| From Scottsdale we took a few days out to go up to Sedona, about
two hours to the north east and about 3000 ft higher. Mind, the route does go
up and down a bit. |  |
 | You quite quickly
move into red rock country again, such as we found in Bryce and Zion and further
north in Utah. That is because we have moved back into the same geological
structures. |
| The layers can be clearly seen in the weather worn sandstone
deposits. This was originally a lake bed which has been raised up by
tectonic plate movements and then weathered by rain. |  |
 | However the
scenery is on a grand scale and the late afternoon sun really brings out the
colours. |
| At Sedona we found the famous Chapel of the Holy Cross. The
design was by Marguerite Brunswig Staude in collaboration with Frank Lloyd
Wright. The church is quite small but spectacular in its own right. The
original design was done in 1934 for a church in Budapest. But the war
intervened and it was never built. It was finally built here in 1956. (It
almost took an act of Congress to get the land!) |  |
 | The church is
glass at both ends with the cross forming part of the structure. There is a
crypt underneath with a gift shop. It attracts large numbers of visitors. |
| The ground outside is mostly bare rock with just a few stubby trees clinging
to a precarious existence. This one appears to be rooted directly into the
rock. |  |
 | Although the
church is perched on a rock pinnacle 250ft high, it is dwarfed by the
mountains in a semi-circle around it. |
| The view from the church is also spectacular. The house in the
foreground, complete with its own observatory, is supposed to be owned by a Russian. He lives in
the 5th wheel parked in the drive while it is being finished. Something must
pay well! |  |
 | Sedona is a
tourist town full of expensive galleries, gift shops, psychics and time-share condos. In
some ways it is fairly dreadful. But somebody must buy the art. These two
bronzes were for sale for a small fortune each. The one on the right is
called 'Self Made Man'. |  |
| This is the sort of shop where if you have to ask the price, you
can't afford. We saw some interesting pieces though. |  |
 | No, it isn't a
tree, it's a sculpture, but this one is 'rooted' in soil. Note also the house on the top of the rock. The view from
there would have been pretty good. |
| From up at the airport we could look across the town of West
Sedona towards the craggy cliffs to the north. The town itself is quite well
camouflaged among the trees. There is not much between
here and the Grand Canyon about 100 miles to the north. The red rock formation
to the left is known as the 'Coffee Pot'. |  |
 | Tours around
the various local sites are offered by a number of tour companies each with some
distinguishing feature. Some offer trips on horseback; this one has bright
pink jeeps, and another uses only Hummers. |
| One of the famous areas in the town to visitis Tlaquepaque, a
collection of old Spanish mission style buildings. Today it is full of art
shops of all sorts selling paintings, photos, pots, crafts, jewellery, much
of it at outrageous prices. |  |
 | The area is
attractive and would be pleasantly cool in the afternoon sun. (It got b*** cold once the
sun set!) The condos behind this are all decked out with Christmas lights and
they charge you $6 to wander round at night. We just watched it on local
television. Much warmer. |
| Some artists are quite innovative, as with these stone seats.
They are surprisingly comfortable although very cold to sit on at this time
of year. |  |
 | Don't get me
wrong, I quite like some of the art work. I just can't afford it. |
| If you look carefully in the trees below the white mountain, you
can just see some campers on the site where we stayed. This is the view from
uptown Sedona looking south. |  |
 | We did take a day
trip to Flagstaff (see next page) but then we headed back to Scottsdale. The
forecast temperature of 5°F overnight in Flagstaff
convinced us we needed lower and more southerly climes. |
| So we headed west towards Cottonwood en route for
Scottsdale. On the way we stopped at the Red Rock State Park. There is
supposedly a loop road round the small park about 10 miles west of Sedona.
It turned out to be gravel and not good enough for the camper so we had to
content ourselves with this shot of what we might have had a closeup of. |  |
 | On the way back
down the I17 we were reminded that Christmas is coming by this Christmas
tree, complete with lights and other decorations, in the middle of the central reservation, miles
from anywhere. |
|