SEDONA / FLAGSTAFF
Happy Easter, peeps!
Today was my last day in the Sedona/Flagstaff area. Wrapped up my time here with Easter Mass in church (unlike last year!) before heading out.
Here is a quick recap of my time in this gorgeous place on earth.
My Perception of Flagstaff
Flagstaff is a chill outdoorsy college town nestled in the mountains at 7,000 feet. The population is 75,000 (a total of 139,000 including outlying areas). It is full of young people, 4x4's, and little hole-in-the-wall breweries and restaurants. It's big enough to host an REI and a Target and other retailers and Sedona is just one hour away. I'm a huge fan of Flagstaff.
My Perception of Sedona
Sedona is absolutely stunning, full of iconic red sandstone formations, at an elevation of 4,300 feet. The best way I can think to describe Sedona is a high-end New Age town.
Why New Age?
It claims to be a spiritual power center, famous for its four energy vortexes (vortices?). Despite being a small town (its population is just 10,000), the main drag is full of tourists, 54 restaurants and 144 personal and spiritual enrichment establishments, according to their Chamber of Commerce. Recall the man who was passing out heart-shaped rocks and playing his flute to wrap the earth in its melody.
Why high-end?
Because of the McDonald's. I know, McDonald's is not a high-end restaurant, but the McDonald's in Sedona has blue arches and that means the town has some pretty high-end standards.
I looked it up and this is the only McDonald's in the world that has foregone its golden arches to open a location. I don't know who the 10,000 people who live in Sedona are, but I would NOT mess with them if they have this much power over a top ten most famous brand in the world.
McDonald's will tell you those vortexes are really powerful. I will tell you that Sedona may seem like a laid-back town on the surface, but they have some really high standards that no one can mess with. :)
Here are the things I did:
Hiking
Touring
Churches
Ruins
Eating
Creekside Bistro - Sedona
Beaver Street Brewery - Flagstaff
Lumberyard Brewing Company - Flagstaff
Eat In - the rest of the week I cooked in my little hotel suite kitchenette
Sleeping
Ideally, I would have stayed in Sedona where the best hiking would have been minutes from my door, rather than an hour each way. But hotels and Airbnb's were very expensive relative to Flagstaff, so I stayed there instead. It worked out great though because I likely wouldn't have experienced Flagstaff otherwise and I really like this town.
I ended up staying in a Marriott Residence Inn. It was perfect! It is in the middle of downtown Flagstaff so I was able to walk around to look at shops and stop at a couple restaurants while I was there, Plus it is new (built in 2017) and clean and offered free hot breakfast each day.
This was my home for 12 nights:
The lobby:
The laundry room!!! I figured out that it has been 18 years and 5 months since I needed quarters to do my laundry. :) I didn't realize what a luxury it is to have my own washer/dryer since I moved out of my tiny little apartment in Albany, NY. And this was much nicer than my laundry room in Albany - nice and clean and empty.
People I Saw
No one, but lots of calls and texts and emails.
And Karen booked her flight to meet up in Utah!
Things On My List I Didn't Get Around To
Here are some items on my list that I didn't get around to doing. Sharing because you might be interested in checking them out when you're in Sedona or Flagstaff:
Meteor Crater - my dad highly recommends this!
Grand Canyon Skywalk - sorry, Mr. Chandler, I didn't make it to this one!
Montezuma Castle - thanks for the recommendation, Shannan. I got to see a lot of ruins, but didn't get this one squeezed in ...
Peace out, Sedona!
Next stop: Page, AZ. See you there!