SEDONA TO PAGE APRIL 8-16, 2012

Our stay at Page Springs RV Park in Sedona was so relaxing. We arrived Sunday afternoon and had a site right along the river with a beautiful grassy area to set up our chairs and just enjoy the peaceful setting. 

Monday we made a day trip north along Oak Creek to Flagstaff. We checked out the campgrounds along the way then a stop at the Indian craft market at the rim of Oak Creek Canyon. 


Our first destination was the Riordan Mansion State Historic Park in Flagstaff.

A beautiful craftsman style home built in 1904 by the Riordan brothers, Tim and Michael, who owned a successful logging business.  It was a quiet day at the museum so we had our own private tour. The house and grounds are lovely; a remarkable example of Arts and Crafts style architecture with a rustic exterior of log-slab siding, volcanic stone arches, the interior of the house has 40 rooms. The house was designed by the creator of Grand Canyon's El Tovar Hotel, Charles Whittlesey.

The brothers married 2 sisters and both families lived in the house having 2 identical homes joined in the middle by a common family room..an early duplex idea. Much of the furniture and belongings are original to the house.

Once we left the house we still had much of the afternoon to spend at Walnut Canyon National Monument, 10 miles east of Flagstaff. The cliffside canyon was home to the Sinagua people for more than 800 years. The dwellings date from 1125-1250. Remnants of the 25 cliff dwelling rooms are there to visit by walking down 280 steps along The Island Trail, a beautiful hike with views of the 

The dwellings were made from shallow caves eroded out of the limestone cliffs which archeologists believe the women built. Walls were built by gathering limestone rocks, shaping them roughly then cementing them together with a clay material then plastering the walls with clay inside and out. As we looked around the canyon we could see more dwellings tucked into nearby cliffs. A great afternoon! 









Tuesday we knew we wanted to stay another 2 nights at our park so once we got registered we just relaxed at the campsite, Paul got out his tools and did some fix it things on the motorhome, I sat under the tree and finished reading, The Hunger Games. Late in the afternoon we took a scenic drive into Sedona, stopping by the Elks Lodge for burger night and a chance to watch sunset from their beautiful deck.































The weather was changing from our warm sunny days to clouds and wind by Wednesday. Sweaters back on but with the top still down on the car, we went wine tasting at the Page Springs Winery right down the road from our campground. Interesting that many of their wines use grapes  grown on our Central Coast. I chose the Arizona flight of reds to give them a try. Fun. 

We stopped by the National Forest Visitor Center to get maps and recommendations for a new hike. Sedona requires a "Red Rock Pass" to park at trailheads or turnouts but our Senior National Park Pass can also be used...nice! Turning west on Indian School road we drove to the trailhead and had a picnic lunch along the river. 

Stopped to get some groceries on our way home for a late dinner...and..such a fun surprise as we're sitting at our little bistro table we hear our neighbor playing his guitar and the music was getting closer. We looked up just as he walked over to serenade us while we were having a candlelight dinner. We laughed and visited with him and his wife while we finished our meal. One thing for certain as we travel...we have met the friendliest and happiest fellow campers everywhere we go!

Since the weather report was showing high winds and snow for Flagstaff by Friday, we decided we better get on the road north on Thursday morning. Hard to leave our darling campsite, but sure didn't want to deal with thunderstorms or snow. I had so wanted to stop at Sunset Crater National Monument north of Flagstaff but we were late getting away from Sedona and we didn't have the extra 2 hours needed for a stop...next time!  We pulled into Page Elks Lodge about 4:30 and met Peg for a glass of wine, then set up our dry camping site and went to her place for dinner. When we returned late that night we learned that we were parked directly under the powerful yard lights of the parking lot...giving us an unusual free lighting coming through the sky lights of our house. Too funny!

Friday was sooooooo cold and gray! We hung out at Peggy's condo playing around on the internet, doing laundry, and other chores. 

Early Saturday morning we woke up to really high winds and rain that made our little motorhome really shake, rattle and roll! Didn't last long but sure gave us a scare. By the time we got up, The sky was still dark but the storm was passing over us. We headed to Peggy's once again and spent most of the day just talking, laughing and catching up on her life and future plans. About mid morning, the rain turned to snow which sent Peggy out to her garden to cover her newly planted marigolds.

Paul's latest interest was shopping Craig's list for a newer and slightly larger motorhome for us. So every few minutes he'd be showing me a photo and he'd make phone calls all afternoon. We have decided that we LOVE OUR GYPSY LIFE so we'll be staying on the road as long as we can. And...even though our little yellow house is cozy and has all we need, a few feet longer (no more than 32) and a slide out space in the living room would give us and Foster a more comfortable space. 

Saturday night was dinner at La Fiesta Mexican restaurant with the "best margaritas in town"! Fantastic! Then back to the condo to watch The Help. 

Sunday Paul had a serious interest in a motorhome he found so the morning was spent discussing our future plans and the possibility of buying it for us. By noon we'd made an offer to someone in Oceanside, Ca for a 1999 Fleetwood Flair, 32', with a slide in the living room and one in the bedroom. I never knew that having a "walk around bed" would become so desirable to me...but it has! I'm done with crawling onto the bed to try stretching the sheets to fit over the mattress in our tiny place. 

Once we made the deal we then had to look at a whole new plan for our route for our travels...we'll have to put off the Utah Parks for a while...Looks like we'll be back in California by late April!!!! 

The rest of Sunday we did sight seeing with Peggy all around Page. We walked out to Horseshoe Bend and took lots of photos,

Hiked down to the Scenic Overlook at the Dam

Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell

Then to the Marina for a glass of wine and sunset. 

Even caught this rainbow!  What a perfect day!

We said good bye to Peggy Monday morning, collected our mail at the Post Office and stopped by one last time to look at Mark and Peg's Big Water house. Peggy has a buyer and hoping to close in the next couple of weeks. Memories....lots of memories, of love and laughter in that house!

It was a spectacular drive from Page to St. George, Utah on our way to our next few days at Snow Canyon Sate Park.