Phoenix, Sedona (?) in May

Hello all,

I am going to a conference for work in Phoenix in May. The conference runs from Sunday night (May 6th) through Friday afternoon (May 11th). My aunt lives in Scottsdale, so I plan to stay with her Friday night and Saturday after the conference, and fly back to NH on Sunday.

I've never been to Arizona before, and am very excited! :D

I have the option of arriving as early as the Friday before (May 4th) and still having the flights covered by work. I'm considering renting a car and driving up to Sedona for Friday and Saturday, then returning to Phoenix in time for registration Sunday from 4-6pm.

Does anyone know of an inexpensive place to stay in Sedona (or the area), or am I just dreaming? I'm trying to make this work with our budget... :rolleyes: Otherwise I'll have to skip Sedona :( .

Any tips for me? Anything I should see/do in Sedona area or in Phoenix? Thanks for anything you can offer!

as far as cheap, i don't know of any cheap place in Sedona, then again i only took day trips up there, didn't spend the night. you could always spend the night in flagstaff and drive down, its not as far as driving up from phoenix.

there are so many places to see and hike in both phoenix and sedona. in sedona one of my favorite places isSlide Rock. it is really pretty. i went up in the summer and actually slid down it. the water was COLD! but it was fun. you can hike around there too (or you could, not sure if you can anymore).

there are tons of little shops in Sedona. you never know what you may find.

you can probably google some free maps of Sedona to find trails or find some there in Sedona (you might have to pay for those).

have fun! :)

I can't help with suggestions for a place to stay, but I can tell you that there is some wonderful hiking in (around) Sedona. I went there for a quick long weekend back in February of 2004 (or should I say crazy considering I started on the East Coast...).

If you're interested, I have a small photo gallery from my 3 seasons in 3 days in Sedona - the first day was sunny, the second rainy, and the third snowy. The gallery is at http://denise.smugmug.com/gallery/81583. And there's a link from the gallery description to my blog if you're looking for more details.

Happy planning and dreaming...

--- Denise