We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week in Sedona AZ with our friends Steve and Lenore. They have built a beautiful home on the edge of the desert near Sedona. The lot backs up to public land with very beautiful views of wonderful landscape. And, when I say the built a home, I mean they built it. While they subbed out some specific work, e.g. plumbing, electrical, concrete pours; they were on-site and thoroughly involved in the whole project. The house is very environmentally friendly in all aspects. Currently they are working on a solar pre-heater for an exceptionally efficient water heater. They have solar panels on the roof that frequently generate more electricity then they need!
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| The view from the backyard; the Needle in the middle |
It turns out all the rocks around Sedona have names such as the Bell, the Courthouse, the Chapel, the Needle. While in Sedona you don’t refer to the surrounding landscape as rocks, mountains, or trails. You use their Proper Names. I was mainly breathless.
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| The backyard |
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| The Bell |
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| Adult javelinas at edge of yard |
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| BJ and friends in the backyard |
A unique of their open back yard was the javelinas which are wild peccaries that are native to the southwest desert. They look sort of like pigs and are sometimes referred to as New World pigs versus the Old World pigs. They are relatively harmless and roam the land including backyards. They are vegetarians and will root up plants or tear thru garbage.
In Sedona there is an organization called Pink Jeep Tours and they take tourist on off-road tours up-close and personal. With help from Steve and Lenore we took the Grey Ghost on our own tour. It was 4-wheel drive all the way, steep slopes, deep gulches, and above all, beautiful views. One particular point was “The Stairwell” a steep hillside that has some steps in it that the jeeps go down. Steve and Lenore warned us it was steep and as we approached it they offered to get out and take pics of us going down. About half-way down, as I was wondering when the Grey Ghost was going to go head over heels the rest of the way, it dawned on me they got out, not to take pics, but to avoid the impending accident!! Well, my concerns were all in vain. We made it safely down “The Staircase” and rest of the tour including “the Chicken” which was a very small circular stone dome that the jeep used to circle, but it has been blocked off to traffic for safety concerns!
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| Half-way down The Staricase |
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| At the top of The Staricase |
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| The Chicken, now only for foot traffic |
Thanksgiving was wonderful, with great food and friends. Many of their neighbors came over and shared dessert to top off the day. Plenty of good food and friends always make Thanksgiving!
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| Wish you could see the beautiful views from the windows. |
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| Thanksgiving table with beautiful views out the windows! |
All-in-all we could not have asked for a more memorable Thanksgiving and we really appreciated being include in Steve and Lenore’s and their friends.
Always at home, no matter where we are.
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