Sedona

[furtech]

I left Los Angeles late (surprise!), around three. Never stop in at work on your way out of town for a vacation...

Thanks to GPS and 70mph speed limits, the drive out of California was effortless and happily brain-off. Satellite radio, a loaded iPod and company (even a snoozing border collie) made the miles fly by.

As one could guess, the drive through that part of California (along I-10) is pretty dull: barren and blasted, broken only by the crumbly shapes of long-dead cinder cones. This monotony made the appearance of the windmill generators all the more startling:



Out of nowhere there appear giant, white windmills . A hundred feet tall? I don't know, but they seem huge and their elegant vanes rotate slowly, adding to the effect of their size and numbers . I had a sci-fi moment driving through them...

I arrived in Sedona well after dark, hooking up with the wonderful JC and getting the room key from her. I settled Rondo in and crashed. The only mishap was when Rondo ran into a field to pee...and discovered it was covered with goathead/puncture-vine. He froze (I went in and un-punctured him) and then he refused to pee (even in the bushes of a veterinary clinic!).

All of the area around Sedona is beautiful. This is the view out the back of our hotel ($49 for a single!) at dawn:


The next morning I woke early to take Rondo out to do his business. I have no idea how he held it for over 16 hours. He was still reluctant to pee anywhere (still remembering the goatheads) so I walked him down a neighborhood street (goathead-free). *Finally* he found a place worthy of doing his business. A tiny shrub got the full drenching, several minutes long-- as I nervously looked at the $$$ house we were in front of, praying that the owners didn't see us drowning his $$$ landscaping. I could just picture the garage door opening and an irate person glaring at the never-ending stream.

When Rondo finally finished, we scurried away up the road. Near the top of a rise I saw a dream house:


I can only imagine what it must be like to wake up to this view .

The little street where Rondo finally pee'd was thereafter known as "P Street" because that became his favorite place to do his business. Can you imagine driving home down this road? Or living in a place like this? Incredible.

Comments

[dustmeat.livejournal.com]

I'm just amazed that you found such pretty areas in Arizona

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Neither can I! I'd heard all about Sedona-- but had shunned it because the New Age hype just sounded corny. Seeing it, though-- wow. Most of my previous experience was with Phoenix and Tuscon where every plant out there has evolved to kill you.

[haamel.livejournal.com]

I bet you had a sci-fi moment. I don't know if you've seen Macross Plus ever (if not, you should seriously remedy that ^_^), but the windmills in its famous opening sequence and the airbase/terrain where most of the action happens remind me of nothing so much as those windmills you saw, and then, to the north, Edwards AFB. All that would be needed is Mt. Whitney, sheer, weathered face turned impassively to the desolation of Death Valley, to complete the picture.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Yes! Exactly! I remember that now-- saw it ages ago and Macross Plus is probably what gave me the sci-fi moment. Very cool!

[mistahbojangles.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm surprised you've never seen the windmill farm before, but yeah, that's an amazing sight where the sheer quantity of the windmills overpowers your intrigue at seeing the windmills in the first place. I had to exit the freeway and get a closeup view when I saw them for the first time when I moved out to California.

And Sedona is an awesome, awesome place. Tracy had a hoodoo book about all the mystical vortexes you can find in the area (did you FEEL the aura?) but just being there was amazing because of the color play between the rocks, the trees, and the sky. Hopefully you got to spend some time looking around. Did you make your way to the nearby slide rock area? It's one thing to think "oh, naturally formed water-slide" but another thing entirely to see that it's in fact a water-slide experience that even a theme-park budget couldn't surpass.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

*nodnod* Surely you've seen the ones on the way to FC up north, ah? Probably just not these out near Palm Springs, righteo? :9

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I felt the Vortex, but my foot didn't hurt as much afterwards (but that could have been just psychosomatic or resting as much as anything).

I didn't know about the slide rock area: next time for sure!

[wyoon.livejournal.com]

The pictures were great. I always love to read and look at that kinda stuff. I've never been farther than Memphis from South Carolina so all of that out there is still great to think about seeing. Though I have to admit, I could help but laugh through the rest of the post from the one part... "He froze".

[bovil.livejournal.com]

We drove through Altamont Pass on Sunday on the way back from vintacon. Winds were up, and nearly all the windmills (including the old square-sail ones) were spinning. I think they've taken down all the old eggbeater windmills, though.

Altamont has a few of the new slower "low environmental impact" windmills like you saw, and I think we'll see more of the wind farmers there converting as older windmills fail.

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

I don't know if all the killer windmills have come down yet.

Altamont Pass is a major bird migration route - guess what wins? :(

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Most of the windmills at Altamont are still the high-speed models. Some of them are decades old.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Good to hear about the installation of the low-impact windmill designs. I'd never seen these before; I remember the fast spinners and eggbeaters in Altamont but it's been a while since I've been through that pass and this may have been my first trip through.

[skorzy.livejournal.com]

Haven't been to the San Gorgonio Pass in a long time, have you?

Those windmills are multiplying.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if I've ever been through there...and for sheer size and quantity the San Gorgonio Pass kicks Altamont's butt! Thanks for the name: I just knew the windfarm as "that one by Palm Springs".

[farraptor.livejournal.com]

It's the perfect time of year to go there, too. Off-season, so there aren't a lot of tourists, not too hot, not too cold.

I always found looking at the cinder-cones off along I-10 (and the 395, for that matter) to be one of the more entertaining things to do. Especially when you can imagine them erupting, blowing tons of molten rock far across the landscape. Pretty beautiful stuff.

Those are some stunningly beautiful venues, though. I can only imagine living in a valley like that, especially with all the pink sandstone surrounding you. It must be spectacular at sunset.

Glad you had a great time, and thanks for the pics. I'm going to need to make a trip there myself, methinks.

~FaR~

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I was surprised to learn that October is one of the four "big" months for Sedona-- along with March, April and May. Still-- the area wasn't crowded at all. I love the sheer number of hiking trails (mostly easy -to-moderate and relatively flat) and the variety of things to do. We had planned to camp, but it rained that night so we just stayed another night at the hotel.

[streakthetiger.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, those windmills are great. I seem them everytime I leave Arizona. Lets me know i`m halfway to my grandfathers. :D


BTW, can I add you as a friend?