Ponderosa Pines and the Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Arizona

While in Flagstaff, AZ, we spent our days enjoying the Little America Flagstaff resort.  Little Lewie and I took a four mile hike through the Ponderosa Pine Forest behind the hotel, and all of us enjoyed some R&R by their outdoor pool.  Of course, Lewie rounded up all of us to play a game of three-way tag in the pool.  On some days, we had children from other families ask if they could join in the fun. (My husband is a child magnet--wherever he goes, children are drawn to his fun personality!)

On our last night at Little America Flagstaff, Lewie fell asleep after saying, "Mommy, this hotel has everything anyone could ever want."  It was so heartfelt and genuine.  We really did enjoy our four-day stay at the hotel--the Ponderosa Pines surrounding the place made it feel magestic!

I caught Lewie touching one of the many rocks on display at the hotel.  Okay, maybe Mommy touched it too...  

Our little hike into the Ponderosa Pine Forest behind the hotel.

I loved this pool surrounded by tall Ponderosa Pines.  It was so peaceful!

The hotel playground.  We made sure to go on the swings.

Playing some water "tag."

The very next day, we decided to travel AZ (Route) 89A from Flagstaff to Sedona.  The goal was to stop and have lunch at this restaurant I looked up at the Enchantment Resort in Sedona.  (If there's an "enchanted" place, I want to be there!)

I thought 89A would be like any old highway, but we soon learned that it was one of the most incredibly scenic (and dangerous) drives, we'd ever taken.  In this area, the highway passes through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona.  Soon 75 mph and 65 mph signs change to 25 mph signs as the highway begins to descend down the canyon and take many windy hairpin turns.  There were lots of scenic overlooks, so pedestrians could be found crossing the street during some of these blind turns. To his dismay, I kept reminding my husband to keep the speed down, so we didn't hit a pedestrian or drive off a cliff!  As much as I wanted to enjoy this spectacular drive, my fear of heights kept me sitting in the passenger seat white knuckled for most of the journey. Since Flagstaff has an elevation of 6,900 feet and Sedona is 4,300, we descended 2,600 feet into the canyon still looking down at another 4,000 to the bottom floor.  My heart was beating fast!

When we finally made it to the Enchantment Resort, my legs were still wobbly from the drive we just took.  It was nice to get out onto solid ground and enjoy the views without having to look over a ledge!  The restaurant we ate lunch at, Che ah Chi, allowed us to dine outside while having a delicious, healthy, organic meal.  (The lunch prices were reasonable too!)  The restaurant (and the views) certainly lived up to its reputation.  Big Lew and Little Lewie had to drag me out of the resort as I couldn't stop taking pictures.  It was certainly one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen!

Welcome to Sedona!

The view from our lunch spot...

I couldn't stop taking pictures of this resort.  It was so beautiful and trendy too!

Before long, we were back onto the highway heading South to Scottsdale, AZ.  There were no more descending hairpin turns, but we did have the joy of watching the vegetation change from tall Ponderosa Pine Trees, to scrub trees, and then over to cacti.  "Can you believe in just a few hours, we went from seeing pine trees to cacti?" I asked Little Lewie.  He was amazed to see the interesting Saguaro Cacti that was now part of this desert (and not forest) landscape.

At this moment, our trip was only 3/4 complete.  We still had one more resort and three more places to see.  One of those places was Good Year, AZ (yup, named after the tires), so we could visit my eldest cousin and his wife who moved out there over 8 years ago.  Yes, there was still more to see and do!