Day 5 • Munds Park

Day 5: Wednesday, July 29—

The Hertz rental we’d picked up at the airport on our arrival in Phoenix had been returned yesterday, so today we got another rental, a Dodge Stratus from a nearby Enterprise agency. The reason for two rentals was that the first one was a reimbursable business expense. Now it was time to hit the road.

The trip started with our crew in the rental, while the others, consisting of Sharon’s parents and Paul and his family, rode in one of Paul’s vehicles. Our first stop was Montezuma’s Castle—an ancient Native American ruin, which is now a National Monument. The description of the site offered by the National Park Service states, “This 20 room high-rise apartment, nestled into a towering limestone cliff, tells a story of ingenuity, survival and ultimately, prosperity in an unforgiving desert landscape.” The ruin was worth a look, particularly if you lived within a two-hour drive of it, as did Paul and Dottie, and you were heading to Sedona, since it’s along the way. And Sedona, 25 miles further on down Interstate 17, was our next stop.

We consider stopping at a Native American casino/restaurant for lunch but didn’t because it was too crowded, so we ended up having lunch in Sedona. I can picture the place, but don’t have any record of its name. At any rate, the local beer was superb and the food tasty. After lunch, we walked around the shopping district in Sedona for about an hour but didn’t buy anything. Sedona had become quite famous as a new-age spiritual community (think holistic healing, crystals, etc.), and prices reflected that reputation. Fortunately, the surrounding scenery consisting of fantastic red rock formations was free, and it was stunning.

From Sedona we drove into the mountains to see those red rock formations up close and then we moved on to our destination for the day—a “cabin” owned by a friend of Paul and Dot’s in Munds Park (Pinewood Community), Arizona, about 20 miles south of Flagstaff. The “cabin” was a cozy, wooden house nestled among the pines in the hills. Where exactly in the hills, I don’t know. Soon after our arrival, the guys went out to a nearby gas stations for food, beer, and a movie. Consequently, dinner tasted like it came from a gas station. After dinner, we took a walk. It was mighty dark out, what with no streetlights or ambient city light. Then we watched the movie that had been recommended by the gas station attendant. It looked as though it had been directed by a gas station attendant.

After everyone else had gone to bed, I read a little of the novel A Deadly Shade of Gold by John D. MacDonald, featuring Travis Magee, and drank my Topdown Special Brown Ale—good brew, great label. Then it was off to sleep, in our cramped sleeping quarters.