Right after Petrified Forest National Park visit, we drove to Sedona in the dark. The plan was to wake up super early in the morning for sunrise and after catching the glimpse of this super touristy town, we would drive back to California.
We managed to find a motel in Sedona and it was the most expensive ($120) stay of the entire trip. But, it turned out we were at a location that was close to the couple of places we wanted to stop at for sunrise.
Going in the winter, the sunrise is luckily a bit later. We were able to grab a quick breakfast at the motel and drove like 7-mins to the airport road in Sedona. Before reaching the airport itself, there is a hill with lot of cars parked on the road side.
You can’t miss the spot. There is a short climb up the hill to get an unobstructed view of the entire valley of Sedona and the surrounding mountains.
In the winter, it was damn windy and freezing cold. I had all my layers on. We stayed there till the sunlight lit up the area.
If you drive on the same airport road, there is another parking lot with a view. This parking lot is certainly way bigger, but the view is not unobstructed.
Right after, we drove straight to Red Rock State Park. The park wasn’t open that early in the morning, but we parked the car on the roadside and just walked inside the park for the view of the Cathedral Rock.
Phew…this day is all about chasing the sun. Next stop is Mojave desert at sunset.