Anniversary Trip To Sedona

Last Thursday was our anniversary - hooray!

We decided that a day trip to Sedona would be a fun and interesting way to celebrate, since it was too hot to hike in the valley.  Sedona is up halfway into the mountains (around 4300 feet elevation) and it's about 10 degrees cooler than it is where we live, in the Phoenix metro area.  Flagstaff is at about 7000 feet elevation and it's usually 15-20 degrees cooler than we are.

We usually stop at Sunset Point to use the facilities and appreciate the view from the top of the Mogollon Rim.

It's grassy up there and most of the year the grass is yellow and brown.

This trip it was green!

Another hour of driving (plus, since there was traffic) and we reached the red rocks of Sedona!

The art shops have neat little wind spinners.

We ate at the Hideaway House because of the view.

It's in a little strip mall right on the Oak Creek canyon.

The liquor store next door had some amusing signs:

"In 1776 there stood here absolutely nothing."

"Out of my mind

Back in 5 minutes"

Here's the view!!!

In the dip below the building runs Oak Creek.

We could hear it gurgling.

The menus are extensive, but we chose quickly because the drive had taken longer than expected and we were hungry!

The water delivery system was stylish.

 The restaurant has blankets available for chilly diners.

I was just cool enough but not chilly.

I ordered pizza but somehow (language barrier with server, I suspect)

got pizza with oil instead of sauce.  Not my favorite, and olive oil is not a health food for sure, but the mix of vegetables was interesting and nothing went to waste!

Greg's sandwich & fries - looks tasty!

The server brought us a free peach pie with ice cream as an anniversary gift.

It was big, too!

That meant we didn't need to hunt for an ice cream shop after lunch

(for Greg).

I loved this wall-hanging in the loo.

I'm grateful that a stranger (Greg) turned into my family! 

After lunch, we stopped by the Chapel Of The Holy Cross, which is an interesting architectural building built onto a rock. 

From the side, it looks like this:

It's in a very beautiful red rock area.

There's a windy path going from the parking lot up to the building itself.

It was quite warm. 85+, I believe.

It was expected to be in the 70s for highs, if I remember correctly, so I thought jeans would be best, but I was wrong.

From the top, there was a good glimpse into the backyard of this mansion.

The koi in that pond were so big that we could see them swimming around.

It isn't a very pretty mansion - it's like an amusement park mansion.

Entrance to the chapel:

A beautiful reminder that art has long been created in service of God and to His glory.

I am not Catholic, but I love the symbolism of all these candles, each one being a prayer rising to an attentive and loving God.

The interior was sparse and reflective.

There were stained glass window like hangings on the walls.

Everything focuses attention on the huge cross.

I found the design moving and beautiful.

On the way home, we drove past this truck . . . 

and it seemed to have bees all over it.

We passed it a number of times and it passed us a number of times, and each time, we experienced lots of bees flying around and trying to catch up with the truck. 

We can only assume that hives were being transported and those poor little guys were trying to keep up with their homes and families!

Here's a bonus:

A new bird enjoying our Chinese Elm trees and singing a beautiful song!

Do you know what kind of bird he is?

I'm still trying to figure it out!