What a crazy weather week it’s been here in Arizona. El Nino has been playing some nasty tricks on much of the Southwest. Southern California is flooding with the multiple storms throughout this whole past week, leaving Arizona with remnants of torrential rains, snowstorms in the north mountains (Sedona), and big drops in temperatures.
I went from wearing short sleeves last weekend, to layers of sweatshirt, sweater, winter coat in Sedona (an hour and 45 minutes north of Scottsdale), back to long sleeves and a jacket until Saturday. I actually laughed at the sight of the few bathing suits I brought with me in hopes of getting a little suntan. But perhaps February will level out to the mid 70s where the temps should be, providing El Nino doesn’t keep striking.

Our guests (step-daughter and son-in-law), left Saturday, after a fun-filled week of adventure and weather mania. We went downtown to Old Scottsdale a few times, up to Sedona for 2 days, walked around Kierland Commons outdoor shopping area on another day, and finally succumbed to indoor mall browsing, and visiting a casino nearby where we could take shelter from the torrential rains. It was an action-packed week.

The sun came back to visit us in Scottsdale on Saturday, and although the temps stayed around 57 degrees instead of the usual 70, it once again began to feel like we were in Arizona.

We were treated to a wonderful one night stay in Boynton Canyon in Sedona by our guests. We drove up to Sedona on Tuesday, which was supposedly the best weather day of the week of storms that were to hit Arizona all week. Typically Sedona is about 15 degrees cooler up in the mountains than it is in the valley where we are. It’s about an hour and 40 minutes drive north.

The scenic view is beautiful as you drive up Highway 17, and although the temps began to drop to the mid 40s, we hadn’t yet encountered any precipitation other than grey and overcast skies.

We walked around uptown Sedona and visited many shops. We then went visiting Bell Rock Vortex, which we couldn’t get close enough to for me to feel the energy that emits from the vortexes.

Then we drove up to the Chapel of the Holy Cross where we marveled at the rock structures known as The 3 Nuns (aptly named, rock formations) and the little chapel that was built up on the mountain beside it.

As the weather was beginning to feel a bit colder and it was nearing 4pm, we decided we should head up to the resort and check in before nightfall. We had these beautiful rooms that were in little adobe buildings sprawled out over 70 acres of property. Every room had a view of the Red Rock mountains. It was spectacular.

In order to get to the main building where the restaurants were, we dialed the valet who came to pick us up by golf cart to drive us back and forth on the winding sidewalk paths from our rooms to the restaurant or where our car was parked. It was a 3 minute drive, but pretty darned frosty by 930 pm when we were driven back to our rooms after dinner. I stared out the window for quite some time as I am always mesmerized by the beauty of the mountains. This was a view from our balcony:

The next morning, I jumped out of bed and opened the curtains. I was stunned by the new view. Our balcony had almost a foot of snow on it, the big mountain was spectacular with it’s blanket of snow, and the branches on the trees were weighted with heavy snow.

When we got picked up to go for breakfast by the golf cart, I noticed that the wheels had chains threaded around them, to enable traction while driving around what became, ice and snow-laden paths. We huddled into the cart as we shivered to the main building.


The snow continued to fall, so after breakfast, with a snow-covered beautiful restaurant view, we decided to pack up and head back to Scottsdale before the roads became harder to drive through the canyon.


We did manage to stop at Airport Road where there’s a beautiful scenic view at that Vortex (when it’s not foggy). My hub and I had visited it last year at sunset hour for spectacular views and photos. It was cold and grey this day, but we parked and walked up to the edge of the canyon. I was thrilled to be able to feel the energy vibrate throughout my body.

We then headed back to Scottsdale. Within a half an hour out of Sedona, we lost the snow. We still never saw much sun, even when we returned home, but at least it was back in the high 50’s, back to lighter jackets.
Next month, my husband’s brother and wife will be coming to visit us for 2 weeks. They can’t wait to see Sedona, and we can’t wait to go back there when the temps will be closer to 60 degrees. Then I will take new photos of the beautiful scenery, only difference will be the sun’s rays shining on the mountains to enhance the beauty and colour.
Here are a few neat photos I took:


I hope you enjoyed my little tour of Sedona. I can’t wait to take more beautiful photos when I go back and hopefully there will be no snow or fog in Sedona.
DGKaye©2016