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judithn_gw

Vacation in Arizona Tips?

judithn
12 years ago

Hi Everyone, I know some of you have probably been to AZ before and can help me plan this trip. DH, DS (a teen) and I are going to Arizona in late April. I've never been there but we're landing in Phoenix then going up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon via Jerome/Sedona. We only have a week. I've made some hotel reservations (I got a room at a Grand Canyon lodge) and a friend gave me a book with hikes around Sedona. If you're familiar with this region, are there any special activities, restaurants, hotels, cultural/historic sites, shops, etc. that you think we shouldn't miss? We'll have a car. Thank you for your help!

Comments (22)

  • imsoconfused
    12 years ago

    I love that area of Arizona! I went with DH on a work trip there and we stayed in Phoenix, but found ourselves driving up to Sedona at least a couple of times while we were there. Breathtaking! Can't tell you about any places to eat or anything like that...the thing we liked most was "Slide Rock State Park" in Oak Creek Canyon outside of Sedona. It has a natural water slide in the rock where the water has smoothed it down and people climb up and slide down! Warning though...the water is soooo cold! Talk about hearing people holler when their...well you know... hit the water! It was a beautiful area to hike in and we took off our shoes to soak our feet in the creek, but could only stay in for a couple of minutes because of the cold water! Enjoy!

    Oh and we had to go through Flagstaff so I could say I had been on Route 66 and I found a an ornament for my Christmas tree that is the little road sign with the 66 on it.

  • daisyinga
    12 years ago

    We hiked Doe Mountain and Bear Mountain and loved them both. I've heard the Pink Jeep tour is fun.

  • nanny2a
    12 years ago

    I suggest a visit to Red Rock State Park outside of Sedona. When we lived in Tempe a million years ago we used to camp there and those were some of the best, and most scenic trips we ever enjoyed. That was 35 years ago, so I imagine Sedona is more built up now, but the views are still the same and the red rocks in that area are so picturesque, and the back drop to many a western movie. There was an Indian festival going on in the campgrounds while we were there one weekend, with dancing and chanting into all hours of the night, and the whole trip was quite magical. Enough so that even 35 years later, I remember it as one of the best trips I have ever encountered....even with my ex, too.........LOL!

  • sheesh
    12 years ago

    Wonderful! It is breathtaking, amazing. My hub is from Tombstone, a couple hundred miles south, very different from where you will be, yet not too far.

    My advice is don't waste a minute sleeping! Just explore and gasp. I wish we were there now. Maybe, if you are really lucky, the ocotillo will blooming.

  • fourkids4us
    12 years ago

    I haven't been to AZ in over 15 years. Dh and I were driving across country at the time. We hiked down into the Havasupai Indian Reservation which is part of the Grand Canyon but to the west of the main touristy area that everyone visits. I highly recommend it to anyone who is adventurous (we were young then, it was a 10 mile hike down and camped over night). Anyway, when I was much younger, probably about 10 y/o my family went to AZ to visit my godparents in Phoenix. Though I was pretty young, the things I remember most aside from seeing the Grand Canyon, were the ancient pueblo villages. Very intriguing to me as a kid (dh and I visited some during our trip too). I don't remember the ones I went to as a kid, and a quick internet search showed some near Flagstaff, if that is anywhere near your travels (http://www.nps.gov/wupa/index.htm). The one that dh and I went to was near the border with Utah, so out of your way I'm sure.

    Have a great trip! I cannot wait to take our own kids to AZ - the landscape there is totally breathtaking and so different from what we have here on the east coast!

  • sable_ca
    12 years ago

    Judith - I am jealous! We lived in Tucson for ten years and our favorite vacations were invariably to Sedona and the Grand Canyon, and we almost always stop in Sedona when we go back for visits.

    Sedona has many gorgeous hotels, etc., but the only place I would stay is the Sky Ranch Lodge, which is located atop the mesa that also hosts the local airport. Sky Ranch is a basic motel, beautifully kept, with pretty gardens, and it has stunning views of the area. At sunset the various mountains and rocks turn color and the lights of the town below begin to twinkle, and it is TDF. Other places may be more elegant but this place is unsurpassed. Request a room with a rim view, where you sit on your veranda with a coffee/glass of wine and gaze out at the scenery, and the rest of the world goes away. There's a restaurant at the airport, good for breakfast, quick meals, and take-out.

    The Pink Jeep Tour is totally worth taking. They have a selection of tours. Do it! : > )

    You also should visit a Spanish-style area of art galleries and restaurants called Tlaquepaque (ta-la-ka-pa-kee), just charming and with more galleries and eateries than you will have time for. We usually go to Rene's, which is French, but there is also a good Mexican restaurant with great decor.

    When you leave Sedona, take the U.S. 89 through Oak Creek Canyon and up to the top of the Mogollon Rim, where you will hook up with I-40. There aren't words to describe the beauty of this drive. You will pass and can stop at Slide Rock. When you get to the top, pull over to the observation area and look back at where you've come from and have a camera ready.

    To get to the Canyon, I would urge you to take U.S. 89. You drive east on the I-40 through Flagstaff and hang north at the well-marked sign. This takes you through Navajo country, where you can have some Navajo fry-bread and contemplate the living situation of the tribe. Then hang west on the 64, which will take you through spectacular canyon country and into the Park along the most scenic road to South Rim Village. While you are there, be sure to have a meal (I prefer breakfast) at the El Tovar Lodge, a historic and charming place. You could also consider taking the mule-ride down into the canyon. I did this with my father when I was a teen-ager and it was thrilling. I've had some pretty cool experiences in my life, but the picture of me on my mule is the one that sits in our living room!

    Be warned that the South Village is going to be packed with cars and people. Our experience with the parking problem on our last visit was such that we decided not to return (but we had been to the Canyon many times as Arizonans, so not a difficult decision). If and when you find a parking place, stash your car there and do as much sight-seeing on foot as you can.

    Sorry for blathering on, but just thinking about these places makes my heart pound with nostalgia!

  • judithn
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks to everyone for all the ideas, I'm printing them out asap and trying to use them to help plan our trip. Having lived in the northeast of the US all my life I'm very excited about seeing the Sonoran desert. sable ca, I did see the sky ranch lodge in the hotel guides but I decided to stay in town because I thought it would be good to be able to walk around. I found a little B&B right in town. Now I'm having second thoughts...

  • kelpmermaid
    12 years ago

    I'll second the meal at El Tovar; had an amazing lunch there with the amazing view!

  • sable_ca
    12 years ago

    Judith - Am not trying to push the Lodge on you; you should stay where you will feel most comfortable. The Lodge, though, is maybe a 3-4 minute drive from the center of town, tough to walk but actually quite close. I am sure that you'll have a very good time no matter where you stay. I do suggest driving up to Airport Mesa at least once during your visit, if only to enjoy the view.

  • judithn
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Based on the suggestions I contacted El Tovar and got dinner reservations. Most of the times were either too early (4:45) or too late (after 8 pm). I switched around days and times and amazingly we were able to get a 6:30 pm dinner reservation! According to the South Rim Park Service web site, sun set at the South Rim is about 6:45, so that's a perfect time. Hopefully we'll get a window seat. They said they can't reserve window seats, it's something they maitre'd decides at the last minute.

  • judithn
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hi Everyone, I wanted to tell you that our trip was great. Everyone's tips helped so much! We began in Phoenix for 2 days. We visited Taliesin (the Frank Lloyd Wright house) and the Botanical Gardens and old Scottsdale before driving up to the Grand Canyon. Taliesin West was not the big thrill I was hoping for, it might have been our tour guide. She just wasn't very good. The Botanical Gardens were fantastic though, the variety of plants and their sample gardens demonstrating the different ecosystems in Arizona were very good. We happened to be there at dusk (they are open until 8 pm) and lucked out because all the birds and lizards and little rodents were feeding and very few people were there so we had the place more or less to ourselves.

    I really lucked out with a room at Bright Angel Lodge only about 30 feet from the rim of the Canyon. We stayed two nights and did get to eat dinner at El Tovar which was expensive but very special. Because we were staying in the park we had ample time to explore. The crowds did not develop until the afternoon. On both mornings we awoke to see the sunrise and then hiked and were almost completely alone! Maybe it was a little too cold -- it did snow while we were there. I kept on about three layers of clothes at all times.

    We then spent 3 days in Sedona. It was really beautiful and the weather was terrific. I didn't love our bed and breakfast (the pix online made it look much nicer than it really was) but it was in a good location so I can't complain. We checked out various "vortex" sites. My family did the Pink Jeep tour without me -- it's not my kind of thing but the boys LOVED it. While they were having their adventure I did do a little shopping and got some inexpensive gifts. We then returned to Phoenix for our flight home. We visited the Heard Museum which has a beautiful collection of native American artifacts and is very well curated, and quickly drove through Tempe, just to have a look around.

  • mitchdesj
    11 years ago

    Sounds like a great time for all of you !! thanks for the trip report .

  • User
    11 years ago

    I know a lot of people may not be up for this, but we love to take day drives and explore..so I'll throw it out there. Bryce Canyon is AMAZING in it's own right and only about 200 miles from where you'll be.

    We went camping once for a week in Zion and our drive to Bryce Canyon was for me, the highlight of the trip. It's absolutely breathtaking.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Bryce Canyon

  • lynninnewmexico
    11 years ago

    Am just finding this post now, Judithn, but am glad your trip turned out so well. We're heading to Sedona next week for a short vacation ourselves and am anxious to hear any more recommendations you might have
    Our trip will be only to Sedona itself. We've rented a 2-story condo at the Junipine Resort right on Oak Creek in the forested canyon there. I have no desire to spend the majority of my vacation looking at dusty, dry rocks, as I'm still a Michigan girl at heart and need my water fixes on our vacations (LOL!).

    Any restaurants in Sedona you ate at and can recommend . . . or not recommend? How about any good shops? Doing my research ahead of time on TripAdvisor.com, I have 3 restaurants we're thinking about trying: Cucina Rustica, Dahl & Deluca and the Heartline Cafe.

    Already living here in the mountains of New Mexico, the Pink Jeep Tours don't sound like something we'd be interested in doing, but DD is begging for us to take her to the nearby "Out Of Africa Wildlife Park". Why am I not surprised? When we took her to Disney World we had to stay at their Animal Kingdom Lodge and she absolutely loved it. Hope she's not too disappointed in this Sedona thing, as it's hard to meet, let alone compete, with anything Disney (LOL).

    Anyhoo, I'd love to hear any more recommendations you might have. Many thanks!
    Lynn

  • daisyinga
    11 years ago

    I have no desire to spend the majority of my vacation looking at dusty, dry rocks, as I'm still a Michigan girl at heart and need my water fixes on our vacations (LOL!).

    Whenever my husband and I visit Arizona and ask the natives for suggestions, we always hear enthusiastic recommendations about beautiful Oak Creek Canyon. Oak Creek Canyon is very, very beautiful. But I'm just the opposite of Lynn - we can see beautiful creeks any old time in Georgia. Bring on the dusty, dry rocks!!! I can never convince the Arizona folks that I don't want to spend my precious time there with the lovely trees and the creek, just get me to that barren, beautiful red rock country and bring on the cacti.

    I guess that just goes to prove Arizona really does have something for everybody - water lovers and hardcore desert rock lovers alike. ;)

  • lynninnewmexico
    11 years ago

    How funny ~ and ironic~ Daisy! But yes, Arizona seems to have something for everyone's tastes. We love the resorts around Tucson, enjoy the shops (and everything) in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Last summer we spent a week on a houseboat on Lake Powell, out of Page in N.Arizona. It's a fun state!
    I'll be remembering what you said when we're in Sedona . . . and chuckling (LOL!).
    Lynn

  • judithn
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    lynneinnewmexico, We are usually interested in food but somehow on this trip we didn't eat much. We did go every morning to the Wildflower Bread Company, it's next door to the Chamber of Commerce. They had very good baked goods and coffee and an elevated deck with a great view of the rocks. It was within walking distance of our B&B which made it perfect.

    Because we had a little kitchen in our room I ended up grocery shopping at New Frontiers which is a Whole Foods kind of place. They had good prepared foods and I had some of those tucked away in our fridge for snacks.

    We hiked a lot so lunches were basically fresh fruit, trail mix, and peanut butter sandwiches. Good hiking food but not what you had in mind, I'm sure.

    Somehow we were so tired at dinner time we only went out once to a Thai restaurant in Oak Creek. I think it was called Tara Thai.

    If you do hike, I can recommend the Little Horse trail. It was not too strenuous and the only real elevation comes at the end which you can opt to skip if you want (but you'll miss an amazing view!). For the best maps and info go to the Ranger station south of Bell Rock. They had very well informed volunteers who helped show us which hikes were the right level of difficulty for us.

  • lynninnewmexico
    11 years ago

    Thanks!

  • bestyears
    11 years ago

    Judith, if you haven't read Loving Frank, a novel based on the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, featuring Taliesin, now would be a great time. One of my favorite books.

  • judithn
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    bestyears, I read Loving Frank a while back. There wasn't much that totally new in it. I studied architectural history in college everyone knew FLW was not what you'd call a nice guy. Loving Frank just fleshed out the gruesome details. The Taliesin guide glossed over all of that. Wait. There was no glossing. The script was unadulterated by any mention of the man's shortcomings. It was genius this and genius that.

    For example, there is a cabaret room with a stage and the explanation given was that Wright fell in love with cabarets while he was in Europe touring with one of his clients' wives. This made it sound like a harmless association, as if W. and the wife were just gathering ideas for a commission when in fact she had abandoned her husband and children and run off with him to Europe. W. had a thing for client's wives -- if you wanted to rid yourself of a wife you could do it in no time if you commissioned a new project with FLW!

    This is among the many things that not directly mentioned or even presented in any balanced way. I didn't like the Sainted FLW spiel at Taliesin. The man was a genius, the fact that his ideas are now so widely embraced is proof of it. But he was a very flawed human being and by the way, his engineering skills were pretty poor. Many of his buildings are deteriorating beyond normal standards because of it.

    Taliesin is definitely worth seeing, maybe other tour guides are better than the dopey one we had. By the way, it isn't a cheap attraction -- the admission price is $50+ per adult and $32 per child. For that money I did expect better curation and scholarship.

  • sable_ca
    11 years ago

    Judithn - thanks for your report - what a great trip you had! Your writing brought back delightful memories of this so special area. Your above discussion of Loving Frank is also interesting - I might have to look for the book. We lived in Oak Park Ill. for a few years, where, as you know, there is a selection of his homes. Sorry that the Taliesin tour was not up to par. If you return to the area, you might visit the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. This is the place for Native American art and history. And it won't cost $50! $50? Really?

    Lynn - the Heartline Cafe is a very nice place, you might enjoy it. If you haven't been to Sedona already, you are in for a pleasant surprise with the location of the Junepine Inn. Oak Creek Canyon is surely one of the prettiest places in the US. If you have time, do drive to the top of the Canyon and spend a bit of time at the observation area. The whole trip from Junepine and back wouldn't even take an hour and a half. Looking at that view and then driving down into it is an unforgettable experience.

  • lynninnewmexico
    11 years ago

    Sable: thanks for the recommendation on the Heartline Cafe! Hadn't heard of that drive before, but now that you've mentioned it, we'll definitely try to make it.
    Lynn

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