Birds, Baubles & Ancient High Rises

April 19 ~ 20

Rancho Sedona RV Park  (ranchosedona.com) can't be called a luxury resort, but we liked it.  It's of the mid-tier variety, right in the heart of town and has a very good vibe about it.  The "executive sites" back up to Oak Creek which provides a lovely sleeping background.

One incredibly unique characteristic is that it has unwittingly become a nesting ground for blue herons.  I think of those huge pre-historic looking birds on the water....not in trees.  It is quite a sight.  Six pairs (down from 29 last year) were keeping watch until their newborns could fly. 

The nests weigh up to 100 pounds and are built with heavy-duty sticks.

Seeing those huge birds standing in the trees feels like you've been tossed into Jurassic Park.  And those babies!  They're the size of turkeys!  Watching them daily was a treat....and one morning when a hawk tried to lunch on a baby, you would swear a pterodactyl was chasing him.

Tlaquepaque

Time for a little shopping.  Tlaquepaque (tlaq.com), pronounced ta-locky-pocky, is a lovely shopping area fashioned after Guadalajara.  I don't love shopping all that much, but this was terrific....for the first time in my life I bought Christmas presents in April. Particularly liked Cucina Sedona for kitchenware and Renee Taylor Gallery for very distinctive jewelry.

Didn't get to try it, but hear Rene is a very good French restaurant.

Montezuma Castle

Montezuma Castle (nps.gov) is about a 45-minute drive from Sedona.  It's a five-story, 20-room dwelling set into a recess in a cliff about 100 feet above the valley dating to the early 1100's. 

The Southern Sinagua tribe lived and farmed there for over 300 years.....and suddenly disappeared....they still haven't figured out why.  There's a very interesting diorama which nicely depicts what daily life must have been.  For some strange reason they have placed it after you pass the "apartment house".  We got a far better grasp of the structure after viewing this.

By the way, it has nothing to do with Montezuma, the Mexican emperor.  When it was first discovered, it was thought it had an Aztec influence and that it must have been for Montezuma.  It wasn't, but the name lives on.

Tomorrow we are going to one of our ultimate destinations....the Grand Canyon.  Neither of us have been there and have only seen it from 30,000 feet.  We can't wait.