We went there in...2003.
Hershey and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (September 16 - 21)
This was a cross-stitch festival for Lynn, and I tagged along for the ride. When Lynn wasn't in a class or looking at the exhibits at the festival, we toured Hershey museum and several antique stores in the area plus spent a little time in Gettysburg. While she was engaged with cross-stitch activities, I also get in a few rounds of golf at the Hershey Country Club East Course (I played on 9/18 and 9/20, which are the only firm dates and notes associated with this trip, shoot I might be little off on the overall dates for the trip).
Sedona, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon (April 15 - 21)
This was our first trip to the desert southwest and we hit two of the classic sites, Sedona, Arizona, and Grand Canyon National Park. We also spent a night on the strip in Las Vegas, just to see the sights, before heading out for the natural wonders.
Tuesday 4/15 - Uneventful travel to Las Vegas once we got a ride to the airport (Becks was not at his desk, but Rice was readily available to drop us off at Hopkins). It was a bit slow once we arrived in Las Vegas as we had to wait for an hour in the rental car line, then contend with the slow traffic to the hotel (but we got to see the sights of the strip along the way, so that was OK) We checked in at Harrah’s, had some lunch (which was disappointing) and started walking the strip. I think we walked the entire strip, form Harrah’s north to the Venetian, across to Treasure Island then all the way south to the Luxor and back to Harrah’s. The Venetian had the best décor and shops; the ceiling was painted as a clouded sky – it was an outstanding effect. Cesear’s Palace was also very cool. The Luxor has some interesting Egyptian history on display.
|
We covered a lot of ground; I figure we walked about 8 miles over the course of several hours this afternoon and evening. However, walking between the hotel/casinos along the strip is a very annoying experience as every few yards there was someone trying to sell you something or give you an ad for a show (most of dubious quality and origin).
Wednesday 4/16 - We walked the Vegas strip in the morning and had breakfast at a little restaurant in the Venetian which was set up like an outside café, but was part of the inside shopping mall. We ended up walking around the strip for a couple of hours then checked out and headed for the Grand Canyon via Hoover Dam. We stopped at the Dam for about an hour. We didn't have time to take the tour inside the dam, but we walked along the dam, which was quite impressive.
Overall it was a nice drive to the Grand Canyon. We got there about 4:00 PM and checked in the lodge. We ate in the Arizona Room which is right at the rim. The food was excellent; best salsa I ever had and great poppers (chicken and jalapenos). We had front row seats of the view of the Grand Canyon from the south rim.
Thursday 4/17 - We hiked the rim trail along the south rim. Hiked the entire length of the paved trail (6+ miles) before lunch. After lunch, the weather started to turn bad, so we got on the tour bus and drove to the other end of the Rim Trail at Hermit’s Rest.
|
Friday 4/18 - We hiked west along the rim trail for a couple of miles then took the bus back to the village when the weather started to turn again (we got some snow both yesterday and today). For our exit, we drove the Desert View road to the east exit and stopped at some of the overlooks along the way. This was a bit of a different flavor of the Grand Canyon.
We drove to Sedona via the Painted Desert and by the San Francisco Mountains (highest point in Arizona). The elevation changed from about 6500 at the Grand Canyon to 7100 at Desert View to 7500 near Mount Humphrey then worked down to 4500 at Sedona. Drastic changes in terrain and vegetation. The drive down route 89A from Flagstaff to Sedona was very dramatic with mountain switchbacks in the pine forest.
After checking in at the Kings Ransome Hotel (Lynn recalls that we had a room in the back of the property near te pool), we walked about the uptown area of Sedona. Made arrangements for a jeep/horseback tour on Sunday (had to reschedule my golf for Saturday afternoon). We agreed to listen to a timeshare pitch on Saturday morning to get 50% off the jeep/horse tours. We ate dinner at Oaxaca in uptown; very good southwestern food.
Saturday 4/19 - In the morning, we listened to the pitch at Suncor (next to Sedona Golf Resort); no sale and no way that this would be a good deal for us. Afterward, we stopped by an art show where Lynn bought a necklace with a rainbow fluorite stone; she was getting compliments on that rock before we left the show!
We then drove around a bit and took in some of the sights and a few galleries around Sedona. Lunch was the Sedona Golf Resort then I played 18 holes while Lynn went shopping.
|
I got a set of rental Calaway Steelhead clubs. Headed to the driving range and began by hitting everything straight and with good distance, but fell into a push/slice that stuck with me for the first part of the round.
I played the white tees and shot 54/45 for 99 (par is 37/34, total 71). Played well but had a few really bad shots that cost me and it took most the front 9 to start hitting the woods well. I did hit the irons well all day. Putted well, but could have been better if I was expecting the greens to be much faster then they were. I did play the par 3s very well, shooting 1-under for the five par 3s (four pars and a birdie and the birdie came on the only green that I did NOT hit!). I parred the signature hole, number 10 a 170-yard par 3 that has courthouse rock as a backdrop. I hit a 5 iron over the back left pin to about 10 feet, but I left the birdie putt short; again I thought the putt would be much quicker!.
For dinner, we ate at el Ricon, another good southwestern place.
Sunday 4/20 - We started the day by eating breakfast at the only McDonalds in the world that has teal arches. Then it was off for some hiking around Red Rock State Park in the morning. Very nice views of the red-rock landscape. During the afternoon, when went on the 2-hour jeep tour through the red rocks and finally an hour-plus horseback ride on the Yavapai-Apache nation, near Montezuma Castle National Monument (the horseback ride was our reward for listening to the time share pitch).
|
Monday 4/21 - Breakfast and shopping in Sedona in the morning followed by a drive to Montezuma Castle National Monument before heading back to Las Vegas. Montezuma Castle was interesting, but the ruins could only be viewed from a distance but there was a nice interpretive center. Once we got to Vegas (only about a 5-and-a-half-hour drive), we had a couple of hours to kill, so we went to the Hilton and saw the Star Trek Experience. It was a bit of a letdown, but at least we can say that we saw it. We did have a great dinner at Quark’s Cantina, so the side trip was not a total loss. The red-eye flight back home (direct to Cleveland) was not too bad, albeit a bit cramped.
|
All-in-all a great introduction to the southwest. I really loved the red rocks and blue skies....this could be habit forming.....
Check out the photobook for this trip to get a little more detail and more of the pictures, or see this gallery for just additional photos.