Sedona’s red sandstone towers were already lit gold by 8:30 in the morning when a family arrived at the Bell Rock trailhead to find the parking lot completely full. That detail alone tells you everything about this destination: the American Southwest’s most photogenic small city rewards the early riser and punishes the casual planner. A 6.5-hour drive from Southern California, two full days on the ground, and a lineup of hikes, natural water slides, and genuinely unexpected food stops make Sedona one of the most satisfying short trips in the country.
Donuts before dawn hikes and an arch most people walk right past
The first morning began at Sedonuts, a family-owned shop that has been feeding tourists and locals for over a decade. The house specialties are old-fashioned donuts and apple fritters, but the standout is a massive cinnamon roll they call the Vortex. Even Amy, who is usually not a donut fan, had no complaints.
From there, the group drove 15 minutes to Fay Canyon. A Red Rock Pass is required for any hike in the area, at $5 for a day or $15 for a week, and getting an early start matters: trails fill up quickly and temperatures climb fast, reaching 92 degrees on the first afternoon. Fay Canyon itself is relatively flat and family-friendly, but the real payoff sits about half a mile in. A spur trail branches off to the right and climbs steeply to the base of the Fay Canyon Arch, a natural sandstone formation roughly 40 feet wide. The scramble adds about three-quarters of a mile round trip and can be slippery on the way down, though five-year-olds made it up without much trouble. Surprisingly, despite a busy main trail, almost nobody took the spur. The arch and its views were practically private.
For lunch, the group headed about 20 minutes into town to Wildflower, a cafe and bakery chain with what might be the best view of any fast-casual restaurant in Arizona, looking directly out toward Snoopy Rock. The steak and blue cheese sandwich is the standout order.
Fifty-two degrees and an 80-foot slide worth every second of cold
Slide Rock State Park sits about 7 miles north of Sedona, and in late September the parking lot was only half full, a sharp contrast to summer mornings when the park fills to capacity right at the 8:00 a.m. opening. The water temperature holds at 52 degrees year-round. The main slide runs about 80 feet across multiple drops into shallow pools, and wearing shorts and a t-shirt over a swimsuit is a smart call, though the sandstone turned out to be smoother than expected. The group spent the better part of three hours walking the creek, finding smaller slides for younger kids, and going down the main chute repeatedly. ‘That was SO AWESOME,’ was the on-the-ground verdict from the youngest member of the crew. Before it became a state park in 1987, the site was a working homestead and apple orchard run by Frank Pendley in the early 1900s, and in late September visitors can still pick apples on-site for $5 a small bag.
Dinner that evening took an unexpected turn. A Lote Cafe, a local favorite, required reservations booked at least a month in advance, so the group ordered takeout and paired it with a stop at Sedona’s most unusual landmark: the only McDonald’s in the world with blue arches instead of golden ones, a quirk that has quietly turned the location into a minor tourist attraction.
Day two brought Bell Rock, whose quarter-mile trail to the base becomes a full scramble for anyone willing to keep climbing. The views from partway up were, in honest terms, among the best the trip produced. A quick stop at the Chapel of the Holy Cross followed, a 1956 landmark designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright that cost $300,000 to build, before a long lunch at the Hideaway House, where a peach and ricotta pizza was the unanimous table favorite.
The final evening ended at Airport Mesa, a flat-topped overlook next to Sedona’s small airport that costs $3 to park. A rainstorm scattered most of the crowd within two minutes of arriving. Then the rain stopped, and a rainbow appeared directly beside the red rocks.
Sunny’s whistling at Airport Mesa
Before the lightning arrived and ended the evening, one of the kids stood at the Airport Mesa viewpoint and whistled into the canyon, genuinely proud of the sound she was making.
The apple fritter from Sedonuts was still the morning’s opening move, and it set the tone for everything that followed: straightforward, unhurried, and better than expected at every turn.
