Life Lately – Arizona Travels Pt 1

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Hello! Today, I have the first of three fun Life Lately posts about my recent travels to Arizona. It’s been many years since my husband Jeffrey and I have taken a really big trip. And by big trip, I mean we got on an airplane and flew to our destination. Occasionally, we will travel by car down to a beach in the South. We’ve taken some shorter road trips regionally. However, we’ve wanted to do a bigger destination trip now that we are empty-nesters, and the opportunity finally came.

Jeffrey occasionally travels to Arizona for work, so we decided to tack on a week of vacation with his business travels. He’s been wanting to see more of the state – exploring out West is always on his bucket list. We were gone for a little over two weeks. I can’t remember ever being away from home that long!

We’ve already seen the Grand Canyon, so we decided to split our time between the Sedona area and the Tucson area the first week. While he had to work the second week, I enjoyed relaxing at the beautiful golf resort where we stayed.

Today, I’m going to focus on our time in Sedona. Known for its majestic red rock formations, my pictures from this trip don’t do it justice. The sights are just awesome to see in person.

There is some serious hiking in Sedona! We were not in tip top shape for this trip, and I don’t love heights. Our time was also limited, so we didn’t attempt many of the well-known hikes. Frankly, you can see so much just by driving around the area.

However, we did hike up the famous Bell Rock (pictured below) about halfway. It’s not as bad as it looks from a distance. And trust me, I wasn’t doing any true rock climbing. Because I’m short, there were a few places I sat down to get down to the next step coming back down. The great thing about the trails at Bell Rock is you have lots of choices as to how high or steep you want to climb or not. There are also easier trails that circle around it too.

Most all the hikes in Sedona have limited parking areas, and spring (specifically April) tends to be their busy season. You also do have to pay a fee to park at trailheads. However, we didn’t have a problem finding a parking spot at a trailhead near Bell Rock.

Next, just a short drive from Sedona, we visited the Montezuma Castle National Monument.

This monument preserving the Native American culture of the Sinagua people is quite impressive! Their dwellings high up in the limestone cliffs give you lots to think about how life must have been for them! This short trail is an easy paved path and definitely a must see if you visit the Sedona area.

We also stopped to see Montezuma’s Well.

Another highlight of our trip was taking a train ride through the Verde Canyon. It’s the second steepest canyon in Arizona after the Grand Canyon. It’s truly a wonderful experience with incredible scenery. Of course, I took so many more pictures than what is included in this post (or it would be really long).

Again, my pictures along the train ride don’t do it justice. We often watch travel shows at home. I always think we see so much on T.V. without even leaving our living room. However, pictures and video really don’t compare to seeing these places in person!

This four-hour train ride has climate-controlled cars with comfortable seating and open-air cars for even better viewing. You also get a complimentary bottled water and prepackaged appetizers. They do sell other snacks and drinks aboard the train. Plus, you can also purchase a good-sized lunch at the train station to eat before boarding or on the train.

We purchased a lunch ahead when we bought our train tickets and made the mistake of eating a large late breakfast that morning. Needless to say, we had way more food than we could eat!

Also, once on the train, you’ll want to spend most of the ride out in the open-air car taking in the views and snapping pictures. So, if you purchase a lunch, I suggest eating it before you board the train – and don’t eat a big late breakfast like we did!

The last thing we did before we left Sedona was drive through Oak Creek Canyon and then up the switchbacks to the top of the canyon where there is a vista point with amazing views. This gorgeous drive running north of Sedona to Flagstaff has such different terrain from all the red rocks.

I wore these hiking shoes and literally got them in two days before we left on our trip. They didn’t require any breaking in and were a nice light weight option with very good grip.

I’ll share more of our Arizona adventures in my next post from the Tuscon area. Plus, I’ll feature an outfit we each wore on some of our hikes.