I just visited Sedona, Arizona for the first time and I loved it. Photos do not do it justice. These red rock mountains are some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. We stayed in a bed and breakfast called Adobe Hacienda. The rooms were great and the view was really spectacular. I am glad we stayed out of the town, because we really got to enjoy the solitude of desert.

We arrived late Saturday afternoon and had lunch at a place called Saltrock Southwest Kitchen. It’s a hotel restaurant, but it doesn’t feel like it. We ate on the patio and the view from it is really nice. The food was good and it was a great way to settle into Sedona.

That night we decided to go stargazing with a local group. It was great. We met at a soccer field a few miles out of town to get away from as much light pollution as possible. A group of 12 of us met an amateur astronomer who had a lot of knowledge and a very powerful telescope. The first star we looked at was Albireo. It looks like a normal star to the naked eye, but through the telescope you realize it is a binary star system with one yellow and one blue star. We learned about the starts for about 75 minutes and it was really interesting. I also liked to look at the Andromeda galaxy, I thought the view through that was pretty incredible. Even without the telescope the sky was beyond description in its beauty and grandiosity.

The next day we did 2 hikes. We hiked the Devils Bridge Trail after breakfast and Bell Rock in the late afternoon. We tried to do the West Fork Trail but the line to park the car was really long and after we waited for 30+ minutes we decided to leave for Bell Rock. Devil’s Bridge is a fantastic stone arch that you can walk out on and look over the valley. Bell Rock is a shorter hike and there is a lot more climbing on the rock. Climbing makes me nervous but it was nice to be there at the end of the day. You could relax and watch the shadows of the other mountains expand in front of you as the sun set. It was really magical.

We had some good beers and barbecue at the Oak Creek Brewing Company between the hikes. There was no view, but a chilly locally made kolsch after a hike through the desert was perfect. Sedona is one of the most beautiful places I have even been. I want to go back and spend more time here. I took a lot of photos, but