Sedona Day 3

This morning we head out to our favorite breakfast place in Sedona, the Coffee Pot Restaurant-Home of 101 Omelettes!  They're not kidding when they say "101 Omelettes", the menu really does have that many on there.  There is even a peanut butter and jelly omelette.  I think I'll stick to the tomato, avocado combination.
Our day will be mostly free for hiking and sightseeing, etc.  That is until this evening when Kelly and I plan to actually see a couple of the movies at the Film Festival that brought us out here in the first place.

After breakfast we headed west.  Kelly had seen a brochure for the Angel Valley labyrinth and it looked kind of cool, so we thought we'd check it out.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be a little bit of a disappointment.  The labyrinth looked substantially larger in the brochure picture.  Standing at it, it was fairly small.  Oh well, it was still interesting.

From here we headed back towards town and decided to take the Red Rock Loop for the views.  On a whim we pulled into Red Rock State Park and decided to check that out.  Red Rock State Park is a very quiet, beautiful place.  It's amazing how quiet it really was, as it is a popular visitors spot.  The park has many different trails to hike, they range from easy to hard and short to long.  Some trails criss-cross each other or join together for short distances.

We chose a medium length trail that on the map, looked like it may offer some views.  The trail did not disappoint!  It was by no means difficult.  In fact, it was so well maintained that families with a lightweight or beach stroller could probably enjoy it easily enough.  At one point this "Apache Fire" trail opens up to beautiful views of Cathedral Rock.  There is even a great stopping point with a couple of benches for you to just sit and enjoy the scenery.  We took LOTS of pictures here!

Rather than spend the entire day here we opted to take a quick ride into the Village of Oak Creek and show Kelly that end of town.  Here is the famous Bell Rock (another vortex site) and Courthouse Butte.  On the opposite side of the street you have more views of Cathedral Rock and the closer Castle Rock.

We opted for the easy jaunt up to Bell Rock.  Bell Rock is an interesting formation.  There is no mistaking why it is named "Bell Rock"--it looks like a bell, and if you're adventurous you can easily climb your way to the top.

The Forest Service is doing some work on the trails here and so they've temporarily moved the trailhead and along the way there are many signs reading, "Vegetation restoration in progress.  Please stay on the trail."  But after making your way thru the new trails you literally walk alongside Highway 179 to get to the Bell.  Once at the base you can walk the perimeter of it, climb up on it, or just simply stretch out on one of the smooth sandstone formations and sun yourself.  We even saw a group of Japanese Buddhists meditating a couple of ridges above the path.

Although, this is a very popular hiking spot there are so many pathways around and upon the Rock that you never feel over-crowded.

We made our way up to the first sandstone layer and Kelly and I decided to just sit and enjoy for a minute.  Darren scrambled up a few more layers and was busy yelling at us from above.  We tried our best to ignore him---we were too busy trying to decide if it was selfish of us to not want to go any further, but rather go have some margaritas.  Guess, which won?

You're right!  We said, "Let's go!" 

So, off to the El Rincon we went! 

Darren and I had discovered El Rincon several years ago on our first trip to Sedona, and it still one of our favorite Mexican Restaurants.  Their food is always good and their margaritas are OUTSTANDING!!  This is also the place where I discovered the Prickly Pear Margarita and since it has inspired me to order cactus juice by mail so that I can make my own.

There's nothing like a Prickly Pear Margarita to wash off all that traildust.  YUM!

Time to go clean up and get ready for our movies.

Lucky we arrived at the theater when we did---the place is packed!  We were able to get 2 of the few remaining tickets for the feature, "The Sisters" and the shorts program with the documentary, "A Line In The Sand".  The Sisters was fabulous!  We also really enjoyed that shorts program, they had some really good and interesting films.  Of course, we went to support our friends, Leschak & Bruce, from the Opening Night Dinner.  Their film, "A Line In The Sand", was very moving--if you see it, bring tissues.

After the films let out we saw Leschak & Bruce and the lobby.  We went over to say "hello" and let them know how much we really enjoyed their film.  They asked us if we would like to go have a drink.  Us?  Say no?  Of course not!  Let's go!

Now, Sedona being a sleepy little town, we had a little trouble finding something open at this hour (11pm).  After some searching we ended up at one of the big resorts in town.  It turns out they are the only place in town that stays open until 1 am.  We had so much fun that they finally had to kick us out at 1:30!!  I can tell I am going to pay for this tomorrow.....