Sedona, Arizona-2026

Our second trip to Sedona. It's enchanting, otherworldly and we jumped at the chance to go back and explore.

Weird housesitting story on how this trip came about. One of Martha's best friends, Laura, from our old home in Purcellville, moved to Sedona. Laura knows we do housesitting and a friend of hers in Sedona was looking for one, so Laura connected her with Martha.

This couple was going away for a couple weeks and wanted someone to stay in their home to watch over their cat. Their very old cat. In fact, the owner, Kathleen, let Martha know that the cat was almost on death's door. She could expire at any moment - maybe while we were there. A nightmare for a pet/housesitter. Fortunately, the cat never made it that far. She was gone weeks before we were set to arrive. But Kathleen insisted that we come and stay in their home, since we'd already bought our plane tickets.

It turned out to be a lovely home in Oak Creek Canyon that backed up to a golf course with views of the red rock spires. Oak Creek is separate town just south - but a part of - the Sedona community. We stayed there in 2025, so we were familiar with the area.

This return gave us the opportunity to continue exploring an area we find fascinating and, in a housesit, at a more leisurely pace. Some excursions: We hiked on the local trails, specifically around Bell Rock. There are so many stunning hikes.

We drove out to Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam.

Drove to Jerome, an old mining town turned artist's enclave with legends of ghosts. Many years ago, when we were first married, Martha went to Phoenix and stayed with my mother and her husband, Oliver, in Scottsdale. Martha rented a car and - alone - drove up to the Grand Canyon and spent the night in Jerome. She stayed in a quiet, old and secluded hotel and discovered she was the only guest there. It freaked her out. On our visit, we were trying to locate that hotel of 40 years prior, but Martha couldn't be sure.

One of the most stunning trips was to Antelope Canyon, make populat in scores of Instagram photos. The Canyon is on Navajo land, so a native guide is required to visit the site. They've made a business of it, shutteling groups of tourists into the Canyon with a well-rehearsed spiel and procedure.