And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden...

Cheers on our 30th anniversary! Here we are at Garland's awesome garden with our favorite drink: fresh, peach daiquiris!

August 4, Tuesday

Richard & I were married 30 years ago today - let the celebration begin! We drove to the Briar Patch Inn in Oak Creek this morning, via a few stops to get photos of the red rocks in Sedona, like this one of Bell Rock:

We arrived at the Briar Patch Inn around 4:00. This statue is in front of the office. Surrounded by feeders, it's a good place to watch birds:

This is the cabin where we stayed - Creekside:

And a view of the creek from our deck, where it cooled off nicely in the evening:

Around 6:00, we went to Garland's Lodge - this is the main lodge and dining room:

This is the garden where we always have our picture taken (see above!):

When we got to our table, we were surprised by a bouquet from Mom - everyone who walked by our table commented on how beautiful it was! This was an extra special treat!

Dinner at Garland's is always a highlight for us, and we savor every bite. Here is the menu we enjoyed this evening:

Basil Parmesan Sourdough Bread

Tomato Red Pepper Cream Soup

Mixed Greens with Beets, Feta, Walnuts, and Sweet Onions in a Champagne Vinaigrette

Grilled Alaskan Halibut with Lemon Basil Caper Beurre Blanc Corn and Chive Souffle Roasted

Carrots and Green Beans

Fresh Peach Clafouti

Pinot Noir - Cycles Gladiator '08 - Central Coast, Oregon

August 5, Wednesday

At breakfast the next day, we were serenaded with "When I'm 64," a song we had played at our wedding - what a coincidence!

After breakfast, we drove to West Fork, only about a couple miles away. Karen sits at the trail head of West Fork - the weather was cool at this time, but warmed up to 100 degrees very quickly!

View from the bridge at the entrance to West Fork - the creek was pretty low:

Long, hot beginning of the trail, with no shade in sight!

Interesting black beetles with a red spot. I believe this is a type of nymph.

At the third river crossing, we saw several Painted Redstarts.

Richard crosses the creek in the hot sun:

Driving away from West Fork, I stopped to get a picture of this rock called the "Queen of Sedona." From the proper angle, you can see Queen Elizabeth I (second formation from the right):

We then visited the Page Springs Fish Hatchery which has a pond where you can buy fish food and feed the fish. This is often a great place to see birds, and we saw a Black Phoebe as well as a Summer Tanager. We got there kind of late in the day to be looking for birds however. Here is Richard feeding the fish:

In the large, shaded enclosure, you can see hundreds (or thousands?) of these baby fishes:

Conveniently located next door to the fish hatchery is a winery - Page Springs Cellars. We stopped here to sample a flight of red wine. All the red wine was pretty good! It's weird to see grapevines in the desert:

The outside of the winery:


Later in the afternoon, we ate lunch at the Barking Frog, which I highly recommend. I liked the BBQ ribs.

August 6, Thursday

We began the day with another serenade on the terrace by the river, with Richard making a funny face:

A visit to the Briar Patch Inn is just not complete without saying hello (or in this case, goodbye) to the resident sheep. In this video, we see Woolly, the mother, and her two babies, Lilly and Billy. The father sheep, Bully, apparently could not tolerate the babies, and was moved to another location. Bye, bye, Bully! It was also bye bye to Oak Creek as we headed back to the hot valley this morning...