My dad came this past weekend from Detroit and we had lots of fun. On Saturday we walked around Scottsdale and went to some galleries. In one store, we talked with the artist and he told us that he used to be a sound designer for t.v. shows like Cheers. He had 18 Emmys and half of them were just sitting out in his store on top of a bookcase. Too bad for him that we were more interested in the Emmys than buying any art. After the galleries we went to our favorite authentic Mexican restaurant in Scottsdale. They have a room that looks like the inside of a mushroom (not normally an indicator of good restaurants, but in this case it is). We ate lots of chips and shared two huge entrees among us. Then we had to go home and sleep it off for the rest of the afternoon.
On Sunday we went up to Sedona to see the red rock formations. To get a better view, we took a jeep tour up into the mountains to the top of the Mongollon Rim - the mountains that separate Sedona from Flagstaff. I was worried about us being afraid of the height, but the views were so breathtaking and spectacular that I think we all forgot about the sheer drops (ok, mostly). Our guide was a real character too - he looked like Yosemite Sam and he kept making jokes about getting out on parole and drinking. When we got out to take a photo, he handed me a loaded revolver!
After the jeep tour, we went to a restaurant where John Wayne supposedly liked to go (lots of westerns were made in Sedona). We had fried cactus and buffalo burgers. The cactus was good but it proved the point that anything fried pretty much tastes the same.
Feeling adventurous from our jeep ride and "John Wayne" lunch, we drove to a park outside of town that advertised a natural rock slide. It turned out to be a beautiful river cutting through a mountain where you could hike up, get into the water, and slide down 500+ yards with the current. The water was so cold not many people would get in, but David bravely jumped in and went cruising down the river. I was a lot less brave but did get in after I saw him get out (shivering and freezing but all smiles). We both went down two more times then called it quits while we could still feel our fingers and toes. The "slide" wasn't as smooth as we would have hoped so we got banged up a little but the views and the experience were definitely worth it.
On our way out of Sedona and back to Phoenix, we stopped at the Red Planet Diner - a quirky little tin can with all kinds of alien parephenalia. They had photos of UFO encounters, alien mannequins, busts of Star Trek people, and a ceiling painted like the night sky. Very weird and very Sedona.
Dad and I slept in the car and David drove home. Thanks DZ.
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