Writing this weeks after the event AGAIN. We left the Grand Canyon very reluctantly on Monday 17^th November to head 2 hours south to Sedona. We had been strongly recommended to visit here by dad and Carol who love it here – they got married here 16 years ago – but also as it is apparently the 2^nd most visited town in Arizona!!

We thought it would be similar to what we’ve seen before in red rock country but had heard it to be a very spiritual sort of town – lots of aura massages being advertised on our way into town.  Apparently a haven for artists and hikers alike.  Sounded like an interesting place!

After a few days in snow and freezing temperatures it was nice to wake up on Tuesday morning somewhere warm. Breakfast outside was back on!!  Unfortunately due to our somewhat messed up itinerary we had only one day in Sedona instead of the 3 that we had anticipated. Dad and Carol had told us that we MUST hike up to Cathedral Rock. So that is where we headed.

Before we got there we stopped at a supermarket and in the car park spotted a French license plate on an RV. We are always very excited to see any European number plates so we knocked on their door and got chatting to the lovely family inside. Philippe, Agnes and Eva who is 8, are on a 3-year world trip!! They arrived in Nova Scotia a month after us and have done a very similar route, except they made it up to Alaska, which regretfully due to our visa limitations we weren’t able to do.  Anyway, it was lovely to chat to them and share stories of our experiences so far. Particularly entertaining watching the children’s horror of being kissed goodbye. It has started endless conversations about French kissing (the kind when you kiss on each cheek I hasten to add!!).

So we headed off to do The Hike. The Lady at the campsite told us to park at Clearwater Creek, as RV’s couldn’t park at the ‘back of beyond’ road car park near Cathedral rock. That seemed to be in agreement with what I had read online so we headed miles out of town to find it. When we got there we were told that we could get to Cathedral Rock from that parking area but it made it a longer hike, at about 10km. No problem with that but slightly aggrieved at having to use the ‘stepping stones’ to get over Oak Creek to the base of Cathedral Rock.  Well there were no stepping-stones in sight and due to the slightly higher water level than normal we had to take our shoes off and wade through it.  John had cleverly thought to pack his flip flops (mainly due to him being a complete wuss about walking on stones) so we sent him across first to check how deep it was.  Cue much laughter at him struggling his way across.  So it was that he ended up carrying Charlie who otherwise might have drowned – as it was Will and I had wet shorts for the rest of the afternoon!!  The water was absolutely freezing and so we hobbled along while our feet defrosted.

Once across however, we had a lovely walk along the creek, all the while looking up at Cathedral Rock, up an over the beautiful red rock paths, overtaken a couple of times by some crazy mountain bikers.  We got round to the base of Cathedral Rock (where in the car park we spotted at least 5 RV’s!!) and began our ascent. Although only about 0.8 mile it is steep – like rises 600’ in that distance. The ‘trail’ is marked by cairns and the kids absolutely loved it. Scrambling up rocks, stopping to ‘help’ me they led the way. A couple of very narrow bits with steep slopes on either side just added to the excitement for them. As always my ‘love’ of heights made it a slightly hair raising experience.

On our way up we met an English guy who we got chatting to. Turned out he was on tour with Walking With Dinosaurs (playing the baby T-Rex which the kids loved having seen it in the O2 a few years ago). Anyway, we got tot the top. And took in the incredible views in the late afternoon sunlight the reds and oranges of the landscape were incredible.

The descent was significantly slower and involved a lot of sliding down on our bottoms. Again the kids just loved to help us down, helpfully pointing out footholds etc. It was great fun and we all loved it. The children kept on saying how impressed they were that Pappy and Oma could manage to climb such difficult terrain “at their age”! I did point out that they are significantly fitter than any of us!!

Mum and Graham were due in Sedona the following week. They were due to stay here after a few days in Vegas, then some time in the Grand Canyon before heading down to join the boys and I in Tubac for a couple of weeks while John was away. So they were challenged by the kids to take on Cathedral Rock (the boys were sure they wouldn’t make it!!) which I am delighted to confirm they did!!

As we were headed back through town to our campsite we spotted a Curry House. I can’t remember honestly anywhere else we have seen one since we’ve been on the road (certainly not one that after a good hike was luring us in with it’s flashing lights) so the kids were begging that we went there for dinner.  John drove past so we all resigned ourselves to pasta back in the van when he did a U turn and announced we would treat ourselves. We have cooked a fair few curries ourselves but this was amazing.  So it was we tucked ourselves up in our little rental RV for the last time all happily full and farty!!

We loved Sedona, having thought it would be just another red Rock town, we were pleasantly surprised and would love to have spent longer exploring the area. Ah well next time!!  Next stop Tubac, where the kids and I will be hanging out for 3 weeks while John heads back to the UK.