Goodbye 20's Weekend Trip To Sedona

        Before I start my trip journal, I must mention that after a month of planning, this trip almost didn't happen. Exatly one week before the trip, I had surgery to remove my inflated appendix. I would love to share with you the pictures of my appendix just before the good doctor chopped it off, unfortunately, my scanner is broken at the moment and it will have to wait.

Beside having a minor organ missing, I was able to recover (barely) and head off to Phoenix, AZ as scheduled. Well, not really. I planned on waking up at 5 A.M. and leaving before the morning traffic but my wife and I couldn't hear the alarm clock and instead woke up at 7:30 AM. Hence,  the travel to Phoenix took about 40 minutes longer and we ended up eating lunch at 1:30. Note to self : Traffic sucks so leave early. Phoenix. The city seemed very clean and new, from the look of it from the freeway at least. We ate at Rubios by the 101 and 10 junction. As we ate my wife and I talked about how we should think about moving to Phoenix. Cheaper to live than California. Much much cheaper. It's just that it's hot as hell.
   
Off to Montezuma's Castle. Took about 1 hour to get there. The place was very beautiful. Paid 5 bucks a head just to take a look at the place but it was worth it. It's like a little park with benches. Nice to place to bring your lunch and rest while enjoying the view.  An hour of just taking picture and walking around we were off to Sedona. We Arrived at Oakcreek Canyon Village around sun set. On the way we noticed that there was contruction. This was a minor distraction and caused some traffic but it wasn't that bad. We dropped by a visitor center and bought ourselves a RedRock pass which was $5 a day. We got one for the next day since we were going to hiking at Bell Rock. Few blocks away was our hotel, La Quinta Inn. The place was ok. The lobby was clean and nice. Can say much about our rooms though. It was just OK. After we unpacked and had a little nap, we went to eat.

On the way there we saw a very nicely lit plaza and it caught my attention. With a hunch that the place was worth seeing I made a U turn and headed in to the plaza. The plaza is called Tlaquepaque. Very charming shopping plaza with art galleries and restaurant. Although most of the shops were close at that time, my wife and I very much enjoyed walking around eye shopping.After Tlaquepaque we drove to east of Sedona. There we found more shops and galleries.

First we parked and went over to Cowboy Club Restaurant and made reservations. One hour was the wait time. Not being too hungry we decided to walk around town and do some more eye shopping while waiting. While walking around shops with my wife, I had a sense of calm and peacefulness about the place. I knew I was going to enjoy the rest of my stay here.Our time came and it was time to eat. I ordered steak and my wife ordered the ribs. Both were very good and is recommended.

More to come...