Sedona Day 3: Canyon by Air

Early to bed usually means early to rise and we were up fairly early the next morning for our road trip to the Grand Canyon. We drove through Oak Creek Canyon, a beautiful, winding drive through the mountains, with snow and ice on the ground in many places. We stopped just outside the park at an air facility so that we could board our helicopter for the flight through the Canyon.

There were eight of us plus the pilot onboard and they seated us according to weight distribution. Alex and I were in the back behind the pilot.

We flew out over the treetops until we could see the Canyon peaking out then flew through it for some spectacular scenery.

We reached terra firma again and I wanted to drive to the Canyon rim itself for a ground level view. We stopped off at one of the first viewpoints in the park.

I would have liked to walk along the rim trail for a bit but Alex was pretty cold so we decided to drive instead. We stopped off at the General Store where I bought my usual Christmas ornament and a t-shirt then drove a few miles to the Bright Angel trailhead. I got out and took some pics from the top of the very steep, very icy trail. This is the same trail that people use to ride mules down into the canyon floor which is something I've always wanted to do in theory. Reality took care of that for me!

Before leaving the park completely, we had a picnic with the leftover burritos from the night before. They were surprisingly good leftover and cold! On the way back to Sedona we stopped off in Flagstaff at a few stores for Alex then headed back to relax for a while before our dinner reservations.

Dinner that night was at Mariposa, a beautifully lit restaurant high up on a hill just outside of town. We started off with the scallops and mussels with white wine, garlic, and chorizo.

For our meals, I had steak with chimichurri sauce and a side of au gratin potatoes.

Alex had the fish of the day.

The food was incredible, especially the broth the mussels were in. Alex raved so much about it to the waiter that he got himself invited back to the kitchen. It was late when dinner was done so we returned to our cabin and called it a night.