Adventures By Disney--Sedona to the Grand Canyon

Day 3 of our Adventures By Disney tour began with breakfast and a trip airport mesa, an energy vortex, in Sedona. The views were beautiful on the mesa as you can see in the photo below.

We had checked out of the tranquil Amora Resort and Spa leaving our magical luggage in our room. The next time we will see our luggage is in our room at the Grand Canyon at Thunderbird Lodge. Click here to read about our day at the Grand Canyon.

We left airport mesa and headed to Red Rock State Park for a little nature hike. We were divided into two groups, each with a naturalist, and began our hike. Our naturalist is in the photo below.

We hiked throughout the park noticing the variety of plants. The tree in the photo below is the Wedding Tree also known as a cotton wood. It is growing along the banks of Oak Creek, which also ran behind our resort.

We hiked to the top of the hill to where a house had been built by a former millionaire and left abandoned. The house is said to be inhabited by wildlife now, so it is not safe to go inside. We gathered around the fire ring outside of the house.

After our hike in the park, we headed back to Sedona for lunch. Lunch was on your own, so we found a fast food place and took one last look at the alien store. Then it was back on the motor coach for our ride to the Grand Canyon.

The motor coach climbed the switchbacks along Oak Creek to get to the main highway. You could look outside the bus at the hundreds of feet drop just beside the road. Adventure! We also went by Slide Rock Park, another attraction just outside Sedona that features natural waterfalls and pools so you slide down rocks.

We had snacks and a Disney nature movie on the bus. Let me just note here that whenever we had a long ride--this day and one more day later in our trip--there would be Disney features offered that were themed to the trip. Today's show was a narrated feature--"The Living Desert" which I believe won an academy award.

When we got to the Grand Canyon, the temperature was much more mild, almost chilly. We all got off the motor coach, took care of any urgent business, and then gathered. Our guide Tiffany wanted us to walk to the edge of the Canyon holding hands with our eyes closed, then open them together. We did just that. We walked to the road just across from the viewing location with our eyes open. We still couldn't see anything yet. Then, we made a line, held each other's hands and walked across the road to the viewing station. Tiffany counted down and we opened our eyes in unison. What a sight! Goosebumps!

Here is one of our guides, Tiffany, directing the group before we viewed the canyon.

We had more adventures that evening once we arrived at the Canyon and got settled at Thunderbird Lodge. Ahh . . . another entry.

Click here to read about Day 1 of our Adventures by Disney Tour.

Click here and here to read about Day 2 of our Adventures by Disney Tour.

Adventures By Disney--Sedona--Exploring More

Our second day of our Adventures By Disney tour in the southwest was a full day in Sedona, Arizona. The morning's adventure was an off road jeep tour--click here to read about our Cowboys and Canyons Jeep Tour. The jeeps brought us to the Sedona Heritage Museum for lunch, crafts, lasso lessons from the cowboys as shown in the photo below, and a tour of the museum. We then walked the few blocks downhill to our resort, Amora Resort and Spa, for a dip in the pool. Ahhh!

When we were refreshed, we headed to uptown Sedona to explore the shops. One shop had a collection of antlers and skulls. We didn't buy one to take home, but we did take a few photos.

Uptown Sedona offers a trolley to ride from one end of the shopping district to the other with stops in between. While the antler store was at one end of Uptown Sedona, the Alien store was at the other. Of course, we had to go a take a look at the Alien store. After browsing lots of shops, we snagged a Christmas tree ornament that was a cactus wrapped in Christmas lights. We thought it appropriate. Click here to read more about what we collect.

After exploring the shops and sights we went to the Cowboy Club for dinner. In addition to Sarsaparilla, we had rattlesnake, cactus fries with prickly pear sauce, and buffalo. The husband had a buffalo steak for his meal. We all tried all of them and each of us had a different favorite. The boy liked the rattlesnake, the husband preferred the buffalo, and I liked the cactus fries and prickly pear sauce. I'm glad we decided to be adventurous, as who knows when we would get to try these delicacies again.

When we finished dinner, we walked back to our resort which was in the middle of it all, just down the hill. After a full day, we were ready for a good night in the luxurious beds. After the boy went to bed, we sat out on our deck and watched the light on the mountain just outside and the night sky. Wow!

At Amora Resort and Spa each guest room has a different emblem hanging on the outside of the door so that it is visible in the hallway. The photo above is of the emblem on our door. I'm not sure what it means.

OK, I bet your wondering about the temperatures in Arizona in July. When we landed in Phoenix, it was close to 100 degrees. By the time we reached Sedona, the temps were in the high 80's to mid 90's. Nothing unbearable, as we were outside most of the day.

Click here to read about the first day of our Adventures By Disney tour.

Click here to read about our Cowboys and Canyons Off Road Jeep Tour in Sedona.

Click here to read about our day at the Grand Canyon on our Adventures By Disney tour.

Adventures By Disney--Sedona Cowboys and Canyons Off Road Jeep Tour

After sleeping on the heavenly beds at the Amora Resort, we woke up rested and ready to go for the Cowboys and Canyons Off Road Jeep Tour. This was the second day of our Adventures By Disney tour.

We ate breakfast at the resort and gathered to watch the parade of red jeeps pulling into the resort, each driven by a cowboy. Each family was assigned to a jeep, we got the first jeep driven by Taz.

We brought cowboy gear with us for the occasion and the cowboys agreed to pose for the photo below. Taz is one the front with the white shirt and black hat.

Once we loaded into the jeeps, we were off on our adventure, on road at first. Then off road! And I mean off road! We stopped in Box Canyon to take photos before forging on to the Van Deran cabin.

The husband had an unfortunate encounter with a cactus!

Just kidding. . . he's just showing his acting skills.

When we arrived at the Van Deran cabin we were told the story of the settler and his need to find a wife by one of the cowboys as we toured the cabin. I'm not sure I could have lived like that! On our way back to the jeeps we each got a "pin" to represent our adventure for the day. Our day was far from over. We hadn't even had lunch yet. Speaking of lunch, we rode the jeeps back into Sedona to a museum for lunch. More on that later. . .

I you want to read about our first Adventures by Disney day, click here.

If you want to read about our Adventure by Disney Grand Canyon day, click here.

Sedona offers many different jeep tours. . . pink jeeps, yellow jeeps, green jeeps, and red jeeps. . . each belonging to a different tour company. In order to be a provider to Disney, the company has to apply and continue to apply to maintain their contract. Only the top providers are considered for service by Disney.

Tips and Hints:

• Sunscreen
• Water
• Sturdy Shoes
• Hang on tight!
• Enjoy the ride. We started to cheer in unison in the jeep whenever we had "air time.
• Bring your own cowboy gear for the occasion if possible. The cowboys directing the tour were impressed with our little cowboy and said they had never had anyone dress-up before.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Adventures By Disney--Phoenix to Sedona

This post should actually be titled Moline to Denver to Phoenix to Sedona, but that would be too many words in the title. Day 1 of our Adventures By Disney tour, which will now be referred to as ABD began as soon as we arrived in the Phoenix Airport. Special greeters were at the designated terminals to check us in and snag our luggage which we would not see again until our room at the Amora Resort in Sedona. The greeter then went on the bus ride with us to the terminal where all the ABD guests were gathering, just to make sure we didn't get lost. Talk about service! We then met up with the other guests and our two ABD guides, Tiffany and Diana. Soon we were making our way to our motor coach. Once settled, we were headed out of Phoenix to the north and up into the mountains with our driver Tom.

I snapped this photo of the Saguaro cactus out of the bus window as in Arizona they are a protected plant. Also, the further you go up in elevation, eventually there are no longer Saguaros. We actually passed the last Saguaro on the highway a few miles outside of Phoenix.

Our motor coach had a bathroom, built in video system, microphone system, radio, and enough room for the 40 guests and two guides plus extra. So, we weren't really cramped. In fact, it was a smooth ride.

Our first stop was Montezuma Castle. You can see the ancestral pueblo dwelling behind us in the photo. If you were to climb up to the dwelling, you would find that it was 6 stories high and used passive solar heating, as it is built to face the southeast--warm in the winter and cool in the summer. There are actually many of these ancestral pueblo dwellings in the Southwest, this one just happens to be a National Monument. We had a guide that took us through the park. Now about the name. . . there is no indication historically that Montezuma ever lived in this dwelling and the name is without an 's, meaning that the castle does not belong to Montezuma. It is just the name. . . Montezuma Castle. We bought a cool pop up book at the store using an educator's discount. Our first souvenir.

Soon we were back on the bus and our guides had bottles of water and snacks for us. They talked about the importance of staying hydrated and using sunscreen. So, they always had cold bottles of water for us and sunscreen if we forgot ours and needed it in a pinch. We also had to promise that when we got to Amora that we would not lie on the beds in our room. We all took the oath, agreed on the time for dinner as a group, and unloaded in Sedona. As soon as we walked in the lobby, there were keys to our room--no checking in--and upon arriving in our room, there was our luggage. Magical!

This is the photo of the pool at the Amora Resort and Snoopy Rock located behind the resort. Oak Creek flowed behind the resort, too.

A bit of history about Sedona. Sedona is a relatively new town about 40-50 years. A man with the last name of Schnebly was the original founder of the town and he had a difficult time naming the town until it dawned on him to name it after his wife, Sedona. There is a hill with his name--Schnebly Hill--just to the east of Sedona. Sedona is know for its mesas that are known for their "energy" so there is a large segment of Sedona dedicated to the study of new age science. There is also an alien store/museum.

Sedona is surrounded by a state park, a canyon, and many named hills, bluffs, and rocks. A connection to Walt Disney--there is a formation named Big Thunder Mountain that was the inspiration for the attraction Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The town itself has strict codes for building--no building can be higher than three stories and there are only 9 different colors someone can paint their house of building. There are also no street lights in Sedona as residents and guests want to see the star filled sky at night.

At dinner we were treated Disney style to local musicians and a naturalist that brought local inhabitants. The photo above is the boy holding a tarantula. Our guest also had a snake. Oh, and the food was good, too.

Beauty and natural elements abound in Sedona and at Amora Resort and Spa. Since we were all tired from a day of travel, we needed an early night. Our guides were right. . . the beds were heavenly and we all slept well. Now I understand why were sworn not to lie in them before dinner. I'm guessing we would have had a few less guests at dinner.

Oh, and at dinner, we all got an ABD lanyard and a pin. The husband was ecstatic!