Sedona - Day 4

The fourth morning when I awoke in Sedona, the sun had already warmed up enough for us to sit on the promenade deck for our breakfast. During our stay in Sedona we stayed at the Best Western Inn of Sedona, highly recommended for the views and the wonderful amenities. The outdoor pool is heated to 85 degrees year round which sounds like a rather novel idea until you realize that once you get out of that pool, you have to walk to your room - outdoors. I am not particularly fond of being wet and cold (they usually go hand in hand) and nothing could convince me otherwise. Besides I had already done the hot tub the previous evening. I had already defeated the "wuss" factor so there was nothing left to prove.

My breakfast was tapioca pudding, the fridge leftovers. After leaving the hotel, we did some shopping and then went to the fourth vortex on the way to the Sedona airport. There was a slight hike to an area between two hills where there are two spectacular views of Sedona.



The twisted juniper trees were easy to spot here.



Having visited 3 of the vortex sites before now, we wondered if juniper trees always grew twisted. I went on a walkabout to see if there were any straight ones. In retrospect, this was tricky since we were always looking for juniper trees at vortex sites, and they were... well, twisted. What I did notice was that there was definitely varying degrees of twisted. Having never taken that science class, I was quite impressed that I was starting to recognize a specific tree. And then I found a straight one! Here is the proof:



As for that vortex energy, I sat in the sun overlooking the valley, again quite taken by all the sunshine. Then I heard a sound of a horn, and then another. When I looked up, I saw two men with large horns, polished. They said they were trying not to alarm me. When I asked what the horns were, they said it was a Jewish tradition of sending out blessings to everyone. I took my blessings and headed down the path around one of the hills. I stopped to take a picture of yet-another twisted tree and found that I had vertigo. Hiking seemed like a bad idea. I haven't heard that vertigo is a vortex experience but if it was, it was hardly subtle. But all in all, after visits to 4 vortex sites, I can't say that I felt the energy.

But apparently it doesn't matter. We were told that vortex energy will travel with us, even if we didn't feel it while we were there.

My body is happy. Walking and hiking and sunshine are all good medicine.

More shopping in downtown Sedona. My treasure find was a tennis bracelet. Our last meal in Sedona was at New Frontiers Natural Marketplace, a definite hangout for us.

About 3 o'clock, we headed up the canyon to the Flagstaff airport. We stopped at the Native jewellery outdoor markets, two outdoor areas where brave-weather women display their beautiful wares. Another must see, especially if you want to have a hankering for jewellery.

The further we got from Sedona, the cooler the weather, and more snow on the sides of the road. It was definitely melting but one of the luggage handlers told me that they were expecting a week of snow in the following week. We arrived in Phoenix 45 minutes ahead of schedule. We had plenty of time for me to have Carvel ice cream and our dinner at a terminal pub. Nachos and quesadillas followed by papaya digestive enzymes. Life is perfect!

The flight from Phoenix to Spokane was very comfortable as we had seat with extra leg room (Row 4 of a Boeing 737 if you ever have a choice!), and though I lost the game of Scrabble, I played some clever moves. And then I got all wrapped up in my book - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

We got to Spokane 35 minutes early. I saw a woman from our home town while we were boarding the plane, returning from Mexico. She was wearing flip-flops and capris. I could see as we walked into the gusts outside the airport that we had an advantage. Our 4-day vacation had acclimatized us to any weather.