A Shift in Plans

I screwed up in Sedona. It was actually in Cottonwood AZ.  Up until this point of our trip, we’ve been happy with all our campsites, sightseeing and other accommodations.  You never know what you are going to get when booking things online and we were reminded of that the hard way.  After a very long driving day, we arrived in Cottonwood with great anticipation of this beautiful area we heard about from friends and family who had visited recently. 

Our campsite promised shady trees along the river bed, only miles from Sedona city center.  I wish.  When we pulled into Rio Verde RV Park in Cottonwood AZ, we kept driving through as if we made a wrong turn.  The website didn’t mention the broken down vehicles on the side of the road, the unlevel sights on top of each other and the disheveled office that was supposed to welcome you to the area.  I swear I could smell the bathrooms from behind the closed windows of our RV.  I immediately grabbed my Blackberry and tried to find an alternative.  Dennis tried to see if Betty had other suggestions.  We came across Rancho Sedona RV park right in Sedona.  After a quick call, we drove the 45 minutes north to get to what became our sanctuary.  I can’t say enough about Rancho Sedona and it’s not just because of the Cottonwood experience.  The staff was kind, helpful; the park was clean and shaded; the location was walking distance from Lucile Ball’s former home which is now owned by the Doublemint Twins (you can still see Lucy’s life-sized plastic image waving from the balcony) and downtown Sedona.

Happy to be amongst the clean, we decided not to unplug and drive for an entire day.  A leisurely morning was followed by an afternoon walk to downtown for shopping and ice cream.  A free shuttle brought visitors to the shops nearby.  Our driver recommended a store that specialized in goods made by the local Indian tribes.  We couldn’t resist, and left with our wallets a little lighter.  The boys and I were attracted to a store armed with dumb humor. 

I loved the welcome mat in the window “Hi.  I’m Mat.”  We enjoyed chatting with the store manager who obviously was pleased with our juvenile funny bones.  But when she brought out the heavy artillery, a remote fart machine, we were never going to leave.  Poor Dennis, the victim again but he did have a good sense of humor about it.  A couple more stops for refreshments, crystals and the local UFO, we headed back to camp to get ready for another awesome adventure – 4X4 jeep in the dessert.

Our campground host Joanie, a former concierge, arranged for our jeep tour to pick us up at the campsite saving us a trip back into town.  There are many jeep, hummer and sightseeing tours to choose from, all of different prices, lengths and degrees of excitement. 

Buy on price and your schedule.  We chose the “Day in the West” tour and were not disappointed for one minute.  Our guide, Clyde, loved his job – taking innocent victims, I mean tourists, to experience the back hills of the desert.   He could tell from the wide eyes of the twins, we were up for some fun and he delivered.  He pointed out the traditional facts of Sedona such as it is only 5 square miles, some offbeat facts like it is the only McDonald’s in the world with green arches due to the city requirements that everything must be within a pre-determined color palette.  He showed us the “Marge and Homer” rock formations, identified with the help of some local favorite tequila. 

There is no possible way for me to adequately describe how awesome that night was for all of us.  We laughed like school girls when I was bounced right out of my seat.  Per request of the kids, Clyde delivered the bumpiest, happiest, fantastic night he could within the limits of keeping his job and not destroying his vehicle. 

The trails were long and bumpy, roller coaster-ish at some points.  Many of the climbs made us feel like we were on the hind wheels only but it was the downhill thrills that gratified us the most.  There was one moment of concern when we landed so hard that the vibration from the rock below us split in two and it rumbled through the entire vehicle. 

We searched for rattlesnakes but saw only bunny rabbits.  He pointed out unique plant life and told us how the Indians’ use these plants to survive in the wilderness.  The sun was setting on our return to camp.  The rocks took on some many shades of red as the sun disappeared in the distance.  It was a wonderful ending to our already wonderful day.

We decided to take it easy the rest of the night, since tomorrow’s dance card was full.  We had a list a mile long of everything we wanted to do during our last day in the area.  Slide Rock National Park was on the top of the list, then a little hiking at Cathedral Rock, topped off with lunch in Jerome, a ghost town about 35 minutes south.  However, there was one more thrill in store for us before the night’s end.  A fellow camper was walking past our RV when we stopped and stared at the ground.  Dennis and I were both intrigued so we asked what critter he spotted. 

He threw us a look like “You’ve got to come see for yourself”.  We were stopped dead in our tracks when our neighbor announced it was a very large tarantula spider walking in our direction.  Den and I were fascinated while the kids refused to leave the RV to get a closer look.   My skin crawled for a while before falling into a deep sleep, resting for another busy day.

 

To see all our Sedona jeep tour photos or downtown Sedona photos visit Snapfish.