I guess it's pretty, if you like rocks.

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When I first got to the Garlands Oak Creek Lodge, after successfully fording the creek for which it's named (not to mention surviving the nightmare on wheels that was the drive from JT), I found Mary at the front desk. "Wanna go for a hike?" she asked.

[A note worth interjecting here: I met Mary and Gary again at Katie Redding's wedding last summer in Salida, Colorado, when the two kept us entertained with stories about the "sport eaters" they get at the lodge - people who fax in dietary specifications like no mayo on tuesdays. So anyway, in the two minutes I stood there at the desk, a couple entered to check in. They asked what was for dinner that night, and Mary popped into the kitchen to grab the night's menu. "Shrimp and scallops," she said. "I don't eat shrimp or scallops," said the woman, "I told whoever I talked to when I made my reservation." Mary was gracious and unfazed; I, however, was ready to bust a gut.]

No Mayo on Tuesdays!

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And oh, that hike! Sterling Pass is THE hike to do in Sedona, if you ask me. In my less than 48-hr stay I did three epic, epic hikes, but this one was the mind-blower, for sure. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera, as I was so pleased to be out of the car I wasn't thinking clearly, and Mary'd said we'd just go for a "little hike." It was anything but little: through recently burned forest up a canyon wall to a narrow, red peak that, when you reach it, is like sitting on top of the blade of a knife - with incredible views on either side. Totally incredible. It also helped that, before we left, she stuffed my pockets full of scones, freshly baked for tea at the lodge. (I was busy doing a broken-record routine of "Oh my god!' and "so incredible!"s when, at the top, Mary told me that, upon her first visit to Sedona, her mom--a bay area woman--said, "I guess it's pretty - if you like rocks.")

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They set me up in the guest room of their own home, and continued to hook me up with fresh-baked goodies, home-cooked meals, yoga, and suggestions for where to go next. The second morning began with a sour cream and cherry muffin and a yoga class in the open air studio -- impressive, but more impressive was that the two lodge doggies are trained not to venture inside; they brought their toys right to the edge, but not inside. Clearly these dogs have been whispered. Anyway, afterwards, I ventured a little closer to town to the Garland Jewelry Store, stopped into the market next door where Will works for lunch, and then hiked West Fork, an incredible, three-or-so-hour adventure that took me back and forth across the creek and deep into the canyon. Beautiful! Mary cooked us another delicious dinner that night (and swiped us a leftover chocolate flan) and she and Gary outlined my next stop: Canyon de Chellys (I think that's how it's spelled), on the Navajo reservation in Northeast AZ. But before I left, I dragged Mary on another hike - or she dragged me, the next morning, straight up another enormous mountain, from the peak of which we could see the San Francisco mountains. She made me an omelet and coffee, and sent me on my way.

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An amazing time with amazing people in an amazingly pretty place! So I guess I like rocks.