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| cholla and prickely pear cacti |
We rolled into Sedona, AZ feeling pretty good about the Loaf, cruising along at 20 mpg (that’s VW fuel efficiency). Sedona is beautiful, surrounded with red rocks in Arizona, north of Phoenix. Sonia was here about 13 years ago (she’s getting old) when on clinical in Tucson and wanted to explore the region a bit more.
We followed the trend of educating ourselves and obtaining the necessary regional and topo maps of the area at a local Sedona Visitor Center (we missed the Ranger station up the road...we should’ve just made a U-Turn, stay tuned to find out why). We walk in, take a look around and don’t see anything, so we ask for maps. The young man behind the counter says “well, ya gotta ask so we can talk to you and promote Jeep Tours and our vacation properties.” Right then and there, we should’ve turned around and walked out, but Jason wanted maps…So the guy tells us some mildly helpful information about mountain biking and hiking trails and lays a whole lot more promotional sales crap on us—should’ve made the U-Turn.
Turns out, the guy gets commission on roping people into Vacation Rental Property Orientation with the hopes of becoming a sucker and buying in. Jason proceeds to voice his opinion about “vacation rentals” meanwhile, Sonia is nudging and kicking him to shut up…We graciously decline his offers of $84.95 + taxes for 2 nights in a studio apt or $116 + taxes for a 1 bedroom apt. Being a typical salesman, he can always wheel and deal…”What if I can get you into the studio for $75?”. Sonia, with her spicy ways, replies, “we’ll take it for $72.50”. What’s $2.50…we agreed on $75, no taxes and no other “fees”. Sweet---now we got a warm place to stay for the next 2 nights-- Temps are supposed to drop into the 20s and teens….brrr. Wait, what’s the catch??? Now we have to be at this orientation from 3-5 pm. That’s 2 hours we could be doing plenty of other things…but we have to sell our souls to have a proper roof over our heads for the next 2 nights. We have enough time to make a couple of bagel sandwiches, stop in a local bike shop for some trail info and a coffee. We make it to our “meeting” right on time, just like Sonia’s Dad taught her. We made a pact to “just say no”….as we walk in.
We were greeted by a rather large, round gentleman named Mark. He was pleasant enough despite not feeling well. He made a good salesman-style effort to get to know and befriend us. We began our “orientation”….We sat and listened dutifully. Then it was time to show us a villa. This large, round fella made it down 2 flights of stairs with the help of 2 handrails and gravity…and was still out of breath. His gait analysis was rather poor—posteriorly tilted pelvis, externally rotated lower extremities, and no hip extension…more of a waddle then a walk. We certainly won’t be walking to see our villa…and were treated to a golf cart ride. Fearing we may not make it up the hill or worse come careening down the hill with all that extra front end weight, we prepared ourselves in case we have to bail out!! Rest assured, we made it safely back to the headquarters so we can hear more of the sales pitch.
Diamond Resorts International offers global vacation rental properties for a mere $$$$$$ ....and like a proper salesman, when we declined the initial offer, there was the Manager who could make it “more affordable because we really would like to see a nice, young couple like you, Jason and Sonia, to take advantage of our offers and blah, blah, blah…” He was a guy who once worked as a Forester with Boise Cascade and suddenly he was bonded to Jason—a fellow woodsman….(they are good sales people….sharks!!) Sonia is watching the clock as we approach and pass 5:00pm…and then 6:00pm…..OMG!! Sonia had to put her foot down and make it very clear that we were NOT interested. Suddenly, our “friends” are turning on us—imagine that—damn salespeople. For a bit, Jason and Sonia were actually mildly considering buying in (these salespeople are good. They could sell a blind person binoculars) …but we were able to talk to our friend, Jeff, who’s job is to get people OUT of these contracts…Thanks Jeff. The numbers were looking feasible, vacation dreams were in our mind’s eyes…I think there might have been subliminal messages in the 13 minute video—like in Barney and friends or Teletubbies kids shows. Just when we think we are finally outta here and we’ve endured enough, the guy from Corporate comes and talks to us—pull in the heavy weights. He proceeds to try to convince us to join and throws out some more enticing offers…NO! NO! NO!....Now Sonia’s blood sugar is dropping and she’s getting cranky. “No problem, we have a snack basket” they reply (they have thought of it all—good thing they don’t give out Rum and Cokes ;-) ) We forcefully decline again…these people are unrelenting. Jason and Sonia are chum in an ocean of blood thirsty sharks. We finally made ourselves clear and were escorted down to where we can get our room for 2 nights---that’s all we wanted all along. The guy asks “so where will you be staying for 2 nights?” Sonia retorts, “probably next to the dumpster because we didn’t buy in…haha”. He didn’t laugh, but we did!!
Eventually, we got checked in and moved into our studio apt for 2 nights…not super fancy or chic, but its out of the weather and we got a SHOWER!! Yahoo!! We had grand plans to go out for dinner and wander around the town of Oak Creek but…we stayed “home” and made ravioli with kale and broccoli and drank red wine—catching up on internet stuff, phone calls and old episodes of Seinfeld.
A day we didn’t expect, but was a good learning experience and plenty of laughs (mostly amongst ourselves) …and 2 nights stay for 75 bucks….sweet!! The stars have aligned again for us…thank you.
Tommorrow Mountain Biking in Sedona….getting back to nature.
Wednesday, we got up leisurely, after watching stupid TV for entirely too many hours the night before. It was frigid cold outside, 24 degrees with a wind chill of -4….don’t think we’ll be biking today. We were both pretty happy hanging out inside. By 1-2 pm, cabin fever is setting in and we decide to atleast take a drive up Oak Creek Canyon. Yeah really smart—let’s go to a higher elevation and into a canyon with less sun…that’s us, smart. We brave the cold and take a short walk up the North Fork of Oak Creek…talk about frigid temps….OMG!! it was beautiful but we lasted about a mile and turned around to make a run for the Loaf. The creek was frozen in most places along with small frozen waterfalls on the steep canyon red rock faces. A nice idea, but painfully cold. We drove back into Sedona and went out for lunch instead.
Tired out after that grueling hike, we came home and took a nap!! Haha. Woke up and decided to go to Dinner at ELote Café—a recommendation by the 4 people we asked. It was excellent. An adoreable waitress greeted us with a big smile and a red hibiscus flower behind her ear. We had Elote, which is a fire-roasted corn mixed with a spicy mayonnaise sauce—delicious. Because we didn’t exert much energy today, we ate appetizers and drank margaritas instead. Because we had an exhausting day, we opted for a decadent chocolate pie for dessert. An excellent meal at a lovely place—highly recommend it.
The next morning we wake up at a decent hour and make breakfast and coffee. Pack up and head out for a bike ride. Sonia’s not feeling so good, so she’ll bike/hike at a slower pace and Jason can go great guns on the bike trails. We ride the Bell Rock Trail—its absolutely gorgeous. Red Rocks with contrasting green trees in the valley against a sunny blue skies. A crisp, cold temperature of 30 degrees. Bell Rock is supposedly a vortex and we wanted to find out. It’s pretty special, but neither of us came away healed or with greater spiritual powers. We did a short outing that day and had to get back to drive south to Tucson, AZ.
Sedona has become far more touristy and commercialized since Sonia last was there. The natural beauty is still worth seeing and we think there must be an eclectic population of locals, aside from the crystal-healing hippies that thrive in the Vortex.
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| Church of the Holy Cross-built into the side of a cliff |
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