built on top of one of the plateaus, and once you reach the top, there is a scenic viewpoint overlooking the top of the city. A lot of people gather there each night around sunset to see the sun hit the plateaus and watch the colors change.
We made our way back down the plateau to get ready for our Jeep ride with Tommy. Tommy prepped the jeep and we took off. As we started to leave, it started to sprinkle. We decided to tough it out and go further. Tommy did a great job of telling stories about the area. About the Hollywood people that enjoyed the area. About the different gun fights and gangsters that wandered the area in the early 1900s.
As we made our way to the trail system, the weather started to turn for the worst. When we got to the head of one of the jeep trails, it actually started to snow. Large slushy flakes were coming down quickly. At the entry there was a forest ranger parked. She stopped us and told us they were shutting down the trails and please turn back. So, we did. It was a good choice because the weather only got worse. When we got back, Tommy told us he was able to get us booked for another day and we would give it another shot. We decided to pass on that ride.
We went back to our room, dried off, and warmed up. We decided we needed some comfort food when we got back. We finished cleaning up and went to a pizza place we were told about. It was called Famous pizza. It was a Chicago style pizza and I am not so sure they should have called it “Famous”. It was good but nothing special.
On our third day it looked as though the weather was going to cooperate. We decided to start out the day with breakfast at the hotel restaurant called Rascal. My wife ordered a parfait and I ordered biscuits and gravy with some eggs and bacon. Everything was good except for the biscuits and gravy. The biscuits were as hard as hockey pucks.
After breakfast, we decided to take a longer hike. We drove out to where we were doing the jeep ride and found a hike called Fay Canyon. This hike was a 1.3 mile out and back hike and took you to the face of a red cliff area. This hike was one of the more scenic hikes that we had taken so far. The cliffs and the plateaus were stunning. The plants and the animals were a joy to observe. We met quite a few people on the trail and enjoyed talking to them about the different cliff structures and shapes on the plateau faces. We finally got to the end of the trail, and I climbed up the red rock face about 50 yards and was able to look back down the valley. It was gorgeous. We again had good timing. As we made our way back to the car, it started to sprinkle. This hike was the best we have had so far.
After the hike, we made it back to the hotel where we were ready to treat ourselves to a steam room, a message, and a facial. This was quite a treat. Both my wife and I enjoyed our spa time experience.
After our massage and her facial, we drove back up to the Sedona airport where we ate dinner at the Mesa grill. I had a half rack of ribs and my wife had filet mignon. They were both delicious. We did find out that reservations make getting into the Mesa Grill much easier. We did actually get to see a plane land and take off from atop the plateau area as we were eating our dinner.
Again, we went back to the hotel and decided to get in the pool and the hot tub. We had an enjoyable conversation with some people from Seattle. Once they left, we enjoyed the starry night all to ourselves.
The fourth day was the day we were driving back to Phoenix to catch our flight at 6:00 PM. Before we left, we decided to do some shopping at the arts and jewelry center called Tlaquepaque. There was a plethora of beautiful paintings and statues along with amazing handmade jewelry. This arts and jewelry center was styled in the old monastery architecture, rod iron, stucco, arches, etc. It was gorgeous to walk through.
As we sat down to eat lunch at a Mexican restaurant, we received notice that our flight had been delayed. It was now going to be 7:18 PM instead of 6:00 PM. Based on this, we decided to take our time driving back to Phoenix. We stopped at a few places along the way, trying to find some things that might interest us. As we were driving back, we received another notice that our flight was now delayed to 7:58 PM. So we knew that we were going to be sitting in the airport for a few hours.
After a nice drive through the plains of Arizona, we arrived in the city of Phoenix. We made our way to the Sky Harbor Airport. We checked in our bags and made our way to the gate. As we were waiting, I was called to the front desk and asked if I wanted a first class seat upgrade, but there was only one. So I decided to decline thinking that I wanted to stay with my wife.
Yes, we finally got to the boarding time and made our way onto the airplane. As we sat down and got comfortable, the flight attendant came back and said they had two first class seats and would we like them. This was a resounding yes. We jumped up, excited at the opportunity and quickly moved to the first class seats. It made the flight home very enjoyable, was worth the delay, and seemed shorter than when we came. We arrived at DFW at around 11 PM and were home by midnight.
Our trip to Sedona, albeit short, was a wonderful experience, and I would highly recommend the visit if you’ve never been. If I go again, I will probably try to do some mountain biking and experience more trails.
If you have been there, please leave comments and suggestions below of your experience and things you would like to tell people to do when they’re in Sedona.
Restaurant Guide
| American | Asian | Italian | Healthy | Pizza | Mexican Southwest | French |
| Rascal Restaurant $$ | Angel Kitchen $ | Dahl & DiLuca $$$ | ChocolaTree Organic $$ | Pisa Lisa $$ | 89 Agave $$ | Cress at L’Auberge $$$ |
| Colt 804 Grill $ | Fresh & Natural Thai $ | Gerardo’s $$ | Conscious Meals $ | Famous Pizza $$ | Elote Cafe $$ | Rene’s $$$ |
| Cowboy Club $$ | Szechuan $$ | Hideaway House $$ | Local Juicery $ | Moondogs Pizza $$ | Fiesta Mexicana $ | |
| Creekside Bistro $$ | Thai Spice $$ | Cucina Rustica $$$ | Picasso’s $$ | Sedona Pizza Co $$ | Javelina Cantina $$ | |
| The Hudson $$$ | Mariposa $$$ | |||||
| Mesa Grill $$ | Mole $$ | |||||
| Oak Creek Brewery $$ | Salt Rock Kitchen $$ | |||||
| Outlaw Grill $ | Tortas de Fuego $ | |||||
| Pump House $$ | Cafe Jose $ | |||||
| Sedona Beer Co $ | ||||||
| Shorebird $$ | ||||||
| The Vault Uptown $$$ |
Map of Sedona
Go to the Infographics section of the Nerd-Central.com website to see the full map.
