Ladee's Travels

Tucked away beneath a canopy of green, with flower boxes blooming and the sound of the creek just beyond the railings, we found ourselves at The Table at Junipine. The setting itself is a breath of calm—rustic wood beams strung with soft patio lights, cool mountain air, and just enough charm to make you forget about the rest of the world for a while. We settled in on the shaded patio, surrounded by the hush of oak and pine, and turned our attention to the menu. Every dish sounded like a thoughtful creation, but I couldn’t resist the Slide Rock Sliders - a trio of mini burgers, artfully presented with a generous helping of double battered fries. For my slider selection, I chose a culinary tour across flavor profiles: – The Big Greek, with fig spread, goat cheese, bacon, and balsamic glaze—an elegant surprise of sweet and savory. – The Apricot Club, blending Swiss cheese, bacon, apricot aioli, and frisée lettuce for a slightly tangy, slightly smoky delight. – And the Spicy Vorte...

Cathedral Rock in Sedona was the scene of today's adventure.  I stopped by to pick up Karl in my new Jeep Patriot 4x4 and off we went to meet a group of photographers venturing to Cathedral Rock in Sedona.  As I prepare the photographs for this post, I see that today's learning was mainly around making panoramic shots.  In my opinion, the views pushed me to do this as a single photo doesn't capture the wide vistas with the vibrant colors of rock, sky and vegetation. We left Phoenix early and had a lot of time to stop at viewing points that I normally drive by.  Here is a panoramic with the dramatic rocks and sky. We had a little time so we drove in to Sedona and had coffee at The Hidden Garden Cafe at the Tlaquepaque shopping area. We met the group leaders at Weber's IGA Parking lot (corner of Highway 179 and Verde Valley School Road) at 5PM.  We then drove down Verde Valley School Road, past where the pavement ends and parked in the dirt parki...

Sunrise is hitting the incredible red rocks. The race is starting soon. It's a little chilly at 38 degrees but the air is crisp and clear. I am armed with my ski jacket and handy red scarf! The race looked very difficult. If you weren't running up hill, you were running down hill.

I wasn't very hungry and opted for appetizers instead of a full meal. I started with a nice shiraz and then moved on to the crab cakes and French Onion soup. The Ale infusion produced a hardy taste in the soup which was very yummy. It was loaded with onions cooked to perfection. No desert...no room! It was more filling than I had expected. Thea ordered a salad with salmon and (yech) anchovies. I didn't look and didn't take a photo. Susan ordered a dipping appetizer.

Wow. Red rocks. Thea, Susan and I stopped in for a bite. We were lucky to be seated on the side of the building which faced some incredible red rock formations. The entire side of the restaurant featured large windows (probably very common with all of these great views).

Stopped in a little cafe. Here for the Marathon events. Nope, not running! This cafe is at Tlaquepaque, the shopping center as you enter Sedona. The race packet pickup was in the plaza, so I wandered over to the coffee shop. Nice space and good brew. A few travel notes on Sedona. There is a lot of road construction on the road from "Village of Oak Creek" to Sedona. They are putting in roundabouts for traffic control, and building a berm in the middle of the road. This is a pain for the locals, but I am sure that this will reduce the number of traffic accidents as the tourist try to dash across the road. People still haven't perfected the art of using the traffic circles, as some of them are two lanes and others are only one. But I think that the traffic generally flows better than it did in the past.