The Venerable Pooh - of Wootness!!!
by The Venerable Pooh

Red Rocks, Vortexes, Some Wine and...Oh, My...

04/23/2009

We went on vacation last weekend. We took four days, and did a real honest-to-goodness dyed-in-the-wool vacation. No weird conference obligations, just hanging around and being slackers...in Sedona, Arizona.

We've passed through Sedona before. Paused long enough for lunch and drove on. The area is stunningly beautiful. Set in a canyon surrounded by ancient stone formations of varying shades of red rock. This alone would be reason enough to visit, but since we have this timeshare thingy, we used it to stay a while.

Friday we arrived before we could check in, so we strolled around the main drag. We've vacationed in other ways before (a few cruises come to mind), and it fascinates me on how much this part of Sedona reminds me of Nassau in the Bahamas. T-Shirt shop, Jewelry Shop, T-Shirt Shop, Jewelry shop...Rinse Repeat. The only thing that wasn't there was the duty free liquor shops. The strip is tourist trap galore.

Of course, there are pluses to the main drag. There's the "Cowboy Club", where we had a very good lunch made from our new favorite tasty animal: Buffalo. We also bought chocolates at the "Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory" (Ironically located in the Rocky Mountains). And I can't begin to explain "World of Jerky" or the free maps store. Well, I could but you wouldn't care.

It might be enough to say that we ate well and had a nice time shopping. What surprised me about this Trappe de Turiste was the free parking. I would think that, with the glut of vehicles that hits downtown Sedona, they might charge for parking like Tempe does, but instead, they provide free parking areas and have a free shuttle running on a curcuit to the shopping areas. I guess Tempe is just trying to keep the University's student population from sticking around the city at night.

We didn't do much that night, just checked in and settled. Checking in was nice, we met our Concierge, Liam, was the best part of it. He's a New Yorker in the best sense of the word. He knew his stuff. He showed us the local hiking routes, including showing us where Sedona's "vortexes" were supposed to be. My favorite quote from Liam, "We have vortexes here."

Saturday we actually started early and went to hike at Cathedral Rock. Hike is not exactly right. It's called a 0.6 mile "Strenuous" hike, but there was a lot of climbing up the 400 or so feet to get to the top. Not a gentle slope. It was a good bit of exercise, and at the top there's supposed to be a vortex. I didn't find anything special about it, but of course, we found out later that the vortex was on another side, so I have yet to experience one. For dinner that night, we consulted Liam again. We had been looking at places in a travel guide, and we were leaning towards "Picasso Pizza", which was reasonably close to the resort, and had an interesting menu. Liam tossed out some suggestions, including the "Airport Restaurant", "Shugrue's", and the "Hideaway", but he said if we wanted pizza, we should go to "NY Bagels". It seems that the owner moved to Sedona from New York, and makes bagels in the traditional "boil first then bake" way, but the man was upset because "no where around" Sedona can you get a "good pie", so he started staying open late on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights and sells New York Style pizza. I'm kind of sorry to say that the Airport Restaurant won out over the choices.

There's nothing wrong with the Airport Restaurant. It has a rustic feel, like an pilot's diner from the 1950's, but the food is very good, and the view of several red rock buttes at sunset is spectacular. I was just wanting to try a "good pie".

However, on Sunday I was able to at least partake of NY Bagels' bagels. Upon taking my first bite of one, I noted something very different about a bagel made in the traditional way. I don't toast my bagels (I really don't see the point), but a lot of people do. I suppose it adds something, like a mild crunch to the crust. When I bit into this bagel, though, there was a crunch, and it was soft and chewy also. Excellent bagel faire. If you get the opportunity, I recommend them.

The bagels were served at the resort as something that the local tour companies provide each Sunday to entice vacationers into taking their tours. We just stayed for the bagels.

Although, later that morning, we had the "member update" with the resort company. We couldn't afford anything, politely said no thanks to their offers, and got $50 for our time. We used this at dinner that night, which ended up being "Shugrue's". Before dinner, however, we lounged at the hot-tub. Dinner, though, was not a cheap date. The $50 was less than half the bill...but OoH The FOOOOD! Sooooooo Goooooood! The only problem is that we ordered wine...had my wife not ordered wine, she would have ended the night in much better condition than needing to go to bed and start feeling better. (It's funny, wine always has a terrible effect on her, and yet she still attempts to drink it because it tastes good).

We checked out Monday morning, and headed toward home. We chose to visit Tuzigoot, a local Native American pueblo excavation. The site is very cool in a sort of "out in the hot sun" way, and I've been wanting to go there for years. It's worth a look if you're in the area.

After Tuzigoot, we drove into Jerome and had lunch. Jerome is this old copper mining town, which now is mostly an artists' haven/colony. We had dinner at the "Mile High Grill & Spirits". If you're ever in Jerome (and I don't know why you would be, but it's nice there), you might want to have a burger here. Get the tater tots. You probably won't be able to finish them, but that's OK. You can get a tot box. It's cool.

That's about it. After lunch, and driving through the winding road out of Jerome, past the 5 (count'em: 5) roundabouts on an otherwise straight road 5 miles between Cottonwood and Jerome (FUCKING ANNOYING).

We got home, and that's about it. Except for the fudge...Let's say that in Jerome, you can buy it. It's Technically legal and it's something you don't have, but I do.