CJinMD
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2013
Day 2 - Sedona
Day 2 started bright and early, at 5:00, with a sunrise hike right outside of the gates of the Enchantment. The evening before Mike and Troy told us that they would be meeting for an "unofficial" hike to see the sunrise over Sedona, and it was not to be missed. I immediately knew I wanted to go. DH also wanted to go, but we didn't think the boys would be able to wake up that early and still function later in the day, so he decided to let me go on my own. So, I woke up about 4:30 to get myself dressed (in the dark) and to the meeting place in time. Before I knew it, everyone in my family was awake and we were all headed out the door about 4:50 to meet the group. The only ones from the group that did not make it to were one of the retired couples and the college aged son. The hike was an easy one with just one part where you had to make it over a few rocks. It was totally worth it, and you need to make sure you do it while on this trip! Mike and Troy told us that on most occasions you can see hot air balloons launching, but unfortunately, we did not see any.
After the hike we all went back to our rooms to shower and get ready for the day. The day is set up so that in the AM (after breakfast) we were scheduled to go on the Pink Jeep tour, followed by lunch at the Barking Frog in downtown Sedona and then OYO time at the resort in the afternoon. Dinner is OYO.
Breakfast at the Enchantment is in the Che Ah Chi restaurant. You can order anything off the menu (excluding alcohol) or get the breakfast buffet, which had you standard pancakes, eggs, cereal, fruit, etc. I was the only one in my family that elected to not get the buffet. Each morning I go the Cathedral Rock Toast. I am not one to take pics of my food, but this was so good - I highly recommend getting it.
After breakfast everyone gathered by the golf pro shop to await the arrival of the pink jeeps. We were waiting for about 15 minutes, so Troy decided to challenge my boys to a hula hooping contest. The guides were so amazing at filling in with little activities like that when there was even a moment of downtime. Another time when they did this was during the welcome dinner. The boys were getting a little antsy during the Hopi Indian presentation, so Mike swooped in and whisked the boys away to search for any wildlife they could see (they ended up seeing some deer). This is just one thing that makes ABD so amazing.
Once the jeeps arrived, we all piled in. Our family ended up in a jeep by ourselves, and the other eight, plus the guides were split up between two other jeeps. The jeep went thru town to where we would be doing our off road adventure - maybe a 15 minute ride. For the jeep ride, I would recommend wearing sunglasses (with a strap if you have one) so that the dust does not go in your eyes. The jeep ride was a ton of fun. It could get pretty bumpy, so if you are prone to motion sickness, take a non-drowsy Dramamine before hand and don't sit on the back seat of the jeep - sit on the sides. Our driver was Patty, and she gave lots of great info about the area while on the tour. Don't be afraid to ask questions!
After the tour, which was about two hours in total, the jeeps drove us all the The Barking Frog for lunch. Lunch was buffet style and consisted of fried chicken, roasted chicken, and sides. They also gave us cactus fries, which you must taste! I really liked them. I don't have any pics of the restaurant, but I don't think it is normally open at that time (maybe just that day?) , so we were the only ones in there. Even tho we were the only ones, we were still in a private party room off to the side.
I should mention also that y youngest son has food allergies - peanut, tree nut. ABD so wonderful about everything. So if you have any questions about this, please ask!
After lunch we were given the choice to spend about an hour in downtown Sedona or going back to the resort We chose to stay downtown to just look around a bit, as did most of the other people. An hour is about all you need. There are some good looking ice cream shops, so if you want to not have dessert at lunch, you can get some good treats there.
Once we made it back to the resort, we had about 4 hours (I think) until our dinner reservations. Dinner that night was OYO. You could either Uber or taxi back to town or eat at the resort. I don't think many people ever really go back into town. At the welcome dinner, the guides will put out sign up sheets to make reservations at one of the two resort restaurants. Everyone from our group chose to eat at Tii Gavo, the less fancy of the two. The food was good - I recommend the tacos and prickly pear margarita.
In the afternoon, we took full advantage of the resort amenities. We swam, played tennis, bocce ball, and cricket! All of the equipment is free to use.
Following dinner, at dark, the guides told us that there would be someone available with a telescope so that we could see the stars and such, but sadly, he never showed up. It would have been neat to see, but no big deal... because we went on a "wildlife hunt". A little backstory, but I really wanted to see a javelina in person. DH and I were in Texas years ago and i heard about them, but had never seen them. So, we went out to walk around the resort, assuming we would just see some deer. Well, we ended up seeing a pack of about 15 javelina! It was wild! I only had my cell phone with me, and it was pretty dark, so I only got some grainy pics.
After this, we headed back to our room to relax and go to sleep. Tomorrow we would board the bus and make our way to the Grand Canyon!
Day 3 coming in about a week or so - we are headed to the beach!
Day 2 started bright and early, at 5:00, with a sunrise hike right outside of the gates of the Enchantment. The evening before Mike and Troy told us that they would be meeting for an "unofficial" hike to see the sunrise over Sedona, and it was not to be missed. I immediately knew I wanted to go. DH also wanted to go, but we didn't think the boys would be able to wake up that early and still function later in the day, so he decided to let me go on my own. So, I woke up about 4:30 to get myself dressed (in the dark) and to the meeting place in time. Before I knew it, everyone in my family was awake and we were all headed out the door about 4:50 to meet the group. The only ones from the group that did not make it to were one of the retired couples and the college aged son. The hike was an easy one with just one part where you had to make it over a few rocks. It was totally worth it, and you need to make sure you do it while on this trip! Mike and Troy told us that on most occasions you can see hot air balloons launching, but unfortunately, we did not see any.
After the hike we all went back to our rooms to shower and get ready for the day. The day is set up so that in the AM (after breakfast) we were scheduled to go on the Pink Jeep tour, followed by lunch at the Barking Frog in downtown Sedona and then OYO time at the resort in the afternoon. Dinner is OYO.
Breakfast at the Enchantment is in the Che Ah Chi restaurant. You can order anything off the menu (excluding alcohol) or get the breakfast buffet, which had you standard pancakes, eggs, cereal, fruit, etc. I was the only one in my family that elected to not get the buffet. Each morning I go the Cathedral Rock Toast. I am not one to take pics of my food, but this was so good - I highly recommend getting it.
After breakfast everyone gathered by the golf pro shop to await the arrival of the pink jeeps. We were waiting for about 15 minutes, so Troy decided to challenge my boys to a hula hooping contest. The guides were so amazing at filling in with little activities like that when there was even a moment of downtime. Another time when they did this was during the welcome dinner. The boys were getting a little antsy during the Hopi Indian presentation, so Mike swooped in and whisked the boys away to search for any wildlife they could see (they ended up seeing some deer). This is just one thing that makes ABD so amazing.
Once the jeeps arrived, we all piled in. Our family ended up in a jeep by ourselves, and the other eight, plus the guides were split up between two other jeeps. The jeep went thru town to where we would be doing our off road adventure - maybe a 15 minute ride. For the jeep ride, I would recommend wearing sunglasses (with a strap if you have one) so that the dust does not go in your eyes. The jeep ride was a ton of fun. It could get pretty bumpy, so if you are prone to motion sickness, take a non-drowsy Dramamine before hand and don't sit on the back seat of the jeep - sit on the sides. Our driver was Patty, and she gave lots of great info about the area while on the tour. Don't be afraid to ask questions!
After the tour, which was about two hours in total, the jeeps drove us all the The Barking Frog for lunch. Lunch was buffet style and consisted of fried chicken, roasted chicken, and sides. They also gave us cactus fries, which you must taste! I really liked them.
I don't have any pics of the restaurant, but I don't think it is normally open at that time (maybe just that day?) , so we were the only ones in there. Even tho we were the only ones, we were still in a private party room off to the side.I should mention also that y youngest son has food allergies - peanut, tree nut. ABD so wonderful about everything. So if you have any questions about this, please ask!
After lunch we were given the choice to spend about an hour in downtown Sedona or going back to the resort We chose to stay downtown to just look around a bit, as did most of the other people. An hour is about all you need. There are some good looking ice cream shops, so if you want to not have dessert at lunch, you can get some good treats there.
Once we made it back to the resort, we had about 4 hours (I think) until our dinner reservations. Dinner that night was OYO. You could either Uber or taxi back to town or eat at the resort. I don't think many people ever really go back into town. At the welcome dinner, the guides will put out sign up sheets to make reservations at one of the two resort restaurants. Everyone from our group chose to eat at Tii Gavo, the less fancy of the two. The food was good - I recommend the tacos and prickly pear margarita.
In the afternoon, we took full advantage of the resort amenities. We swam, played tennis, bocce ball, and cricket! All of the equipment is free to use.
Following dinner, at dark, the guides told us that there would be someone available with a telescope so that we could see the stars and such, but sadly, he never showed up. It would have been neat to see, but no big deal... because we went on a "wildlife hunt". A little backstory, but I really wanted to see a javelina in person. DH and I were in Texas years ago and i heard about them, but had never seen them. So, we went out to walk around the resort, assuming we would just see some deer. Well, we ended up seeing a pack of about 15 javelina! It was wild! I only had my cell phone with me, and it was pretty dark, so I only got some grainy pics.
After this, we headed back to our room to relax and go to sleep. Tomorrow we would board the bus and make our way to the Grand Canyon!
Day 3 coming in about a week or so - we are headed to the beach!
