One little piggy, two little piggy...

Crabby pants and pain in the neck woke up to a beautiful morning in Camp Verde, where it is actually uncommonly green for the desert. Our day plan was to find what we could find and see what we could see at a steady but leisurely place. That is exactly what we did!

Our first stop was at Red Rock State Park. We hiked half of the 5 miles of interconnected trails through the Park. Our first trail ran parallel to Oak creek and was a relatively easy hike. Along the way we encountered several Javelinas!!!





These cute but stinky little buggers were spotted all along the trail. After chasing them around for a bit we decided to venture onto the Javelinas Trail. No one told the Javelinas they had their own trail and we did not see another one while we were in the park. This trail was a bit more technical and offered some fantastic views.


Our next stop was in Sedona. A very pretty but touristy town that reminds us of Gatlinburg TN. A quick walk through the the main strip, a few tourist shops including the Pink Jeep Store, and fresh fruit smoothie we headed just north of town to Oak Creek Canyon. With an abundance of points of interest we started our trip in the Canyon searching out a few Geo-Caches. The Oak Creek Tree House, Secrete Mountain, and Brins where the latter two out of three were found. Located at the Encinoso Picnic area in Red Rock National Park both involved some rigorous hiking. This paid off in offering the most spectacular views of the trip so far. The Brins cache took us high enough into the mountains where there was snow covering the ground.



After working up an appetite on the trails we headed back through Sedona to Tlaquepaque, a small arts and crafts village. Most of the shops had closed by the time we got there however we able to window shop a bit and view the interior corridors of the village. Our destination, Oak Creek Brewery, was recommended by Gar and Gerrie and proved to be an excellent choice for dinner! We started with a seven + one beer sampler of which we both unexpectedly preferred and enjoyed their light beer enough to take home a growler! For an appetizer the fried pickles, followed by a spinach salad were our favorite part of the meal. We split a Smokehouse burger with Gouda and crispy onions.

Our hotel for the next two nights is in Flagstaff. We were detoured on our way up there because the hwy. running between Sedona and Flagstaff was being repaired due to a washout earlier in the week. The Courtyard by Marriott was as steal on Priceline and we saved over $100 per night. That's a good night!