Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

Today's Theme: Hit the Trail!

On the first full day of our Southwest Adventure, breakfast started at 8 am. It gave everyone a chance to catch up on their sleep and get used to the time change. Arizona does not observe Day Light Savings Time so that was abit confusing. Thank goodness for the cell phone that update themselves.

The food at Amara was wonderful even though all of meals were buffets. I was so excited to get the show on the road that I was up at 6 am and thought breakfast was at 7 am. Since I had an hour to waste, I decided to order something light from room service and work on the computer. The prices were very reasonable. I had a pot of coffee, toasted bagel with cream cheese and a plate of mixed berries; the total came to $17 and that included the service charge, tax and 18% tip.

Todays breakfast buffet included eggs florentine, french toast, pancakes, bacon, sausage, fruit, etc. I felt like a little kid waiting for everyone to finish eating so we could get going since I was full from my room service order.

Finally, we gathered in the lobby and Mike and Tiffany (Disney Adventure Guides) explained what we would be doing on the jeep tour and encouraged everyone to help themselves to bottles of chilled water from the cooler. Each of our jeeps held 7 people including one person in the front seat with our cowboy guide. No one in our jeep seemed to want the front seat so I was happy to take it and ride shotgun with Taz, our cowboy.

Taz was very informative about the sites we were passing on the way to Dry Creek Basin for our off-road "Cowboys and Canyons Tour" and about the town of Sedona. He had a great sense of the humor as well. Our jeep consisted of Deb, Wanda, Ronia, Mariza and myself.

We made two stops for photos during the trip to take in some of the 7 majestic canyons. After the first stop, the trails did get a little bumpy and went up some steep inclines. The tour was very mild compared to what I was expecting. The second stop had a old log cabin where we relived the early cowboy's days with tales of murder and moonshine. This tour is listed as "less rugged ride" by the jeep company.

Our cowboy tour guides for the Red Rock jeep tour and Mike, our Adventure Guide

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Deb, Wanda and Ronia

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Our jeeps heading out of Amara

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A view of Thunder Mountain while heading for the Dry Creek Basin

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Heading for the trails

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Beci with Anette, George and Ann in the back of the jeep at our first photo stop

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Photo Op Stop #1

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It just doesn't get any better then this

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Move 'em out

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Taz, our Cowboy Guide

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Heading up to the Van Deren cabin

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Beci and Tiffany at the Van Deren cabin

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Cowboy Tales at the Van Deren cabin

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After our Cowboys and Canyons tour, we were dropped off at the Sedona Heritage Museum which focuses on the lifestyles and works of the people who pioneered this community from 1876 to present. After a short museum visit, we headed over to another Sedona Landmark, the "Fruit Packing House". This building was constructed to house an apple grading machine and other fruit packing operation. Sedona was very well known for their orchards that produced apples and other fruits.

Time for lunch, which was served in the Fruit Packing House. After a hot and dusty jeep tour, it would have been nice to have lunch in an air conditioned building instead of the open packing house. We had filled out meal tickets yesterday on the bus. Our choices were roast beef and gorgonzola, turkey and brie, honey-cured ham with swiss cheese or roasted sweet potato sandwiches, actually half of a sandwich and salad. Dessert was a chocolate chip cookie. The meals were from the Wildflower Bread Company and very tasty. As we finished lunch, Jack and another cowboy from our tour gave us some insight into the early cowboy way of life.

Sedona Heritage Museum and antique farm tools

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Trail behind the museum

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Another view from the Sedona Heritage Museum

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Sedona Museum Kitchen

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History of Movies filmed in the Sedona Area

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Gift Shop

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Another incredible view

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Lunch at the Fruit Packing House

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Cowboy lessons

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Antique apple grading machine

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Apples are still grown at the musuem

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After lunch we had a chance to make dream catchers and carve soap animals. Note the 1942 Ford Maxim firetruck

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This is odd shot that shows the view we had while having lunch

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DAY 3 Red Rock State Park has been completely updated from when it was first posted.