Sedona

My friends recommend the Surgeon's House B&B in Jerome as a place to stay.

I have family in Sedona, so have spent a lot of time there. You've gotten some good suggestions. A jeep tour is worth it, lots of fun and some good views. Also, a trip to Jerome, worth it. Also, Tuzigoot, if your into that type of thing. As far as restaurants go, try Elote, easily the best restaurant in Northern Arizona, Southwest/Mexican inspired cuisine and very, very good; also a great selection of tequilas.

Just got back late last night and wanted to thank everyone again for the tips and give a quick update. We got into Sedona on Sunday afternoon and drove back to Williams on Monday for the train ride to the grand canyon. My fiance had booked the trip and had us in the dome observation car for the ride up and coach on the way back. The weather was poor..snowing in Flagstaff and also in Williams before we departed, then once we got to the canyon it was cold and overcast but not snowing the first 30 minutes, then the wind picked up and it started snowing so we parked ourselves in the bar at the hotel there and grabbed a warm cocktail.

The train was fine but I doubt anyone ever does it more than once. It would have been easier and cheaper to just take our rental car and had more time and opportunity to see/do/stay what we wanted and for as long as we wanted. It also isn't cheap (I think coach is $70/person roundtrip and am unsure how much more the other options are (dome car or luxury car). They do provide about 30 minutes entertainment both ways with a singer/guitar player who was fine, and fake a train robbery on the return trip which the kids on the train seemed to really dig. I'll try to post pics later.

Back to Sedona and on Tuesday we hiked around Bell Rock and Courthouse Rock, which took about 2 1/2 hours and was a good hike. We did have dinner at Elote Cafe that evening and I had probably the best carne asada ever!

We left on Wednesday morning and took the suggested route through Jerome (didn't stop as the wind chill was in the teens, but did see the Haunted Hamburger and the Asylum) and proceeded to Prescott where we stopped at the Palace...just a very cool historic place!....they have some neat antique gambling items on display. Their menu mentioned a few movies that had scenes filmed there like Junior Bonner and Billy Jack and as soon as I read that I knew the scene in BJ where the town punks hassle the kids in the ice cream shop and Billy Jack arrives and kicks the asses of about ten guys in the courtyard had to have been filmed right across the street.

Continued on to Vegas and had a fun five nights there. Thanks again for all your recommendations!

OK, going to try posting pics here for the first time ever...wish me luck!

If this works, the first pic shows what the inside of the dome car looks like and the second will show the coach class, for anyone thinking of taking the train

WOW it worked hehe!

OK, a few pics of some of the Sedona area...just reallly pretty country if you have never been

Excellent photos! Thanks for sharing your trip report.
One sometimes forgets Flagstaff, Williams and the Canyon are in a different climate zone than Phoenix and Vegas.
Old man winter's been knockin a lot this year.

Nice photos, johnzimbo. Sedona is scenic, if nothing else. Glad you liked Elote, it is really an amazing restaurant. If in Sedona again, you might want to try Enchantment Resort for Sunday Brunch. A little spendy, maybe, about $30 per person, plus tip, but a really, really good brunch, in a nice setting. They have Nueske's Bacon, the best bacon in the world. That justifies just about any price as far as I am concerned, I can eat $30 bucks worth of it easy.

I did the Grand Canyon train, a family trip, with friends. Reason really to do it is for kids, they get a kick out of it. We did first class one way, and the Parlor Car the other. Parlor Car is about $190 round trip, but was worth the cost, first class about $150 round trip, current prices, was cheaper when we did it. Think we got a discount with AAA. Kids loved the Parlor Car, I am appalled that they aren't allowing kids in the Parlor Car or Observation Dome Car anymore. That totally sucks.

Too bad you didn't get to visit the galleries and such in Jerome.