“It’s like someone just plopped a town down in the middle of a National Park”, says the driver of the shuttle. This is true as the city is surrounded by towering, sculpted red rock formations that are incredibly vivid against the clear blue sky. Compared to the Gulf Coast, I felt as if I were on another planet. Every driver we had, and we had a lot of them, marveled at the landscape and called sites to our attention. “ Look at the Spaceship clouds!’ Becky, with  Intown Rides, said. Known as lenticular clouds, they are stationary and appear to hover in the sky. 

Sedona is approximately a two-hour drive north of Phoenix, with the landscape transitioning from desert to red rock formations as you travel along the way. The Saguaro cactus, the ones with the arms, grow everywhere. It takes 50 years to produce an arm, so these guys were ancient. We took a shuttle from the airport and climbed more than 4000 feet, and were dropped at our destination, the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock.  My daughter was attending a conference in Expressive Therapies; she's a mental health counselor, and I tagged along because I had always wanted to visit Sedona and also see the Grand Canyon, which is located just two hours north. 

Known as a global wellness destination, Sedona is renowned for its energy vortexes, New Age shops, and opportunities for spiritual healing, meditation, and yoga, making an expressive therapy workshop an ideal fit. Bell Rock was very close to our hotel and is one of the main energy vortexes, a special spot on the Earth where energy is either entering or projecting out of the Earth's plane. Many tourists come to experience spiritual healing and self-discovery, and I must admit, I was one of them.

On our first day, we hiked to Bell Rock early in the morning, before the intense dry heat of the day descended upon us. It was a nice, well-marked trail, and we got close enough to feel the vortex: we didn't feel anything but hot and thirsty. It was still a cool experience. That evening, because the hotel said not to depend on Uber, we hired a driver named ‘Tree’ to take us into town for dinner. 

Tree arrived at the Hotel in a beat-up van, with shredded upholstery and a dog in the front seat. He was very nice, but I knew we weren't in Kansas anymore. We dined at a fabulous restaurant, Rene at Tlaquepaque, which was French Mediterranean fine dining, quiet and elegant, and it was a very memorable meal. 

Tlaquepaque is a lovely, Spanish-style shopping village with beautiful art galleries featuring Southwestern art, jewelry, rugs, clothing, and more.  Authentically fashioned after a traditional Mexican village, Tlaquepaque, meaning the "best of everything," has been a Sedona landmark since the 1970s. Its "vine-covered" stucco walls, cobblestoned walkways, and magnificent arched entryways give you the feeling that Tlaquepaque has been here for centuries. Gorgeous Arizona sycamore trees, which the developers had to build around, shade the village, adding to the artistic atmosphere.  We loved it so much, we went back the next day and contributed more to their economy.

Becky picked me up the next day for a tour of the Red Rock Scenic Byway, which is a 13-mile scenic drive through the Coconino National Forest. We visited The Chapel of the Holy Cross, which was built from 1954 to 1956 into the red rock buttes, high above Sedona, and was inspired and commissioned by local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude. The architecture was amazing, and it too was a very spiritual place, with more fabulous views. Becky knew the rock formations well, and we had fun finding faces, creatures, and symbols in these magnificent natural structures. 

That evening, on the way to dinner, Becky insists that we see the Sedona Airport, a towerless airstrip on the Tabletop Mesa, 500 feet above the city. It was dusk, and we were fortunate to see the sky change colors from such a high vantage point. Dinner that night was one of the best dining experiences I've ever had, at Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill. The architecture is exceptional, and you feel it when you arrive. The property is perched atop a scenic bluff surrounded by red rock canyons. 13-foot-tall gates are flanked by four fire-wok butterfly globes that guide guests to the entrance of the terrace that surrounds the 23-foot-tall floor-to-ceiling windows of the main dining room. We were seated on the terrace and had Mother Nature as our dining companion. The sunset and the surroundings, along with delicious food, made for an exceptional evening.

Our last day was Grand Canyon Day. The Pink Adventure Tours drove us two hours to the South Rim of the Canyon, and our guide educated us about the area's history, flora, and fauna. I didn't really have any expectations, but seeing this wonder of the world was on my bucket list. I think I've used every superlative in the dictionary to describe the beauty of this trip, but I have no words for how I felt looking down and across 10 miles of 6-million-year-old gully. 

Here is the truth. Over the four days in Arizona, I felt the Vortex, and I had many moments of joy, healing, and reflection. Perhaps it was the power of suggestion, but Sedona instilled in me a reverence for America, the beautiful, and a profound gratitude for my life’s experiences.