Sedona bound

There was a crying kid last night and may be the same one crying at 630. I managed to fall back asleep till after 730 then up by 8 when I made coffee to enjoy in the sunshine.

This was on our wall, I thought really cute message so snapped some pics.

We enjoyed their delicious breakfast beside the pool. I enjoyed yogurt, orange juice and a hard boiled egg. S had that too and a bowl of cereal and a cream cheese bagel. It was a vintage motel but so lovely, would totally recommend staying there. We loaded the bags after checking out around 9:30 and toured around the residential area of Indian wells... so lovely!

 tried to go into this gated area

but had to turn around ;(

Oh how I love green grass!

Then it was time to hit the interstate and head east thru the desolate desert. We stopped at Arizona state line just after 11 where gas was $2.89 vs $3.99 in California . Then back on the road heading thru Congress, then to Prescott.

Potty break for the driver, apparently these cactus were the perfect place to go.

We stopped at Arizona downs but racing was only during the summer but was a good bathroom stop and peek around.

Onward thru the Prescott national forest which is a crazy 25 mph switchback route on Hwy 89A thru the mountains. Mario enjoyed his driving route here. It got cold at the top to 60 degrees with 6000 ft elevation.

only this Canadian would wear his toque while driving a convertible

Coming out of this windy road is a crazy mining town called Jerome. We had to stop and wander around grabbing a chai and cappuccino. We looped around to check out the Gold King Mine ghost town . The fellow there gave us a quick overview of the town and the mine and suggested we come back another day. They close at 5 and we were there about 330 ish or so we thought . He sent us up a rough goat trail to see a wider view of the Sedona valley before we headed there.

Cool little boutique town

Grandpa Jim probably had this truck or would have loved to have had it if not.

We drove up a steep narrow gravel road to a viewpoint of the valley the ghost town guy suggested.

above is the ghost town below from up on the viewpoint and below is the mining shafts in the hills

We arrived and checked into our next motel; the Baby Quail at 5 which was now 6. It seems the time changes to our MST now and we missed it, hence the mine closing. Hungry, we walked across the busy highway to a Chinese food place called Szechuan. It was good but could use more veggies in their meals. Once back at the motel we changed into suits and hit the hot tub. There was a very chatty fellow there who did not stop talking. I stayed for a bit then headed back to the room. S stayed and visited awhile longer then showered and planned our route for tomorrow while I wrote the blog.