Sedona

We were able with help to locate Mike and Kathy Owen, who now reside in Prescott, Az after a period of more than 25 years.  Mike was my best man at our wedding in 1982 while we were both working at Levitz in San Leandro, California.  We worked together for a short time at the Cousins Home Furnishings facility in Sacramento before he left the retail environment upon earning his contractor’s license.

Since then, we both changed jobs and states several times.  We, through a chance meeting with a member of Mike’s faith, were able to locate him in Prescott.  It was interesting as we crossed paths several times over the years.  We participated in the opening of the Hwy 395 bypass and the National Bottle Show in Reno while he was nearby in Sparks, Nevada, we visited the same Indian PowWow in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and spent the day in Prescott two years ago.

He and Kathy hadn’t changed a bit in the years, again making me feel, hmmm…rather large again. He enjoys hiking (here we are in Red Rock State Park, between Cottonwood and Sedona) and we are now planning on getting together to hike the 24 mile, 10,000 ft elevation change “Rim to Rim” in the Grand Canyon later this year.

This is Kathy and Cathy and Mike.

This is Mike, Kathy and me.

Here is the backside view of the Cathedral Rock formation near Sedona.

Cathy, at the midpoint of our hike.

This is looking down at the trail that we were on.  It basically circled the state park and had several viewpoints.  There were very few people hiking at this time in the day.

After having a late lunch at Johnny Rocket’s in the nearby Cliff Castle casino, we returned to the motor home for the rest of the afternoon

The next day, we met in Jerome, about halfway between Prescott and Camp Verdi (where we were staying).  After hitting most of the retail stores in this historic mining town, we had lunch in the local park then headed down the hill to the Sinagua ruins at Tuzigoot.

We met the same park ranger behind the counter at the visitor center that we talked with last year!  I had already read the books she recommended last year and we purchased two more of her recommendations this time, as they seem to be very “readable”.  I managed to talk a lady into taking this photo of the four of us on the stairway leading to the tallest room in the ruins

Mike making his way back up the hill from the lower ruins.  I stayed behind talking with the docent that was at the top of tower so I missed the hike down…oh well!

Mike then gave us a personal tour of the Sedona/Clarkdale/Cornville/Cottonwood area, showing us some of the homes that he has worked on.  They were all in the million+ dollar range!  He was an excellent woodworker in the furniture industry but has done incredible work with homes, in both the building and renovation.  We stopped at the hispanic bakery that we discovered last year for some deserts and then Mike and Kathy took us to dinner at the Tavern Grill, an excellent restaurant in historic downtown Cottonwood.

The next day, we decided to take it easy and go for a drive up Oak Canyon, the back way between Sedona and Flagstaff.  After passing Slide Rock State park, we stopped at Banjo Bill picnic area and went for a short hike down to this crossing of Oak Creek and up the other side for a short distance.

This  a view of the road leading up and over the pass from the Oak Creek Vista.  This road would not be suitable for our motor home as it was pretty narrow at times and very windy.  I should have brought my bike on this route!  Next time.

A roadside view looking down into the canyon.  Yes, that is snow at the bottom.  There was snow in places alongside the road as the elevation reached 7,000+ feet at the pass.

One more day of rest before heading uphill to a campsite north of Flagstaff.   Actually we plan on hiking up to Cathedral Rock in the morning while the weather still holds. They are expecting a winter storm to hit Flagstaff during the time we are going to be there as the elevation is significantly higher there.  We will have to break out our winter clothes for the first time.