The Lights Are Off

Sedona, Arizona, is a special kind of town, situated in the high desert with towering mountains and famous red rock formations, it’s a retreat from the ordinary and exudes an air of refined ruggedness.

Sedona was first inhabited by the Sinagua cliff dwellers, then later by the Apache and Yavapai peoples. By the 1500’s, the Spanish conquistadors explored these lands, looking for precious metals. In 1902, Theodore Schnebly arrived in the Verde Valley and began farming this land. He named the area Sedona, after his beloved wife, Sedona Arabella Miller Schnebly.

Over the decades, Sedona has attracted visitors from all over the world as a trusted vacation destination, a prolific Hollywood filming location for Westerns, an artist colony, a New Age vortex, and an explorer’s paradise. The famous red rocks and lush green valley make for stunning views, relaxing spa vacations, world-class shopping, off-road adventures, as well as RV and camping hot spots.

We have visited a few times over the years, and on this trip, we noticed many changes to the downtown area and traffic in general. But that gorgeous view never changes much. True, the town’s buildings and layout, the attractions and activities may all change, but the landscape is as permanent as the red in the rocks themselves.

One of the highlights of this leg of the trip was visiting with relatives whom we hadn’t seen in many years. Gary’s niece and nephew came up from Tucson for a few days, and it was wonderful to see them again. 

We did some more off roading, Gary flexing his Jeep skills ever more, and relishing in those predictable cliffs with no guardrails.

We had only planned on staying three nights in Sedona but chose to book a few more for one simple reason. The temperature! The entire state of Arizona was boiling hot – we were well into the triple digits – and we determined that our little spot at least had something we weren’t expected to see for a while – GREEN GRASS! After almost burning the dog’s little paws off in Page, we figured that this campground at least knew how to cultivate and keep their grass spots green and lush.

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