After our morning hike, we had the rest of the afternoon to explore some of the shops around Sedona.  Our first stop was at Son Silver West Gallery on Hwy 179, about two miles south of town, and we walked out with our arms full!  Which is funny because, by the looks of things on the outside, we originally walked in thinking it would have a bunch hokey knickknacks.  To some degree that’s true, but it also had a lot of beautiful art – sculptures, furniture, rugs, pottery, plants…you name it.  There’s something about being here that makes all this stuff start to look really appealing.

Mrs. Klein, this one’s for you.

In the end, we came away with a new fruit basket, serving platter, Christmas ornament and ceramic pot!  We spent our limit, but wanted to do some more exploring.  As we continued north to town, Lea made a last second decision that we should pull into another, originally unassuming, shopping area.  I’m so glad she did.  This place was BEAUTIFUL.

It’s called Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village, and it’s a kind of open air mall (for lack of a much better term).  It was built back in the 70s, but feels a hundred years older.  I found the structure itself to be more interesting than any of the shops inside.

As Lea was posing for this picture, a cute little baby came rushing towards her with her arms up.  Lea played with her a little bit, but not enough…

…because she found Lea again later, intent on being held.

As you walk around, you can see that the architects for this building put a lot of care in choosing their materials.  We found an arched walkway (tunnel) with this beautiful brick that glowed from the sunlight that came shining in from the other side.

And here it is.  My new favorite picture.  My wife!  She looks like an angel, doesn’t she?  (Just goes to show that looks can be deceiving…  Just kidding, Dear!)

We found an outdoor patio at a restaurant called Rene, nestled in one of many courtyards.  When we sat down, they were playing the CD, Sedona Suite (hence the name for this post).  I couldn’t believe it.  It’s an album of Spanish Guitar music that my parents played in the house every Sunday when I was growing up.  This was the only other place I’ve ever heard it.  And when the album was over, a local musician came to play live.  Muy romantico!

It was a fairly warm day, so we thought we’d go with a cold soup.  Gazpacho.  This stuff is good, but our friend, Leslie makes an even better one.

Here, Lea poses with a tortilla chip.  We both love the ones that have air pockets in them, and this one was a mother!

For our main course we had, hands down, the most chronic fish tacos I’ve ever eaten.  Seared Ahi tuna and pineapple chutney.  Whoa…I don’t have the words.

After lunch we continued on our way into Sedona to check out the main drag.  There are a lot of shops here, which attracts most of the tourists in the area, but if you ever plan on visiting the same three shopping areas we did, do downtown first.  That way you won’t be as disappointed as we were.  But only because the first two were so impressive.

The main strip did have a few redeeming qualities.  Anybody want some fudge?   Um, yes please!  Make mine chocolate walnut.  And why don’t you go ahead and cut it off that fresh loaf…

We also found a place that sells popcorn on the cob!  Neat, right?

Alas, we could no longer deny that the sun was getting lower in the sky, and we had a seven hour drive back to Los Angeles ahead of us.  It was time for us to leave and return to our new lives in Southern California.

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On the way out of town we caught a few last views.

BTW – Phoenix is hot!

It was a heck of a road trip (Minneapolis > Des Moines > Norman > Amarillo > Sedona > Los Angeles), and in the end we logged just over 2,000 miles!  Thankfully we got to do it in style, and it reminds me again of how fortunate we are to be able to have done it at all.  God bless America!