Tuesday, March 28:
After approximately one dozen trips to Houston since August, we were both excited to get on an airplane and head in a different direction with a much different agenda. No doctors, no tests, no chemo, no worries.

We flew Southwest Airlines from Denver to Phoenix on Tuesday morning. We grabbed a rental car and headed to Trader Joe's to stock up on some food for our cabin.

After a couple hour drive north we got our first glimpse of Sedona! Neither of us have really spent anytime in Sedona so what we first saw as we entered town from the south was nothing but magnificent. Almost immediately we decided to scrap the idea of finishing our trip by spending our last day at the Grand Canyon. There would be plenty of beautiful places to explore right around Sedona.

After driving around Sedona we headed north out of town, ten miles up Oak Creek Canyon to check out our cabin at Forest Houses. The house we stayed in is called Studio House . It is one of twelve houses for rent. Forest Houses is one of the few places we have ever stayed where we would like to return there again. The Studio House was the perfect place to relax. There's no television, no telephone, one bedroom with a loft with three beds upstairs, big kitchen, dining room and living room. The wood stove kept us nice and toasty the entire time we were there especially since there was an endless supply of firewood. This photo shows the front of the cabin. And this photo shows the grounds looking out from inside the cabin. We hiked along Oak Creek for a couple of miles then settled into the cabin and watched the rain, read, and relaxed.

Wednesday, March 29:
We awoke to clouds and drizzle so we weren't in any hurry to begin the day. After figuring on a hike that wouldn't leave us too far from the car in the event the weather turned really nasty we headed out on our first of several hikes over the next five days. It remained cloudy for most of the hike, but the clouds were high enough that our view was not impeded by the clouds. This first hike was south of Sedona a few miles called the Courthouse Butte Loop. The loop was a little over 4 miles with a small elevation gain. One of my favorite photos from the entire trip was the first photo I made on that first hike. The rock formation in the center of this photo is called Bell Rock. These formations are so very unique in one way because each one's appearance is quite different depending on which side of the formation you are viewing it from. You would think with such distinct markings it would be simple to know where you are, but more than once we were left scratching our heads as to our whereabouts. We had two trail guide books, one National Forest map, and one Sedona Outdoor Recreation Map that were all invaluable in helping us decide where to go and in helping us to find our way. Cher thought the green plants she is surrounded by in this photo were interesting. I like the photo for other reasons!

Thursday, March 30:
We were off to an early start on Tuesday for Boynton Canyon (west and a little north of Sedona). This was our first experience with walking to a vortex site. It was a beautiful morning and a very special place. We didn't/haven't done much research into what factors constitute a vortex site. We both agreed after visiting a few that they were very peaceful places, which we also encountered about 99% of the time we were out in Sedona's boonies. There is some interesting reading on the 'net about vortexes - take a look. This photo really captures the peacefulness. It was about this point when I began to think my presence was perhaps a bit distracting to Cheryl's quest for finding the energy of the vortex. Me scrambling around snapping photos while she's trying to meditate at a vortex was perhaps a bit unnerving, but in true Cher fashion, she didn't let on. So I moved a bit further away to try and capture this place from some other angles. This photo shows Cher in the same spot and this photo shows the two of us with Kachina Woman Spire in the background as we left the vortex and headed for Boynton Canyon.

Before venturing into the canyon we hiked next to Enchantment Resort and some beautiful homes. After about one mile the resort and civilization left us and we headed up the canyon. The canyon floor was beautiful, but in no way rivaled what we saw after three miles of hiking. The trail ended on a rock ledge looking out over the canyon. Here's a photo of the two of us at the "top" of the canyon. Here is another photo of Cher with the canyon down and to the right of where she is sitting and a photo of me at the same spot.

This is a very popular trail with folks staying at the resort. On the way up the canyon, we saw a half dozen people on the trail. On the way back down, we lost track, but there had to have been at least 75 people on the trail. Getting an early start was a nice way to do this trail!

On our way back to town we decided to stop at the Palatki ruins. We didn't spend much time there, but did snap a photo.

We had a quick lunch back at our cabin then headed out again to Red Rock Crossing to watch the sunset at Cathedral Rock. One of the most photographed locations in all of Arizona. This photo was one of the last of the day as the sun began to set below the horizon.

Friday, March 31:
We took it easy on Friday morning. Thursday left us both pretty tired so we were in no hurry to head out. After looking at some maps we decided on a hike to Brins Mesa. When we drove up the trailhead was closed as the Forest Service was working on the parking lot. A Forest Service employee stopped us and told us of several hikes we could do, but we really wanted to hike Brins Mesa from photos we had seen in one of the guide books. So we headed off to another trailhead out of town and began the walk up to the mesa. This was a great hike because unlike the hike out of Boynton Canyon, there were very few people on the trail. This is normally a very popular trail, but with the trail head closed in Sedona, made it inaccessible for many people. At the top of the mesa we hiked to a spot where we could have our lunch. Here's a photo of Cher on top of Brins Mesa. On the right side of the photo you can see a green water tower that is the northern edge of Sedona. The trailhead that was closed would have started somewhere around there. Looking to north, is what we saw in this photo. Here's one more photo from Brins Mesa looking east.

Saturday, April 1:
We didn't fly out of Phoenix until 10:00 pm so we had the whole day Saturday for more exploration in/around Sedona. We started with a hike near the airport to another vortex site. Before we went to the vortex site we hiked the Airport Loop. As we were walking on the trail we looked back to the vortex site and spotted a group of about 20 people meditating at the site. Pretty weird with all the people around (it was a short hike from the parking lot to the vortex site = lots of people) and with tour bi-planes and helicopters flying overhead. Here's a photo of Cher at the same vortex site, after the "Meditation People" left.

After a lunch of peanut butter and tortillas and wine, we left for the Sedona Chapel. Another serious tourist attraction because viewing it requires no walking. I was going a bit nutty with all the people and all the cars especially after a few days of not seeing much of anyone. Cher's calming influence prevailed over my "I've gotta get out here" attitude, at least long enough for us to go up to the chapel. That's when the sun finally poked out in full force revealing the beauty of the red rocks. While everyone else was taking pictures of themselves near the chapel, I was busy making photos of the area near the chapel. On the way out, I stopped to take a photo of this unique and beautiful chapel.

We still had a few hours before we needed to head south to Phoenix, so we headed up Schnebly Hill for a hike to the Cow Pies. This area really does look like it has a bunch of huge Cow Pies all over. This photo doesn't do the whole area justice, but does show one small piece of the huge landscape. Cher spent her last few minutes in Coconino National Forest hanging out at the vortex site near the Cow Pies. What made this site unique was all the volcanic rock. This photo shows the site and the volcanic rock around the center of the site.

We will be back to Sedona. Many factors contributed to us having a wonderful time on this break, but knowing how far Cher has come in the last several months was truly the underlying factor in us enjoying the heck out of this trip.

Best wishes!