Voyage to and time at the social experiment

After packing up and preparing to leave Oak Creek Terrace we had our breakfast on the patio while enjoying the sunshine and the Koi pond- we fed the Koi too. Next we headed back up Oak Creek Canyon to Slide Rock State Park. There was a short trail to Slide Rock where the water was high and limited us to only one side of the river. There were a couple areas to swim, which we considered but it was too cold- 45 degrees. This particular part of the canyon is very pretty. There was an interesting combination of sandstone and “blue grey” boulders making for an interesting contrast.

Following Slide Rock we headed into town to pick up some souvenir shirts, do some laundry, fill up our growler at Oak Creek Brewery, and grab some lunch. Chelsea had an amazing double hotdog sandwich, topped with black beans and a guacamole sauce from, Heartline Cafe, crispy sweet potato chips, and a classic coca-cola out of a glass bottle. Chris had hippy food from a local vegetarian/organic/live food dinning establishment called Chocola Tree.

We were disappointed tonight when we were flipping through our travel guide and realized we missed seeing the Snoppy Rock in Sedona, but our day was short heading out of the canyon because we needed to make it to Arcosonti by five to check into our room. On our way south we stopped in Cottonwood for a geo cache called “spearmint”. This cache was located just off of 89A and Chris was able to identify where ants (red, mean looking ones) had removed small gravel from underground to create their nest. He successfully excavated three sandwich size bags full of gravel without being bitten.

Arriving at Arcosanti just before five, we were able to locate two other caches on the property before dinner at six. One took us up the mountainside and gave us a beautiful view of the site. As we finished the second cache the dinner bell rang and we headed up to the Café for dinner. We at a buffet style dinner with vegan miso and chicken noodle soups, several dishes featuring legumes including a beef chili casserole and a vegetarian goulash, flat crispy bread, pesto pasta, make your own sandwich or salad bar, and rice pudding with sweet cream for dessert. It was all pretty tasty. We spent some time relaxing in the café, reading up on the Phoenix area, checking the weather, and making our Sunday plans.

Our room is a small college style dorm room. Simple with just a bed, small table and chair and two little closets. We reserved a room with our own bathroom rather than shared. There is an integrated mural in the concrete ceiling and the entire front wall is glass and looks out to the mountains. We both are enjoying our stay here.

Tomorrow, after breakfast, we plan on taking a tour of Arcosanti, and making our way to Phoenix. We are scheduled for rain tomorrow but hopefully it won’t slow us down.