Nov 5, 2019
Promptly at 9:00 AM we walked through the parking lot and went to the timeshare presentation. It was given by a very nice gentleman who quickly realized he was not going to make a sale to us. However we were all obligated to do our jobs so he showed us the rooms which were very nice and we chatted about our travels for a while before he gave us our tour certificates and sent us on our way in around 75 minutes. He didn’t even bother to tell us how much the timeshare would cost. Holly was impressed and I think of all the many timeshare presentations we have been to this was her favorite. See a short film, spend a few minutes amicably chatting and then get hundreds of dollars of free activities. Can’t beat that.
It was only around 10:30 AM and our Helicopter tour was at 3:45 PM so we had the day free. We had not showed since Las Vegas so we were getting kinda ripe. Fortunately, it had been cold (freezing) so we had not sweated much so it wasn’t too bad but it was getting time to find a shower. We have a shower in the RV but with our limited water supply, we try not to use it. Instead, it functions mostly as an extra closet. Since the Hyatt timeshare presentation was so painless Holly sent Olivia and I back out to book another timeshare presentation, this time for someplace to stay.
Some people dislike timeshare presentations and when you only have a week’s vacation it seems a waste of precious vacation hours to go to a sales presentation just to save a few bucks however for us, we got nothing but time so I view it as being paid handsomely to do very easy work for a couple hours. I quickly found a Sapphire Resorts booth. The lady at that booth was not nearly as generous and all I got was a night in a one bedroom condo and three tickets to the Out of Africa Animal park for free. The tickets would have cost about $100 and the condo was worth about $175 so only $275 value vs the over $400 for Hyatt but close enough and I got us a place to stay and shower for the night. I think I could have gotten a better deal at the Diamond Resorts booth but we had already gone to a Diamond Resorts Presentation while in Hawaii five months ago and we would not be eligible to go to another Diamond Resorts presentation within six months.
Holly wanted a bit of alone time so Olivia and I went to quite possibly the nicest Chipotle restaurant in the world. It had huge floor to ceiling windows with the same (or better) spectacular views of the red rock Sedona landscape as the expensive restaurants charging $18 for a burrito but it had the reasonable Chipotle prices. I would rate it the best place to eat in Sedona.
After lunch we went back to the RV and drove to the Sedona Pines Resorts. It was only 12:30 pm so our room was not ready yet but they did give us a pool key so that worked out fine for us as we had everything we needed in the RV. We all went to the pool and Olivia had a great time with some other kids while I relaxed in the Jacuzzi and Holly went on the computer to order a year’s worth of cosmetics from Macy’s. At 2:30 Olivia and I showered and we drove to the Sedona airport for our helicopter tour.
We checked in at the Sedona Air Tours company offices which was very nice and had free popcorn. We were each weighed and after a short wait we were taken by van to the airfield where we boarded our Helicopter. Holly was lucky enough to be up front in the co-pilot’s seat while Olivia and I were in the back with another couple. Olivia was very excited since this would be her first helicopter ride.
We all buckled in and put on our headphones and then we were off! The pilot took us around the famous Sedona rock formations such as Snoopy Rock and through a canyon. It was interesting to see a different vantage point as we zoomed around and we got some good pictures. I don’t think the actual flight was as exciting for Olivia since she had been on airplanes many times in the past but it was still a cool experience. It was not a very long flight, about 20 minutes and all too soon we were back on the ground. The airport is near a popular sunset viewpoint so we just walked down the road for 1 minute, past a parking lot where dozens of people were paying $3 to park to go to the viewpoint. We enjoyed the sunset before heading back to Sedona Pines where we were able to check in.
Sedona Helicopter tour 
Olivia enjoyed the helicopter tour 
Sedona from the Helicopter 
Olivia in the Helicopter 
The resort is a bit unusual in that it consists of small cottages, sort of like long, narrow tiny houses or mobile homes. It was comfortable enough but not nearly as luxurious as the Hyatt condos. Regardless it was good enough for us and Holly cooked us a delicious dinner and we watched some TV before going to bed.
