Mustang Mona

Mona is a car person., that’s why she drives a Lexus.  When she’s in the valley, she remains a car person but one who is fixated on convertibles.  That’s why I was scanning the internet looking for a deal on renting a convertible…a Mustang preferably.  Most of the “deals” were hundreds of dollars for a couple of days.  I love Mona, but there is a limit!  Finally, I found a real deal…well within my price range and located at the Palm Springs Airport!

Our tail wind doubled the electrical output!

There she goes again!

So, for the past couple of days Mona has been driving a black 2013 Ford Mustang…and loving it! She's had the radio cranked up to the max, listening to all the old car songs, "Little Deuce Coupe",  "Hot Rod Lincoln", "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" (Thanks, Steve), "G.T.O." and of course, "Mustang Sally"...over and and over again!

 We've driven to both ends of the valley at speeds I shudder to recall.  And of course, she had to drive up into the Santa Rosa mountains on Route 74…trying to double the posted limit on the hairpin curves.  My fingers are still cramped from clinging to the dashboard!

We did manage to park the car now and again.  We got some geocaching in….The Marilyn Monroe cache is quite memorable; and we got some hiking in.  Did the 1000 Palms hike and saw a few lizards, but once again no rattlesnakes.  Whew/darn!  And we slowed down enough to link up to have drinks with friends.  Turns out, a friend of ours from IP days (Virginia) is staying here at Shadow Ridge, too.  We linked up with her at The Cork Tree for drinks.  She brought along two of her friends, Betty and Ken, and we had a great evening sharing stories and talking about railroad nails.  (I may have a new hobby!)

Mona is still sleeping at this point, but I think I can hear her Mustang quietly revving up.  I think I should hide the keys!

Polo Day

Usually, we have a hummingbird that visits us every morning.  But this year no hummer.  But we do have an egret that is here each morning.  He’s not quite as cute, but he’ll have to do!  We also have lots of ducks and geese…Mona’s favorite.  Mona likes to sleep till 7:30, nothing wrong with that.  But the geese get up at 7:00 and have quite the conversation outside our unit.    Makes for an “interesting” conversation when Mona grudgingly gets up before her time!

Empire Polo Club From the Field

Sunday was polo day for us.  We had a field-side breakfast at the Eldorado Polo Club.  You get a great meal, awesome bloody Mary’s, a mountain/palm tree view and the horses are within feet of your table.  What a great way to spend a couple of hours on a warm Sunday morning.

Just before noon we headed for the Empire Polo Club.  Here we had reserved seats which were also field-side, but up about ten feet so we could see the entire field.  They were also shaded, which is great in the 85 degree heat, and we had table service. 

I'd come out of retirement for a divot-stomping job!

Here we watched two games of six chukkers (periods) each.  Did you know that each polo player goes through about six ponies in a game?  Also, the vast majority of these ponies are either a thoroughbred/quarter horse mix or thoroughbreds that have been retrained for polo.   These horses hit 35 mph on the field and can stop and turn on a dime. 

One of our favorite things to do is the divot stomp.  They have several during the afternoon, but our absolute favorite is the champagne divot stomp….where you’re handed a glass of champagne and then you stomp divots.  What’s not to love about this sport?!?!

After polo we headed home.  Time to grill some steaks and relax….and watch Walking Dead!

Hummers and Rattlers

Morning View

Our first morning in Palm Springs was warm and beautiful.  It was 65 degrees when we went out on the balcony to enjoy our coffee and watch the wildlife.  It’s really peaceful here in the mornings. 

At Least 3 Hummers In this Pcs

One of our “must-dos” in Palm Springs is visiting the Agua Caliente Indian Canyons.  We first like to go up to the Trading Post to visit the hummingbirds and check on local conditions.  You can see six different species of hummingbirds here in the Coachella Valley, none of which can been found back home.  And, the Ruby Throated Hummingbird from back home is never found here.

Now that we’ve learned about energy vortexes in Sedona, we’re convinced that Andreas Canyon must also be a vortex.  It’s been visited by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians for about 2000 years and long been considered a spiritual center by them.   Maybe that’s why we like to climb out on a rock in the mountain stream and just “be”.  (If you know me, I can’t just “be”….that’s what Mona does…I read a book.)  Anyway, that’s what we did….climbed out on a rock and spent a couple of hours there.  Then we hiked Murray Canyon.  Feels like home here.

Trailhead Sign at Indian Canyon

One things we love about this area are the different animals here.  We love watching the hummingbirds, lizards, ducks, herons and roadrunners.  One thing you have to keep in mind is that there is a heavy concentration of rattlesnakes in this area.  However, we've been hiking these trails since 1998 and have seen only one rattlesnake....and would have missed it had not Monte said, "What's that?!?!"  (BTW....don't poke them with a stick!)  We don't worry about the snakes, but we do have them in mind as we hike.

Luckily, no rattlesnakes on this visit...just hummingbirds and lizards.  Hoping we'll see a few more critters through the week.  And, we actually wouldn't mind seeing a rattlesnake, provided it's at least five or six feet away!

Jerome and Beyond

We finally found a good WiFi spot…at the home of the turquoise arches.  Golden arches didn't fit into Sedona’s color palette so they had to go with turquoise.  It’s very odd!

We began Wednesday with a trip to Jerome.  Jerome is a ghost town clinging to the side of a mountain on the south side of the Verde Canyon.  In its heyday, Jerome had 15,000 residents and was the third largest city in Arizona.  Now, it’s home to 400 people, primarily artists, craftsmen and those who cater to tourists.

Looking 1900 feet down a mine shaft

 Our first stop was an abandoned headframe….the structure which is erected over the mine shaft and which is used to lower miners down the shaft and hoist ore and miners back up.  There was a grate over the shaft allowing us to peer down 1900 feet…or at least as far as one could see.  Can’t imagine being lowered in a cage down into that abyss!

How would you like to go down 1900
feet in this cage..every day?

Next up was a visit to Jerome Historic State Park which is housed in one of the world’s largest adobe structures.  In here is a collection of ores, photos and memorabilia of the mine’s past glories.  Here you learn that over 500 billion tons of ore were removed from these mines, resulting in over one billion dollars worth of copper, gold, silver and zinc.  They also show a very cool movie of the town’s history, narrated by a ghost in a strange looking cemetery.

Copper Ore

The ghost town now has twenty or so shops selling souvenirs and minerals, along with several restaurants, including the Asylum which is a part of the Jerome Grand Hotel.  The hotel is actually a converted hospital which had a mental ward.  They routinely have ghost hunts here….and they find them.  What gave me the most goosebumps was the journal at the front desk.  In this book, guests write down their nighttime “experiences”.  In just the past few weeks:  a woman saw a floating head in her room; another woman had experiences “which persuaded” her and she asked for a different room; several heard voices….and on and on.  We want to go back and spend a couple of nights in that hotel!

Jerome Cemetery

On our way out of town we decided to find a geocache at the cemetery featured in the movie from the State Park.  From this cemetery you could see the mountains at Flagstaff over 50 miles away…beautiful view, but the graves were very, very different.  Each was enclosed with an iron “fence” and had stones piled on the grave.  Some of the fences looked like bed frames, but others were very ornate...but still with the stones.

Mona at her Vortex Tree

We finished up the day with a climb to the top of a butte near the Sedona airport.  This butte is considered to be another vortex spot and Mona quickly found her vortex tree to sit beside.  Views from up here were incredible!  And for the record, Mona climbs up these rocks like a mountain goat!  Me…not.  Could be because of my fall off that dam so many years ago but more likely, because of the three falls I’ve had these past twelve months!  I haven’t broken any bones in almost 36 months and I want to keep it that way!

Mona Sketching at Oak Creek

Thursday, we decided to revisit our favorite spot below Cathedral Rock.  We packed a picnic lunch and wine and set out down the trail.  After a couple of miles we came to our spot on Oak Creek Canyon and much to our surprise our little Buddha stack was still there!  We spread a blanket alongside the creek and dined al fresco.  We spent several hours here…listening to the rushing water, Mona sketching, and me…just soaking up the vortex energy.  (I needed the recharge since I was the one carrying the pack!)  It struck our minds that we could have been working…nah….this was what we were meant to do!

Back to the International Film Festival for the evening.  We were surprised to find out that a short film was to be presented before the film we had paid for.  Turns out, we were attending a world premiere of a movie short titled “Remember to Breathe” starring Lee Meriwether and Susan Blakely.  After the movie they had a panel discussion with the producer, director, Lee Meriwether and Susan Blakely.  So cool!  On top of that, they presented Lee Meriwether with a surprise lifetime achievement award.  She got a standing ovation.  Now we’re going to have to watch the original Batman movie to see Lee Meriwether as Catwoman.

We Love Cathedral Rock!

Our last film from the festival was “Woman from the 5^th”.  This one was set in Paris and starred Ethan Hawke.  Mixture of French, English and Polish…murder, sexual intrigue, insanity…it was the perfect movie for an international film festival!

Friday, we headed for Palm Springs.  It was just six hours from Sedona, but a climate or two away.  We left Sedona at 34 degrees and arrived in Palm Springs at 89 degrees!  Our first stop, of course, was Blue Coyote.  It’s been a year since we’ve had their incredible margaritas.  Once again I asked for their recipe but as always, the bartender pleaded ignorance.  Also, as usual, Mona couldn't drive after only one.

We enjoyed an evening stroll to the clubhouse to see an illusionist show.  Then strolled back to enjoy a star-filled sky.  Beautifully warm!

Best of all, we now have high speed WiFi and 4G everywhere we go.  Mona is happy…thus, I am happy!

I'm NOT a Jeep!

“I’m NOT a jeep,” said, Red.  “Get me out of here!”  I guess to understand this statement we have to go back a bit.  Back to our decision to visit an ancient Indian cliff dwelling called Palatki.  We had heard that this was a cool place to visit and only 12 miles out of town.  You have to have reservations to visit so we called and were told that it took 45 minutes to get there.  Huh?  12 miles…45 minutes?

Following directions we drove 5 miles west on 89A and turned north on FR525.  Turns out FR means Fire Road…and it’s barely passable in a car…as shown on the sign.  However, we had Red so we figured we could handle the 7 miles of FR525.  Well, we did….but it was so rough we could barely drive 10 miles an hour.  We were SO relieved to finally get to the site!

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Animal Paintings

Once there, we went up a path to where there were lots of ancient cave paintings, dating back to the Archaic Age.  Amazing!  Animals, families, sun markings used to track the seasons…just amazing!

Then we visited the cliff dwellings.  Tucked up high into an alcove in the mountain, they were impossible to see unless you knew they were there…and tough even then.  There were one story and two story homes built into the side of the mountain using stone, mud and sticks.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of these in the Verde Valley, but this one is one of the easiest to visit.

Palatki Ruins

We came back down the steep mountain path and learned that there was a sister site, Honanki, only four miles away.  We hopped into Red and headed west.  Wonderful scenery at every turn, but unfortunately, the road kept getting worse and worse.  5 mph was the maximum we could do and we were really pushing our luck.  Finally, about three miles in, Red cried out, “I’m not a Jeep!”  We had to agree and did a three point turn to head back.  Even so, it took an hour to get back to a hard road.  Just glad we did with all parts still on Red!

We celebrated Red’s survival with dinner at a restaurant in a nearby square, Tlaquepaque.  (Try saying that three times!)  We then headed back to our resort to watch the Academy Awards.  Yay, for Jennifer Lawrence and Daniel Day Lewis….and Argo!

Next day was Mona’s birthday.  This year she opted for simply a birthday, not a birthweek, nor a birthmonth.  Much easier to work with! 

Mona gets her xylophone on!

All over uptown Sedona they have big xylophones for anyone to play.  That means you're always hearing these ethereal tones as you walk around town.  Very cool!

We visited a museum that highlighted all the movies that had been made here.  Mona is a movie-geek so this was a big deal for her!  We then had lunch at a place where we got to watch a pair of golden eagles soar on thermals around the Snoopy rock formation.  Very cool!  (Snoopy is a rock formation that looks like Snoopy lying on his back on his doghouse.)

Next up was a visit to the Sedona International Film Festival.  We just stumbled into this one.  People from all over the world are here to attend this festival.  Our showing tonight was “The Announcement” which is about Magic Johnson’s AIDS story and how he’s helped lead the charge in fighting AIDS. 

Watching a film festival film is a little different from watching a movie at a local Cineplex.  First off, when you enter the theater there is a two piece ensemble playing music.  Yep, a guitar playing singer and an accompanying harpist.  Then a gentleman comes on stage to give an overview of the film and introduce the “film introducer”.  Turns out he’s the US delegate to the UN in charge of leading the war against AIDS.  He gives another overview and it’s time for the film. Just a bit different from the Avon at Decatur.

“The Annoucement” is amazing….very informative and very moving.  Huge applause when it finishes.  Then, they bring bar stools onto the stage and the panel assembles.  The panel includes AIDS activists from all over the world, including Nelson Mandella’s grandson.  They discuss the film, the AIDS crisis and the real-life impact of the disease.  We don’t do this at the Carmike in Decatur, either! 

Yes, we're going up there!

We’ve already bought tickets for another film.  Can’t wait!

Finished off Mona’s birthday at a French restaurant at Tlaquepaque….Rene’s.  Great service, great ambiance, great food and a wonderful way to celebrate a birthday!

Mountain Woman

On Wednesday, we tackled another trail, this time going up to the base of the Coffee Pot Rock.  This trail had lots of switchbacks and opportunities to slip and fall a long long way.  Luckily, no falls and we celebrated by enjoying the vistas of the Verde Valley before turning back and working our way back down.

We finished off our day with a Jeep tour.  We shared the open air Jeep with two other couples and went for a wild ride in the back country.  We actually ended up at the Honanki ruins, where we had tried to take Red just a few days before.  The return trip to town was during sunset, so we got treated to views of the rock formations “glowing” in the setting sun.

Note to diary:  Day 5 of Mona dealing with poor cell reception, E coverage if any, and extremely poor WiFi (Even Starbucks doesn’t have WiFi!)  The situation is tense at best.  I’m beginning to fear for my electronics’ safety.  I’m afraid she’s going to cannibalize them to build a huge receiving antenna.  Someone....anyone, P L E A S E send 4G!

Sedona

Flowers & Snow

We drove down Oak Creek Canyon Road from Flagstaff to Sedona.  It’s a beautiful drive anytime, but even more so after the snow.  Made it a little more harrowing because of snow falling from the mountainside and overhanging branches, but still an incredible drive.

Staying at the Sedona Summit Resort.  Great views of the surrounding red rocks everywhere you look.  Loving this place!

Our first foray was to the Chamber of Commerce to learn about the trails and conditions.  Mona, as usual, made a friend…Tom.  He gave us some great tips on trails and suggestions on places to eat.  Then we walked/shopped though Sedona.  Lots of opportunities to spend money and have fun.  Resisted them…at least most of them…and headed back to our resort to rest up and prepare for our first hike.

Buddha Stack in Oak Creek

Road to Trailhead

Our first hike was the Baldwin Trail to the Cathedral Trail so we’d get a great view of Cathedral Rock.  About two miles in we came to our first vortex.  A vortex is where there is a concentration of energy; some say magnetic, some say electric, some say a concentration of sub-atomic strings of particles that exist in ten dimensions.  Whatever…these are revered spots throughout the area that people visit to meditate, perform yoga, visit aliens, or commune with their gods. 

This particular vortex is below Cathedral Rock on Oak Creek.  Here many build Buddha stacks to help them connect to the energy source.  These little cairns of rocks are everywhere.  We love this spot so we built our own little stack and stayed here for some time…eating our lunch and just enjoying the sounds and energy.  What an incredible place!!!!

We continued our trek…seeing great views of the rocks and the flora.  These trails take you through some very tough terrain, but incredibly you keep meeting up with people bicycling on the trails.  Can’t imagine doing that!!!  There are deep canyons on either side of the trail and lots and lots of cactus everywhere.  Not much room for error!

Cathedral Rock

We finished up our hike to Red Rock Crossing…where you get an iconic view of Cathedral Rock…one of the most photographed sites in the Southwest and seen in many Western Movies. 

Finished our day with antipasti in Cucina Rustica with its starlight dining room ceiling.  Awesome place!

Time for bed to re-energize for tomorrow.  May need another vortex fix!

Headed West

Last Wednesday we packed our bags, loaded up Red and headed west again.  This time our primary goal is Sedona, Arizona.  We only got a taste of it the last time and we decided we needed to spend some quality time there.

But of course, part of the destination is the journey.  Our journey began early with hopes of reaching Oklahoma City prior to the winter storm” Q”.  About four hours outside of OKC we started getting a little freezing precipitation, but not bad.  Luckily, we hit town about 3:30 and we even got to visit the Cattlemen’s Steakhouse for a late late breakfast before the storm hit.

Next morning we woke up to the sound of strong winds and ice pellets crashing against our window.  We had breakfast downstairs and debated as to what route to take and when to take it.  Ultimately we stayed with our original plans…I40 to Albuquerque; however, we delayed our start time by an hour until 8:00.

We hit the roads and almost immediately began to doubt our decision.  Lots of cars off the roads.  We were counting them, but quickly lost track as we wanted to expend most of our concentration on the icy road.  Ice, snow, rain, sleet….all kept coming at us.  Sometimes we could drive 60. Other times 30 seemed way too fast!

About 30 miles east of Amarillo, Texas we saw several state trooper vehicles flagging down traffic.  They rerouted us to a little road alongside the highway.  We soon saw miles and miles of stopped vehicles.  Ahead of them was a huge accident…we counted twelve semis that were jackknifed or crashed and there were cars all over.  So glad we had decided on our delay!  (No serious injuries were reported from this accident!)

Once we hit Amarillo we were in the clear.  Cranked Red up to 75 and soared!  Soon we started seeing mesas and the beautiful scenery of New Mexico.

Bronzed T Rex

Last year I wanted to stop at one of the many dinosaur museums that are scattered through the west.  This trip we decided to stop…at Mesalands Community College's Dinosaur Museum.  Mesaland’s Community College specializes in two things: paleontology and bronze works.  They’ve combined those two skillsets to create the largest collection of bronzed dinosaur bones and skeletons in the world.  Truly amazing….and so much more!  They have artifacts from all over the world and they do a great job of giving the history of the dinosaurs while at the same time, letting you have fun.  You even get to touch some of the bones.  Where else have you done that!!??

Finally hit our destination for the night:  Albuquerque.  Mona was driving and I was navigating…a perfect combination to fulfill a life-long dream.  “Turn left,” I said.  Mona obliged.  “Damn, “ I said, “We should have turned right.”  “Do you know what we just did?....we made a wrong turn in Albuquerque!”  I was thrilled…..Mona was….well, not.

Stayed in a little hotel just a few blocks from Old Town.  Walked there, did a little geocaching, had a New Mexican dinner and we were ready to call it a night!  Time to rest up for tomorrow!