Back in the Manor

April 10
Woke up this morning to bright blue sky and snow on the red rocks. What a gorgeous sight! We packed up the car and hitched up the Manor. There was about 4 inches of snow we had to remove from the top before we could pop it up and get out some necessary tools. With Flagstaff as our next destination, we headed north. It feels good to be on the road again after three fabulous weeks. We were expecting a let down but we are all excited to get going. We carry storage boxes in the back of the car for extra clothes, shoes and jackets. It’s always a mess and things slide everywhere. It was time for a change. A trip to Target was on our list. We found a great drawer set up that looks like it will be the solution. Small things can be so exciting and rewarding. By the time we did grocery shopping and our reorganizing it was 9:00 with just enough time for a game of cards.
April 11
We went to the historic area of Flagstaff to walk around and have lunch. With its restored buildings, shops and restaurants, it’s a fun place to roam around. We found a sushi restaurant for Norm. Flagstaff is the first town I have thought I could enjoy living in while we have been in AZ with the exception of the cold, snowy winter. The elevation is almost 7,000 feet and in a ponderosa pine forest. It is a university town with lots going on. The people seem to be interested in living “green” and with lots of recreation possibilities it might be a great place to live. We took a tour of Riodan Mansion that gave us an introduction to the early history going back to the logging days. In 1887, two brothers bought the Arizona Lumber and Timber Co. from a third brother. They married sisters and built a 13,000 sq. ft. mansion in the American Arts and Crafts style with 6,000 sq. ft. homes on each end and a common living room in the middle. What a great plan. It was the first home to have indoor plumbing and electricity. They definitely were into “green” living before it caught on a hundred years later. Much of the furniture is Stickley. One of the brothers had a dining table built in an oval shape with pointed ends so that everyone at the large table could see one another and converse. The home was donated to the state parks system and opened in 2002. The brothers were instrumental in building many of the public buildings including the Catholic church and a hospital.
April 12 Sunset Crater and Wupatki
We did a loop drive today north of Flagstaff, our favorite, seeing Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments. Sunset Crater features the 1,000 ft. crater that erupted around 1,000 AD interrupting life in the area. We took the Lava Flow Trail reading the trail guide along the way explaining all the different types of lava and vegetation. It has a reddish color that reminded Powell, Colorado River explorer, of a sunset and thus it got its name. The volcano settled down, the climate had changed for the better as far as farming was concerned and the Sinaguas came into the area around 1,100 AD much the same as we have seen in the Sedona area and built impressive pueblos. There are around 600 small craters in this area.
Wupatki National Monument is home to many smaller pueblo ruins along with the impressive Wupatki Pueblo. Christy and I had done this loop four years ago and wanted to share it with Norm. My photos will speak for themselves as to the wonder of this place. National park rangers had actually lived in the ruins during the 1920’s. They had constructed an actual living space within the ruins with a workable kitchen etc. It was rightfully dismantled.
Norm pointed out the Abert’s squirrel scampering by in our campground. It really had a unique look with 1½ inch ears that stand straight up and a white belly. The ponderosa pines provide both food and shelter.
　



Lava Flow at Sunset Crater




Sunset Crater




Wupatki




Wind blown at Wupatki



Snow in Sedona




Leaving Sedona - Snow Covered Buttes



The Perfect Storage Solution!

　

Sedona

April 7
Sitting on Cleopatra Hill is the copper mining living ghost town of Jerome. We arrived before lunch and visited the newly refurbished Douglas Mansion State Park. Douglas was one of the early mining pioneers. The first claims were staked in 1876, with the United Verde Mine opening in 1883 followed by the Little Daisy claim. Over a billion dollars of copper was taken out along with gold and silver. There are about 100 miles of subterranean tunnels underground. Dynamite blasting moved the jail, roads and other buildings 225 feet down hill. The last mine closed in 1953 and it was down hill until the 80’s and 90’s. Now there are great shops and restaurants along with the interesting museum. We had a delicious lunch at the Asylum Café sitting high on the hill in a building that had originally been a hospital. The dining room is in the old maternity ward. Faye had a good friend that had lived here in the 1970’s when artists where moving in along with the hippies. Her husband’s name was Frank Hamilton. We looked up his art online and it is very good. Cards and Mexican train rounded out the day with left over pizza, beer and wine. Yum!



All of Us with See's Candy



John Pointing Up to Jerome

April 8
We met Faye and John for breakfast at the golf course near the resort with fabulous views. We drove down to Montezuma Castle National Park and Montezuma Well before Faye and John headed back to the train in Flagstaff. Native Americans lived in this valley since 600 AD but as with all the other sites we had seen, it was the Sinaguas who moved south from Colorado that built the various pueblos. This site was built high off the ground in the cliff side similar to Mesa Verde but on a much smaller scale around 1125. The early Spanish explorers named it Montezuma Castle thinking it was an Aztec ruin. The 700 year old sycamore beams are still in place and strong as ever. One of the displays had a timeline comparing the development in Europe at the time the pueblos were being built. I have often thought when I have been in Europe about buildings like Notre Dame being built at the same time as the simple Native American pueblos or even further back to the Roman aqueduct I saw in Spain that was built around 100 AD long before or the Forum in Rome. Development has been so different around the world and still continues today. Sometimes I think we are too advanced for our own good. Montezuma Well is a large sink that is continuously fed by springs at the rate of 1,000,000 and a half gallons a day. It was doing it way back in the 1100’s and still continues. The canals the Sinaguans built to carry the water to their fields are still in place with water flowing. There was also a pueblo here but the ruins on the perimeter of the sink are ruble today. We said our goodbyes with Faye and John after a fabulous visit. We drove on up to Flagstaff, by mistake, and drove down Oak Creek Canyon. It is so pretty. We checked with the resort office on my duffle bag. IT HAD FINALLY ARRIVED after 6 days in Phoenix. I finally have all my stuff. It’s way too long of a story for the blog. We headed up the Eolte Café for dinner at 5:30 to find an hour wait. They don’t take reservations and open at 5:00 with a line at the door. Norm’s daughter had told us this was a must do and she was right. We had a margarita while we waited for our perfect table. I think the food would be called southwestern like that in Santa Fe. We loved every bite. We started our meal with the Elote, their signature dish, as an appetizer. I bought the cookbook and the chef/owner came out to sign it. What a delightful evening.



Montzuma Castle



My BAG Finally Arrived



The Chef/Owner and Me at Elote

 April 9
We woke up to snow! Yesterday was in the 60’s but a cold front came in overnight bringing snow. We went out for a drive to take pictures even though the sun wasn‘t out. It is beautiful but I’m afraid it will melt before the sun comes out for the really gorgeous views of the snow covered red rock buttes against the blue sky. We are having a cozy day watching movies on our big screen TV.
　



Snow Covered Cactus



View from Our Room

 　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

Sedona

April 5
Still no bag…Faye and John were here bright and early. After catching up, we drove up to the two best views of this incredible valley surrounded by buttes of red rock. The Chapel of the Holy Cross sits in the rocks up high enough for an amazing view and is beautiful in itself. It is said to sit on a vortex. When we were walking up the hill we passed a man who was having a difficult time walking after having a “vortex experience.” He could barely walk and couldn’t move his arms or hands but wasn‘t upset about it and seemed to be in a good state of mind, interesting. I was remembering Jake talking about the feelings he had when he was here. Chris and I took time for a quite moment. Our bodies definitely had a reaction with light headedness and uneasy feelings in our stomachs. I have a difficult time quieting my mind and it definitely wouldn’t happen with scads of tourists around. Maybe the sense of peace that one can feel around this area of red rock and vortexes is helping me not be too upset about my lost bag. Across the street and in total view from the chapel is a $19,000,00.00 11,000 sq.ft. Italian villa owned by Dr. Lasiks who invented the process to improve vision. It is beautiful but doesn’t seem right ro be across the street from the chapel. Most people who go to the chapel seem to be more interested in seeing the villa than the chapel. Oh well, each to their own. We also drove high enough up Schnebley Road for an awesome view. Lunch at the Wildflower Bread Co. fortified us for a couple of walks to the Palatki and Honanki Sinagua cliff dwellings. Palatki is considered to be a spiritual site and goes back to 8,000 BC with so many pictographs. Knowledgeable docents were at the Palatki sites to give us some history and explanations of the pictographs. We were really fortunate to be there when a docent was taking an additional walk to an agave pit where the Sinaguas would roast the 10-12 pound heart of the agave for four or five days. The pictographs drawn here through the ages were amazing! It is a very spiritual place and has a split in the rock that resembles a doorway which is said to lead to the spirit world and with a large rock sitting in front of the doorway where the shaman would sit. The area at Honanki was inhabited between 1150 AD and 1300. We could walk right up to the cliff dwellings here. Of course the red rock buttes in all these places are gorgeous. We were looking hundreds of feet straight up the butte and then walking under the overhangs where we viewed the drawings.
We made a stop at the market for beer, wine, chips and pizza for an easy dinner back home. We had a great old time playing Mexican Train way into the night. Faye began a tradition of bringing a box of See’s candy with every visit. This time they brought us each a box filled with our personal favorites!



Faye, John & I looking at the View




View from Chapel




Door to Spirit World at Palatki



Pictographs at Palatki



Clifff Dwellings at Honanki Runis



Cliffs at Honanki Runins



Veiw of Sedona from Schenbley Road


April 6
Still no bag…Clouds this morning but we decided to stop for sandwiches and have a picnic at the Tuzigoot Ruins National Monument. These ruins sit high on a hill overlooking the Verde Valley and date back to about 1100 AD. Around 1930, a large mound was thought to be Sinagua ruins and a excavation was begun in 1934. The mining in the area was drying up and men were put to work digging out the remains of walls that formed up to 85 rooms on the lower level and another 20 some on the second story. The 250 some people who lived here at its height were farmers and hunters and probably led a happy and simple life. There was plenty of water in the valley below for farming. They probably enjoyed the company of others that passed through trading goods and sharing news. They figure there were about 50 other building sites similar to this one in the area. We headed back to Sedona for a stop at Crescent Moon Ranch at Red Rock Crossing State Park. What a magnificent view of Cathedral Rock even with the gray clouds. The path follows Oak Creek to a vortex area. Christy and I had been here before at the end of a day and didn’t walk very far. At the time we didn’t know about the vortex and I was more interested in getting some great photos of the creek with the late afternoon sun. Today we walked to the vortex at Buddha Beach. The “Buddhas” are rocks piled up in columns balancing on each other and are everywhere. We did one for the five of us and then one with Allison in mind. I was standing by the water saying a few prayers and started swaying. Then my fingers started tingling and the feeling spread up to my wrists. Christy and Faye joined me and had the same tingling sensation. It is a very special place I’m sure. We all “cleaned up” for a fancy dinner at the Shugrue’s Hillside Restaurant. Luckily I had one decent outfit or they would have had to leave me behind with left over pizza! Dinner was great but can’t say the same for the service. Oh well, onto Mexican Train and See’s candy. I got my nightly call at 11:00 PM from Hawaiian Air and it looks like I might REALLY have my duffle bag on Friday! They actually have it at the airport and will Fedex it tomorrow. It’s been a little frustrating to say the least but I’m with great people in an amazing place.


Tuzigoot Ruins




More Tuzigoot



Oak Creek and Cathedral Rock

Faye & John at Crescent Moon Ranch

Buddha for Allison and Others in My Prayers



Buddha Beach



Sedona

April 3
We had some delays on Hawaiian Air and didn’t get into Phoenix until 3:00 this morning only to discover that my big duffle bag with practically every necessity tightly packed inside didn’t make the flight with me. I had to fill out a claim before we could tuck ourselves into bed at the Marriott. We all took out trip insurance this time. It might just pay off! We slept until 11:00 and headed for Sedona. We have a gorgeous one bedroom condo just a few miles south of Sedona. I could move in here! A few of my dirty clothes were packed in my carryon. The washing machine is going as I write this. Hopefully my bag will catch up with me soon…
We dove up to town and had dinner at Oak Creek Brewery. Norm had tasted their beer and was excited to have another glass here in Sedona. We have put his on our list as a place for dinner with Faye and John.
April 4
Still no bag. With a pretty much a flawless couple of months travel in gorgeous and interesting parts of the US, I probably won’t get much sympathy about my lost bag. A long story made short, Hawaiian Air knows who has my bag and it’s not at the airport.

Saying Good Bye to Maui



Lizzard at State Park




Oak Creek at State Park




View on Loop Road




Margaritas All Around




View at Dinner

 Onward…We woke up to a beautiful morning and took Norm up to our favorite breakfast spot, the Wildflower Bread Co, and he fell in love. We sat on the patio looking across to beautiful red rock formations sipping our coffee with our yummy breakfast. We noticed an RV park down by the creek and stopped by for information for future visits. We won’t always have our gorgeous condo to rest our heads. We outlined our week after a visit to the local visitor center. Faye and John will meet up with us tomorrow morning. We did a little driving to show Norm around including a drive down to Sedona State Park and a beautiful loop drive. We shopped a little bit at Tlaquepaque, a beautiful high end shopping and dining area and had an early dinner looking out to the red rock with the late afternoon sun giving them an extra shot of red color. For our evening entertainment we went shopping with my $100.00 insurance money that is meant to tide one over when bags are lost. A walk along the touristy shops led to a cute Sedona sweatshirt and I filled a bag with necessities with a trip to Walgreens. After a Margarita and the shopping trip I was overcoming my frustrations. I won both our games of cards and was feeling even better.
　

last on Maui - BooHoo

Day 7
We saved our snorkeling trip on the Gemini catamaran for our last day. We woke up to rain and thought oh no! We thought we were going to head north to Honolua Bay and be in the clouds but, of course, our captain had checked the weather and took us south into the sunshine. The crew was fabulous getting us all our equipment and we had a delightful sail to our snorkeling spot. It was my favorite kind of snorkeling with deeper clear turquoise water over coral reefs. The reefs were practically every color of the rainbow. We saw lots of beautiful fish but the highlight was swimming with the turtles! They are so large and graceful in the water. Every once in a while they would poke their nose out for air. Lunch and an open bar were ready for us when we got back on the boat, such wonderful treatment. On the way back we were came up to a mama gray whale with her baby and boyfriend and swam with us for a while. Other whales were in the distance. Then we found ourselves right next to a group of a couple hundred Hawaiian spinning dolphin. One of our crew members was great about tossing out facts on the whales and the dolphin along with some early history. We hated to get off the boat.It was an amzing 4 hour boat ride and we loved every minute. I could have easily stayed on for another couple of hours! We have dinner reservations for the Hula Grill tonight. I can’t believe it is our last night.
P.S. Our last dinner was perfect. We are going to miss this Maui weather. Another warm evening eating in an open air restaurant - what a treat.
Day 8
Travel day - we arrive in Phoenix at midnight. I’m sitting at the table with my computer with a view of the Maui coastline in bright sunshine. This is hard to beat! Sedona will bring new adventures and I'm looking forward to spending time with Faye and John.



Leaving Our Snkleing Spot




What a Ride





We are sitting right out front looking for whales.



Maui/day 4 and 5

Day 4
We followed a great suggestion from our concierge and drove up to Napili Bay to the Gazebo for breakfast. She told us there would always be a line but to hang in there. We did, for an hour. You couldn’t beat the view while you were waiting and the line just continued to build behind us. We got another perfect table right on the bay and loved our breakfast with macadamia nut pancakes and Portuguese sausage and eggs. We didn’t need lunch that’s for sure. We drove around the north tip as far as rental cars were allowed to go for gorgeous views of the coastline. In the afternoon Christy and I rented snorkeling equipment and we all went down to the beach at Black Rock in Ka‘anapoli. It wasn’t ideal conditions with the wave action but after getting slammed with the biggest wave of the afternoon while I was putting on my fins and Christy losing her mask in the surf for several minutes, we made it out to see so many different kinds of beautiful fish. We watched the younger folks jump off the cliffs at the end of the point with lots of “You can dot it!” and clapping after the jump from those in the water below. After we dropped off our gear on the beach we went out for a swim and saw a turtle. We got our masks back on and Chris met him eye to eye and swam with him just like I had done on another trip. What a thrill! Norm was content to sit on the beach and be entertained with the antics of a Mr. Bean - like attempt to snorkle, never did, and use a boogie board, again never made it. There is nothing much better than a swim in the warm ocean, a shower, and dinner at a fabulous restaurant. We went down to the Whaler’s Village and had a cocktail at sunset at the Hula Grill and a wonderful fish dinner at a perfect table at Leinlanies.




Breakfast at the Gazebo




Napili Bay




Add caption

 Day 5
What a special experience today! After reading “Born in Paradise” about Armine’s experiences growing up on the Haleakala Ranch, I could always picture how wonderful it would be to ride horseback across the green upcountry hills looking out to the Pacific below. I never thought I would be up on a horse again but there I was riding across those same green hills with the same views as she had talked about a century ago. Of course my horse walked all the way and I had a marvelous trail guide while she probably galloped across the hills with her father. My horse was named Hapa which means half and half in Hawaiian. He was a Montana horse with one brown eye and one blue eye. We bonded immediately. Christy rode the biggest horse, Applejack, the same one that is in the add and Norm rode laidback Appie, the Appaloosa who like to stay at the rear of our small group of six. It is still a huge working ranch and provides organic beef to stores such as Whole Foods with the label Maui Beef. We came across a group of mares with a stallion that were in the pasture that had been working horses on the ranch and were now retired. What a beautiful retirement home! Our guide was darling and reminded us all of Sandra Bullock. What an experience!
We were only about 30 minutes from the Haleakala crater. After much discussion as to how wise it would be to go up 10,000 feet with plugged ears from the flu, we decided to go for it. I had flown across the crater years ago in a helicopter but had never driven up to the top. We drove through the clouds to a beautiful view of the crater in the sunlight. Thank goodness our ears were none the worse. We had lunch in the cowboy town of Makawao at a Mexican place that our guide loved. It was the biggest and best homemade tamale I ever had. Lat in the afternoon we took Norm out to the north shore to watch the sailboarders at the Hookipa Beach lookout and saw a paddle boarder get creamed. He went one way and the board went another. He finally made it to shore. The waves must have been 20 to 30 feet tall, gorgeous. We had an early night back at the condo for cards and Maui cookies.




Here we are on horsebak.





Haleakala Crater




North Shore

 　

Maui

March 26
We love our little spot on the globe right here on the Kona Coast and even though we have a week in on Maui we hate to leave. We enjoyed the pool area as long as we could and headed to the airport. With only a 40 minute flight, Maui greeted us with clouds and 25 mile an hour winds. We traded in one gorgeous view for another. This time we are in a high rise condo north of Ka’anapali in Kahana with a view to the north. We drove north a bit after getting settled. This whole northern coast is lined with one resort after another. I love the Maui beaches and they are all public which makes it really nice with all these resorts.
Day 2
We woke up to whales right out in front of our condo spouting, rolling, and flapping their tails. Times like this I want a better camera. It was still a little cloudy and windy so we decided to head down to the south end of the island to Kihei, Wailea and Makena Beach. We made a stop in Lahaina to show Norm the town and decided to go to an art show under the big Banyan tree. We all ended up buying a small oil painting before heading to Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch. A beer and a burger hit the spot. I love successful restaurants started by women and this was one of them. Their story on the menu told how they thought Maui needed a good burger spot and after all “what could be so hard about putting out a good burger.” It reminded me of my own thoughts when I started Creekside Café. I guess many of us wouldn’t have started up a restaurant or business if we had known what was entailed. In 1987, Mom rented a big house in Kihei and the whole family came and spent 10 marvelous days having a fabulous time. The memories came flooding in when we found the house. What a good time we all had. I was lucky to come again with Gloria and Rachel and Scott when Zoe was about a year and a half for another great time with more wonderful memories. It felt good to be here again walking on the beautiful golden beaches. We wished we had brought our suits along on our ride. After a shaved ice, we continued down to Waliea and Makena with a drive out on the lava. I just love the Maui beaches! We got back in time to watch The Amazing Race with popcorn and chips and dip for dinner.
Day 3
This morning the whales were so close! They put on quite a show for us with breaching and flapping their tails one time after another over a period of at least a half hour. What an amazing amount of energy that must take. We were glad to see them taking a breath now and then. We went down to Lahaina to mail off our art work and decided to stay and do a little shopping with lunch at Kimo’s. We had all read “Born in Paradise,” the wonderful story of a young girl growing up on in the Maui upcountry on the large Haleakala Ranch at the turn of the century. The ranch was started by Baldwin and has been in the family for generations. If you have ever been to Maui or hope to go someday, this is a must read. The writer was the daughter of the ranch manager. We toured the Baldwin home on Front Street. Built in the 1830’s and is the oldest standing building on Maui. The Baldwins came over as medical missionaries in the 1830’s. Mitchner tells the story so well in his book “Hawaii.” Later Chris and I went swimming right out in front of our condo in the clear blue and green Pacific. The sunset was a beauty. It was fun to hear the conch shell being blown. Scott’s family has a tradition of “drinking down the sunset” and blowing the conch shell as the sun dips below the horizon. The kids, including Zoe, have had fun mastering the art. Another great day in paradise.



View from our condo!




Home of the Cheeseburger




Beach down in Wailea