After departing New Mexico we hopped back on the road and our next destination was Sedona, Arizona. As we drove through this area of the Southwest we found lots of open space, land formations and lots of Native American reservations.
There is nothing quite like the national parks, a place where we can enjoy the wide open space and natural beauty of our country without all the tourism and all the hustle and bustle of modern life. We decided to see what Arizona had to offer and made our first national park stop, the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest.
The Painted Desert is truly fantastic, the landscape is a movement of color, beginning red and orange and becoming purple and blue as you drive on. Scattered throughout all this landscape are pieces of petrified wood from when this used to be a tropical climate. The petrified wood is both unique and fascinating; the trees crystallized and became stone.
We left the Painted Desert and continued down the interstate driving through the Coconino National forest. It’s amazing you drive through a beautiful national forest with several feet of snow on the ground, and then come over the ridge of the mountain and enter the desert. As you drive into Sedona it is absolutely beautiful with its red rock formations but it is a stark contrast to the wide open unobstructed views of the national parks. Sedona has become known not only for its red rock but also its spiritual energy and vortexes.
The town has become a center for retirement, tourism and spiritual growth. When you walk into the main strip in Sedona, you can find jeep rides through the red rocks, massage centers, UFO siting tours and centers for photographing your aura. Now I don’t know exactly what photographing your aura means or looks like but it appears to be a popular activity.
We took advantage of the red rock country and went for a hike up to Cathedral rock, the most photographed formation in Sedona. It was truly fantastic, and quite strenuous. After completing our on the ground tour we took to the skies in a helicopter ride. We spent about 15 minutes flying around the area and around the formations for a very unique view.
After departing Sedona we took off up north to see the most famous formation we American have, the Grand Canyon. We arrived just in time for sun set, and despite the cool temperatures it was still an amazing sunset. How do you really even try to describe the Grand Canyon, it is truly huge. We often make it larger than life, and I don’t want to do that, but it is difficult to put into words the canyon created by waterways slowly eroding the land and showing us the sediments going back 1900 million years ago, it is hard not to be impressed.
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