ROADTRIPPIN’: 5 Things You Must do in Sedona.

1. DRIVE. The first thing you must do when you land in Arizona, is drive. We landed in Pheonix which is a two hour drive from Sedona. So we rented a car. As we went to pick it up, the sales person informed us that for just $20 more, we could rent a Corvette. HELLO CORVETTE! The roads in Arizona are wide open, and speed limits are 75 miles an hour. And they have this bizarre habit of passing slow cars by driving into oncoming traffic. I tried it, and hit 102! Holy cow was that scary and awesome. The feeling of just being on the open road, surrounded by forests, mesas, cacti, farms and everything else was exhilarating. We drove 700 miles in one weekend, and driving was one of the most pleasurable things we did. You can see the terrain change from dessert cacti to alpine pines as you go.

A one mailbox town:

If you just want to drive somewhere close by and awfully interesting, you should drive to Jerome, once the quintessential rip roaring mining town of the Wild Wild West, the town was abandoned in the 50′s after the mine dried up (after producing about 2 billion dollars in copper!) and then in the 60′s the town was taking over by hippies. They say it’s haunted. The town is a mix of kitsch and history, and the drive up there is not something to be missed.

If you head in the other direction, you’ll find flagstaff and the Ponderosa Pine forest, as well as Native American trading posts, snow capped mountains and eventually the Grand Canyon. The drive through the switchbacks out of Sedona toward Flagstaff was one of the most magnificent things I’ve ever seen. Huge Ponderosa Pines tower ahead and their butterscotch scent fills the air. Now THIS is life.

2. Talk to people. The next thing you want to do, is to talk to poeple. We stayed at the Enchantment, which has a host of activities every day. Usually those things at hotels are not so great. BUT at the Enchantment, I was so happy and surprised to meet the professional locals that the hotel employed. The hiking guides, Yavapai elder Bob Bear, tennis pros and astronomer they brought on to lead stargazing were AMAZING people. The astronomer BUILT a 20 foot telescope and guess what I saw? JUST GUESS??!??! SATURN!!!

There were so many full on delightful weirdos with so much to tell and teach. I even got a private phtoography lesson from photographer Larry Lindahl.(I wish I met him on the first day instead of the last!)  Other than at the hotel, we met a host of other types of delightful weirdos: we rode horses through the mountains with a full blown professional cowboy and rancher who has never eaten a store bought steak and does the rodeo for fun. We met a bunch of bikers and a couple who got MARRIED on our hot air balloon. And some nice regular people too. YUP. Talk to people. They are friendly and cool and so different from anyone I ever met before. ‘Merica. It’s really great.

3. Relaxing and hiking in Sedona… cottonwood flies through the air with soft breezes as you stare up into the red rocks. My husband was very confused by hiking. What is hiking? Isn’t it just walking? YES, it is, it’s walking on dirt. But its glorious dirt-walking that is about being in nature. David played tennis every morning while  I went trail running. I didnt even know there was such a thing as “trail running” I thought I invented it. Hahah. Dumb New Yorker.

4. Hot Air Ballooning at Dawn. The full moon was still up as they prepared for take-off. The sun peaking through the canyons was insane. And like I said, someone got married on the balloon!

 5. Contemplate the Abyss at The Grand Canyon. We rode bikes along the rim and then hiked into the Canyon. Your mind probably wont be able to even grasp what you are looking at. It’s that immense. And you might see elk along the rim. We did! You are at an elevation of 7,000 feet, so when we first started biking it was very very difficult and we were short of breath. Then we parked and started to hike into the canyon. The people coming up looked like they were one breath short of death and its common knowledge that it takes twice as long to climb out as to climb in. So we got scared off of going all the way deep in. We walked in for a couple of hours but because we stopped to take so many pictures it took us HALF the time to hike out. I guess I acclimated to the altitude too, either that or endorphins kicked in, because I was skipping up those trails.

Last thing you should do is EAT. As New Yorkers, you can imagine that we might be a little snobbish about food. Sometimes its hard to find food that isnt Mall quality 1 hour into New Jersey. But we were amazingly surprised by how good the food was in EVERY place we ate. We used Yelp to help us find the best places, without which we would have been eating a combo of Pizza Hut and Hotel food. We ate at:

Elote Cafe
Picazzos, which I think is a chain but the food is all organic.
Dal & Di Luca (The place looks like an American’s idea of Tuscany with the decorating subtlety of  My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but the food is through the roof amazing!)
Mi Amo Cafe, all organic with most of it grown in their own garden.
And Pizzecletta in Flagstaff (This place looks like its right out of Williamsburg!)

Everywhere had almost fully organic ingredients and great wines and micro-brews. And no matter how fantastic the food, everywhere in Sedona is completely casual. I was grossly unprepared for how cold it gets at night and only brought one pair of high heeled sandals. I ended up wearing my Frye boots day and night because that was the most appropriate and useful. Daytime temps can range from 70-90 so we brought layers in the car with us. We were on the go almost all day every day, and tried to get the most out of our little weekend getaway.

I tried as hard as I could to limit pictures. What a fail that was. I hope you enjoyed the post- it took hours to compile! If you have any questions let me know!

 Many thanks to Millie of ETC: Events. Travel. Concierge. for helping me plan the trip! Find them on instagram @etcevents. 

Hi!

Do I always come home and say that was the best trip ever? I do. Even though there is no such thing as the best trip ever. Can you say that going to Sedona is better than driving up the California coast? Or better than going on safari in Africa? Or better than Paris? Or partying in Croatia? Of course not. There is only the category of Best Trip Ever, to which all of these fall in to, and then….everything else. I’m still uploading the bajillion pictures I took… how do you want em, all at once, or trickle? Or like a what to do, where to eat type spread? How was everyone else’s weekend?

Wanderlust: Remote and Refined.

Normally PR people send over a lot of junk for me to look at. Sometimes its good, sometimes its just eh. (Sometimes they dont even bother to get your name right and that’s really REALLY annoying.) Anyway, I was introduced via cold call PR email to Ryan Van Duzer and the work he did for Men’s Journal. Ryan is a travel blogger/journalist/TV personality. Basically, he is just an adventurer who has figured out a way to get paid for doing the things we all just wanderlust over. The dude is awesome. (And cute.) He recently put together a project called Remote and Refined with Men’s Journal. What is Remote and Refined? Its Ryan’s look into the high end secret ranches, spas and hotels in the midwest. Sooooo….. it’s basically everything I’ve been dreaming about doing for at least a year. Ryan and the crew drove Range Rovers across the country side stopping for four days each to film in four very special resorts. The stunning Red Reflet Ranch in Ten Sleep Wyoming, the Triple Creek Ranch in Darby Montana and The Resort at Paws Up in Greenough Montana, and of course, The Amangiri in Utah (which I wrote about HERE.)

WHATTTTT???? I wonder if I can quit my life and start over as Ryan Van Duzer. Do you think Men’s Journal would hire me? Maybe I should start reading Men’s Journal, I would probably enjoy it more than the crap I read now. Do you think they want a woman’s perspective?

Anyway, since I have been planning a trip to Arizona, and dreaming about a trip to Montana, I pumped Ryan for info about the midwest. Where should I go, what should I do? Who are you Ryan? This adventure series had Ryan fly fishing, cattle wrangling, canyoning, and glamping. I really cant describe it as well as Ryan did in his four part video series. Watch them HERE.

Tell me about your childhood, how did you get into adventure travel?

I was raised by my mom, alone with my 3 siblings in Boulder Colorado. Boulder is a place where people spend a lot of time outside. Hiking, living, rock climbing. We just did things outside every weekend, and after school.  I didn’t even learn to drive until filming THIS series!

Instead of driving, Ryan rode his bike. Ryan majored in broadcast journalism and began making outdoorsman show called “Out There” which aired on public access TV in Boulder in 2006. It was his bike, however, that eventually propelled him into the mainstream. In 2007, after a two year stint in the Peace Corps, Ran rode his bike from Honduras to Boulder and made a video about it. The video aired on the travel channel, and with that Ryan rode right into the Travel Channels regular programming. He spent over half of last year traveling!

I’m always torn- what’s more fun, roughing it or staying in 5 star accommodations? 

I usually feel most comfortable staying at a hostel and connecting with the people, but you just cant compare anything to these extremely high end experiences. They are so luxurious, and one of a kind. Although one of the best parts of the trip, was connecting with the people at these resorts. At the Red Reflet Ranch, where we wrangled cattle like cowboys, the owners made us feel like part of the family. It was one of my favorite elements of the entire adventure. We didnt want to go home! But generally, I like to ride my bike and live minimally.

What’s your favorite place on earth?
Nepal- everything is different. It’s otherworldly. Everywhere you point a camera is gorgeous. A mountain, a market a face:  it’s beautiful.

What’s on your bucket list?

Kilimanjaro
Trekking Bhutan
Africa safari
Ride bike from  Italy to Sweden
Island hop in South Pacific
Easter Island
Santiago, Chille

5 essentials for travelers?
Camera
Couple pairs of good shorts
Laptop to share stories on my blog duzertv.com
iPhone

New York or LA?
New York by far. I love NYC. Partly because I dont drive - I just got my driver’s license. To drive the Land Rovers in the films they actually used a stunt double! There are so many cultures and experiences in New York.

Montana or Arizona?
Tuff one. But Montana— I love the dessert, but Montana has a hidden old world charm to it. All the open space, and the population is next to nothing.

Beer or wine?
Beer – New Belgium. It’s made in Boulder.

Pepsi or Coke?

Neither. I don’t drink caffeine. (What???)

If you had to settle down, where would you go?

Boulder. It was a great place to grow up, and I’m sure it would be a great place to raise a family.

Check out Remote and Refined HERE, as well as Ryan’s video blog DuzerTV.com. Also please vote in the comments- which one of these adventures should I do for my 30th birthday? I’m debating between the Amangiri, Red Reflet -because I really truly do want to wrangle cattle for days on end, and Sedona. PR people, please note, I will definitely take 8 billion amazing pictures of your resort, instagram the crap out of it, and blog about it ad nauseam- invite me out!

And remember GET OUT THERE!

Abandoned.

Kolmanskop in the Namib Desert

Buzzfeed recently compiled a list of 33 of the most beautiful abandoned places on earth. Why does the earth reclaiming itself have such a visual appeal? Mother nature is taking back what’s hers, and these places have such majestic settings but its the memory of human existence that makes them so haunting.  I’m sure each one of these places has a fascinating history, I feel like googling each place and learning more about them. This is end of days stuff right here.

Sunken yacht in Antarctica

Holland Island in the Chesapeake Bay

The Kerry Way walking path between Sneem and Kenmare in Ireland

The remains of the Pegasus in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

The remains of the SS Ayrfield in Homebush Bay, Australia

Fishing hut on a lake in Germany

The Maunsell Sea Forts in England

Bodiam Castle in East Sussex, England

These were some of my favorites but there were 33 on the list, each more beautiful than the next. You can see them all HERE.