Getting all set for Scandinavia!

A Visit To Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki!

Months of planning for a cycling adventure in Scandinavia will soon be realized!  

I depart Monday June 3 for my flight to Copenhagen via Denver and London. 

I'll enter the European Union via London (for perhaps my last Pre-Brexit time?). Then I'll change planes for my final leg to Copenhagen.  

A zillion frequent flier points evaporated in order to put me seats in Business Class.  I'll fly to Europe via British Air and return home on American's new non-stop London to Phoenix service.

Bike gear, check

Woolite, check

Bike helmet, check

Activate travel insurance, check

Passport, check

Credit card notifications, check

Upgrade cell service, check

Roadboy is eager to meet the world's happiest people!

Roadboy's Travels © 2019

Day Tripping from Phoenix

Sedona, Jerome and Prescott

I had one of my oldest friends visit Phoenix for a conference recently.  I was lucky that she was able to add an extra Sunday / Monday giving us some precious time to reminisce.

Sunday we visited Phoenix' truly wonderful Musical Instrument Museum.  Monday we took a day trip out of Phoenix.

Phoenix's central location is perfect for day trips in any direction. My favorites include Tucson with stops at St. Xavier Del Bac, the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and (in summer) a drive to cool off on the top of Mt. Lemmon.

Another big favorite is a day trip to Bisbee / Karchner Caverns. 

This time we made a loop from Phoenix to the red rocks of Sedona. And, being a Monday, we avoided Sedona's ridiculous weekend traffic and the throngs of Phoenicians returning back from a weekend in Flagstaff.

Friends Since Junior High

After a year filled with lots of rain, our drive was through a desert verdant green with wildflowers exploding in spring color.

We first made a stop at Sedona's striking Chapel of the Holy Cross.  Funded by a local rancher Marguerite Brunswig Staude, who commissioned San Francisco's Anshen and Allen as the architect. It's site required a special use permit that was obtained with the help of Senator Barry Goldwater.  The chapel completed in 1956 at a cost of $300,000. The chapel won the American Institute of Architect's Award of Honor in 1957.

Chapel of The Holy Cross

From there we went for a casual lunch at Sedona's Wildfower Bakery (it has seating that affords a red-rock views).

 

Leaving Sedona we drove through Cottonwood and then up Cleopatra Hill for a visit to the once abandoned mining town of Jerome.

Fragments of Jerome's Past Cling to Cleopatra Hill

In Jerome there was time for window shopping and a visit to see the magical kaleidoscopes at Nellie Bly's art glass shop. If you don't love the little optical treasures found here, you lack a beating heart.

Nellie Bly's Kaleidoscopes

The Jerome Grand

(Home of The Asylum Restaurant)

From there my old green jag XJ-6 (happy to get out of the city) purred its way through the windy mountain roads over Mingus Mountain and on to Prescott (for a dinner stop at El Gato Azul).

 

After dinner it was an easy trip home.

A perfect day.

Roadboy's Travels © 2019