Desert Dusting

~Wednesday, February 23, 2022~

Day 619

Woke up to light rain that in a matter of minutes turned into big snowflakes and temperatures plummeting. I think the high today was 38 degrees. And since Sedona is only 20 minutes from Cottonwood and is at a higher elevation (4,300 feet), we couldn’t wait to get in the car to see even more snow. The light “powder sugar” dusting on the red rock buttes and mountains was gorgeous. The photos do not do it justice.

Parking wasn’t too difficult with it being a weekday and the weather bitterly cold. Sadie was so happy to be back in the snow and wasn’t about to complain about all the attention she was getting! Looking over Red Rock Canyon,

we saw the commemorative plaques of Western movies filmed in Sedona over the years. Over 100 movies have been filmed here back in the Golden Age of Westerns (1940’s/1950’s). But as we continued our walk on Main Street, the weather quickly turned to darker clouds, thunder and light hail.

If I’d brought more appropriate attire, we would have hung out longer. What we had just seen 10 minutes before was now swallowed up by misty clouds. It was good that we made the trip today since it’s likely the snow will be gone by tomorrow. We’ll definitely be back in the coming days as temperatures become more favorable.

Next was a fun errand to Office Max to take care of some DMV business for the truck. This would be the year that Hank needed a smog certification, as he is still registered in California. But what to do when you’re not even in the state you're registered in? Our original fear was that we would have to bring Hank back to California to get the smog done and thus renew our reg. Hallelujah for form 5103 which is a temporary smog exemption for cars driven or stored out of state. And the form requires 2 things: 1. a specified return date which really is never going to happen now that we’ve sold our home and will only be there for short visits and 2. a “wet” signature. Since we decided not to bring a printer on this trip, Office Max and FedEx Office have been very good to us for our printing/faxing needs. It’s just a matter of planning ahead and knowing when we’re near one. Signed, sealed and off to the post office!

The evening consisted of chatting with my sister, eating a delicious leftover risotto dinner and disconnecting the fresh water hose for fear of being responsible for breaking pipes, and in turn upset neighbors. That would surely ruin a welcome stay. Now that I’ve imagined it, I’ll probably have nightmares about it tonight.