Sedona, Jerome and Cottonwood

I have heard so much about how beautiful Sedona is, and it is.  The problem is that the “downtown” is SO commercial—store after store of T-shirts, hats, native American knick-knacks, “dirt” t-shirts, and crap, crap, crap.  And the owners standing outside practically beggin you to come in.  Very depressing.

We left the downtown and went to the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a beautiful Catholic chapel built into the famous Sedona Red Rocks.  Lovely modern space, which is not my style in Catholic churches—I prefer old school, gothic, like St. Agnes in West Chester.  Beautiful gardens, too. Around the corner from the chapel is the most ostentatious house and property I have ever seen.  I think they really wanted to stick it to the church or something.

Chapel of the Holy Cross

around the corner from the Chapel of the Holy Cross--gross house, spectacular red rocks!

sweet

We climbed to Observation Point, at Airport Mesa, which is a vortex.  A vortex is a place where there is specialized energy from the earth that “sensitive” people can pick up on.  Neither one of us felt it.  Met a nice man on top, from Mexico, who climbs up to it most days to sit on the vortex and “get energy.”  He was kind enough to show us an easy way down.  Here’s my take on Sedona—the scenery is gorgeous, the rocks are beautiful, it is very hot in June, on the longest day of the year, and the town itself—skip it!

at the vortex

Next, to Cottonwood, a lovely little town with a lot of antique stores and artsy places.  Had a great iced coffee and homemade gelato at Crema.  We went to the biggest biggest antique store that I have ever seen.  We got there at 4, and the owners said, “Welcome, we close at 5, and you won’t be able to see everything.”  That was an understatement!  Inside, outside, barns, outbuildings, stuff everywhere.

one of many great vintage signs

so much stuff, so little time

They had a great toy Magnus Accordion that we don’t have.  The label said, “with box,” but it wasn’t with the box!  The person whose booth it is wasn’t there.  We looked in a bunch of places for the box, with no luck.  We may go back tomorrow to get it, if the owner finds it.  We did buy a cute red, white and blue metal kazoo with a horn on it, with the box.

On to Jerome, which Barry and Goldie told us about.  The B&B they stayed in was full; the owner recommended the Connor Hotel, circa 1898.  Really nice place.  In the lobby, we met someone whose family is from West Chester, and whose name is on a wing at the Chester County Hospital (Spackman), and whose cousin is a student of Kenny’s at Westtown.

signs at the bar at Quince

did you know that Rolling Rock is not brewed in Latrobe any more?
it is brewed in.......Newark, New Jersey!

the guy in the jeans is a Spackman

The manager or maybe owner of the hotel is a musician named John Ziegler.  He plays in a band called Major Lingo.  After a great dinner at Quince/15—the best chile rellenos I have eaten (I often order this in a Mexican restaurant—“vegetarian friendly”), we sat outside in the cool of the evening, talking with John about music.  Everything from Carl Maria von Weber to Mahler to Adams to Sublime.   Really nice.