Sedona, Arizona

Sunday, June 14, 2009
On Sunday we drove into the northern part of Arizona and gained a newfound love for the state. In the southern parts the big cacti are interesting to see, but the northern part is unbelievably gorgeous! Imagine pine trees, rolling streams of water, red rock, grass and mountains everywhere. We said Sedona is like a little piece of heaven. We had reservations to camp at the Manzanita campground just outside the town. When we drove up to the site a short red-headed lady named Brenda came out to greet us. She was a pistol of a lady from Longview, Texas who you would want on your side, not against you! She was clearly rough around the edges and had no problem filling us in on all the drama that had gone on during the week. In the first two minutes of being there she told us about a crazy woman who was camping in an RV up on the road just above the campground and refused to leave. Apparently they almost went fist to cuff and the woman was kicked out of the site a few days earlier, issued a $300 fine for camping on the road, and still wouldn’t take a hike. She was simply staying on the road to torture Brenda. As we were setting up the tent, we saw the lady crawling down the mountain trying to sneak back on to the campsite so she could torture Brenda just a little more.

Regardless of the immense amount of drama, we were in love with the campsite and decided to make dinner and play a newly introduced game to me called Sets. Phil said it’s a game his family loves to play so he wanted me to learn with hopes that I liked it. Well, needless to say, I didn’t just like the game; I became very addicted and couldn’t focus on anything Phil wanted to tell me because I was so focused on winning “sets”. It must’ve been a sight to see watching me play because Phil took numerous pictures of me looking like a first time goofball who loved the game. He said he’s looking forward to us all playing together because I call “set” too often and get really excited. I can’t wait to play with his family now. When it got dark we lit an awesome fire and Phil now thinks I am a pyromaniac because I love messing with the fire. As for the crazy lady from earlier in the day, I decided I wasn’t taking any chances so we slept with the tent zipped up that night and Phil very sweetly walked me to the bathroom in the middle of the night.