I left Page early and drove down US89 toward Flagstaff. I figured I would be arriving too early to check into my hotel, so I decided to just head down into Sedona to check out the town and the riding locations for the next day. I jumped onto I17 once in Flag, but I heard about taking a side road down Oak Creek Canyon to get into Sedona proper. Immediately, I was in some nice, rolling hills with pine trees surrounding me. The road became a canyon road, taking a series of switchbacks down the sides of some mountains to drop down into Oak Creek Canyon. This area reminded me of North Carolina, with aspens and other green foliage covering the roadway overhead, interspersed with pines and quaint little houses. The roadway was tight and narrow, and passed through Slide Rock State Park, which is a popular section of river where the rock has been so smoothed out by the river it is technically a "natural waterslide".
I arrived in Sedona, which was heavily under road construction. Sedona is a very nice little town with a Beverly Hills style flair. There are uppity restaurants and nice homes scattered off the main drag. In between it all are tarot card readers, "vortex" seeking and holistic health places. Not my bag, all that new age stuff.
I ventured out of Sedona and into the town of Oak Creek, just south of Sedona. It is in this area I stopped at Absolute Bikes, which was a highly recommended shop that could point me in the right direction for my riding days. Across the street is the famous "Bike and Bean" shop, that not only caters to MTB'ers, but also serves up a nice cup of Joe if you need the energy boost.
I determined that right across the street from Bike and Bean and up the road from Absolute Bikes, there was a trailhead that serves as the jumping off spot for a lot of great singletrack in the area. The main trail is the BELL ROCK TRAILWAY. It's shared by both equestrians and hikers on most of the portions. I bought a book at Absolute on some of the trails for some hotel reading, and headed off to the hotel and Flagstaff.
I was pleasantly impressed with Sedona. It's an absolutely beautiful community, with some amazing scenery. It had a certain atmosphere about it, one which made me feel like I could see myself living here. Of course, it's in stark contrast to my other retirement option, Page. I'll have to do more research on cost of living and climate. I am sure Sedona will endure significantly colder winters, but it sure was comfortable temperature wise for May.
I headed back into Flag, and checked into my hotel, which was on old Route 66. There were a lot of old neon signed hotels in the area that had remained no doubt in operation since Route 66's heyday.
I lugged all my gear upstairs (this is getting old-why the fuck do I always get stuck on the second floor???!), and researched dinner places. I settled on the Beaver Street Brewery, which is a local microbrewery in the heart of Flagstaff's college district. After a nice shower that I was in desparate need of, I headed off to the brewery.
This place is pretty cool, if you're in Flag it's a must eat at. They have pool tables and a full bar with a lot of cool beers and shooters. I tried two of the lighter beers and must say they were outstanding...and the alcohol content was perfect too!
After finishing up a nice, thick burger, I was off to the movies. Yeah, I know. But what else is there to do when you're alone and in Flagstaff? I went to go see the new Star Trek movie. It was actually pretty darn good.
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