Prescott & Sedona 2025
We spent most of this past week in Prescott, which is about 5,300 feet in elevation and about two hours northwest of Phoenix. I booked a Vrbo in a nice neighborhood, I really enjoyed the view of the lovely homes while working in the front room. Interestingly, the girls felt very comfortable there and really did not even bark, except Margot always barks when we come home. Barking is her way of communicating. I was very worried about running into predatory critters while we were there such as javelinas, coyotes and bobcats but luckily other than some deer we did not see any large animals. When we saw the deer, we went the other way because I was not sure what would happen if the girls saw them and started barking. Once it was a set of three and another time it was a huge one, probably a male. I was very surprised to see a few cockroaches on the sidewalk down the street from where we were staying on the first late night walk. We also saw some cute lizards a couple of times scurrying around the backyard near our parking spot. The deer were just hanging out in people's front yards in the section of the neighborhood which was more hilly. Once a hawk was making noise and looking down on us from high up in a tree near the house and I hustled the girls inside quickly. Despite the creatures we did run into, the 20 degree temperature change from the Phoenix area was most welcome!
On Monday we walked to downtown to visit the art fair. The binder the owners at the Vrbo left at the home said it was a 7 minute walk but it seemed at least twice as long, it was warm in the sun and it was up and down hills. It turned out the art fair was all Western art so it was either paintings or sculpture. I noticed that not one person was purchasing anything. We are not in the market for art but just looking at the prices these pieces are for serious collectors. We spot checked a few prices and small paintings started at $400, while large ones were in the thousands. We took a short break from walking around by sitting at a picnic table at the Courthouse Square under a huge pine tree which provided a lot of shade. After that we grabbed a quick bite at County Seat, which is a bistro/diner on the second floor of a building which has a spice-themed gift shop on the first floor. After lunch, I ducked into a jewelry store next door and found a wonderful squash blossom style necklace, unlike any I have ever seen before with fan shapes instead of the blossoms but the price made it a no-go.
There is still work to be done, even on a holiday so I completed a couple of estate sale packages - one before our walk and one after. My allergies were majorly kicking in and I did not want to spend the week miserable so we headed over to Walmart for some relief. As soon as I saw the Walmart sign with their large yellow asterisk (a sign style I have not seen from them before) I knew this store was going to be different. And it was totally amazing! The store was spotless and huge. In addition to the usual departments they had a large crafting and sewing section. It reminded me of when we used to go to Ben Franklin near the lake house in Wisconsin. Every department had an incredible selection of products and I was thoroughly impressed. Kuochun went to get some avocados and I decided to walk around the bakery section. They actually had slices of cake by the Cake Boss, just like the ones in the vending machines in Las Vegas. But instead of $11.00, these were only $3.98! We never made it to the vending machine so we decided to try it. I chose the rainbow cake which they are most famous for and Kuochun grabbed a carrot cake. They had 4 or 5 different flavors to choose from. This is my favorite Walmart ever!
On Wednesday we took a trip to Sedona. It has been a good number of years since I was there, I have lost count as to how many. Kuochun had never seen the red rocks driving in and they were as amazing as ever. Our first stop was to make a pilgrimage to the Chapel of the Holy Cross which is a stunning mid-century modern church built into the red rocks. The first time, I came to light a candle for Dad and this time it was for Mother. It is a popular place and was quite crowded but we were able to accomplish our mission. I said a prayer for the departed as well.
I loved this mid-century modern statue of Saint Francis which was on display along the winding walkway. Saint Francis is the patron saint of animals.
I tried taking a photo of the altar cross but it came out kind of dark. Kuochun had better luck with this photo but maybe my colorful shirt helped. There are a pair of bronze feet on the floor of the church, when you step into them, Jesus on the cross looks right into your eyes. This was definitely a very emotional moment.
It is about an hour and twenty minutes each way from Prescott to Sedona so we had limited time. Although the girls were very comfortable at the Vrbo, we did not want to leave them unattended too long. We did stop for lunch at the Hideaway House, it was good and the views were very pretty.
Even on a Wednesday, Sedona was pretty congested so we only made one stop which was Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village. I had heard of it as a place that people who visit Sedona frequent but I did not know what it was. Kuochun and I were very impressed, it is a lovely combination of shops and restaurants. We were just window shopping but popped into two stores and an art gallery. One store was Bella Fine Goods, which was a great mix of art and home decor and the other was Cocopah, which featured estate jewelry, beads and seashells. The second store had a beautiful Chinese statue which was wood patinaed with touches of gold paint. Kuochun likes to consult his best friend Roy who at one point owned all of the largest Chinese gift shops in Chicago about the value of pieces but unfortunately he could not reach him.
I just loved this sign in front of a clothing boutique which was made with vintage doilies. It is times like this when I wish I had my creative partner in crime here to help me with projects. Back in the day Mother would have loved to give something like this a try.
Kuochun and I were both wowed by the metal sculptures both indoors and out at Renee Taylor Gallery. The garden sculptures were so elegant as they turned in the slight breeze and we really admired the large sculptures of strong female historical figures. Her hair is made from bicycle chain!
On the way back, we stopped by Camp Verde to go to Sweet Pea Trading which is an antique mall. In the past I have always found something to buy but this time there was no luck. The Native American jewelry was not as plentiful as it had been and although everything is beautifully displayed, it is very antique-heavy. We then went to Verde Valley Resale Shop where I found a great kachina ring for resale. If I knew they were going to charge me a fee for using a credit card I do not think I would have purchased it as the price was borderline already.
