Sedona & the Grand Canyon

After the wedding in Alaska we returned to Phoenix. ​The rig was in the shop being serviced, so we spent four days in Arizona, checking out Sedona and the Grand Canyon.  
 
Out of the van, which I have taken to calling “Bessie,” we stayed in a hotel at the foot of one of the many red rock spires that together make Sedona an amazingly beautiful spot. 

With just two days and without any real knowledge of the spiritual vortexes in the area that reportedly allow entry to a higher level of consciousness, I decided to do a solo trip one morning to the Montezuma Castle dwellings to see if I could learn an new appreciation for the Sinagua people who lived here 800 years ago.

 
A few miles away, I visited Montezuma Well, a spring-fed pool in the desert that has been used for irrigation and supported a population for at least 10,000 years.  The first sedentary groups have farmed the region for two thousand years. However, the spirit of the early settlers failed to reach me and I drove north back to the red rocks of Sedona

The view of the Red Rocks takes your breath away.  

Later  that day, Mark and I hiked around some of the most amazing land formations, including the Bell (middle above), that are all carved out from these rocks.  ​

The next morning, I decided to visit one of the vortex sites that I read about online.  I walked to the canyon and tried to focus on the energy of the area but I was distracted by groups of visitors laughing and talking while the jumped around on the rocks. 

The Grand Canyon
​In the afternoon, we drove north for two hours to the Grand Canyon, where we arrived at the South Rim in the late afternoon.  We planned to hike down into the canyon for a couple of hours the next day and scope out trails we could explore when we return here next year.  Unfortunately before this plan could be fully realized, I slipped and fell, cutting and bruising my leg just below the knee and hobbled back to our hotel.

​The next day, I was able to hike down an hour along the South Kaibab trail, then Mark sprinted down into the canyon while I sat and admired the view.  It was a peaceful moment, despite the throbbing leg.   Here are some photos of what we saw before heading out for Las Vegas where we would pick up "Bessie" and return to Death Valley National Park.

The blue line at the top is the horizon. See how flat it is! View near Mather Point.

My view from the S. Kaibob trail for two hours. Not bad, eh?

Sunrise on a cloudy day. Grand Canyon.