Playing Tourist

Yesterday we traveled up route 89A through the Sedona Red Rocks area and through Oak Creek Canyon. This area is reputed to be the second most visited spot in Arizona after the Grand Canyon and it's easy to see why. The canyon is about 12 miles long and runs between Sedona on the South and Flagstaff on the North. It's depth varies between 800 and 2000 feet with Oak Creek running along the bottom. It lies within the Coconino National Forest which is mostly Pondersa Pine forest and is quite a contrast to the desert area just to the South. It strikes you as being this cool oasis in the midst of the desert heat. The road is narrow with frequent pull-offs affording access to viewing spots or enabling fishing or swimming in the very cold water. Like many of the canyons or gorges we're used to, it has it's share of bed and breakfasts and even a trout ranch. At one spot there is a natural rock slide similar to the one in North Carolina and like that one, it was covered with bodies when we drove by.

One of the different features is that it also offers a couple of places where the native Navajo offer their handmade jewelry and decorations for sale. While there are a multitude of places advertising "Indian Jewelry", the National Park Service, which administers the area, makes sure that this is the real thing.

Of course, Diane was in her element and we didn't leave empty handed. Prices started at about $15 and went up into the hundreds. These are all items specifically made for the tourist trade and many are very nice while others are more of the trinket variety. There is another class of jewelry that the natives have made for their own use that tends to be more exquisite. It is available at some trading posts as "old pawn".

These somewhat odd looking ceramics are a sort of madonna type head which is slip-cast and then decorated with a glaze containing horsehair which produces the black wiggly lines.

Since we entered the valley from the Southern end, we encountered these stands at about the half way point in a parking lot that also contained a Dairy Queen store. Then we proceeded up the canyon to the overlook at the upper end. At this point the elevation is about 7000'. There were many stands set up here as well and we enjoyed looking at all the wares. Diane got another ring bought directly from the maker who included a certificate of authenticity. I was satisfied with a T-shirt. The view from the edge was pretty spectacular and pictures just can't do it justice. As they say, you had to be there!

And for all those readers who complain that they never see me in any of the pictures.

It was a really fun day and we capped it off with dinner at the Red Lobster in Flagstaff to celebrate Mother's Day. We'll be going back to Sedona to get a better look at that area. What we saw along the way was spectacular. And on the trip back down I17 to Camp Verde, we even saw a half a dozen elk grazing in a field.