The highs and the lows part 2

Sunday the 7th...we hit it early, drove by this obnoxious eye-sore of a house off 179. Interesting to see, and it turned out to be worth the extra few minutes...as we were driving about 1 mile an hour through the neighborhood, we had a tired and beat-down looking coyote stroll right behind our car. Of course none of us had our cameras ready. I've never seen one so close up.

From there we fueled up at the Airport. Sedona has an airport on top of Airport Mesa with a pretty tasty restaurant that has....what else, an awesome view! Ya gotta love a restaurant that leaves a carafe of coffee on the table. After a delicious breakfast and Aaron's successful fast one that he pulled on me, we drove back down the mesa and stopped at the Vortex on the way. Stacy got an update on the kids while enjoying the view and Amy just took it all in. Adam, Zach and Aaron walked up a little higher than the rest of us and did the things they do. After the Vortex we made a quick stop at the local grocer for some lip balm, everyone had been using the same tube up until that point.

Then we did a quick hike at Soldier Pass. Easier than Cathedral, but different, there's more pines and a some points of interest, Devil's Kitchen, 7 Sacred Pools, CastleRock, along the way. There is a great spot to bask in the sun. We sat for a few then headed back on the jeep road to the trailhead.

After giving Amy and Stacy detailed directions to Tlaquepaque and to a shop a little off the beaten path, Zach, Aaron, Adam and I geared up for a ride. We rode from Quail Ridge again, up Bell Rock Pathway and did a quick ride on Big Park Loop. We continued on up, past the start of Llama and on to Templeton. What a fun trail. Nice and rolling, a few good technical sections, a nice combination of dirt and slickrock. We rode to Cathedral and turned around.

The boys ran to the store to restock some essentials. Vacation needs to include some rest too, so we took another soak in the tub,



showered for dinner (yes, if you're wondering....only some of us cleaned up once again), and then watched a little TV. I think we caught some world news tonight or CNN. They had a special on Jenna Jameson. I took a few minutes to snap some photos in honor of mikelsall. Of course, they are not of the same quality, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Soon it was time for dinner. The last dinner together before the gang had to depart for Phoenix to catch their flight. We were planning on hitting Oak Creek Brewery, but then the front desk at the Quail said the food at the Cowboy Club is better. He said you can't beat the atmosphere and the beer at the brewery, but for a good steak check out the Cowboy Club. Amy drove this time, unfortunately for her. The Cowboy Club is uptown Sedona and there's alot of cars and tourists and people in the streets. Let's just say poor Amy had a few too many backseat drivers with her that night. She stayed cool though and pulled us in safe and sound into a prime parking space. Turns out we picked the perfect time to arrive. We put our name in and holed up in the front corner near the door. The view out the front door, over the cars and buildings was not too shabby.

Little did we know we picked the self-entertainment area to hang out while we waited maybe 30 or 40 minutes.


At first we just noticed the several different menus that they have to offer. But it didn't take long before Adam and Aaron discovered the western gitup they had neatly hanging for patrons to play with...I mean appreciate. They were the shoot em up brothers, part of the Tombstone gang, out to catch some dirty scoundrels....... At least in their heads they were. And it's questionable as to who exactly was dirty.

Zach missed most of the fun. He was preoccupied with a not so pleasant grandmother who tried lying to the hostess in order to get a table for her grandson's birthday. The hostess threw her out...we cheered quietly, at least most of us did, but then the granny came back and apologized. They ended up being seated right next to us on the front deck.

While we were ordering drinks, I snapped a quick shot for Tim. Dinner was good, steaks, bread, potatoes, pasta, beer, prickly pear margaritas, and a nice little chocolate treat, compliments of the chef. The Bears were playing Green Bay that night, so after dinner we walked down to this shopping area where they had TVs and benches strategically located near one another, no doubt for the patient husband waiting for his browsing wife (of course that's not always the situtation). So the boys watched the game while the girls checked out a few stores. After the win, it was time to hit the road, they had an early departure out of Oak Creek to make their flight in Phoenix.

I think they were gone by 4am. We said our goodbyes and Zach and I crawled back in to our full size pull out. It was Monday and he was on fall break all week, and I, of course, was still a lady of leisure.

Later that morning we got up and tried a new trail,
Munds Park...runs parallel with Schnebly Hill Road. It was tough. Either Zach and I were tired or we didn't feel like concentrating, or we are just plain ole cross country weenies, but we did not have so much fun on that trail. Lots of hike a bike, a broken chain...we felt like we were riding for 2 minutes and having to get off again. After about an hour we ditched the trail and took Schnebly Hill back down to the lot. We tried riding Huckaby for a little but we just weren't feeling it that day. We packed it up and headed to Sedona Memories for one of their legendary sandwiches.

Even though we were checked out, Robin at the Quail said we could come back and use the hot tub for one last soak before heading back to Prescott. I think we were home by about 5? And that's where the low part of the story comes in.

My parents had been here 2 weeks prior. After they left we were busy moving in. We had such a great time with Aaron and Amy and Adam and Stacy. It meant so much to have them visit us. We know it's not easy with the kids, nor was it a cheap trip. It helped us feel at home having them here and showing them around. Doing a little riding, a little shopping, a little hiking together. Drinking some beers, eating lots of chips and nuts. Stopping by the bike and bean. What we didn't expect was to feel so lonely once we got back home. We walked into the house and we both felt like it was about 10,000 miles from Plainfield. Grace wasn't there to greet us and Zach had the whole week to think about things. We were depressed and it was scary, having just closed a few weeks prior. Did we make a huge mistake????

We went and rented a bunch of movies that night to try and take our minds off things. Woke up the next morning, and we both must have made the decision during the night that we were not going to sulk and waste Zach's whole week off. And we did end up having a fun week, lots of riding, lots of movies, beautiful weather. But I think that whole episode really taught us a few things and made us appreciate a whole lot more, our friends and family back home. We really, really miss you guys.

A side note: The fast one's did not go unnoticed, and they will be reciprocated.