In Which I Discover the Sky is Still Filled with Stars

I spent about 24 hours in Sedona, Ariz., with my family this past weekend. From where I live, the drive is about an hour and a half, or maybe two hours in more-than-mild traffic.

Too bad it had to be such a short trip, but it was wonderful to get out of the city and away from the smog for a while. I think Sedona's elevation is about 4,000 feet, so I had sincerely hoped it would be at least a little cooler than it is here in the Valley, but alas, the poor folks up there are suffering nearly just as bad as we are. I will say, however, that at least the temperature dropped significantly after the sun went down, which is totally unlike the nights here in the summer. Here, after nightfall, you can still step outside and feel your face melting off.

There wasn't much time for it, but I did get to explore a little; I saw some great landscapes and really interesting rock figures. Something particularly interesting, however, was the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which rises up from a mountain of red rock. I've included a picture of it here, as well as one of the winding walkway that leads up to it.

Another area my family visited was a very quaint village of shops. I forget the name of it, but the buildings' architecture had a Spanish flair, with balconies and several squares and lots of fountains. In several places, the desert trees' branches had grown around staircase banisters and through the balcony railings, which gave the whole place a kind of Secret Garden feel to it. I hadn't intended on buying anything or taking home any kind of souvenir, but there was an interesting music box shop that carried boxes from all over the world. My favorites were the wooden inlay ones, but as those were hundred of dollars, I settled instead on some smaller ones that play as long as you keep turning the handle on one end. The boxes are clear, too, so you can watch everything going on inside. I bought one for each person in my family, and each box plays a different tune.

There are so many scenic drives and hikes around Sedona that we didn't get to experience this time around. My whole family said, though, we'd really like to come back, preferably when we can make plans for a longer trip. I hope the scheduling works out. Who knows, maybe we'll be lucky enough to return in the fall, when it's much cooler.

Another thing that's interesting about Sedona ... Locals say that the area has "powers." More specifically, they say it has an energy to it, and that there are certain locations where this energy is concentrated. "Vortexes," they call them. If you're a person who believes that places are capable of having have different kinds of energy, then for you, a visit to Schnebly Hill or the Chapel of the Holy Cross or Cathedral Rock or Boynton Canyon may bring you feelings of acute self-awareness, or maybe even some level of emotional healing. I don't know if there's any science to it, but I certainly can't deny that seeing such beautiful panoramas didn't make me feel profoundly peaceful and content.




Photos by Sway Sovay