The Canyon: Ain't it Grand?

I left Sedona this morning with tears in my eyes, wishing I could stay longer. Yet the farther I drove down 89A toward 17, the more excited I got about seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time. And oh, it exceeded my expectations! Here are a couple of my favorite photos from today.

You can see my very favorite as my main blog picture, a photo of me that a passing park visitor was kind enough to take. I love it so much, I've also made it into my Facebook profile photo!

I'm writing this post from the lobby of the Grand Canyon Inn, which closes around 10 pm. Got to make this short as a result.

Well, now I'm writing from a bench outside the lobby, in view of the Flintstone Campground across the street and a very dark Arizona night sky beyond. Not quite 10, but they decided to close a little early. At least I can still get a connection out here!

Okay, blogspot is seriously pissing me off right now. It won't let me upload anymore photos for this post, and it's inserted a tiny "insert image" icon at the end of the first paragraph. I am majorly annoyed. I figured out how to get rid of the icon. Let's see if it will allow me to add another photo now.

Nope. Dang it. Well, I guess you all will need to content yourselves with the two I was able to add. I'll get more up soon.

Kind of quiet and creepy sitting here all alone near Highway 64 in the dark. A police car just zoomed past with its lights flashing, but no siren. Weird. Maybe the officer is just trying to get home faster.

Anyway, time for me to get back to my room. Believe it or not, there's a chill in the air. And I'm wearing shorts.

Thanks for reading, and have a grand week!

Final Day in Sedona

This will be a sweet and swift entry, since the coffee shop closes in fifteen minutes! I meant to write my entry earlier, and got sidetracked looking up weather and ghost tour information for Albuquerque, which is where I'll land on Tuesday.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to the Grand Canyon! Just now, however, I'm feeling sad about leaving Sedona. I truly love it here, and would stay longer if the travel bug wasn't biting me good and hard. And it is.

My friend from Tempe drove up yesterday, and we spent a very fun 24 hours together. The highlight of her visit -- at least for me -- was our trip this morning to Slide Rock State Park for swimming in ice-cold (and I am NOT exaggerating) mountain stream water. I'll download the photos soon, probably on Tuesday when I get to Albuquerque.

I also found a great place for an aura photo, which came with 25 pages of interpretation, at a place right around the corner from Baby Quail Inn. Oh! And last night my friend and I actually saw quails running across Willow Way! One more bit of magic, which Sedona has in abundance.

Tonight I've got to pack up my car so I can swiftly skedaddle tomorrow. And speaking of that, the minutes are counting down at the coffee shop. Time for me to scoot.

Thanks for reading, and may you find more magic in your life than you ever believe possible!

The View from Birch Drive

That's what I want to write about today, how the beauty of Sedona keeps surprising me, taking my breath away when I least expect it. Yesterday I decided to drive around my neighborhood for a while, to see it all before I depart on Monday morning. I headed up Willow Way, which climbed up and up, then circled around at the end to bring me to the very top of Birch Drive.

The sight of red cliffs in sunset light greeted me, spread regally across the deepening-to-indigo horizon. For at least the millionth time since I arrived here, "Oh!" formed on my lips and issued from my throat. It happens almost involuntarily. I wish I had photos to share now, and I promise to take some today so you can at least catch a glimpse of what I saw.

My awe of this singular and sacred destination grows greater with each passing hour. Leaving will be difficult, yet I am eager to see the Grand Canyon (for the first time ever!) and to experience the magic of New Mexico, for I've no doubt beauty and sacredness exist there as well.

On a more mundane note, I discovered another restaurant yesterday, a vegetarian eatery on the very edge of town called D'lish. They have outside seating, and bit more casual approach. I chose what I wanted from the menu, then ordered at the counter and received an order number.

I had one of their make-your-own smoothies. They promised two bananas, and let me choose one other fruit, as well as a juice. I added blueberries and pineapple coconut juice, to super-yummy effect! I also ordered the guacamole wrap, which came with a choice of wheat or wheat-free tortilla. Wow! Simple, fresh, and my mouth is watering remembering the flavor! Guac, sprouts, baby spinach, shredded beets and carrots in a rice tortilla. Some alchemy involved (perhaps in part that most savory spice of hunger) made that wrap one of the yummiest creations I've ever eaten. I would definitely go back again!

The final thing I feel called to write about today is loneliness. I've been feeling a little blue the past two days, missing friends and my sweetheart. For several hours on Friday, all I could think about was kissing. I really wanted to kiss and be kissed! While at lunch I wrote a new song, called "Wishing I was Kissing Somebody," a sassy, silly blues number. I am greatful beyond words for the ability to channel my emotional states into songs and poems. Oh, and blogs, of course.

Blessings and thanks to all those friends with whom I spoke yesterday. You gave me such a gift: the easing of my isolation. I deeply cherish you!

Thanks for reading this electronic chronicle of my adventures. May you always remember than you are divine.

Spice Pie, Poetry, and Rivers of Sweat

After the day I had Wednesday, yesterday ranks right up there as one of my all-time favorite days! Last night I did something I have wanted to do for many years: took part in a sweat lodge ceremony. I honestly didn't believe I could sweat that freaking much, but it literally poured off me in rivers. And it felt amazing!

There were probably ten of us. We sang songs, chanted chants, shook rattles, and shared our hopes, prayers, and dreams. Our shamanic guide, Rahelio, explained that the sweat lodge represents the Mother's womb, and that after exiting the lodge, we would be spiritually reborn.

I feel as though I've been physically reborn as well. I never knew my body could endure such intense heat. Today it makes the Sedona weather seem cool in comparison!

On Wednesday I took a mystical tour with Rahelio as guide. He led three of us deep into the Coconino forest, where we swam in a gorgeous red rock-flanked pool.

After cooling off from the intense heat of the day, we lay on Indian blankets and he played flute and drummed over each of us. In between beats of the drum, he lead us on a short visualization where we entered a cave and received a gift. My gift was a large branch from a cherry tree, heavily laden with fruit.

Getting back to yesterday, I wrote a poem about Sedona after telling a friend that I didn't think I was going to write one. I went to lunch and started with dessert: a slice of amazing scrumptiousness called live spice pie. If you visit Sedona, I highly recommend ChocolaTree, a raw foods restaurant that is truly out of this world!

Eating the pie and contemplating the sweat lodge to come gave me the first line of my poem, "I sing of sweat lodges and live spice pie." The rest just flowed out, like. . .well, like magic. I haven't completed a poem I really liked in a while, and I could feel the creativity flowing through me, which felt a bit like coming out of a very long sleep. If you would like to read the entire poem, please visit http://www.facebook.com/wordshaman

Here are some more photos from my Sedona sojourn. Thanks for reading my blog, and may you have a magical day!

Beauty from Every Vantage Point

I am falling in love with Sedona. How can I fail to love a place that exudes such beauty? I see it literally everywhere I look. Breathtaking red rock formations surround the town (I know they call it a city, but it feels much smaller) on all sides. To the left is the view I had from a parking area in town on my first day.

Perhaps you can begin to see what I mean. If I had one wish, it would be to turn down the heat. Yesterday I got lost walking back from the community pool, and got my first official sunburn. Thinking I was going for a short walk, I failed to bring my hat. Belatedly I realized I could put my white hotel towel over my head, which I did --to heck with how it looked! I was too freaking hot to care!

What I just wrote may seem completely off the topic of beauty, yet I'm about to tie the two together. Yesterday was a challenging day. In addition to getting lost and sunburnt -- to find a pool that was closed -- I also lost a battle with a portable can opener that I just couldn't figure out how to use, which left me feeling quite frustrated. My coolest pair of blue jeans disintegrated on me -- literally! I had to stuff them into one of my hotel room's tiny garbage cans last night. Not only are they unwearable, they're so frayed they're unpatchable. All small things, yes, and taken in aggregate they were discouraging.

I also began feeling lonely yesterday, which I hadn't expected because I'm having such a great time. As if to emphasize my isolation, the guided mystical tour I took yesterday turned out to have two participants besides myself: two gorgeous women who apparently knew the guide quite well. At one point in our retreat, a gentleman with two dogs happened through. One of the dogs seem quite enamoured of our group, and decided to bring a large tree branch for us to play with. One by one, our guide and the other two women received this dog's favor, and threw the branch for her to retrieve. Except me. She never brought the branch to me.

You might wonder why I care, but it felt very odd. I absolutely adore animals, and they usually give that right back. The fact that this sweet, playful doggy did not bring me the branch had me feeling left out. In fact, all the other tour participants noticed, and turned to look back at me with (it seemed) mild pity.

To make a long story a little shorter, this tour ended up being the best part of my day, and the women and our guide are lovely people whom I'm glad I met. After our tour -- which I'll talk more about in tomorrow's blog -- they dropped me off and I tried to get back to my hotel. I wanted to change out of my jeans and take myself to dinner. No such luck! Two drivers had apprently crashed into each other right at Highway 89A and Willow Way, so I could not get back to my hotel, which happens to be on Willow Way. The police had the entire street blocked off.

Feeling frustrated anew, I walked to the restaurant for dinner, only to discover they close at 8 pm. I arrived at 7:55, too late to get seated. I walked half a mile to a traffic light, scoping out restaurants on the street. None were open, so I went back to the hotel, and had to sneak around to it from one street over.

Now for the beauty. By the time I got back to my room, I felt lonely, angry, frustrated, exhausted, and just a little picked on by the Universe. Normally, these are all the ingredients for a screaming blue funk that grabs me by the throat and holds on. And I feel wonderful! No deep blue funk. Last night I went to the hotel office, took out some free movies, borrowed a can-0pener, and had a great time -- all by myself. Even though I felt lonely. Even though I really wanted someone to talk with, to eat dinner with. I had someone -- myself.

Failing to fall head-first into depression is a totally new paradigm for me, and I am exhilirated! Today Sedona's beauty seems enhanced! Even the clouds are beautiful!

'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sedona Sky

I'm writing this in Ravenheart Coffee, across the street from the Baby Quail Inn. I still adore my hotel, but the Internet access is less than reliable. I'll most likely start my days here for the rest of the week, where I can blog and check email.

Yesterday I took a trolley ride through Boynton Canyon, to view and photograph the beautiful red rock formations that surround Sedona. Here's a pic of me the driver was kind enough to take.

The rocks are amazing. According to our trolley-driving tour guide, millions of years ago all these hills and mountains were under the Pacific Ocean. The red color comes from iron ore, and the white from limestone. She told us the rocks are sandstone, and every single day they erode away a little bit. In a million years, they'll be gone.

This was one of my favorites, called Kachina Woman.

Beauty exists in abundance here, and I plan to see as much of it as I can each day. I've heard the sunsets are spectacular, and I believe I'll get to see one tonight. I'm taking a three-and-a-half hour guided tour today, beginning at 4 pm, and I expect it will end with viewing a Sedona sunset, probably right off Airport Road, a quarter-mile from the Baby Quail Inn.

Before my tour, I may take another trolley ride, this one through the south side of town. Not sure what I'll see yet, but I'll post the photos once I download them. But I've got to take them first, of course!

I'll wrap this up now and start my stay. First, one more photo, the one that inspired the title of this entry:
Thanks for reading, and may you have a beautiful day!

Safely in Sedona

Tonight is my first night in Sedona, and I love the Baby Quail Inn! I got a screaming good deal, I have wireless Internet access, the room is lovely, with a queen bed and more space than I imagined it would have. They even have movies for free in the office, so I signed out Excalibur (one of my all-time favorite films) for the evening.

Directly across the street from the Inn is the New Frontier Market, an organic and natural food store. Half a block away is a shop that sells crystals and does aura photographs. Tomorrow I plan to do something totally touristy and take the Sedona Trolley ride to places of interest in the area. My plan (we'll see whether I'm able to keep to it) is to wake up at 9 am (or earlier!) every day while I'm here.

I want to spend a full day visiting Sedona's major vortices, and fortunately the Inn is very close to the one on Airport Road. I'll give a full report of my vortex experiences herein, especially since I expect some serious magic will happen there! I plan to make either Wednesday or Thursday vortex visiting day.

There's also an absolutely to-die-for-delicious raw foods restaurant very close to the Inn, and I can't wait to go there again! My closest friend, her girlfriend, and I came to Sedona for a day trip on May 31. We went to the Airport Road vortex, ate at ChocolaTree (the aforementioned restaurant) and shopped for snacks at New Frontier Market. The best part is, I had no idea all these places were so close to the Inn when I picked it out!

Probably my very favorite thing about arriving in Sedona was the weather. So much cooler here than Tempe. Ahhhhhh!