S J O R

This year Dave decided that as part of his  birthday gift, he wanted to attend a smooth jazz concert in Sedona, Arizona.  It was the SEDONA JAZZ ON THE ROCKS - (S J O R), held the weekend of October 7th and 8th.  So, we left late Thursday afternoon and drove down to Page, Arizona and spent the night, then got up  and drove the couple of hours into Sedona.  Dave has been to Sedona several times, but this was my first trip.

The first thing we did when we arrived into town was go to the Arizona Pink Jeep Tours.  This company has been in business for 51 years, and if you ever get the chance to go to Sedona you have to do the Pink Jeep tour, it is so worth the trip.  They have several different tours packages that you can sign up for and they are a blast.  We did the Diamondback Gulch tour, which was about 3 hours - but some of them are all day tours if you are that adventurous.

The terrain was both breath taking, sometimes a little dangerous, very rugged and only reachable by our 4X4 tour jeep, always thrilling, and sometimes heart pounding as you looked down over the side of the ravines and up the side of the cliffs.

The scenery was breath taking, and being the high desert terrain very much like South Western Utah.  But still very lovely to look at.  Our tour guide did not disappoint one bit.

 At one stop in the tour, Mike the tour guide / driver, pulled over and pointed out the prickly pear cactus and described the fruit and got out and cut one of the fruit off the plant, brought it back to the jeep, opened it up and showed us how delicious it was.  He told us the different restaurants in town that served prickly pear ice cream, Magarita's,and  jellies and jams with their breakfast items.  The prickly pear has a taste that is a cross between a cherry and a strawberry.  It is very sweet but very good.  At lunchtime we made sure to have some.

As you can see, our little jeep was very trustworthy and could easily maneuver any terrain, no matter what the incline.

Even rocks did not deter our path !!

And when we stopped for photos, the sights were glorious for the eye to behold.

That afternoon, we checked into the Junipine Resort, and we were able to sit and watch the Oak Creek off of our bedroom deck.  Dave was wishing that there was a bed on the deck, so he could sleep to the sound of the creek.  It was such a contrast to the desert we had just been through. 

That evening and all day Saturday, we listened to Smooth Jazz artists.  The cool autumn air and the warm sun made for a great weekend.  My favorite smooth jazz artist, Dave Koz was featured on Friday night and Dave's favorite smooth jazz artist, Mindi Abair, was featured on Saturday.  Along with many other artists, (Los Lobos, The Rippingtons, Maxi Priest, Jeff Golub, Hiroshima, Sahnas Brothers, Billy Mitchell, Will Donato, Isaac Valenzuela, Tony Exum Jr. andd The Rhythm Keepers).  Probably the most exciting surprise was on Saturday when Mindi announced that Dave Koz has stayed over and was going to do a special number on stage with her.  Dave and I have been to a lot of Mindi's concerts and Dave's concerts and never have they played together.  It was great to hear them both play their saxophones together.  And to hear Jeff Golub on stage with Mindi so soon after losing his eyesight was amazing.  The venue was so great, (the lighting was horrible, the microphones didn't always work, the food vendors weren't all that great, the golf course grounds weren't that well taken care of), but the music made up for it.  And we were back home by 8:30 on Sunday, so we weren't too tired and worn out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE - Hope you enjoyed it, I did.