Arizona
Oak Creek Valley, Sedona, Jerome, & Anthem
November 2019
We planned a trip to Arizona to visit one of Nomi’s childhood friends in Anthem. Anthem was developed by Dell Webb in 1999 as a master planned community in the foothills approximately 34 miles north of downtown Phoenix.
Besides Anthem, we planned a visit to Sedona. Accommodations were hard to find until we came across Orchard Canyon on Oak Creek. We had no idea what we’d find there except we knew there were cabins, it was north of Sedona & it included breakfast, tea time & dinner.
We flew into Phoenix & drove our cute, & nicely performing KIA Soul to Oak Creek Canyon. As we descended to the Camp Verde exits, the scenery became exciting. Then we entered the Red Rock Scenic Byway & the scenery became spectacular & breathtaking.
It turned out to be a wonderful little resort on “Oak Creek, in the heart of Sedona’s magnificent Red Rock Country,” on the Oak Creek Canyon Scenic Drive. This drive is ranked one of the most scenic drives in the USA. The resort has been there over 100 years when the original owners started building a few cabins per year. Fruit from the orchards of the valley drew buyers from Phoenix & Flagstaff. It was taken over by the Garland family in the 1940’s. Several years ago, three long- time guests bought it from the family & kept the original intent alive. A testament to the resort is the number of guests who have been coming for years. We met a Long Beach, CA couple who have been regular guests for over 20 years. And, there was a family there who had been coming since the 1960’s.
For us, the hiking was fabulous. There were tons of hikes listed in Red Rock Country Coconino Nat’l Forest. Staff and guests at the resort suggested several wonderful hikes. At first we wondered why the hiking was so difficult & then remembered that we w
ere at over 6,000’ in elevation.
