Artists Abound

Saturday, July 20. 2013
Sedona and Jerome

Breakfast needs to be something besides a huge omelet!  Marilyn goes for French toast with whipped cream and blueberries and I choose half a Belgian waffle with one egg and bacon.  These are much more manageable!

Back home to regroup and off to Red Rock Crossing/Cathedral Rock, site of another vortex.  The directions on the website appear to be quite specific but as usual, there is a small snag.  We go down a somewhat paved road for a mile or so before turning around and on the way back we see a coyote! He's just on the side of the road and by the time I grab the camera he is doing a great job of hiding in the undergrowth, then lopes away.  Would have missed him if we'd followed the right path!  Love how the Universe works!

We find the entrance to Crescent Moon Ranch Park, pay our nine-dollar admission fee and kick in the extra buck for the pamphlet and the little orange sheet with the directions to the vortex.

First view of Cathedral Rock, spires and all.

The walk takes us past an old waterwheel and to Oak Creek.

The lady at the front had warned us that the recent rains had raised the water level and make the creek quite muddy.  I guess people who wanted to replicate the photos on some of the websites wouldn't have wanted to pay for the red water we are about to see!  But as one woman we ran into said, "I don't know any different!"  The walk is cool when the breeze blows and when we first arrive there aren't many people.  There are lots of cairns as we get closer to the strongest energy and some people are just lying in the sun.  Whether they are sun bathing or energy bathing is anyone's guess.

Lots of wild blackberries for the picking!  At least I hope that's what they are, 'cause I ate a bunch!

She waded across the creek with a book under her arm!

Check out those toes!

I don't really have much of a vortex experience here, possibly because more and more people are arriving, possibly because most of them are here to picnic and frolic in the water.  Either way, it is a lovely hike and fun to watch the kids squish the red mud and cool off in the creek.  And it doesn't pay to be too greedy!

The directions say look for the flat red rocks.  The website, though, said to go to where the creek is closest to Cathedral Rock.  Either way it is beautiful.

Many have traveled here before us.  The cairns are everywhere;  this is just one small collection.

His tail is a different color!

Back on the road, now, to Jerome, which used to be a mining town and had the reputation of being the rowdiest town in Arizona!  In fact, there was so much prostitution and gun play that they shut the place down!  It lay dormant for decades until the '60s when the hippies found it and it has gradually become an artists' colony.

Used to be - can you guess?

Artist at work.

Mother Nature's art work.

The road through town is pretty steep and curvy, when you are one street you can look down on the roofs of the houses below you on the next one!  Most of the galleries and shops used to be brothels and they have been left intact so you can see the original decorations and construction.  We have quite a time.  I find some holiday presents and Marilyn makes a major purchase of a magnificent pottery piece. And we find an ice cream store!

You can't say you've been out West if you haven't seen a tumbleweed.  But maybe you don't need to see it this "up close and personal"!

Back to Sedona and the Chapel of the Holy Cross which is built right into the mountain!  The lady who designed it, Marguerite Brunswig Staude, worked with the son of Frank Lloyd Wright and it certainly shows.  It is supposed to close at 5:00 and we arrive at the top about fifteen minutes after that;  but the doors are still open.  Another amazement.  The whole altar end is glass with a view of the gorgeous red rocks and really does inspire awe and meditation, as was her intent.  Marilyn lights a candle for her ancestors and she says they thank her by making her cry.

On a car in the church's parking lot

As seen from the rear

Outside the church, when you gaze at the mountains, you can't miss the huge mansion below!  We take a photo of the address and plan to look up the owners.  I suspect we will find a corporation name and a dead end.

The lovely front view

There are only two major roads in Sedona, 89A and 179.  We're coming down 179 and pass the Gallery District again;  but this time we stop just long enough to take some photos of the outdoor art on display.

(Aside - on the way back to town we saw not two but about six ravens swirling in a cloud in front of us. On the way back from the church I see a sculpture in front of some shops.  It is a pyramid with a spinning top piece.  The top of the pyramid is golden, making it not one bur four golden triangles. Guess I should tell Jeannie!)

Time for another of Sue's recommendations, the Red Rocks BBQ.  Again she does not disappoint.  Pulled pork with smoked potato salad and applesauce for me.  Ribs with corn on the cob and fries for Marilyn.  And I celebrate my golden triangle with a Blue Moon.  The young woman who brings it assures me I've made a good choice!

Back at the ranch, (old reference for you westerns fans) we discover our newly-programmed door card doesn't work;  but Marilyn is back in a jiffy with the revamped version and we settle in for our last night in Sedona.  We've really done a lot in a few days!  Tomorrow will be less jam-packed and that's okay!