After waking up, we started driving to the tourist center. On the way, we detour to the famous church of Sedona (not quite sure what the history was there... but since it was a landmark, it was worth a look). What struck me wasn't the church, but on the way to it... So this house (or mansion) shown on the left wasn't really an attraction, but I think it was a pretty nice house. I mean, look at the 'backyard'... there's a waterfall there! And not shown in this picture was a pond and also a gazebo. This mansion is on its way to the famous church at Sedona - but if you compare the two... slap some history into this mansion, I wouldn't mind paying to see the inside of this this mansion!
And of course, here's a picture of the church itself :). So after checking out the church, went to the tourist center, and was told that because of how hot it is, it is not really recommended that we do hikes in the afternoon portion of the day. So being on 10am, we would set foot on one of the hikes... the Cathedral Rock. The Cathedral Rock itself wasn't a long hike, but the elevation does climb up pretty quickly. It was a nice first hike, but didn't really see all too much I thought. Saw a bunch of bedrock... but that was about it... haha. But the hike was pretty nice though, my ankle held up, so it was good too.
After the hike, we took the recommendation to take a dip in the river. With the scorching heat, one of the folks at the tourist information said that there is a river right around Cathedral Rock... so after descending, we went towards that. Pretty awesome I have to say... a nice dip in the water, almost wanted to call for delivery. Always wondered how it works actually if I ordered take out on a hike. Something like:
..Call some takeout, Pizza pizza, KFC, etc....
Me: "Hello, do you deliver?"
Store: "Why sure"
Me: "Is it still 30 minutes or it's free?"
Store: (in some really energetic voice) "Why of course, 30 minutes or it's free, that's our guarantee!"
Me: "Alright, I would like a 20 piece bucket delivered to top of (insert hike name here). AND I will give you 40 minutes :)... ready... set... go!"...
Anyhow, knowing that the store clerk would probably flip at us... we got out of the river and drove to KFC. It seems like every time I go on a trip with Travel Buddy, we always end up eating at KFC... lol. I guess it's now a tradition. Supposedly though this KFC was special, in that it would have a great view. So we drove around, found the KFC, but then ... nope - it was just a regular KFC... tricked I say :(... But the food was good.
Originally we were going to do a 2nd hike before heading to our next hotel, but with the scorching heat, just seeing a bunch of bedrock that looked all the same, 3 folks with old or recovering ailments (me with my ankle, another with a busted knee, another on antibiotics), we decided that we would leave early and head for the hotel (2 hours drive away)... because the alternative, a 6 mile hike, doesn't sound all too appealing.
So onwards we drove, and arrived at the hotel at a decent time. The hotel, Hulaipai Lodge (henceforth known as Hoola Hoola - because that's a much awesomer name than Hulaipai) was open (yay!), and so we took full advantage of the facilities (aka a salt water outdoor pool, and a hot tub). Easily lazied ourselves for a couple hours, then had dinner at Hoola Hoola lodge, because this is Indian reservation land, so basically they had a monopoly around the area (no restaurants for miles). The stew I had was pretty good, though it wasn't really warmed up as hot as I liked. The best part though of the meal was the blueberry smoothie... because after the morning hike, I think I was actually a bit heat exhausted (my head was hurting, I was feeling tired)... but the blueberry smoothie basically fixed all that. Sweeeet. So after dinner, I decided to go do some weights for a bit (first time in 2 years now...). Pretty good feeling I thought, definitely should look into doing it more.
Also we find out that the white water rafting tomolo won't require us to paddle, but it would be on this metal boat. Pretty excited about it, especially with my ~$7 underwater camera that I purchased especially for this. (Once I develop the film I shall post).
With this day, the trip has officially demoted itself back to being a non soldier trip. While the first night and hiking in hot hot heat was definitely soldier trip calibre, lounging in the pool, backing out of hikes, and 'motor white water rafting' definitely demotes this adventure... lol.
The slight down part though was that I realized that I left my pants at the hotel from the other night (La Quinta)... We shall see if they return it back to me. If they do, I shalll give them a good review. If they didn't, I shall give them a bitter one... hahaha.
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