So that's why the password is "BellRock"

Today is the last day of the road trip and we are driving on I-8 toward Yuma, Arizona. We’ll stop there for dinner and then drive the final miles home. We’ve been watching the Chariot Fire, and it looks like the Interstate is still open.

Last night we stayed at Wildflower Inn in the Village of Oak Creek which is just south of Sedona. Despite the wacky check-in and Wi-Fi troubles mentioned in my last post, it ended up being a good place to stay. We had a great view of Bell Rock (now the password makes sense) and Courthouse Rock. They were so close that we walked a short way up the road and were at the trailhead for the Bell Rock Path. This easy hike went around Bell Rock. Bell Rock is a bell shaped red rock butte that is 4816 feet high. After about a mile or so, we were around the backside of the rock, and then we saw a new trail. This trail went up the rock.

We followed the trail markers and ended up a quarter of the way up the rock. We saw other people higher up the rock, so we decided to find a way to climb higher. Sometimes it was easy, other times it was pretty challenging. It wasn’t too hard for the boys, but there were a number of times that I was climbing up on all fours, or grabbing on to an arm to pull myself up the face of a big rock. At about half way up the rock, the sides just got too steep for me, but David and Zach pressed onward and upward scaling the side of the rock until they were really high on a spire that jutted out. At that point, they couldn’t find a way to get further up without ropes, so I took their picture and they headed back down to where I was so we could climb down the rest of the way together.

The way down was just as scary, and a lot of the time, I was scooting down on my behind looking for a toehold or a rock to use as a step stone. It was a challenge emotionally and physically, and I was proud of myself for what I accomplished. I think I even impressed my sons. It was a three-hour adventure that David said was the second best thing we did on our trip.

 

We had worked up quite an appetite, so we headed to Tlaquepaque to get a bite of lunch and look at a few art galleries. On the way we saw a sign for the Chapel of the Holy Cross, so we took a detour and went to the chapel for a few minutes. It was lovely. Lunch was at a little café called The Secret Garden that sold salads, sandwiches, soup, etc. from organic ingredients. We each enjoyed our lunch and our waiter gave us refills of our drinks in takeout cups for the drive.

 

It’s only 23 miles until Yuma. We’ll eat at Cracker Barrel since this is the last time we’ll get a chance to enjoy this fun restaurant for a while.