On how I found myself awakening at 3:30 in the AM

Tia brought up a good point about vacations, essentially that it is unfortunate when you get back from some of them and friends and co-workers ask how it was and you have little to say besides 'Well, it was better than being at work.' Our cruise to Mexico was like that. Better than work, but otherwise nondescript. Sedona was a different animal altogether.

Our vacation was broken into 2 parts, so the blog will follow suit. Sedona is/was beautiful. Every picture online of the scenic hikes and gorgeous desert landscape pale in comparison to seeing it in person. We stayed in an inexpensive hotel called the Views Inn which, like every place in Sedona, boasted incredible views. We were less than a mile from Bell Rock (see above) and could see it from the front window in our hotel. The weather could not have been more cooperative as well, staying in the lower end of the 80s (though dipping into the 40s at night). With the exception of a freak wind storm on Sunday (40mph gusts), it was perfect.

For as beautiful and scenic as the hikes were, downtown Sedona was a bit of a letdown. While not horrible, it certainly was chock full of touristy nonsense. Even that, however, doesn't fully explain it. While there were a lot of desert landscapes, dream catchers, and Kokopeli likenesses about, there were also incongruities. For one, they definitely boast an inordinate number of galleries with some pretty high cost items. Though incredibly intricate and fascinating to look at, even the wind catchers could cost upwards of $7K. Also, there were a few curiosity shops at the end of the strip of stores that boasted, and I am not making this up, an immense variety of animal pelts and tales, animal skulls of all kinds, animal toes of all kinds (most real, though some imitation..........which begs a lot of questions both about why anyone would need either, but also confuses me as to the need to have fakes. Is the demand THAT high for badger toes?), feathers and various glass encased insects and reptiles. In a word, effing creepy. Although, if you are ever looking for authentic porcupine quills, I can point you in the right direction.

We also took the opportunity to go hot air ballooning while in Sedona. I was shocked at how smooth the whole thing was and how fine a control the pilot had. We went up as high as 3000 feet and low enough to scrape the tops of the trees and see mule deer and jack rabbits scurry through the scrub brush. It was really amazing. The only downside was they picked us up at 4AM, meaning we were up at 3:30. We spent an hour in the hour and had a champagne breakfast to follow and were the last people dropped off and it was still just shy of 8:30 in the morning. Truly worth it, but there are precious few things I could say that about at that time in the AM.

We also wandered to the Grand Canyon and it was every bit as impressive as I could have imagined. It was so large that it was impossible to gauge it, but it looked as unreal and as perfect as a Hollywood backdrop. We hiked down one of the trails (1.5 miles with a 1000 foot elevation drop..........more impressive than you imagine until you are climbing back up it!) and took copious pictures. One day I will make it back there and hike to the bottom and back up............right after I get in much better shape that is.

Finally, on our way out of Arizona to Vegas, we drove along a piece of true Americana, Route 66. Unfortunately, aside from the Road Kill Cafe we dined in, there was not much to it. Whatever quirk there was had long since evaporated. The 75 miles or so we traveled along it, there were nothing but blink-and-you-miss-em towns and some humorous rhymes provided by Burma Shave. I was really hoping to see the world's largest ball of twine or something.

Next up a complete 180 from peace, tranquility, and natural wonders...........Vegas!