Sedona and Jerome

This weekend we decided to pack up the car and head up north, and take in the sights around Sedona and Jerome. We looked online and booked a room at Sedona Real Inn - a king size room complete with a large whirlpool bath in the living area. We got a good deal on this, and it turned out to be a really nice place.
Before we reached Sedona however, we headed off the beaten track to see Jerome - a very old American West mining town, very high up in the hills. Jerome is a remarkable place, it's almost like stepping back in time. We had a spot of lunch in the Red Rooster cafe, and had a chat with a couple of the locals. We then wandered the streets, taking in the old police station, the English Kitchen (oldest restaurant in Arizona), and a couple of the saloons.





We then headed back down the hill into Sedona, and checked into our room. The change in view as you head into Seonda is amazing, the rocks start getting bigger and bigger, and turn from yellow to deep red. Some of the rock formations have been given names - one looks like a coffee pot, one looks like Snoopy lying on his kennel!
That night when we went out for some food, Sedona was hit by a massive thunderstorm similar to what we had at Goodyear last week. When we left the restaurant to go back to the Inn, the roads were like red rivers - a huge amount of sediment had run off the hills.



Unfortunately all the heavy rain meant that the places we planned on going to were all closed, as was one of the main highways running north. We changed our plans and headed back south to Phoenix, stopping off at an outlet village on the way.
This worked out ok, as it meant I had time to go to Goodyear Airport to complete a pre-solo test that's needed before you can fly solo.

All in all, a very nice weekend - chilled out nicely in time for my first solo...