Santa Fe to Sedona

One of the places I was looking forward to visiting was the Georgia O'Keefe museum, but it was temporarily closed. Still, a few antique and curiosity shops were open selling turquoise and cattle skulls.

One of the surprises in Santa Fe that's always open is the famous Canyon Road. Small and quiet, the tree-lined street has a variety of art galleries with some interesting art prominently displayed outside. A slow drive or a vigorous walk up the road provides you quite the museum tour.  

Now we arrive at an impasse. I wanted to drive down to see the White Sands of New Mexico, but my co-pilot suggested we stay in line and visit the quaint town of Sedona.  The 6-hour drive would be one of our longest, but Jimmy had a few side trips to make it more interesting.

The first stop was the fascinating Meteor Crater National Landmark in Winslow, AZ.  It's a big hole in the ground that is done well with its museum layout.  The second stop was the Lava Flow Trail about an hour from Sedona. An interesting park with fields of black lava and black sand. It's quite the sight viewing the plants and trees struggling to grow in this lifeless terrain.  

After a long drive, we arrived at the Courtyard by Marriot Sedona, which offered a free room upgrade. There is a pool and bar service. My friend was shocked to see this little town become a major hub of the southwest  An Italian dinner was the choice at Bella Vista Ristorante.

Lodging: Courtyard at Marriot Sedona, offering a clean and modern facility. 

Dining: Bella Vista Restaurant offers enormous amounts of comfort food that's ok. I'm Italian, and it's not difficult to cook pasta properly, but what they make there is tons of it.  The wine selection is slim.