Praising Arizona, Part 2

The next day, we picked up our rental car, a Ford Escape. That's a small SUV, and while not what we'd reserved (we'd booked a Hyundai Sonata, but Thrifty didn't have any available), it turned out to be ideal. It was good on gas, using about 8.5 litres per 100 kilometres in a mix of driving that included 2,500 metre mountains, 120 km./hr. Interstates, and stop and go city driving. It had plenty of room for our stuff and excellent manoeuvrability and outward visibility.

We headed to Jerome, two hours north of Phoenix. Jerome was once a copper mining town of 15,000, but is now an artists' colony of about 400. It sits at 1,600 metres on the side of a mountain overlooking the Verde Valley in Central Arizona. Some of the buildings have been salvaged or restored and are homes to galleries, shops, and restaurants.

We ate at the Flatiron Cafe. This tiny place (it holds about a dozen people and the washrooms are at the artists' cooperative across the street) has an award-winning menu. The bread pudding is not to be missed, but get there early, because it sells out by 12:30.

We wandered around for a few hours before heading for the condo we had booked at Sedona Summit Resort in Sedona, about a half an hour northeast of Jerome. This is a timeshare property, but we had found and booked it online. It is also listed in the AAA tourbook, so can be booked, like a hotel, by anyone. We had to fend off several offers to attend a timeshare presentation, but all the resort's facilities were available to us. There were free activities during the day, and concerts and lectures in the evening. Our one-bedroom suite had a full kitchen, bath with whirlpool tub and shower stall, gas fireplace, wireless internet, king bed, and balcony with a view of those famous Sedona rocks.

Sedona is Red Rock Country and it is the most spectacular natural setting I have ever experienced. Founded by T. C. Schnebly in 1902, he named it for his wife, Sedona. Five million people visit annually, many seeking healing or renewal and it is a centre of New Age spirituality. One wonders if it would have the same New Age cachet if it were called Schneblyville.

Over the next few days, we took in the local sights, attending a Taizé sevice at the Chapel of the Holy Cross, hiking at Bell Rock, visiting the site of a pre-historic Sinagua pueblo at Tuzigoot National Monument, seeking the vortex on Airport Mesa, shopping and dining at Tlaquepaque arts and crafts village.

We spent a day at the Grand Canyon, about two hours north of Sedona. The forty-kilometre drive through Oak Creek Canyon north from Sedona to Flagstaff twists along a narrow road that climbs more than 1,000 metres and is not for the nervous, but is a drive you'll never forget. While the Grand Canyon is justly celebrated as one of the wonders of the natural world, I found the towering rock formations around Sedona to be even more awe-inspiring.

After four days in Sedona, we headed south again, this time to the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale.