Honanki Ruins

At 6:00AM I awoke and immediately began thinking about the impending sunrise.  The opportunity to see the sunlight play against the buildings and cliffs could be a good one, so I rolled out of bed, grabbed my Fuji camera gear and began wandering around the Enchantment property.  I got a few shots that I found interesting.

Today the four of us began searching for a breakfast locale that could give us our required "shared pancake plate".  A local recommended Nicks which was adequate, if not delicious.  We'll do better tomorrow.  Still, we all stuffed ourselves with eggs and bacon and sausage and potatoes and gravy and biscuits.   And pancakes.

KC and I dropped Karen and Sherry off in the heart of Sedona for a two hour shopping spree which resulted in the acquisition of shiny objects, this time it was silver and turquoise bracelets.  KC and I scouted out a second retail center which will be ground zero for tomorrow's shopping exercise.

By noon, we were arranging for our four seat/four wheel drive Polaris Razor and I was getting mapping instructions on an off road trip on which we spent the afternoon. 

High jinks ensued with KC bombing us down some rough and rutted desert trails...though none were extreme enough to really cause much anxiety among the passengers.

The highlight of our trip was arriving at the Honanki ruins.  The ruins were named by archeologist Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes who gave them the Hopi name Honanki or "Badger House".  These  ancient cliff dwellings were home to the Sinaqua tribe, ancestors to the Hopi, between 1150-1350AD and we were able to follow a trail that took us directly to them. 

Close enough to spit on.  The ruins were nestled in a natural concavity in the cliffs that sheltered them from the elements and provided a natural roof over them. 

It was an amazing experience...none of us had ever seen cliff dwellings up close before.

By 3:00PM we were cruising back to town and after a few missed turns and re-routing exercises, we arrived back at the rental store by 4:00.  After riding on red dirt roads all of us were covered with red dirt and badly in need of showers.  Dinner tonite is at the hotel's best restaurant.  Since we ate no lunch today, I think our appetites will be in full bloom.

Update:  Our dinner last night at the Enchantments' top restaurant, Che Ah Chi (means "Red Rocks"in Apache) was incredible.  We began with a shared plate of freshly made spaghetti with a cream sauce and Kobe beef meatballs and we licked the bowl clean.  Soups, salads, dinners and desert that followed

were spectacular...the best food I've eaten in recent memory.  It capped off a wonderful day in a spectacular setting with dear friends.