On the Road To, In and Around Sedona

We got a late start on our trip to Sedona/Oak Creek. I had a dentist appointment at 7 AM and expected to be done by 7:30, I mean all they had to do was superglue a couple crowns in my mouth, how hard could that be. At 8:30 after having my mouth open for 1.5 hours and almost swallowing one of those crowns I was done, finally! So it was closer to 9:30 by the time we left for our third adventure in geocaching. Check out the huge truck full of hay that for some reason had to cut in front of us on the highway going 75!!! OMG did I mention I get carsick? That didn't help at all.

One of the spots we went to for a cache was a Catholic church in Sedona, in a most gorgeous area with breathtaking views. We didn't actually go into the church, but the outside areas were really nice. They had multiple different sitting areas with these great stone benches and statues with candles, nice places for meditation, sitting and enjoying the purple mountains majesty and feeling the swirl of energy as the vortex surrounds you. (If you're into that) They also had the Stations of the Cross outside, going around the perimeter of the church and buildings. Very relaxing, very beautiful, a nice trip.

Geocache Adventure #3

For our third adventure we went to Sedona/Oak Creek Canyon. It is probably my favorite area in Arizona. I love the red rocks, the creek and canyon are gorgeous, and the weather is so much nicer. I had a list of approximately 12 caches to look for. Max accompanied us on this trip, which we all know thrills me to no end. NOT!!! First two finds were fairly quick and relatively easy thanks to my natural geocaching skills. Cache number 3 was a bit harder, it was IN the CREEK under a rock, somewhere.....we never actually found it, well I never got in the creek to look, but Pat, Mike and William searched for quite awhile. Which is why I was left on the road with Max yanking my leash, holding Frizzle the mascot (he didn't want to get wet), carrying my camera and tripod and a bunch of papers and that is when I took a tumble. Fell right down there in the road on my CAMERA, banged up my elbow and knee, hurt my entire left side and lived to tell the story. My camera lens died that day, but the camera is fine and we just had to use a telephoto for the rest of the day's pictures. Soon after, the 3 searchers came out of the creek, carrying a soaking wet PSP. Yep Mike had it in his pocket, guess he wasn't expecting to get wet in that creek. Lucky for him the PSP lived and the only casualty was my camera lens. Cache number 4 was on the creek bed somewhere on the other side of the bridge, William and Pat gave it a quick look and we left that area zero for two.

We drove into Sedona to regroup, stopped in a parking lot and realized that a cache location was right there, so we hunted for that, but no my natural instincts had been whacked out of me with the fall, so after a quick search we abandoned that one. Checking our coordinates we realized that we passed two other caches on the drive from the creek to Sedona, and no one felt like going back so press on we did. Next stop a parking lot of an abandoned storefront office building. Pretty quick find under a huge rock, on we go. One more find at a church parking lot and that made our four finds for the day. We did search for one other but couldn't find it, and then the final two we decided to skip, everyone was tired and they involved a hike into a more remote area.

We had a great time even though we didn't find all the caches we were looking for. The red rock mountains are really gorgeous and look different at all times of the day depending where the sun is. Every stop had breathtaking views and it was a great day to be outside. I definitely want to go back to that area to search for more cache. That creek one is on my mind to find! We had to skip Slide Rock State Park too as it was way too crowded, the parking lot was full and no more cars were being allowed in. It looks like a fun place to spend some time and I will get back there soon.

Prescott, AZ

Downtown Prescott was having a Whiskey Road Shootout, I am guessing a reenactment of some shootout from the Wild Wild West. William says they do a lot of that cowboy shooting, old town stuff out here and they sure do. I am not much into the wild wild west and shooting but people watching was in full swing. Doing a reenactment means dressing the part and these participants were having a great time in their costumes, shooting off guns and acting all western.

Prescott is Arizona's best preserved town with more than 600 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. There was an abandoned Motor Inn. It was really sad to see the building is such disrepair but you can just imagine all the people that have stayed there in the past when they were in the area for a vacation or just passing through. We saw some interesting "bumper stickers" throughout the town, I believe the pictures speak for themselves.

When was the last time you have seen a public phone booth on a street corner? Not sure if they don't have the network behind them up there or what but that was certainly something I haven't seen in a long, long time. The last couple pictures were taken from the window of the van going 75 on the Interstate . Enough said, lots of scenery to be seen.

Geocache Adventure #2

We decided to head to Prescott for our second adventure in geocaching. Prescott is about 90 miles northwest of homebase, so the temperature is a little cooler. The day was sunny, the time was early, the team was ready! We had quite a long list of possible caches to find. Even though we only ended up finding one, we had a good time hunting. We found the area on a few of them, but were unable to locate the cache due to locked roads or other obstacles keeping us from the final victory. Sometimes the little country roads fly by too fast and we are unable to safely turn or even notice that we missed a turn. We enjoyed the trip, it was a nice drive and we learn a little more about geocaching every time we go.

Cemetery and Altar

Roadside altar

We found this altar right on the roadside before entering Miami, AZ. It was pretty cool, someone has made the ultimate in roadside memorials and not a distracting roadside memorial. There was plenty of room to pull off the road, park and look around. People tacked pictures of their loved ones up inside and lit candles and left poems and other memorials. In Miami we found this cemetery that was really unique. The plots were sectioned off by cement slabs. Some had picket fences around them, some wrought iron, some had stone laid on the top and some were left plain. Grass doesn't grow that well so they were more dried grass and dirt. It was very interesting to walk around and see all the different gravesites. Sound a little creepy? Well it wasn't, it was fascinating. Oh, the things you will see!!!

Globe Hotshots

Smoke signals to lead us back??

No it was a forest fire!

Geocaching isn't just about the destination it is about the journey. When we were up on the mountainside at the ranch, we could see the smoke coming over the distant hills. I naturally thought it was the geocaching helpers sending us a smoke signal to get us back to the main road, nevermind that there was only one way in and one way out or the fact that we got in there with a GPS and apparently it would find our way out if we needed it to. No I was sure it was a "sign". When we got out on the road we saw the fires and the Globe Hotshots who were on the scene and keeping things under control. We are not sure if it was a random forest fire or a controlled burn, but either way it was my first forest fire and pretty amazing looking.

Geocaching Adventure #1

Team photo at find #2

We have found a new family activity and it is called Geocaching. Go here to learn more about it. Geocaching is basically a treasure hunt with a GPS. People hide containers (geocaches) and enter the coordinates, basic driving directions and other hints. You browse the website to find caches in the area you want to hunt, load it into your GPS and go on your treasure hunt. We decided to give it a try and had a blast searching for the caches. We headed to the Miami/Globe area and our first find was very easy and fun to get us started. It was what they call a cache and dash.

Team mascot "Frizzle" at find #1

Frizzle at find #2, he is a great hunter!

At the ranch where we found our 2nd cache.

Who says a minivan can't handle off-road driving?

Yes, we are way up near the clouds and that road down there is the only way out!

Our second find was a little more involved and turned out to be a 30 minute ride each way on that windy dirt road that led to a cattle round up. It was between 4,000 and 5,000 elevation and the views were gorgeous. We were totally secluded, didn't see another car until we were almost out, a truck was coming in. The land was a ranch and near our destination were corrals, an old shed and water trough for the cows. It was a lot of fun, and we will be planning another hunt soon.