Blowing Around like Dust in the Wind

We ended up having a shorter time with our friend Micheal than we had anticipated but it was great having him in our 'home' and to have everybody hang out together. We threw a little "See ya later" dinner where everyone came over, ate burgers, beans & taters and enjoyed some fun conversations.

Safe travels to him and hope we see you soon buddy.

We had gone to bed the night before with the intention of leaving Sedona, so when we woke up this morning we started packing it up...this was going to take a 'few' minutes! We had our morning cafe' convo's (conversations over coffee) with Kevin and Mike and little by little Joon was packed stuffed and we were ready to roll. We figured we would just organize everything at the next place, so this is what you get when you roll like that...

[caption id="attachment_4705" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Yikes![/caption]

Where were we off to, you ask? Flagstaff. The first day J' & Micheal went riding they drove up toward the Flagstaff area and found some areas with National Forest land and some possible great spots. I wasn't really ready to leave this area just yet but sometimes you just gotta go along with it. The main reason for us leaving was the wind gets pretty strong around 12:30 p.m. until about 5-6 p.m... that's a lot of van time... with the doors and windows closed, due to the 'dust in the wind'. When we left we drove through a part of Sedona we hadn't been through yet, so that was a treat! I love seeing new views and new things!

As you drive North the landscape changes drastically. We drove from the big and beautiful red rocks into 40 ft. tall pine trees. I almost felt like we were in Montana (I've never been to Montana, it's just what I felt like). We popped over this hill and there was this HUGE mountain in front of us... with snow on it! What the heck, where did that come from? It was a pretty drastic scenery change!

We drove around and looked at spots, checking the wifi and some open air for the solar panels. We were sitting pretty high on a 3g signal but that's because the towers are back in the forest, we don't think they have 4g towers out here. As for the solar, we weren't having any luck with too much open air. The panels would probably only end up getting a few hours of sun instead of a whole day... which we need. After checking out a few different areas and many spots within those areas, we stopped and had lunch at Subway (getting to use our awesome Subway coupons!) and talked over our options of staying here or going back to Sedona and checking out other campsites around the area. After filling our bellies we decided to head back to Sedona and check out areas around where we were just camping.

We drive back to Sedona!

I was actually pretty stoked about this because, like I said before, I was not ready to leave yet...GRIN! 

[caption id="attachment_4709" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Over it![/caption]

Believe it or not, we drove to about 5 or 6 different camping areas and spots within the area and after about an hour of that, ended up right back in the same exact spot we left this morning! We now truly know that we have the best spot in town. What a great feeling!

We are tired but happy we are back. Sometimes you just have to satisfy that curiosity bug, ya know! We'll probably go back up to Flagstaff, during the Summer R.T.R. that Bob is holding in June, but until then we'll deal with the wind when it comes and be happy little campers at the best camp spot in Sedona!

[caption id="attachment_4710" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Pleasantly Pooped![/caption]

Have you fed your curiosity bug today?

PEACE

 

 

 

Simply Sedona

Camping within another camp has been fun, it's not something we usually do...think it was about time to try something new! Ray knows the area pretty well so his "main objective" of the day was to short tour us around Sedona and Cottonwood. We had an amazing day! We are staying right about in the middle of towns between Cottonwood and Sedona... about 7 miles in each direction from camp...pretty awesome! We drove into Downtown Cottonwood and walked up and down the main street with the dogs, stopping at the cutest little antique store to sit outside in the gorgeous breeze of the day and catch up on a wooden bench outside.

[caption id="attachment_4551" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Larry's Antiques[/caption]

After a while, we walked back to the truck and took a 'road' tour of where the stores were, where to get water, and a couple of places to take a shower. After touring Cottonwood, we simply drove to Sedona taking in all of the wonder of the Red Rocks. What a place!!

Ray has a State Park pass (I think that's what it is) so we drove right into one of the parks around here. I think he said it was $9.00 a day or $40...er, maybe $60...? for a year...and I might be making all of that up, so...anyway we parked and walked about 25 yards and we were in this beautiful green field with a pretty sweet view!

[caption id="attachment_4548" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Field Mice[/caption]

 We walked down the trail about a 1/4 of a mile and there is a river running through the trees and rocks, it's just absolutely awesome.

 There are places all throughout the trail where people have stacked rocks upon other rocks, I guess it has something to do with the magnetic pulls and vortexes in the area...there were some pretty amazing stacks! After passing all of the rocks, the trail curves a little and then opens up into this beautiful movie-like scene of the river, lush neon green trees and the most ridiculous red rocks towering over the river. It's one of the most magical things I've seen in a very long time. We let the dogs loose and Storm swam and fetched sticks and went to his own "private island" on the other side of the river, Savannah stuck close to us and swam a little bit until she got too cold then would go roll in the sand!  We all had a great time, here are just a few pics so you can try to get a feel of what it was like there....absolutely wonderful!

[caption id="attachment_4561" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Swimming 101[/caption]

What a great afternoon...for all of us! The pups will surely sleep good tonight. After drying the pups and ourselves we piled back into the truck and drove down the road through Sedona. Sedona is a lovely little town and the views are breathtaking everywhere you go, even sitting at a stoplight is jaw dropping. We stopped in at a little shopping area called Tlaquepaque Village. We had dinner at a Mexican joint with some pretty badass burritos and walked the park around the back of the property. Let me tell you, if I was having any kind of yearning for lush grass and big huge canopy trees...I got my fill at this little park! Simply gorgeous.

[gallery columns="4" ids="4565,4566,4564,4567"]

Today we got our feet wet in the sands of Sedona...now I'm super stoked to fully submerge ourselves into this majestic little town. It's going to be a lot of fun camping here, I can just feel it!

Woo hoo

PEACE