Day 7 – May 25, 2024 – Sedona, AZ
This morning, we literally walked out our door and was at one of the trails (Thunder Mountain Area Trails) in the Coconino National Forest. We hiked the Lower Chimney Rock, up to the summit, Chimney Rock Pass, Lizardhead, and part of the Thunder Mountain trails. We did around 4.5 and climb as high as 830 feet. When we climbed up the summit, it was like standing on top of the world as the views were amazing! Though we didn’t hike a lot of miles, we spent over 3 ½ out at the park. The plan tomorrow is to do more of the trails we didn’t do today.
We came back to the house, ate a quick snack, showered, and then headed out to a town called Jerome, which is about a 35-minute drive. The plan was to grab some lunch and hit one of the wineries, but it was so crowded and there was no where to park that we headed back down and went to Cottonwood instead. We ended up at the Smelter Town Brewery and grabbed lunch from a food truck outside and ate in the brewery. Not what we had planned, but it worked out well and the food/beer was good! We still had some time to kill before the train ride, so we headed back out and hit one of the local wineries, Bodega Pierce, and enjoyed a glass of wine. We purchased a couple of bottles and then headed back to Cottonwood to check in at the train station.
John booked us a ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad – Grape Train Escape/Moonlight Escape. It is a 4-hour experience that starts at 5:30 p.m. and you go 20 miles one way and 20 miles back all while being served tastings of different wines. You start off in the train car but can go out on to the open-air cars and look at the scenery, which is where we spent most of our time. The train cars are refurbished and renovated, FP7 locomotives, two of the only ten remaining in North America and built in 1953. We chatted with a few couples and enjoyed the scenery and the company! We arrived back at the station around 9:30 p.m. and headed back home. What a fun evening!
Tomorrow is more hiking at the trails close to us and then we have a star gazing astronomy tour starting at 9:30 p.m. I told John that’s past our bedtime, lol! It should be a beautiful experience to see all the stars so clearly! Nite all!
