December 18, 2019

This was our last full day in Sedona, and the sun was shining – time for one last hike. Twin Buttes and Broken Arrow Loop are located on the eastern edge of Sedona. The 2.2 mile loop was just right for today. This is a multi-use trail, where we saw mountain bikes and jeeps as well as those on foot like us. A short portion of the trail, rated Double Diamond for mountain bikes, allows less than a foot for passage, but it was definitely doable.

Dinner tonight was at Creekside American Bistro, and we heartily recommend it. Mark enjoyed lamb while I had salmon. Both were good, but the best part was dessert – a delicious warm peach cobbler. We ate every bite.

December 19, 2019

This morning, we had breakfast at the Coffee Pot Restaurant, which offers breakfast  all day, including 101 Omelettes! It took about 10 minutes just to read the menu. We had no complaints about the meals we ordered.

Then, we drove to Phoenix for tomorrow’s flight home. On the way, we stopped at Arcosanti, which describes itself as an urban laboratory. Pablo Soleri, trained under Frank Lloyd Wright, was an Italian architect who had a vision of a community where the architecture was coherent with ecology, a concept he called “arcology.” It was intended as an alternative to urban sprawl. Soleri designed and began building Arcosanti in the 1970s. The community is located about 75 miles north of Phoenix.

The original design was to accommodate a community of 1,500 people, but more recent numbers are closer to 100 permanent residents, with current residents numbering about 50. Besides apartments for the residents, there are dormitories for students and workshop participants. This organization has been around for almost 50 years, and while it may not seem to be very successful, it has proven its ability to persevere.

Arcosanti gets about 40% of its revenues from bells that are made here. We were able to observe some residents at work on the bells while we were there.

Tomorrow, we head back to Minnesota’s deep freeze.