Jean Brennecke, Judy Amiguet, Vi Page and I went on a one week trip to Sedona Arizona to golf, and do some sightseeing etc.
Saturday Oct 17.
I left my house about 9:15 am and headed to Jean and Judy’s house in Chino Hills where I would leave my car for the week we would be gone. We packed all our stuff into Jeans Lexus and headed to pick up Vi at her house. We were on the road around 10 am. We took the 60 fwy to the 10 fwy heading east, stopping for lunch just east of Blythe at a Wendy’s. Enjoyed our simple lunch and continued east on the 10 and then north on the 60 in Arizona which took us through Prescott viewing beautiful mountains and lovely scenery along the way to Sedona.
We arrived at our destination, The Ridge on Sedona Golf Resort, late afternoon. This is a Timeshare that Jean and Judy arranged. Our condo is two nice bedrooms 2 large bathrooms a full kitchen and a mini kitchen in the second bedroom which is called a lockout unit. That means it can be rented out as a one bedroom or connected to the other unit as a two bedroom. We unpacked and had a nice light meal of roast pork topped with cheese on whole wheat buns and a salad provided by Vi. We watched some TV and went to bed around 10pm.
Sunday Oct 18.
I got up rather early and went down to the gym at the Resort for about an hour. After cleaning up and having a little breakfast we all went to a local art show and walked around the shops in the center. There is a Visitor Center in many of the shopping areas. At this particular Center Vi and Judy signed up for a Time Share presentation that offered us all a round of free golf at Verde Santa Fe in Cornville just a few miles away, a value of $280.00. Not bad for a couple of hours hearing all about Time Shares, they actually enjoyed it. Next stop was the Chapel of the Holy Cross. A Catholic Church built in a rock by Frank Lloyd Wright. We then headed for Pine Shadows for a ½ price and very good lunch using the coupon we received from the Visitor Center. After lunch it was time for Vi and Judy to hear the presentation at Pine Shadows. While they enjoyed the presentation Jean and I went to Safeway just down the road for some groceries. Before we went to the market we decided to go to the airport to check out the restaurant as we heard it was a nice place to eat and watch the beautiful sunset. We weren’t that impressed by the airport menu so we didn’t go back. After getting all the groceries we didn’t have time to go back to the Condo and put them away before it was time to get Vi and Judy from the presentation, so we headed back to Pine Shadows. We waited approx 30 minutes or so before they were finished. We started to get a little worried because we had ice cream that would soon melt. While waiting for them, Jean and I sat on the patio at Pine Shadows overlooking a miniature golf course and had an interesting conversation with a man who lives in Cornville, for the last 7 years. He and his family moved here from eastern Canada.
After getting back to the Condo with slightly soft ice cream, we put all the groceries away and Jean prepared a delicious Tri Tip dinner. We played cards (hand and foot) and then went to bed. Vi slept in the lock out bedroom, I slept in the living room and Judy and Jean shared the Master bedroom.
Monday Oct 19.
Our tee time at Verde Santa Fe in Cornville was at 10 am.
This was the free golf that Judy and Vi so graciously spent over 2 hours getting for us. We checked in and were ready to go as scheduled. This was very much a desert course, no bunkers and no trees, but a lot of desert. We had a lot of fun and after golf we met two very nice people in the parking lot who directed us to a very fine place to eat our early dinner meal at the Tavern Grill in Cottonwood. It was all they told us as we enjoyed the meal very much. We came back to our Condo for the ball game and a night of hand and foot.
Tuesday, Oct 20.
After breakfast we stopped at Canyon Mesa a 9 hole 3 and 4 par golf course and then at Oak Creek Country Club, a very nice 18 hole golf course, to see where we wanted to play on Friday. We didn’t make our decision at that time but later we decided to go to the Canyon Mesa golf course.
We then went into the downtown Sedona area to a very fine art gallery where you can only take pictures from outside, which I took one inside and got scolded for, the rest I took outside. Great place to visit, with very expensive art work, a lot of bronze sculptures, see pictures. Judy and Jean went on to lunch at Shugure, located across the street from the art gallery to eat with a friend they haven’t seen in 45 years. Vi and I went to Tlaquepaque, a few blocks away, a place with many art galleries in one location, plus many very nice eateries. After exhausting ourselves looking at all the galleries and shops we went into a fine Mexican restaurant and had great lunch and a nice conversation with a man who eats at the restaurant about two times a week. Jean and Judy picked us up and we went to see a place at Oak Creek where you can rent a cabin right on the creek. There is a very nice and expensive restaurant with inside seating which is very formal or outside seating overlooking the creek. After touring the area we headed to another place Jean and Judy had been to before where you could hike from up high down a path and view the creek from a different angle. It was quite a steep walk down the path with a rail to hold on to once we got down the rock steps. At one point Jean slipped between two rocks and Vi and I thought she might be leaving us for good. Just kidding. Back on the I 17 toward our Resort, we stopped at the Thrift Store along the road and did some shopping. We decided to go to the Cliff Castle Casino about 15 miles south of our resort. We played for a while and then back home we watched the ball game, had dinner, Chicken with spaghetti squash and a game of hand and foot etc. Very nice day.
Wednesday, Oct 21
Had a great breakfast prepared by Jean with help from all. Golfed at the resort costing us $105.00 each, but it was worth it. If we played there again it would have been less expensive. They give a discount for the second and third round. Very challenging. They have a very nice pro shop, with lots of great head covers and I found a pair golf sandals I liked very much but the cost was $99.00 and they offered 20% off I think they are GolfStream. Went food shopping again. Had a light snack and watched the Dodgers lose to the Phillies. Vi fixed burritos, played cards and had a great evening.
Thursday, Oct 22. The week is going by too quickly and Jean was leaving for Texas to see her grandson graduate from the police academy. She was leaving from Flagstaff at 4pm so we decided to spend the day touring Flagstaff. On the way to Flagstaff we went through some mountains and saw a planned fire burn area where I was able to get a picture of the burn. Arriving in Flagstaff we to the Tourist Center at the Train Station in Flagstaff on old Route 66 and got some information. We were told the best place to eat is at Charly’s in the Weatherford Hotel. We also found this wonderful Thrift Store just across from where we parked when we first entered Flagstaff and actually did quite a bit of shopping there before we went to the downtown area just across RT66. I found a brand new pair of golf sandals for $1.00, the same ones on sale at the Pro Shop in Sedona, and a new golf shirt and some other items.
The Weatherford is a 100 year old Hotel. Cowboy author Zane Grey wrote Call of the Canyon while staying at the Weatherford. After a delicious lunch we went upstairs in the Hotel to see the Zane Grey Ballroom and took a lot of pictures. We walked around the downtown area, taking more pictures and looked around the shops. We took Jean to the Airport, said goodbye to her and headed back to Sedona taking the I 17 which took us a little out of the way but we avoided the mountain area that we came on.
Friday, Oct 23.
Our last full day in Sedona so we decided on golfing at Canyon Mesa the 9 hole 3 and 4 par course. We thought it would be easy enough to carry our golf bag and walk the course. We would play it twice doing an eclectic. Well after 8 holes Judy had enough and left Vi and I to finish our round and she went back to our Resort to rest until we finished. It turned out to be a very challenging little course with some hills to climb and narrow fairways. We dumped the eclectic idea and just played golf. We were really tired after finishing the round, I lost my 4 hybrid club and it was never turned in, and went back to the Resort to clean up before heading to the Casino one more time. We had our final dinner at the Casino Restaurant on me. Enough said about that, we headed back to start packing for our return to California tomorrow.
Saturday, Oct 24
I think we took the I 17 to the loop just outside of Phoenix and onto the 10. Once on the 10, I drove for a while giving Judy a break from driving. We stopped at a rest stop and had some delicious sandwiches that Vi prepared from the leftovers we brought home from the Casino the night before. Safe trip home. Great vacation week.
