Last days at Sedona and Red Rock Crossing State Park

Friday, November 17th

Today we woke up to heavy cloud and even a few sprinkles of rain, a very dreary day. So .... I cooked and baked all day. No problem staying busy! :)

First up was a breakfast casserole, next a batch of bread and buns. Dianne had a left-over chicken carcass from dinner last night ... I made that into chicken broth for our Thanksgiving Dinner's gravy next week. Next up a chocolate braided dessert for Ray.  Ray says "thank you very much sweetie". He does not mind dreary days when the motorhome smells of great cooking.

Yup it was good ... we already ate half of it!

Chocolate Braid

Ray hauled out his birthday present to mix with our Halloween candy ... he will have lots of chocolate for awhile. Occasionly Steve helps him out. lol




The skies did lighten up by happy hour, so we had a fire with Steve and Dianne. We spent a couple of hours yacking and talking about our future plans. Tomorrow and Sunday are the last days we have for Ray and Steve to get their sunset pictures as Sunday is pack up day for moving on Monday morning. When I looked outside around midnight the skies had completely cleared and there were millions of stars, gorgeous. The clearing predicted for tomorrow looks like a go!

Saturday, November 18th

Woke up to clear skies ... finally. Ray and I planned to investigate a road out of Oak Creek we'd not seen last year. I facebooked Dianne and Steve letting them know where we were going later this morning. We thought they would go hiking today but they decided to come with. So once everyone completed their morning chores and were ready, we headed out for today's tour. What a fantastic trip seeing more of  Sedona. Love this place. We went down Highway 179 on the east side of Oak Creek. As both Dianne and Steve, as well as us, had stopped previously at all of the viewpoints we chose only to stop at the Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte trailhead today. Our parking fee was covered by our Interagency Pass.

Bell Rock on the left and Courthouse Butte on the right.

Trail up to Bell Rock (We only walked up a short distance and then back to the car.)

Next we headed to Verde Schoolhouse Road.  I waited at the turnaround (parking is way up the hill and too far for Ray) for the rest of the crew to scourer for photo angles along Oak Creek.

Nice view of Cathedral Rock from Verde Schoolhouse Road

View from Jack Canyon Road

All this driving around made us hungry. It was time for lunch. Dianne googled for the local favourite pub.  This took us to a strip mall with a "watering hole", called PJ'sVillage Pub. They had the best review as #1 in Trip Advisor. We were treated to great service, great beer and good pub food. All of us were impressed by this little neighbourhood watering hole and sports bar. Very eclectic decor with lots of TV's and the prerequisite pool table.

They had quite a selection of local craft beer.

This time Dianne received a "proper salad". 

After lunch we headed to Red Rock Crossing State Park, which is on the way home, where you have a wonderful walk along Oak Creek. This State Park requires $10/carload to enter and our Interagency Pass does not work here. It was worth it though, as the boys were in their element taking pictures walking along the short trail next to the creek.

Old wagon Steve noticed on the road into Red Rock Crossing SP.

We thought this guy was going to be a candidate for AFV ... he was carefully crossing creek in bare feet hoping not to slip.

Beautiful reflections

They have the funkiest huge maple trees.

Peaking at Cathedral Rock

The path opened up to the slide rock with views of Cathedral Rock.

Cathedral Rock

Walking back to the car we saw the old homestead and waterwheel.

And another huge tree on the way to the car. 

View from a lookout going back to Highway 89 from Red Rock Crossing.

Once home, we sat outide relaxing/reclining enjoying the sunshine although the wind was a bit brisk.

Ray went inside and layed down for an hour to rest his back. I came in at 4:30 to prepare dinner for the four of us. I called them over about 6 to eat and we had Asian Pork Shoulder Roast in my InstantPot, with noodles and Dianne's lovely "everything from the fridge" salad. Of course this tasted fabulous with the red wine Steve and Dianne brought over lol. Dessert was a shooter of Port with milk chocolate. At 7:30 they went home so Ray could lay back down in bed to recover from the day. Another fabulous adventure with the Colibabas.

Sunday, November 19th

A glorious but very chilly morning. Woke up at 6 am and heard Steve's generator running, a very unusual sound early in the morning as they rarely start it up until 9:30 am or so. Well no wonder, the temps outside read 25F.  What!!! The furnaces must go on. The forecast from several sites had forecasted this area would not get colder than 40F for the next 2 weeks. I started up our generator for our furnaces as well, as the propane conveniently ran out for the Big Buddy Heater at 6 am too. Back on the internet to check temps again in case I miss-read it. Nope ... says 43F in Sedona a mere 8 miles away. The only thing I can think of is we are in tucked in the bottom of a valley and in a pocket of cold air. Good news is that it is supposed to get up to 70F today so we can all warm up while we pack up camp for our move tomorrow into Cottonwood, a whole 20 minutes away. :)

We had the pleasure of seeing 3 hot air balloons float by us this morning.

The rest of the day we spent packing up and doing a little baking. The boys went out for sunset pictures tonight so it was just Dianne and I for happy hour! I'd made an appy to share before they left to hold them over until dinner when they got back. Dianne and I were treated to a RC plane doing stunts and flying over us for about an hour, Steve will be upset he missed this! :) The plane was zooming over our motorhome about 25 feet up.

I started the fire about 5 pm and the boys were back at 5:30. It sure gets cold once the sun goes down behind the hill.

Here are the pictures Ray took from the Airport Mesa at sunset.

Looking over Sedona

Coffee Pot Rock (on the right)

Look at all of the people that Steve and Ray had to scout between for the pictures!

View of Munds Mountains and Sedona from the Airport Saddle.

Steve took a picture of Ray

Steve, Ray's partner in crime! (Ray took picture of Steve)

View from the Airport Saddle of Highway 179, Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte.

View from Schnebly Hill Road at Sunset:

Well worth the effort of fighting the crowds for the above pictures!  The four of us all sat out for an hour enjoying the fire and then it was inside for the evening. Another lovely day.