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Sweet C and I headed out to Phoenix to visit Sedona. Great trip with beautiful scenery, nice temperatures, and some life-time experiences. Here's a brief summary:
Day 1 - Flew to Phoenix and drove to Sedona. We had scouted out the casinos in AZ and thanks to the responses here and VPFree knew where we wanted to play/stay given the opportunity. And, we always make an opportunity.
Day 2- Great scenery in Sedona staying in Village of Oak Creek which we recommend over Sedona. (Save money for the casinos!) Drove around, hiked a little and enjoyed the day. Got to see Montezuma's Castle and ancient petroglyphs. Ended the day at Cliff Dwelling casino but little to talk about play. Missed out on Camp Verde casino which we wanted to visit.
Day 3 - Drove to Flagstaff to visit the Lowell Observatory and visit the Flagstaff casino. Day tour of Observatory with return visit that night to be able to look through their telescopes including the one that discovered Pluto, What an experience! We highly recommend the day and night visit. Needed to kill time so we headed to Twin Arrows casino. Got our cards, ate the buffet and played till almost dark. Drove back to Flagstaff and got to visit and view from three different telescopes - Jupiter's moons, the moon looking as clear as my back yard, and several constellations. Awesome experience!!
Day 4- Completed Sedona area, Camp Verde area but not the Camp Verde casino and a scenic loop around Sedona.
Day 5 Back to Phoenix staying at Talking Stick Casino. (Previously we had reservations at Wild Horse but changed). I'll explain later. Talking Stick is a VP wasteland - beautiful casino, the VIP place for celebrities who obviously don't play 6/5 Dbl Dbl. We got our cards and $4.40 free play. Yeah, $4.40 in free play when I asked why 4.40 I was told there was an original computer program error so they just left it at 4.40. We walked around the casino checking out the VP and never played even our $4.40. Not one cent went into their machines. Now, why did we change from Wild Horse to Talking Stick for the 100% return VP! Not at the Talking Stick but at Fort McDowell Casino. Fort McDowell was a little, old, smokey casino just a few miles from Talking Stick which offered 100% video poker. We fell in love with it and played it three different times - winning each time. The first night Sweet C hit 5 Aces on Dbl DWB within a few minutes and multiple big hands until she capped the night with a RF. Meanwhile I kept trying the 100% Super Aces to no avail.
Day 6-I took my birthday Sailplane ride that I've wanted all my life. Incredible adventure and everything I wanted to experience and more. 40+ minutes aloft and being able to even take the controls for a few minutes from my expert pilot as backup. Nice lunch at the golf course down from Arizona Soaring and then back to the TS casino to get ready for an evening at Fort McDowell. Determined to try the Super Aces again I started my siege knowing the odds were the best i'd seen in years. I was rewarded by catching 3 Aces on a triple hand and catching the fourth Ace for $500. About 20 minutes later not being able to consistently hit playing 5 hands and back to 3 hands a dealt 3 Aces again caught the 4 for another $500. I played the rest of the night even.
Day 7 - headed home we had a late flight so we checked out of the TS and drove the 10 minutes to Fort McDowell and played for a couple hours before heading to the airport. No big hits but a great pleasure playing high returns and breaking even and up.

We really enjoyed our Phoenix/Sedona excursion. The scenery is beautiful, we met and shared time with new people, picked up a handful of new casino cards and lots of fun and memories. For me personally, the trip left me in a wonderful psychological state of enlightenment. I had visited ancient civilization ruins and drawings and stared at the stars and planets. The same stars and planets the ancients had seen. I experienced a connection with the earth and space. The experience of soaring over the earth and seeing it from a totally new perspective - one from on high and at the will of nature left a deep impression my role of keeper of earth and my presence being just a tiny raindrop in the ongoing ocean of time on this planet.

What a great trip report! You ought to be a travel writer!

Thanks for sharing, you and Sweet C had a wonderful time out there, surprised that the weather was not so hot out there at this time of year.

Rest up and relax from all that travelling.

I live in the village, just off 179, so at least at some point you were probably only a few hundred feet from me   I've been visiting Sedona for a decade or more and have lived here a couple of years.  There is an abundance of heritage sites near by, with lots of petroglyphs as well as numerous cliff dwellings in various states of repair.  Flagstaff has more, and Sunset Crater is another interesting site where the lava flows make you think you're in Hawaii.Be glad you came, and left, when you did.  The current forecast for Sunday and Monday is 109 here and 119 in Phoenix. 

Larry: Glad you had a an enjoyable visit to AZ and had success at the Fort. Only problem we have there is the smoke which you encountered. The small non-smoking section does not have the VP we like so we have rarely ventured there to play VP. However, the bingo with its non-smoking room, is why we go there.

Never a travel writer but always an eager traveler.

The heat was reasonable - the biggest issue was constant lack of hydration. We've noticed when we leave the humid gulf coast it is an issue so we always immediately buy a case of water to use and try to drink several extra bottles a day. A hard task for Sweet C who has to force herself to drink water.

BTW: we arrived home and the next day our son and DIL arrive from Edmonton, Alberta for a 10 day stay. Huge family dinner day 2 at our house. No rest for the weary but since we don't see them very often a wonderful time. They had just the opposite experience - from Edmonton (70's=50's) and low humidity.   Of course the past few days the temp here has been close to 100 with the heat index due to the humidity close to 115. And, if the heat doesn't get you, with all the recent rains in the area, the Texas eagle sized mosquitos around here might.

Oh, and the day they left us to visit other family we headed to the casino. Another story from Coushatta.

We stayed at the Desert Quail Inn and really enjoyed the Village of Oak Creek. Just minutes from Sedona and much smaller and great views of two major peaks from our room walkway.

Otabill- thanks for your input earlier about the area. We anticipated Fort McDowell conditions thanks to previous feedback. I had a horrible coughing attack both nights due to the smoke but I was on medicine for a previous sinus infection so the cough medicine helped along with gum and cough drops. But, gosh we loved the odds. Next time we come out I hope we can meet.

Otabill- thanks for your input earlier about the area. We anticipated Fort McDowell conditions thanks to previous feedback. I had a horrible coughing attack both nights due to the smoke but I was on medicine for a previous sinus infection so the cough medicine helped along with gum and cough drops. But, gosh we loved the odds. Next time we come out I hope we can meet.


Sorry to hear about your coughing attack. Having had several of those in the casinos here and after leaving, the wife and I finally decided to basically give up VP until we can find decent VP in smoke free or where the ventilation is so good, the smoke is basically not there.

It would be nice to meet next time you are here. Sounds like a plan.

We would enjoy meeting as well. I'm sure part of the cough was trying to acclimate to the hot, dry air in Arizona. Our bodies are used to a large amount of humidity and hydrocarbons here in Texas.   Both in the ground, our drinking water, and in our air.      Four of the US's largest refineries are within nearby. And, all are expanding and the number of 1M gallon storage tanks has probably tripled in the last two years. At least 30-35 have been build in the immediate 10 mile radius alone.

Arizona is a beautiful state. Once drove down Schnebly Hill Rd. from I-17 into Sedona. Drops about 3-4 thousand feet. Dirt/gravel road, no guardrail maybe 12-15 feet wide. Beautiful views, but scary as all hell. Recommend going up, not down.

We would enjoy meeting as well. I'm sure part of the cough was trying to acclimate to the hot, dry air in Arizona. Our bodies are used to a large amount of humidity and hydrocarbons here in Texas.   Both in the ground, our drinking water, and in our air.      Four of the US's largest refineries are within nearby. And, all are expanding and the number of 1M gallon storage tanks has probably tripled in the last two years. At least 30-35 have been build in the immediate 10 mile radius alone.

I would guess allergies may have been a factor. Surprisingly, the desert foliage can cause an allergic reaction different from that from grasses, etc. back east. Regardless, hope you are fully recovered and are not downwind from the petrochemical plants/refineries.