Montezuma

Our first day of sleeping in! We slowly made our way out of our hotel and waited to have breakfast at Brandy's Restaurant and Bakery in Flagstaff where they are famous for pancakes and Eggs Benedict which is my favorite. The restaurant was also on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Our waiter recommended the Avocado and Proscuitto Eggs Benedict with cream cheese and tomato. A buttermilk pancake is included on the side - a photo of our satisfying breakfast:

 

After meandering through old Flagstaff, we headed off to Montezuma Well, a naturally occurring spring in the middle of the desert. The Well is just south of Sedona and was a nice walk to work off our breakfast. We made sure to stay on the trail to avoid any rattle snakes!

After the well, we drove a few miles to the Montezuma Castle where there is a preserved 5 story home in the wall. The Native Americans lived here to protect themselves from heat and sun, as well as to stay above the flash floods that the region is known for during the summer. These homes are near rivers and water sources for easy access. There were even some homes on the side of Montezuma Well. 

 

Then we continued our drive down to Phoenix where we tried to get in to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, but all tours were sold out for the day. As such, we headed to Old Town Scottsdale that tries to look like an Old Town. We had a little trouble finding it, but it was fun to walk through. 

We had plans to have dinner with my friend Marie and her husband, Steven who live in Scottsdale. I chose a restaurant by the airport called The Wild Thaiger - a Thai restaurant that was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Marie and I worked together back in NY and we probably had lunch together 3 out of 5 days a week and became very close. We had fun catching up and talking about the trip. 

After dinner, Yoonjoo and I returned the car rental and Marie and Steven followed us to the airport where they took Yoonjoo to the terminal. 

Here's a link about Arizona scenic roads - we had fun pointing out the different scenic roadway signs during our car rides and since we saw so much of Arizona! http://www.arizonascenicroads.com/

5 days, over 900 miles, 3 hotels, endless laughs, tons of photos, and wonderful memories - I'm so grateful that my cousin, Yoonjoo was so enthusiastic about joining me on this Arizona Adventure. I knew she would embrace every angle considering she's a professional photographer and appreciate every opportunity to explore Arizona together. Thank you so much and I look forward to future family fun!

Our goodbyes were quick as the airport was a bit of a zoo, so our car hurried off back to Scottsdale where we did a quick grocery trip and gelato run. Then I was at Marie and Steven's beautiful home that has a pool and an immense amount of space. You definitely don't get this kind of space in NY! We chatted a little longer over coconut vodka cocktails and then went to bed. I was so glad to be done with the driving part of the trip, but now the work part of the trip begins....

Navajo Nation

So usually I title a post with a city name and since we were in multiple areas of Arizona today, but both on Navajo tribal lands, I named this post Navajo Nation. Here's a picture from the Monument Valley museum that shows how vast the Navajo tribal lands reach:

After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to our tour operator's office, but quickly realized we had to go down and across the street - we had incorrectly scoped out the wrong one on our drive around Page last night! We had reserved with Chief Tsosie's Antelope Canyon tours. Only a few operators hold permits and I read this was one of the best. 

Upon arrival, this Navajo Hoop dancer who is placed top ten in the world in a contest last year, performed an impressive dance with hoops forming animal shapes. He said the hoops represent negative energy and frustrations that should be let go. The first was for money, health, then your ex, your other ex, wifi connection..... The Navajo people are indeed very zen-minded. 

We piled into the turquoise jeeps that drove us 15 minutes to the entrance of the tribal land. Our ticket included a tribal land fee and our tour started at 8:30 am. 

 

Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon and I struggled to pick which one to see - ultimately I opted for the Upper Canyon, but there is a Lower Canyon, Canyon X, and Secret Canyon. Vera was our amazing tour guide who had a great sense of humor, managed the group well in the tight spots, and took great photos after positioning us in choice spots and angles. Here are a few photos that don't do the canyon justice:

We were on the 8:30 am tour which is $10 cheaper, but the midday ones from April to September have incredible sun beams that shine through. As it was March, I picked the cheaper one, but also to get a jumpstart on the day. Even without the sunbeams, we enjoyed the light and awesome colors. 

Here, Vera positioned us in front of "the Wave" and had us look up so our faces weren't too dark. The swirls and grooves are formed by the waters that rush through during monsoon season. 

The canyon is 8 stories high at its tallest area and here's us in front of the back opening - Vera did a nice job with a vertical panorama:

And here's a beautiful shot as we left the slot canyon:

As our entrance fee included the tribal land daily fee, we rushed over to the Lower Canyon tour so we could possibly squeeze another tour in before Monument Valley. But the next tour didn't leave for another hour, so we started our 2 hour drive east. The travel gods were trying to tell us something! 

Monument Valley is most well-known for being the backdrop of many John Ford directed John Wayne westerns and is listed in the "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" book. After a fake out at the Navajo Welcome Center that was practically deserted and closed, we made it to the real Visitor Center where we paid a $20 entrance fee. We also learned we lost an hour driving as Utah was in a different time zone as Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings. 

Here's a map of all the monuments and the red outline is the 17 mile scenic drive:

A description of many of the monuments which we digested over quick sandwiches and at one of the viewing points in the Visitor Center:

 

The drive takes about 2 hours as you can drive only about 10 - 15 miles per hour on gravel and unpaved roads. It was super bumpy and we felt nauseous at times, but this was something you definitely could not rush through. Here's a photo of the road and driving:

We made our way to John Ford's point after some confusion and the point is named after the director of the John Wayne movies. Apparently, there is a scene where John Wayne is sitting on a horse on this point. You can tell from the photo of Yoonjoo below, the awesome magnitude of these monuments as she points to them: 

The monuments had signs in front of them, like this one for the Three Sisters. Yoonjoo was a good co-captain, but she sometimes was so eager to read the signs, she would yell out "road closed"!

Here's a photo of us in front of the West Mitten, East Mitten, and Merrick Butte:

After our 2 hour loop, we were so glad to be on paved roads and perused the gift shop and museum back at the Visitor Center. I enjoyed an exhibit on the Navajo Code Talkers who were instrumental during World War II. Vera had told us the Navajo language is the 3rd most difficult in the world. Here's a small shot of some of the different words used by the military and translations:

After 2 days of driving our mystery was solved. We knew Arizona didn't participate in daylight savings, but our GPS and phones kept changing on us. Since we were so close to the Utah border and the Navajo Nation does observe daylight savings, we finally corrected our GPS and drove 3 hours to Flagstaff. I knew the GPS had to be wrong when it said it would only take 2. Here's a photo of the "Welcome to Utah" sign as we hop over and back as part of our drive to and from Monument Valley:

We drove straight to Salsa Brava, considered the best Mexican in town and was on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I had the sopapilla which is like a calzone made of fried bread and Yoonjoo had steak and shrimp fajitas. 

We started to feel sleepy after finishing our margaritas and made our way to our hotel, the Doubletree Hilton where we learned I was the guest of the day and they gave us a bag of complimentary goodies. What a great way to end a wonderful day of beautiful sights and an issue-less day of driving!

Sedona

Yoonjoo and I both safely arrived in Phoenix where the airport was super busy. Golf bags and baseball jerseys everywhere of fans going to watch spring training. After waiting on a long rental car shuttle line, we arrived at the massive rental car center. We went to go find my car, which took a bit as the garage was so large and we could not clearly read the board, and they had not given me a hybrid like I reserved. So after a quick switch, we were in our Ford Fusion Hybrid which drives really well and off to explore Arizona. 

Our first stop was Matt's Big Breakfast which was about a 10 minute drive from the airport. I had researched it from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Here we had a delicious breakfast and filled up our water bottles with their orange infused water. A collage below:

After breakfast, we headed north to Sedona for about a 2 hour drive. The scenery was beautiful with cacti, shrubbery, and as we climbed in and out of valleys. Our first stop was the Red Rock Ranger which is right off the highway to get some info, maps, and a $5 daily parking pass. Welcome to Red Rock Country!

They had great exhibits including this one that explained the layers and formations:

After Penny, the ranger volunteer, helped us with suggestions for our plan for the day, we headed to Bell Rock to take in the views and try to see if we could feel the energy vortex. Sedona is famous for their vortexes where there are supposed to be energy flows - Sedona is also very new age-y. Yoonjoo and I kept asking each other if we could feel it. If anything, I couldn't tell, because I wasn't sure if it was the altitude or my blood pressure. 

Here are some photos of Bell Rock which really doesn't do the colors of the rocks justice as it was super cloudy:

We then headed to Chapel of the Holy Cross, a small church built into the rocks. Here's a collage below which includes the view behind the altar and out the exit:

A photo of me on the ramp up to the church:

From the church, you could see in the photo below, I was told the rock formation second from the left was carved to look like the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus:

And here's some cacti shrubbery by the chapel:

We then went off to Airport Mesa which is near the airport and again had great views. We got a little confused when we paid for $3 parking here when the machine clearly said it doesn't give out change and we waited like idiots for our change. We figured it was a nice donation to the lovely parks. 

Here's a sign that made Yoonjoo super sad - you were reminded that you could "bust the crust" as you walked on and around the red rocks. Although there are trails, it wasn't always super clear and you could go off trail very easily:

Here's a collage from one of the Airport overlooks. We were also directed by a sweet 10 year old to turn around and hold hands:

A little before sunset, we headed for our 2 hour drive to the Grand Canyon. The drive included many switchbacks, forest views of the Coconino and Kaibab. We made great time on both of our drives today since there was no traffic. We also lucked out as our car had Sirius satellite radio! We didn't have to listen to commercials and reminisced listening to songs from the 90s. This was heavily necessary as I needed to sing to stay alert - poor Yoonjoo had to listen, but I said it was for our safety. 

Towards the end of our drive, we watched ominous clouds and Yoonjoo tried to take photos of the lightning. In the pitch black dark and pouring rain, we made it to the South Rim entrance where you pay $30 for your car and we meandered trying to get to the Village. Yoonjoo took this photo while I was driving:

Again it was super dark, rainy, and there were many turn offs. But we made it to Bright Angel Lodge where we had dinner in the Bright Angel Room which has a diner-like menu. Here's a photo of our shared Southwest Chicken and Arizona Cobb salad:

After dinner and in the snow, we got lost again trying to get our hotel Maswik Lodge. These old lodges are historic and it's actually very difficult to get rooms inside the canyon as they book up fast. So people drive in from Flagstaff or Tusayan which is right outside the South Rim. We also learned the reason why it's so dark with no street lights, is because they have a dark sky certification to see the stars and the check-in clerk said we would appreciate it tomorrow. 

So we drove to our room and were so happy after our showers and in the warmth. The temperature here is considerably colder than in Sedona. We had been up since 3ish east coast time and now it was around 1 am east coast time, and 10ish west coast time. However, we were glad to have arrived safely on this first day of our Arizona adventure!