Trips: Sedona
Courthouse Butte, just south of town
My wife and I made a command decision last month: It’s time for a vacation. Now.
Why the urgency? Well, in addition to each of us running our own solo businesses, we’ve been putting our two sons through school for what seems like an eternity. But since our youngest, Jackson, graduated last summer, the burden of tuition has finally been lifted. It has been a long stretch without a proper break
We had three rules as we began conceiving this trip:
it had to be somewhere where the scenery was the polar opposite of New England, where we live,
it had to be somewhere we’d never been, and,
it had to give us some relief from yet another looooong New England winter.
It took about a day to settle on Sedona, Arizona. And it was a slam-dunk. Rarely do places exceed the hype. Sedona did.
Apparently, the weather in February in northern Arizona can be a roll of the dice, but our research revealed an average temperature range from 60º – 70º, so we felt good about booking our trip for the end of the month. When we arrived it was perfect. Sunny and warm — and spectacularly beautiful.
. . . . .
Aside from the R&R aspect the trip, I was hoping to use the break to spend some quality time with my sadly abandoned camera. I am by no means a professional photographer, but taking pictures makes me happy. My “big boy” camera, a Nikon d5100, is an older “prosumer” camera that is less “pro” and more “sumer." I have a couple of decent lenses (a very nice 50mm and a decent 70-300mm zoom), but for this trip I really wanted to try shooting with a wide-angle lens. So I went to BorrowLenses and rented a 24mm and a 35mm lens, both primes. Given the crop sensor on my camera, however, I wasn’t going to enjoy the full width of those lenses. But it was a good starting point.
Also nestled in my camera bag was a recently-purchased kit from Moment. My friend Austin Mann, who has done extensive testing of several recent Apple phone cameras, suggested that I try the lenses with my iPhone 6.
To make a long story short, my big boy camera lost the battle.
I took some decent photos (see below), but when I compare my Nikon photos to my Instagram feed, there’s just not a dramatic enough difference that makes lugging that extra bag on the plane (and worse — paying for it). Difficult conditions will teach you just how much of an amateur photographer you are. It has happened before.
But since this trip, I've begun a thorough re-examination how I will handle photography on future trips. We have a big trip to Europe planned for this summer, so I will update my plans for future photography excursions and equipment in a future post.
A panorama from atop Airport Mesa looking toward Capitol Butte, Coffee Pot Rock, and Brin’s Mesa
The view from our room at the Hilton Sedona Resort
A cliff dwelling at the Honanki Heritage Site (above and below), built by the Sinagua indians, ancestors of the Hopi,
is hidden just behind the tree line (above). The structure dates back to 1150 AD.
At the Honanki Heritage Site
Courthouse Butte
View from Airport Mesa
Hiking on the West Fork Trail
The West Fork Trail of Oak Creek Canyon
Fay Canyon Trail
We had lunch at the Jerome Grand Hotel
Definitely worth the visit …
… Phoenix’s Heard Museum of American Indian Art
