Day 9 – May 27, 2024 – Sedona, AZ

Had a great night’s sleep and woke up to sound of the birds chirping, though they started a 4 a.m. Figured out they were house finches as we have seen them around the house and hanging out on the porch. Another group starts about an hour after that, and it is a mixture of cardinals, towhees, and wrens. It’s lovely, but not when you don’t want to be up at 5 a.m., lol! We both managed to doze back off and were up by 6. After coffee and working on the blog, we had a quick bite to eat and were out the door.

Today we went to hike to the Devils Bridge. It is a natural sandstone arch that is 54 feet tall and 45 feet long. We started from the Mescal Trail to the Chuckwagon Trail and then on to the Devils Bridge Trail. We noticed that there was a lot more greenery here and it was only 9 miles from our BNB. The views are spectacular! John and I opted not to go stand out on it, mainly because of me. I don’t care much for heights as it is, but I will climb up and stand on a big surface. The bridge had parts that don’t look wide to me, and I have the fear of slipping and being one of those casualties. We took pictures and enjoyed the views! It is about a 4-mile round trip hike and our elevation gain was at 646 feet. It was a really good hike!

We headed back to the house, showered, then headed out to grab some lunch. Luckily there were a lot of things open today, and we were surprised with it being Memorial Day. For drinking water here, they have a 3-gallon bottle that is refilled at a couple places in town. We went to Water Works to get it filled up and it’s an interesting store. They clean the water through reverse osmosis and add minerals back in and do distilled water. Apparently, the water here has traces of arsenic, possibly from mining, so it’s suggested not to drink it right from the tap. After filling up the bottle, we headed to a place called Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill for lunch. We each ordered a rose sangria and split the handmade empanadas, which were corn, cheese and peppers, and the pulled pork tostadas. The place is set up very nice and has great seating out on a covered patio with misters. Great food, great views!

We left from there and went to Redwall Distillery where they make small batch craft spirits. They were awarded Best of Class and Best Straight Bourbon in 2023 in a spirits competition. John had a neat bourbon, and I tried the Kentucky Buck, which has bourbon, strawberry, lemon, angostura, and gingerbeer. YUMMY! We then split a Paper Plane, which had bourbon, aperol, amaro, and lemon. I think I have found my summer drink!

We headed back to the BNB, John cooked steak on the grill, and we had that with left over green beans and rice. We watched an old episode of the Great British Baking Show (that I had not seen) and called it a night. We have enjoyed our time in Sedona, and both have said we would come back here again. Tomorrow, we head out to the Grand Canyon for our next adventure! Nite all!

Facts about Sedona: