The Sedona Road trip
Basically the only way you can travel safely during these tough times in the United States is to take a road trip. Last month, I spent my 22nd birthday weekend with my family in in the glorious town of Sedona, Arizona. I guess you can say it was sedimental.
Itinerary: 5 days-4 nights
Trip time: 8 hour drive from Los Angeles, CA to Sedona, AZ
Daily routine: hike in the morning, siesta mid-day, and explore more in the afternoon
Day 1: Travel day and Prescott, AZ
We packed up snacks, water, pillows, and everything that kills viruses at 5 am in the morning. Then off my family goes to the distant far away land of Arizona. During this pandemic, we try to only stop as little as possible and only when necessary. So we only stopped for gas aaaaand to stop and eat lunch in this wonderful lake: Watson Lake in Prescott, AZ.
We observed a handful of family take their canoes out to the steady water and basked in the hot Arizona heat. Water surrounded by transformative rocks was quite calming. This is also where we found out Max loved hiking.
Day 2: Hiking to Devil’s Bridge in Sedona, AZ
Something about the western side of the United States is that it can be really, I mean really, hot for a large amount time of the year. But being native Californians, 90 degree F weather was only but average. This weekend in Arizona was an average high of 95 degrees. To prevent dehydration and the risk of melting, we woke up again at 5 am in the morning to hike to the Devil’s Bridge. I prepared myself with only the essentials: my handy dandy hydroflask, hand sanitizer, camera, mask, a hat, a hat for Max, and a dog carrying backpack ( an essential for diva dogs.) We hiked the "Devil’s Bridge” trail which was a 3 mile hike round trip and the “Mezcal” trail which was only a 1 mile trip.
The closer you get to the Devil’s Bridge the hike turns more into a climb. Here is where I would carry Max in my backpack because he’s too smol to jump over the rocks.. plus I would need two of my hands to climb slowly up.
Also, don’t let the looks deceive you, the bridge isn’t as scary as it looks. The rock formations are super wide and thick and does feel safe when you’re on it (ofc if you’re not afraid of heights.)
Day 3: Overpaid for a farm/stream area, explored Flagstaff for 5 minutes, and walked around town
Again as per routine. Woke up at 5am. The goal today was to see some water, and there were many great streams in Sedona, we just have to find them. The first one we went to, we had to pay a hefty price for parking (30$.) There was a pretty cute apple farm and a stream area where many many people were already set up. Since we didn’t want to catch rona, we walked around a little bit and left. The place was cute don’t get me wrong, but the place was a little more crowded than we liked.
We decided to just go for a drive towards Flagstaff. Fortunately, my mom spotted a place to picnic and we ended up finding Bootlegger Picnic Area where no one was present. Again, I put Max in his little backpack and hiked into some rocks to discover a beautiful stream surrounded by forest and rocks. We stayed there quite a bit. Max surprised us by willingly going into the water and hike up as well. Little dog living his dream life alright
Finally, we did end up driving to Flagstaff to observe a wonderous canyon. The views were A1.
Later that night I had the best elote of my life in the famous Elote Café in downtown Sedona. We even walked around the Spanish themed plaza Tlaquepaque.
Day 4: Hiked a cute little trail, and visited some tourist spots
A slightly more chillaxed day from the previous day, we hiked up the Teacup trail, and enjoyed the many many good doggos and their owners pass by. Sometimes sitting and admiring the view is the best part of the trip.
After our hike, we visited a lovely Amitabha Stupa and Peace park. An area dedicated for buddhist prayers and peace. Banners were spread everywhere and you can hear the clinking of chimes. The area seemed to be blessed with straight good vibes.
We then also visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross which had a church on top of a mountain. The cross was basically embedded into the sediment.
Day 5: Went to Phoenix for a quick breakfast stop and drove home to California :)
Overall Thoughts
This trip was the perfect balance of keeping busy in a vacation while relaxing. Other than hiking, my favorite thing to do was look at the view outside our hotel room in different parts of the day. We would eat dinner on the balcony and watch the sunset. As someone who has always lived in a suburb or city, it was comforting to see nature at its best points.
Another favorite part of mine was the accessibility of bringing our little yorkie Max with us everywhere. We never had a vacation with him and this roadtrip allowed us to show him what’s up in the world. And he LOVED it. Always coming home pooped and getting super excited to go “pasyal” or “to stroll outside” in Tagalog (he understands 3 languages.) Despite his little body, he hiked most of the trails and hated being in the backpack.
Some things I didn’t like about this trip was that most of the visitors who went did not comply so much to social distancing, especially in towns. Hiking was mostly okay, were most people respected space, but towns were a bit sus.
Sedona has always been one of my bucket-list places to go to in the United States, and I am so thankful to have spent it well with my dear family.
P.S. Look out for more detailed information about places to go to in Sedona soon in my “Visit” -> “United States” section :)