Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Would you like to vacation in Sedona, Arizona? I've got a place for you.

Sedona is a place of great natural beauty.  We travel there at least once a year often sharing our condo with friends and family.

Cathedral Rocks

Painting Cathedral Rocks



Red Rock Crossing


Oak Creek flows through the middle of Sedona

Sedona is located in the northern part of Arizona, approximately 120 minutes drive from the Phoenix, AZ airport, and at 4,326′ elevation, it usually is 15-20 degrees cooler than Phoenix. It is approximately 2 hours drive to the Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim).  

Take a day trip to the Grand Canyon

Many visitors love the tranquility and energy of the place. Others like the arts scene, hiking, 4-wheeling, spa experiences, or photography. Shopping and dining there is terrific and there are so many opportunities for healthy living experiences, yoga, massage, golf, and spiritual experiences.

My daughter has a lovely timeshare at Villas of Sedona which is available for one week a year (any week you want with advance reservations).   It is a one bedroom plus a sleeping loft with queen size Murphy bed and 3/4 and 1/2 bathrooms. The bedroom and sleeping loft and a 3/4 bath are upstairs and a sofa sleeper and half bath are downstairs.  It has a fireplace, a private patio, a balcony, two flat screen TVs, CD player and is fully stocked with kitchen equipment ready for your enjoyment. It sleeps a maximum of 6 persons.

Activities center and outdoor pool and hot tub

The indoor pool
   Here s the floor plan:


The Chapel of the Holy Cross in the rocks



Slide Rock Park in Oak Creek Canyon



Here is what the condo (representative) looks like from the outside:



Here are some pictures of the inside (representative):

Living room

Living room and dining area

Half bath downstairs

Kitchen and door to outside front patio

Kitchen


Stairs to bedroom and sleeping loft

Upstairs bath with shower

Bedroom

Bedroom

Shower

Sleeping loft with Murphy bed

Balcony off sleeping loft



Sleeping loft upstairs

Kitchen

Living room

Private rear patio
You can purchase the unit as a deeded ownership for the week of your choice every year beginning in 2019. Annual homeowner dues are about $775 per year payable December 1 of each year (HOA fees are paid for 2018)  If you own this timeshare, you can also exchange your week (for a fee) to thousands of other places in the world. Besides your one week a year reservation, you can ask for Bonus Time 3 weeks in advance and stay for one to seven nights any other time of the year at any of three VRI properties  including Villas at Poco Diablo (subject to vacancy) in Sedona for a small fee per night.  It is exchangeable as a Silver Crown Red Week property on RCI, the world's largest Timeshare Exchange company with 35,000 timeshare options world-wide.


Tlaquepaque Village is a lovely shady arts and crafts village with restaurants to stroll among


The chapel at Tlaquepaque Village

Sedona is a center of New Age activities




A panoramic view of Sedona from the airport mesa.  Villas of Sedona is located in the middle of this picture.

Here is a video I did of a drive through Oak Creek Canyon in October, 2015: 



Email me for more information: tierradelcielo at gmail dot com


Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Mary and the Grand Kids Come to Albuquerque for Spring Break

My daughter, Mary, arrived Sunday with the grand children to spend Spring Break in Albuquerque.  They hail from Grand Junction, Colorado (pop. 59,000).  The kids are 5 and 7 years old.  They think Albuquerque is fabulous.  I asked why they liked Albuquerque?  "Because it is so-oooo big." said the eldest.  Albuquerque is the largest city in New Mexico (pop. 546,000 and metro area is over 900,000).  It's big for New Mexico which has only 2,059,000 population in a land area that is the 5th largest state (we have some wide open empty places in New Mexico). Their mom and Aunt Amanda and visiting San Diego friend Ashley and I have taken them to the movies, Museum of Natural History, Tiguex Park, Madrid (pronounced "MAD-drid"), Meow Woof in Santa Fe, and of course, splashing in Grandma's hot tub.  The weather has been sunny and in the 80's.  Wow, what's not to like about New Mexico?

I have a limitation on walking (due to bunion surgery March 7th), so I haven't been able to take them for walks or hikes. But we did get around the Museum of Natural History and catch the IMAX film in 3-D "Galapagos"  followed by a fun time in Tiguex Park where I mostly observed their boundless energy.




Evenings have been shared with movies, coloring, and falling in love with my cat, Precious.  The girls are totally delightful and I look forward to going to Grand Junction April 4-19 to help Mary and her husband Matt as Mary has to travel for her job.