Our flight left Washington at the early hour of 7:28am which made it difficult getting up but even with the 3 hour time difference it meant we were in Phoenix by 9:30am. We took our time driving the 120 miles north from Phoenix to Sedona stopping to admire the view and also to have lunch in Rock Springs at a cowboy diner. The waitress started out a bit gruff but warmed up by the end of the meal. I bought my first souvenir at the Indian Trading post next door - a tee shirt.

We were very pleasantly surprised by the Timeshare unit we were to stay in for the week. It was a townhouse on lush grounds with 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2 fireplaces and a full kitchen. We also had free access to a nice pool, table tennis, tennis, an exercise room, pool tables and the internet.

Dinner that night was across from our townhouse at Oaxaca a mexican restaurant that was very, very good.

We started our first full day with a hike at Bell Rock. First we went up a steepish trail up the face of Bell Rock from which there were magnificent views. Then we went back down and did a long circular that did a loop around both Bell Rock and the Courthouse (another rock formation). This turned out to be about 4 miles in total.
After the walk, we returned to the townhouse for a dip in the pool and lunch. After lunch we explored a nearby shopping place called Talapapaque that is designed to look like a spanish shopping plaza. Everything was pricey there. Dinner tonight was with Graham's friend Gail at Javalina's - Mexican again.

Today we did our pre-booked Pink Jeep Tour. This was a 2.5 hour 4x4 adventure by jeep to Diamond Back Gulch. We picked the most rugged tour and we had loads of fun. Our driver was woman and the ride was exhilerating. We went places we didn't think were possible to get to by vehicle. After lunch in the townhouse, we then spent the afternoon visiting Montezuma's Castle not far from Sedona. These were real ancient Indian ruins that had been built into the side of a mountain. Dinner tonight was as Bice a very nice restaurant on top of a hill in uptown Sedona with great food and views of Oak Creek Canyon.

Dad bought a book detailing loads of hikes in Sedona and we found two short ones that sounded good so today we did two hikes before lunch. The first called "Cow Pies" was only 3 miles away but the drive was on a really bumpy, rocky unpaved road called Schnebly Hill Road. I felt like a Pink Jeep Tour driver. This walk took us to the top of some rock formations that looked like giant "cow pies". Once you reached the top you could walk over half a mile just exploring the tops. It almost felt like being on the moon. After this hike we drove a short distance to "Midgely Bridge" and did a hike called Wilson Canyon #49. This was wooded hike that had us cross a dry river bed (arroyo) 12 times. At the end we had to do a fairly steep climb out of the canyon to a rock formation with more great views.

Today we hike Little Horse Trail. This was also not far from the townhouse and took us through varied landscapes. Eventually, on a very gradual and curving climb we ended up on a very high spot on a red rock called "Chicken Point." This spot is part of one of the Jeep Tour routes so at first others were there having arrived by jeep. From this high vantage point we used our cell phone to ring up Graham's dad in England.