Westward Bound Day 26, Bumping our way over the mountain to Sedona, AZ, May 29, 2013

On our second day at the Hustons, we had a leisurely breakfast and piled into our truck to take a rugged mountain trail that links Munds Park to Sedona with the promise of beautiful views along the way at the Schnebly Hill Vista. The trip start out a little rough but with the rocky terrain, it became bump, bump, bumpier all along the way. Our theory is that they keep it rugged as part of the "adventure" lure for people to take the commercial jeep tours from Sedona to the vista. There were lots of tour groups bump, bump, bumping right along with us.

We finally reached the vista after what seemed to take forever
since Richard had to go soooo slowly across the rocky, twisty mountain trail. 
But once we reached the top, the view was so worth the bumpy ride.

Jack and Shirlee

 

One of the many Pink Jeep Tour Groups we met along the trail. Watching them made me ever so grateful for the windows and air conditioning we had in the truck.

Once we reached Sedona, we were chuckling over the level of red dust that coated the truck. Then we headed on into a great southwestern restaurant for a fabulous lunch.

The restaurant was located in a wonderful conclave of shoppes that surrounded a courtyard with the most awesome landscaping and artwork.

              

 


After lunch we rode around the area and then rode up to the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a distinctive architectural design by Frank Lloyd Wright that has been placed on National Register of Historic Places.

  

We had to park at a lower level and hike about halfway up before we reached the golf carts that took us up the rest of the way. 

This is the awesome view from about halfway up, that kept us trudging up towards it. 

This is the view of the Chapel that kept us trudging on up the mountain. Impressive!

The four of us taken from the courtyard in front of the Chapel. This is the view people see when they walk out of the chapel. Wow.

This is a mosaic design in the flooring of the courtyard.

This is another view from the courtyard. The mansion below borders the Chapel property and is the weekend home of a Phoenix physician. Unbelievable!

Here are some of the flowers I observed as we went up and down the mountain.

 

 

We got back to Munds Park just in time to welcome Jack's brother, Paul, and his wife Kay. They were stopping over for a couple of nights before heading on to Las Vegas to celebrate their 40th anniversary. They were as fascinated with Shirlee's progress with the garden as we were.

After a great meal at Jack and Shirlee's the six of us retired to the camper for ice cream.

All in all, another great day with the Huston's!