Sedona with Dufendachs - Part 1

Oh how I love reuniting with friends from our time in Rochester!  I think this will be true my whole entire life long.

Nicole and Kevin, now living in Nashville, were cashing in on a kid-free hiking vacation to Sedona last weekend and were kind enough to invite us up for a night to crash it.  We were SO HAPPY that it worked out for us to join them.  I still can't believe it!

Driving up

Mikel, Nolan and I arrived in Sedona around 11 - just in time to snag the Dufendachs, grab some lunch, and head to our hiking destination: Boynton Canyon.

  My dear, dear friend!  Together at last.

I had low expectations of how long Nolan would last riding happily on my back, but lo and behold: He crashed right away and slept for 1.5hrs.  Perfect!  Maybe we should always hike during nap time!

Oh the views...  It's like: You know that photos aren't going to do any of what you see justice.... but you can't help trying.

Boynton is a top-10 rated Sedona hike - and we quickly saw why...  Diverse and interesting with beautiful angles - but well-maintained and relatively a flat trail, considering (I appreciated that, carrying dead-weight Nolan).  We would definitely return to this trail.  Great find, Nicole and Kevin!

Indian cave.

These crosses are a breath of fresh air themselves.  A rare symbol of truth erected in the dense New Age fog that permeates so much of Sedona.
I thought that the ever-introspective and supremely wise Nicole said it best about Sedona's beauty:
"The majesty of the surroundings simply calls your heart to worship."
It's sad that so many in this area are led to worship falsehoods.

Photo op!

We hit our turn around point just in time for this guy to wake up.
He was a little stunned at first.

Mikel was amazing and carried Nolan all the way back to the trailhead.  My arm was breaking just watching him, but Nolan was super happy riding along and able to look around.  Thank you, Mikel!

Lighting all wrong but had to be included

Perfect weather and better company: a GREAT day for hiking, indeed!

*****

After that, we went back to Nicole and Kevin's timeshare where there was a little playground that allowed Nolan to work out some wiggles.

Think she's done this before??  Oh, we love you, Nicole!!

*****

Next, we drove up, up, up to Sedona's airport -- a recommended viewing spot that did its part to offer a beautiful panorama of the area.

It was getting late in the day and some cloud cover was blowing in, obscuring our view a touch -- but I just love the different layers and colors in the rocks.  Amazing creation.

 *****
Finally we headed to our hotel (or our Bach, as Steph would call it).  We had a tired boy who was ready for his dinner, bath and bed.

I turned the corner at one point and saw this little shoe sight.  Made me smile.  :)

A few more shots of our bach.  The Hilton resort had their foyer under construction, so we got a great rate on this suite! (and no noise, to boot.)

Hey, guys!

We were especially glad to have the suite, as it allowed us to hang out with the Dufendachs after N went to bed.  They brought over a couple of pizzas - which we destroyed - and then we all spent a few hours sipping wine, playing cards, watching the Olympics and just hanging out.  

So easy and so comfortable --- good medicine for the soul.

We managed to catch Russia's 15-year-old figure skating prodigy give her epic performance.  Wow...

Mikel LOVES figure skating.  (okay, no.)

 *****
I loved going to bed knowing we would get to see the Dufendachs one more time before our weekend wrapped up!