Have any of you been to Sedona, AZ?

I find the crystal and sweat lodge crowd skeevy and not at all as gay positive as their rep. Too many real estate junkies and conservative retirees, but it has real potential as they die out in about 15 years

They are a new age, mystical vibrations, let's look at auras! kind of nutjob community.

I've been and it doesn't have a gay vibe to in the least. It's cool for a visit for say 3 days but really not much to do there. It's not gay unfriendly by any means but it's not a gay crowd that visits there..and a vast majority there are in town at their timeshare etc.

I've been to Sedona, but I've never been to me.

For all the new agey stuff, there are a lot of old fascists there

It is as pretty as a post card. I can't say there is a gay vibe but if new age is your thing then visit.

Nothing to do there, I don't even like the restaurants and they are all pricey. Too much traffic on the one damn street that is lined with tourist trap junk. Better to go to Oak Creek for natural beauty without the stupid crowds.

All the artsy stuff there for sale is WAY overpriced for what it is. I don't mind spending money on such things but the prices there just aren't justified for level of the work being sold in most cases. Tourist trap arts stop for folks that know nothing about it.

Tourist trap is an accurate description. Half new age, half seniors in retirement. Overpriced everything. There are some new agey dykes but very few gay men.

Lots of great places nearby so you could easily do two weeks if you're an outdoor type. Jerome, oak creek canyon, tuzigoot and montezumas castle (ancient pueblo people ruins/culture), Prescott, verde valley, flagstaff, etc. Grand Canyon is about 2.5 hours. There are also back roads in red rock country were yiu won't see another soul (well maybe someone filming a car commercial lol) that are breathtakiny beautiful. There are couple of additional Pueblan ruins (cliff dwelling variety) hidden back here that are outside the National Park System (unlike tuzigoot et al). If you're interested I can look up names. Need 4 wheel but you can rest and there are a couple of tours. Sedona itself is gorgeous but highly touristy, Jerome in particular is highly recommended.

Two weeks is a bit much even if you do the nearby places.

Lovely in the fall and winter, it's become a bit too expensive for me, I remember it in the seventies when it was funky and cheap.

I'd be very interested, r10. Thank you.

The New Age Olvera Street.

The New Age Mont Saint-Michel

Bisbee has a gay vibe but it's down south of Tuscon. Now Tuscon definitely is gay friendly. Been to Tombstone, pretty interesting, south of Tuscon half way between it and Bisbee.

R13 I've linked a pic with names and roads. Theyre surprisingly huge ruins and you will likely be alone to explore.

R11 were all different I could easily spend 2 weeks in the area. All I need is my 4w drive pickup, a tent, an ice chest full of nice white wine., and my doggies. Hot guy alsi wouldn't hurt.

If you go to jerome, the restaurant at the ,Jerome Grand Hotel (an huge old former hospital that is often called the most haunted buildings in the US) is very good for dinner -- one of the best in the region or at least was.. It's called asylum. It's also worthwhile to stay a night at the Jerome Grand (30 miles from Sedona)

Sorry for typos I'm on my phone .

R7 sounds poor

Actually, R7 sounds smart, R18 - who wants to deal with tourist crowds and price gouging?

The guy with the truck, tent and dogs sounds poor.

Lol I'm a lawyer at a big firm in La. You sound cunty.

Sedona is very picturesque. Actually it is much more beautiful than the Grand Canyon. I had a wonderful stay at the Enchantment Resort a few years ago. It wasn't really gay at all, but they weren't homophobic either. Even without the strong gay presence, I still would love to go back. One doesn't always have to hang out exclusively with the LGBT community.

It's ok.

Thank you glass half full guy!

[quote] Lol I'm a lawyer at a big firm in La. You sound cunty.

I am somewhat cunty, R20 (I presume that was directed at me), but mostly I just loathe camping.

See you around the towers, counselor.

True R21 and frankly too much of LGBT crowd can quickly get annoying once you're beyond babygay stage.

It sounds like Santa Fe has a lot more going for it than Sedona.

Santa Fe is more interesting without a doubt. Sedona is more a quick tourist stop if you happen to be in the area. Not somewhere i'd make a pointed trip to the just to go the area now that i've been there.

Isn't Santa Fe lesbian central?

I spent time in and around Sedona back in the 60s and 70s and I had been there a few times since, but not recently. A friend and I went back last year and we were pretty much appalled.

It's a horrible tourist trap.

Santa Fe was headed in the same direction for quite a few years. The SF people didn't see the light quite soon enough. They let some deplorable greed win out and in the process they lost some things that gave the town a sense of authenticity. It's still better than it was a few years ago.

Fuck this, "I don't want to be around the LGBT community all the time." bullshit. It's Arizona, why would you want to willingly be at the mercy of bigots? You'd want to make sure you were going into a welcoming environment when you travel to an area like that. Especially if the OP was to ever go with his partner.

Az is not full of bigots, particularly in the Sedona/flagstaff/Jerome/oak creek area. You will have no problems being with a same sex partner in these areas. In fact, one of the reasons AZ votes as republican as it does is because of the huge influx of out of state snowbirds that come for 6 months out of the year. These old fucks VOTE. Oh and the Mormons.

I lived there several years in the 80's, and currently live about 40 miles away. Sedona is very touristy, gay friendly, but the locals are somewhat cliquish. It's an island of reasonableness in Yavapai county, one of the reddest counties in a very red state, although another free spirited place, Jerome, is nearby. John McCain's vacation spread is near Sedona. It's also home to lots of new age charlatans and some shady antique/jewelry dealers.

Northern Light Balloon Expeditions, Pink Jeeps, Eliote Cafe, Tamazilla and L'Auberge are all recommended, as would be a few night's stay in any of the accommodations in Oak Creek Canyon. Relaxing and beautiful.

R31, AZ has many military retirees also. They would vote for Attila the Hun if he ran for office.

Thanks for the heads up, R33.

Better get those t-shirts printed, R34.

John McCain lives there in a modest little casa.

It's like a Republican Taos. It's very pretty (the countryside that is) with the Red Rocks and all, has some good restaurants and boutique hotels, but it's basically one incredibly busy road going straight through town. That's pretty much it.

There's an overpriced center with galleries, etc. called something or other. Tlaquesomething.

Jerome is awesome. Sedona has nice scenery but the town is a tourist trap. The drive from Sedona to the Grand Canyon is gorgeous.

R30 don't get your panties in a bunch. Not wanting to be in an exclusively LGBT group all time time doesn't mean you associate with bigots. A lot of just live very diversified integrated lives that don't revolve around everyone around us is gay or lesbian. The gay ghettos get very limiting after a while so you expand your horizons to the broader world.

The allure of Sedona is the spectacular nature surrounding it...the town itself can be seen in about an hour, if you skip all the crystal shops. It's not fair to compare it to Santa Fe, which is a much larger metro. But the region all around Sedona is absolutely gorgeous, and between Flagstaff, Jerome, and Prescott, there's plenty to see and do. I would much rather live in northern AZ than Phoenix, but this is where the jobs are.

Tlaquepaque. Like 'till lock a pocky'

Is Sedona where the Brady Bunch visited the western ghost town while on their way to the Grand Canyon?

I live in SoCal and would love to go but refuse to step foot in the state because of their neocon politics.

I've posted a bit on this thread at r16 (glass half full) and I respect r43's position. As a Latino, I boycottedc the state for a few years after the "show me your papers" BS. I grew up in AZ and am am somewhat an apologist for the state given its extraordinary natural beauty. AZ is traditionally more libertarian than fundie , particularly outside the phx suburbs. Keep in mind that a lot of these towns in north and central AZ are liberal arty enclaves and there is an abundance of federal parks and lands to enjoy.

All that said, however, northern NM Is superior in almost every way, and largely without all the repub/fundie BS

I'd be thrilled to spend 2 weeks in northern Arizona! If I could go I wouldn't spend more than a couple of days in Sedona, I'd drive all over the Painted Desert and the Red Rock Country and the Navajo Country and hike into the Grand Canyon and just drive around gawking at the scenery. I'd rent a 4WD and try to get to some of the really obscure beauty spots, like Coal Mine Canyon (see below) or Blue Canyon. Great idea for a vacation, OP, do it!

Southern Arizona isn't nearly as spectacular, although it has an austere beauty that I love - saguaro forests and granite bornhards and cool green mountains overlooking wide grassy plains, etc. Not a lot of tourism there, except FYI for birdwatchers. Incredible variety of birds there, if you like that sort of thing.

I didn't understand all the hype. Tourist shops and a bit of decent scenery. Otherwise - nothing to fucking do at all.

???

r28 Nelson BC is considered the Lesbian Capital of the Universe. Bring a flannel shirt and a German Shepherd/Lab cross and you'll fit right in.

Sure nothibg at all r46 unless you like camping, or rock climbing, or hiking, or backpacking, or 4wheeling, or fishing, or boating, or visiting prehistoric ruins, or exploring old mining camps, or horseback riding, or just fuckiing enjoying the natural beauty. etc etc etc

I think the sonoron desert is amazing r45 and disagree generally about southern AZ. Places like salt river canyon, superstitions etc are extraordinarily beautiful. Otherwise love your post!

[quote]camping, or rock climbing, or hiking, or backpacking, or 4wheeling, or fishing, or boating, or visiting prehistoric ruins, or exploring old mining camps, or horseback riding, or just fuckiing enjoying the natural beauty.

ZZZZZ - ADHD White People

In Mexican but thanks for playing

THAT's McCains house?? Really?

It's massive. Actually it looks like I might have taken that picture, R36! LOL. That picture can be taken by anyone that goes to the stunning church that is there. Beautiful scenery.

It's Elote Cafe, R32. The chef autographed my cookbook! I've made many of the recipes in that book. They are delicious.

Tlaquepaque is a very nice mall. Can't even go into most stores since everything is ridiculously priced. Bought a few crystals, though.

I lived in Phoenix from '90-'96, and went up to Sedona several times. No real gay presence then, but a lot of New Agey people and pastimes. Best thing about the shops there, which even then were pretty touristy, was the raspberry fudge, which tasted exactly as it sounds. Scrumptious. What most of the New Age people there doted on were, and still are, the "vortices," each a perceived concentration of energy, or "vortex," which had been marked by circles of white stones at important points all over the area. My favorite spiritual locale there is Bell Rock, descriptively named, and an imposing sight; the main road practically circles it. The whole Red Rock area is gorgeous, and when you take the time to just sit there and see it, breathtaking. There are multiple tours of the "Vortices," with opportunities to stop and meditated. (But my personal favorite Red Rock formation is a natural stone tower resembling a giant erect penis, which is visible from the main section of town; I used to pose friends in front of it whenever I took them there. I daresay it still stands...)

All of northern Arizona is very scenic, but the only gay activity I ever heard of was in Prescott, another Old West town in the area, which still looks it, and reportedly used to have a bar on the main square that was gay at least one night a week, probably during the week, though I never really checked it to verify, as I was never up there at the times it was reputedly operating as such.

That whole nature thing is overrated. It looks pretty though out the window while i'm sipping a cocktail on vacation. I just don't go on vacation for a workout other than sex

Is the Grand Canyon really something everyone should see? I've never had a desire to see it. What do you think?

No. I have a feeling pictures are enough for you r54.

The grand canyon is ok if you're already in the area. But i wouldn't make special trip for it. I went with mom to see it when we were in Sedona at timeshare for a week. Don't regret doing it since it was a little over 2 hour drive, but i was like oh ok yep it's a big ass hole in the rock with some water way down there. Ok seen it what's next on the agenda today?

Lots of cool stuff to do in Arizona, such as seeing Old Oraibi, continuously inhabited for a thousand years (rare in this land anyway).

Flagstaff is both cool and super gay friendly, in the shadow of the magnificent San francisco peaks. People use it as a jumping off place for the Grand Canyon, but it is interesting in its own right.

Went to NAU in Flagstaff in the early 90s and out gays were everywhere. Hippy school in a hippy town of 70k people and very liberal.

AZ get's a bit of bad wrap with the political crazies there. But most of the people there I've encountered are fine. Of maybe 10 trips i've made there i've never felt uncomfortable. Not a place i'd ever want to live ( that heat is a bitch) but i've generally enjoyed my time there.

[R54] I didn't like the Grand Canyon at all. I got such a weird feeling there, like all I wanted to do was to escape. I can't explain it. It was such a creepy, strange feeling, and it didn't have anything to do with heights, just a feeling of wanting to flee. The friend I was travelling with loved it, though, so everybody gets a different feeling about it. I would rather go back to Canyon de Chelly, a smaller canyon. At the bottom of the canyon you can see Native American sheepherders and living spaces cut into the side of the canyon. It's just beautiful, serene, and it's as if you're going back in time.

I loved Sedona, but agree that it's a two-day stay at most. I'd make it a part of a driving trip throughout the Southwest, which is what I did, and enjoyed every minute of it.

I stopped in Sedona for a week on my move cross country from Boston.....it is stunning and the air seemed so fresh that I genuinely felt energized.....didn't get a gay vibe per se, it actually seemed to lean conservative.....the new age crowd seemed like a bunch of scammers to me not nutty adorable true believers.......not sure I would want to live there, I think I would opt for Prescott instead....great if you like the great outdoors and need serenity (SENERITY NOW!).....I think northern Arizona is pretty amazing....I was intrigued as I have spent the majority of my life on the East Coast and hadn't realized how beautiful the high desert could be...and how quickly the terrain and climate changes as the elevation changes....maybe I will retire in a quiet desert town....never thought I would want to be a desert rat.

Meh, a big dusty tourist town with a lot of aging hippies.

Heading there in June for a few days. Any local favorites?

Coming into Sedona from Flagstaff, we went through the most beautiful canyon I think I've ever seen, and I grew up near Aspen. We stayed at a great B & B and enjoyed our morning in town. I don't know much more than that. I'd say anyone would enjoy a few days there and in June the weather was beaufiful. I'm not into new agey stuff, so I didn't pay attention to that aspect.

Not many gays at all, but you go for the hiking and nature. It's so picturesque! Loved it! Go visit, OP. Best time is January. Smaller crowds and more affordable and cool.

I like to go there every few years to get away from the gayness of Los Angeles.

I lived in Phoenix and used to go to Sedona on weekends. It’s picturesque and laid back, and has good restaurants. I tended to stay away from the arty/crafty stuff, and hiked instead. It’s the Arizona equivalent of Santa Fe, but it’s still in Arizona so I wouldn’t live there.

I visited Sedona for the first time last year, it's really lovely. I'm into all that crystals and gem stuff so it was right up my hippie alley. But I loved the hiking, and just being somewhere new and fresh. The people were very nice. I'd visit again. I stayed there for 3 nights.