We woke up early (some of us TOO early) on Sunday morning with us still being on east coast time so we were able to take our time getting ready but also were out the door early for our adventure north. Our final destination that day was the small town of Williams (approximately 160 miles north of Scottsdale) and we planned to stop and see the sights along the way. I had done a little research ahead of time using TripAdvisor (gave great recommendations!) and we consulted our hotel concierge before getting on the road. I came up with a list of "things to see" and hoped we could squeeze it all in to one day. This ended up being my favorite day of the trip because we got to see everything we wanted to and every stop was well worth our time. Pictures will tell the story.
The drive was beautiful from start to finish
I loved this thick patch of cacti roadside
Our great driver who stayed behind the wheel for the entire trip
Stop #1 - Montezuma's Castle near Camp Verde, AZ
It was pretty amazing to see this well-preserved cliff dwelling that was occupied so long ago (1100-1425 A.D.). We had to view this home of the Sinagua people from the ground but years ago you were able to climb a ladder to view the dwellings up close. The deterioration of the structure makes this unsafe today.
Interesting bark
A river close by where they must have caught their dinners
Back on the road...heading for Sedona
I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the rocks...
One of the last "stops" added on to our list last minute was the Chapel of the Holy Cross...and how thankful we were to discover this amazing church built into the side of the rocks.
We parked at the bottom of the hill and had to walk up to the church. We got plenty of exercise as we saw the sights in Arizona!
Snapping pictures the whole way up...
The view from the church and of the mansion below. What a place...
Can you imagine worshipping here on Sundays with this view?
We stood quietly inside the church for awhile taking in its beauty.
On the road again...and then another pit stop at an interesting bridge...
Based on a TripAdvisor recommendation, we stopped at Indian Gardens Oak Creek Market for lunch. It was the perfect stop for a meal and the food and atmosphere was even better than anticipated.
Charming seating area out back
And some live music, too!
Delicious food (organic and lots of gluten free options)
Going out on a limb...chili beer
And fresh picked apples and cider across the street along a river.
This was the best cider I've ever had!
This was the best cider I've ever had!
Because we had made great time that day seeing all that we wanted to, we made it to our last planned stop along the way...Slide Rock.
We had to walk a little ways through the park to get to the main attraction (a rock that you can slide down)...
An orchard inside the park...
Ted was the only one of us brave enough to bring his bathing suit along. I knew that this river water would be COLD and I probably should just be a spectator of the rock sliding.
"Slide Rock" was a huge hang out area for all kinds of people
The rocks created a "pool" for rock jumping or swimming
Ted was brave to get in that water! I'm sure at this point he was already numb...
Shivering but still smiling
Because we didn't get a video the first time and I wanted to take some close-ups with my other lens, we made him slide again.
The higher altitude temps were already cooler, but thankfully, the sun was shining and warm so that Ted could defrost.
Ted was on a roll so he decided to jump off the rocks as well...
The three of us were very content just watching!
The final last minute detour of our day trip was at a scenic overview. In addition to nice scenery, there were many native Americans selling jewelry at the overlook. That was certainly an unexpected place to find turquoise earrings!
After a day full of wonderful sightseeing, we pulled into our destination of Williams by way of Route 66. I felt like we were in the movie Cars. It was such a charming and quaint town.
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