Grand Canyon North Rim

The first stop on our epic birthday adventure was the Grand Canyon North Rim. We drove 4½ hours from Last Vegas to the North Rim. We stopped in Fredonia, AZ so Care could take a picture of the Western Rivers warehouse - her old employer from her river-running days. We had a pioneer cabin on the North Rim. We were only there for two nights (1 day) but it was good to be back. We did a 10-mile hike on the Widforss trail - a nice hike along the rim and through alpine meadow and forests. It had been almost 30 years since we were last at the North Rim, but it has not changed much.

Lee's Ferry

On our way from the North Rim to Amangiri, we stopped at Lee's Ferry, where Care used to launch 2-week long river trips when she worked for Western Rivers as a guide in her 20's. We watched river crews and a National Park Service ranger group stage and launch on the Colorado River. Care got to re-live her youth.

Amangiri

After the North Rim, we made our way to Amangiri - where we spent Care's birthday. She has wanted to stay at Amangiri since it opened. It is a desert resort on 900 acres of the Colorado Plateau, just across the border from Arizona in southern Utah. We spent three days there enjoying the resort, food, and various adventures. The resort was designed by Tucson architect Rick Joy. It is a concrete brutalist structure that makes good use of water and views of the desert. There is also a newer part of the resort called Camp Sarika on the property that consists of luxury tents. We went over to Camp Sarika for dinner one night. Our last morning, we hiked up to a cave with some hunter/gatherer artifacts and a great view of the resort.

One of the activities we did at Amangiri was a Via Ferrata. This was a guided climb with cables, steps, and climbing gear to the top of a 400' high mesa. It included two steel suspension bridges and a steel cable ladders suspended several feet off the cliff face. Check out the videos below, done with a chest-mounted GoPro. The right video is a time lapse up close and personal view of climbing up a rock face.

We also went on a guided mountain e-bike tour on the cliffs above the resort. The ride was great and the views were spectacular. See the 360 videos below of the ride. The rightmost video is the same as the left, sped up 5x except for slow motion of Care's fall around 1:00.

Enchantment

After Amangiri, we drove down through Flagstaff to Sedona and stayed at the Enchantment Resort. We were last in Enchantment in 1998, but it has aged well and been upgraded. Sedona itself was pretty touristy so we stayed out at the resort and hiked the beautiful red rock Boynton Canyon, hung out at the pool and visited their newly opened Trail House - a center for biking and hiking.

Arcosanti

On our way from Sedona, to Phoenix to catch our flight home, we stopped at Arcosanti and did the tour. Arcosanti is the brainchild of architect and urban designer Paolo Soleri, who believed that humans should be concentrated in megacities called Arcologies. Soleri started building Arcosanti in 1970 as the first large scale Arcology but it has not progressed much beyond 100 people - mostly old hippies making bells. The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture recently relocated to Arcosanti but school was not in session when we were there and there was not much evidence of the school on the tour.

Steve's Farewell Lunch

While we were gone, Jon's men's tennis group held a farewell lunch for Steve, who organized the group but is now moving on to Northern San Diego County for beter tennis weather.