Sedona

We asked for it, we got it. Somehow, after decades of desire, we made it to Sedona. Miracles abound! But why this particular sojourn? What was in store for us? What would we learn, how would we feel, and what would we bring back? Sit back and rest easy as I impart to you the answers to these questions and more.

Let’s start with “why this particular sojourn?” I was once there decades ago. My friend and colleague, Colleen and I commandeered a work vehicle and drove the 120 miles from Phoenix to Sedona because we had to witness this magical land we’d only heard about in legends.

The only memory I have from that trip to Sedona was pulling over on the side of the road and walking straight into a Ponderosa Pine forest smelling the fresh, peppery, fragrance of the pines, hearing the Ravens squawking and chortling about something very important to them, feeling the pure, perfect temperature in the stock-still air that surrounded me, and coming upon a red and burnt-sienna stone wall that rose straight up out of the forest to unbelievable heights.

I don’t remember entering into the town of Sedona, but this short jaunt into the woods was enough to capture my spirit and utter the words “I will be back here one day, come hell or high water.”

I think we can all agree that leaving our comfort zone is the beginning of any true adventure. And leaving your comfort zone on a jet plane at 5:20 am requires you to be ready at the airport by 3:20 am. In order to remember everything you need on your trip you must therefore wake up at 2:00 am.

By the time this fateful Friday in early October was over, we had been awake for roughly 26 hours.

Goodbye Columbia, SC. We love you but we gotta get away for awhile. Note the darkness.

 

Hello Southwest! it’s good to see a little less darkness.

 

And hello Albuquerque, New Mexico! Good morning sunrise. Thank you for receiving us.

 

Whilst awaiting our luggage I noticed that New Mexico is proud of the fact that the TV show “Breaking Bad” was shot here. So proud that they dedicated a store to the show. I was curious, but not enough to interrupt our trip.

  We had to rent a vehicle to get us from here (the “Albuquerque International Sunport” as it is called) to Sedona and the drive to Sedona would be seven hours long. You can start to see how waking up at 2:00 am was responsible for putting us both into a state of delirium later that very evening. But I digress.  

Aside from a short meal at a cafe in Ramah, all of New Mexico looked like this.

 

That’s not to say that there was no entertainment on the roadway. We were impressed with the paint job on this little trailer we passed.

 

As we descended into Oak Canyon, just minutes outside of Sedona, we caught our first glimpse of how the terrain grew more magical.

 

That first night in Sedona was epic, if for no other reason than the fact that we had actually made it to this legendary destination.

 

Even the insects were larger than life. We found this Western Hercules Beetle on the sidewalk just outside the hotel lobby.

We were completely delirious, owing to our being awake for a full 23 hours at this point. We were also hungry and after a few short, aimless walks about the place, we finally came upon a food truck parked not far from our hotel room door and they served some of the finest Mexican Food we’d ever tasted. After 26 hours of being awake, we finally closed our eyes with visions of all the exploring we’d do over the next several days in Sedona, Arizona, starting with the Sedona Arts Festival.  

I did not take pictures at the Sedona Arts Festival out of courtesy to the makers. But there were cool things there made by cool people. We enjoyed their company and the stories about their creations. Such camaraderie was a dream come true for people like Catherine and I who love creativity.

 

There is no place in Sedona that doesn’t offer a magnificent view of the surrounding red rocks, even the view from our hotel balcony.

 

About 500 yards from our hotel door was the trailhead to Margs Draw.

 

Catherine illustrates our excitement.

 

These were the mountains that enticed us and drew us away from civilization.

 

We thirsted for adventure and the challenge of this hike was like fresh artesian water on a hot desert day.

 

The Hoodoos beckoned us closer.

 

There was always something there to remind us that we were in a desert.

 

Here is what the skeleton of a dead cactus looks like.

 

Part of the magic of this mystical land is that no matter how close you get to these unusual stone formations, there is always equal beauty in the opposite direction.

 

No matter how close we got to the rocks their seductive allure kept pulling us closer.

 

Lo and behold, the magic expanded into the sky!

 

Margs Draw. A draw is the place where the base of two mountains meet. This is often a place where water runs during heavy rains. We’d be seeing no rain on this trip until we headed towards the Grand Canyon.

 

From our lofty perch, we looked back on the town of Sedona floating in a valley of trees and surrounded by grandeur in every direction.

 

As the sun began to sink, our shadows began to grow.

 

We watched the sun set behind the strange rock formations and marveled at the silhouettes.

 

The day arrived to pack up our things and drive on up to Flagstaff. On the way we pulled off to use some restrooms and check out a little street market action, only to realize, that the scenery was going to follow us wherever we went.

 

There in the land of the Aspens at 7,000 feet above sea level, we basked in the colors of the deep forests.

 

The Aspens turn yellow in early October and the trunks (which appear white) are actually a light pale green.

 

Soon we were Bathing in yellow.

 

We could see how high up we were when the trees thinned at the edge of the mountain.

 

It was the blue sky that made the yellow Aspens pop.

 

Out in the wilderness, no one can predict what strange things they may find. This cross was far from the trail and high enough I almost missed it.

 

Leaving Flagstaff and saying goodbye to this majestic forest of Firs and Aspens was heart-wrenching for me, but 75 miles up the road, another wonderment awaited our senses, the Grand Canyon!

  The temperature persisted between 73° and 80° in this arid, desert land. But on our way to the Grand Canyon we were caught by surprise…

The one and only time on our six-day journey it decided to rain just outside the Grand Canyon National Park.

 

But this was a spiritual sojourn where miracles flourished and no sooner did we park the car, than the sun returned and the storm clouds retreated.

 

We could tell that Doctor Seuss had been here studying the flora at one point in time.

 

The first thing you notice about the Grand Canyon, besides its fascinating wildlife (note squirrel on rock in distance) is the outright friendliness of the open space that surrounds you.

 

The steepness and the vastness pose no threat. They are there simply to give you a sense of scale and your true insignificance in this world.

 

Color and texture run as far as the eye can see.

 

Shadows from the clouds crept across the earth like serpents.

 

The striations and layers of rock with their illusions of stacks and columns testify to the architectural designs of our planet.

 

The sacred energy vortexes throughout the Southwest can be found by keeping an eye out for the twisted, gnarly trunks of the Juniper Trees. So fascinating!

 

As we bade farewell to the unbelievable vastness of this portion of the earth, I could not help but feel a deep, bittersweet longing for more of this fusion of spirit and land, this harmonious union of nature and soul. The ache is not just for the landscape of the Southwest, but for the spirit of the place.

Six days in this glorious dreamland with my lovely wife left me with three gifts:

1. Aim bigger from now on. Bigger everything because not only do we all deserve life to be bigger and better but we are actually capable of handling bigger and better.
2. If I want to do something stupendous, I must make inroads. Whatever part of my desire that I can immediately put into play at the outset, I must go for it. No matter how small or insignificant I think it is.
3. I love my wife way more than I can ever put into words.

The road trip back to Albuquerque was not without further sights to behold.

 

As we flew back to Columbia intoxicated by the memories of all our adventures and the unusual magnetism of this spiritual paradise called Sedona, we knew, like I did long ago, “We will be back here one day, come hell or high water.”