Why are the rocks red? Sedona, AZ

Didja miss us??  We missed y'all, dear friends, but we have been busy going places and seeing things, so let's just buckle down and get busy sharing our journeys, shall we??  Who's this little guy?  Well, he's just the World's Largest Kokopelli, that's all.  Well, that's according to his foundation lettering anyway.  He's certainly the largest one *we* have ever seen!  But, what's a Kokopelli???  Well, Tripsavvy defines one as such:

According to a Hopi myth, Kokopelli's sack contained babies to be left with young women. At San Idelfonso, a Pueblo village, Kokopelli is thought to be a wandering minstrel with a sack of songs on his back who trades old songs for new. According to Navajo legend, Kokopelli is a God of harvest and plenty.

I guess those flying geese (see there, that's quilting terminology - and you haven't seen any fabric in MONTHS, so you must have thought I've forgotten everything about sewing!  And, so, maybe I have, that would certainly free up some dollars for fuel, wouldn't it?) are to represent his songs.  I dunno.  But, he could sure use a new coat of paint!  But then, as Greg Jones told us, don't suggest a plan unless you plan to stick around to implement it.

He's located close to the Interstate on-ramp, so naturally, we had to stop by and take his photo.  But then, we hit the road and went north, back up to Sedona.  I had been there ages ago, back when, well, just way back when, ok?  But all I remembered were driving by big red rocks.  There was no getting out, and there is certainly no photographic evidence of my ever being there.  And Driver had never been there before, so it sounded like a good idea. We stopped in at the Visitors' Center - as usual - to get our bearings, some suggestions and maybe even a map.  Maps are always handy to have, ya know?  We found ourselves getting quite the education and instead of some suggestions, we got about 3 days' worth of hikes, road trips and tours!  We quickly realized we would have to narrow our itinerary if we were going to see half of what was pointed out to us.

See that little bump that Dick is gazing at?  Directly left of center on this photo...

Here it is up close!  It's monstrous!  This is Bell Rock. Looks a little bit like the Liberty Bell.  

And straight across the canyon, is Courthouse Butte.

Dick wanted to take a little hike up to Bell Rock, and I agreed to go a ways, but only a LITTLE ways.  John Newby, you'd better get your hiking boots on, Dick wants to walk!  I think I had better get on the phone and set up an appointment with a neck & spine doc if I want to accompany him on these treks.  Just the night before, we had a rain storm - part of Monsoon 2019.  Yeah, that's what they call it.  I think Sedona got about 2 or 3 inches of rain, but it was enough to green everything up and leave water in the wash(es).

Next up was the Chapel of the Holy Cross, in memory of Marguerite Brunswig Staude.  She was a sculptor, philanthropist and devout Catholic, who, in 1932, was watching the construction of the Empire State Building.  She says, when viewed from a certain angle, a cross seemed to impose itself through the core of the structure, inspiring her to visualize the church.  Originally, she collaborated with Lloyd Wright, son of the very famous Frank variety, and they designed a cathedral, to be 500 ft high, and to be built in Budapest, on the banks of the Danube, in 1937.  Then the war intervened and put an end to that dream.

The idea for the skyscraper church lay dormant for a few years, while the war raged, but, the urge to create a shrine in America remained strong.   After viewing a few European cathedrals, her plans changed a bit, but Lloyd Wright did not agree, and he refused to work with her further.  Undaunted, she found another architectural firm and scouted several locations in the Oak Creek Canyon, where she had a ranch, eventually settling on these twin spires, "solid as the Rock of Peter."  However, being government property, it practically took an act of Congress to receive a deed and building permit. Her good friend, Senator Barry Goldwater intervened on her behalf, and eventually, the church could proceed.  Plans were started in 1953 and completed in 1954, ground broken in April, 1955, and the structure was completed in April, 1956.  The Chapel was built as a memorial to the sculptor's parents, Lucien and Marguerite Brunswig.

The rock formation behind the Chapel appears to wrap around and cradle the Chapel, creating a Vortex of peace and tranquility.

Do you see that central spire?  It appears to be Madonna holding the baby Jesus, the other figures resemble praying nun, or perhaps, the Three Wise Men, and these formations influenced her choise of this site.

Inside, the church was Spartan, only 7 pews lined each side wall, with 2 long vertical banners hanging on each side wall. Surprisingly, there was a gift shop, however, it was closed until noon, for some unexpected and unexplained reason.  That's OK, we probably wouldn't have purchased anything anyway, and being in the basement, with a steep flight of steps, we probably wouldn't have gone down there, as that would mean we would have to come UP those steep steps.

 Can you see the eagle's head in the rock formation on this wall?  (It's dead center of the photo)

And, just in case you had any thoughts of climbing these 250 foot crags, we were instructed, in several languages (!), to stay off the rocks!  Though, they were nice about it, as they did say Please.

On the way up, we had seen several homemade signs indicating places to park for fresh pressed prickly pear lemonade, so, who could resist that?  Ha, actually, we were curious, never having tasted it before.

Not sure if Lincoln is Daddy or brother, but here is Jane, explaining to Dick how she makes the lemonade by scraping all the spines off the pears, then pureeing and straining the resulting juice.  I must say, it was tasty.  Different, for sure, but tasty.

Heading on up the road, we eventually got to the actual TOWN of Sedona.  I have absolutely NO recollection of any of it, and that's probably a good thing.  If I *had* remembered it, and the traffic had been so bad as it was this visit, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have come!  Oh my word.  We crept through town at a snail's pace, single file.  Through the lights, round-a-bouts and construction zones.  And parking!  HA!  There were lots of metered spaces, all full.  There were lots of free lots, all full.  We just kept on going, straight out of town.  That's ok, we didn't need any wine, beer, souvenirs or pottery.  

There was one area, Tlaquepaque, though, where we did manage to find a parking spot under the sycamores.  And what do ya know, just past the flute-playing dude, there was a Sweet Shop!  Ummmmmmmm, yeah, maybe yumm, but at $10 a pop for a turtle, we passed.  Yikes, $10 bucks a pop!  Are there really people that would pay that??

Anyway, the shopping area was quaint, all done in the Pueblo style, with courtyards and fountains all around, as well as lots of Mexican tiles.  But, again, we didn't need any huge bronze statues (tho, they WERE pretty), we need no rugs, no huge pottery planters, no wine, no overpriced jewelry, and we weren't hungry,  so we didn't hang around long!  Are we getting old or just boring??  

Moving on.....we drove on to Indian Garden.  You'd think there would be plants somewhere, right?  Nope.  Indian Garden is a store.  Actually, a little deli and market, and it backs right up to this rock group, where Indians used to grow their crops.

Across the street was Oak Creek, and it was crystal clear.  Probably really cold, too, as we were not far from the headwaters!

At this point, the only other thing northward we wanted to see had been Slide Rock.  Sounds inviting, especially on hot day, right?  Well, it's quite a bit up the road, and we weren't really suited (ha, I'm so punny) up for it, as we hadn't known about it until the Ranger told us....and we weren't prepared to pay the admission fee just go SEE it.  If we weren't gonna pay the $10 fee for a turtle, we surely weren't gonna spring that much (EACH!) for a chance to watch other people sliding down a rock in freezing cold spring water.  Sooo, we turned right around and went BACK through town, and ta-da!  Don't know where all that traffic went, but it was gone!  Yippee!   We accidentally drove right past the turnoff to the airport, where there was supposed to be a magnificent view of the valley, but, oh well.  It was getting kinda late, and one can only see but so many rocks, and pretty as they were.  

And, everywhere we went, we saw signs advising us not to "bust the crust" (sic) because it "was alive" and one simple footprint could take anywhere from 75 to 250  years to recover, depending on rainfall. Nope, didn't get photos any of those signs, but they were EVERYwhere.  And, just in case we were thinking of wandering off the path, Mother Nature provided her own warning material.  Yeah, we didn't challenge her.

Down the road some more, we did climb up a mesa to view Cathedral Rock (it's that "tiny" formation way far away, just over my head).  Another couple was kind enough to snap a photo for us.

And soooo, that concludes our visit to Sedona, Arizona.  Next up, Tuzigoot National Monument.  But not tonight!  😆 Till then, nightynight!