After wandering around Sedona for a few hours, I drove up to Flagstaff. Let me tell you a crazy story. My friend Elliot and I are traveling around on our own separate trips, and found our paths crossing in Tucson. We hung out there, talked about road trips and the idea of home and being in one place, among other things, and said our goodbyes with plans to meet up again in a few weeks in San Francisco. Neither of us was sure when we’d be leaving Tucson, but we were both heading up to northern Arizona next. I leave on a Wednesday, take my time driving up to Flagstaff with a side trip to Sedona. Pulling into the first stoplight in Flagstaff I get a phone call from Elliot. I’m thinking he’s calling to see if I’m still in Tucson and can meet up for dinner or some such. I pick up the phone. Hey Elliot, what’s up? Um, he says, I’m right behind you.

!!!!

So we ended up in Flagstaff at the same time. Which was great because we got to spend some more time together AND go to the Grand Canyon together. What are the odds?

The Grand Canyon was and is breathtaking. I’m really glad we got to see it in the winter, as the sprinkles of snow in places made it feel extra magical and pure, and apparently the visibility is farther due to better air quality in the winter. The canyon is so vast! For me it gave me space and silence to meditate and clear my mind. I kept wondering what it must have been like to stumble on this huge hole in the ground before it became a park that everyone knows about. You’re riding along on your horse, enjoying the scenery, when all of a sudden, outtanowhere, whoa! Big hole that goes on for miles. I bet it feels different when you think it is neverending.

I really wanted to see the sun set over the canyon, and for a minute it seemed like we wouldn’t have a good view. We almost left the park at twilight, but instead decided to drive to some of the other points and found success at what I think (if I remember correctly, Elliot might remember better) was Hopi Point. And the sun did not disappoint. We watched the colors change into deep oranges and reds and at the very end, a column of light appeared perpendicular to the horizon. It was phenomenal and nothing like I’ve ever seen before. It was an extraordinary experience.

Next stop after Tucson was Sedona on my way to Flagstaff. Sedona is absolutely breathtaking. I spent just a few hours there, and I wish I had spent more time. I debated staying the night there instead of heading to Flagstaff, but it worked out well that I didn’t. I’ll explain why in another post. Meanwhile, the rock in Sedona is absolutely gorgeous, red and thoughtfully formed. So many beautiful views. And it seems it is a wonderful mix of desert and forest all in one place! Even though I hadn’t been in the southwest for that long, I was missing that forest-y greenness I’m used to in Indiana and thereabouts. So it was neat to get the best of both worlds in Sedona — beautiful rock, plus forest, and even a bit of snow.

Sedona is rich with lots of art and artisans, so I decided to take the time to acquaint myself with some art. I visited the Sedona Art Center, as well as browsed the many jewelry shops. The city is also known to be a mystical healing place, and not to get all new age-y, but I took a moment here to reflect and decided to start to repair some inner thoughts and processes that needed healing. It felt like a good time to do so. I don’t know if it was this place or just where I was in my mind in regard to this trip, but I had reached a turning point here. I began to feel more grounded, more myself, more capable and slightly more confident. It felt like a returning, like greeting an old friend I hadn’t seen in awhile. But also like turning over a new leaf, making new commitments to myself, necessary commitments for personal growth and happiness. The momentum of that started here. It continues now. Sometimes it’s two steps forward, one step back, but regardless, it feels good.

I really had a blast in Tucson and I think Isabel did too. First of all, we met Melinda (@unredacted) and Duffy (@bittabuffalo) and they showed us a wonderful time in Tucson. Melinda was a wealth of information at the Desert Museum (and a great companion despite her feeling under the weather, so enchanted she was by many things at the museum) and humored my extra stop at Gates Pass to catch views I don’t get to see in the flat Midwest. She also has an orange tree in her backyard, which gave us oranges for fresh squeezing on Saturday morning. And we ate fresh eggs from Duffy’s chickens, which were perhaps the best eggs I have ever eaten in my entire life. They cooked up beautifully, the yolks were a brilliant orange-yellow and they smelled almost buttery while frying. Truly delicious! I felt spoiled.

Gates Pass:

Duffy took Isabel and me up on Mount Lemmon where we hiked the Green Mountain trail and achieved a first ascent on a random boulder along the way (a route we still need to name, ahem). We had planned for much more climbing, but the busyness of the weekend allowed us just this one accomplishment. While hiking we also spotted an anatomically correct snowman. A rare species, indeed.

All of us ran Meet Me at Maynards, a downtown Tucson running event on Monday evenings. It was here that I learned I can run four miles without stopping to walk! It’s all in the pace, who knew? I just needed to slow down a bit. It also helped me to run with a partner, and I’ll say that Melinda makes an excellent running partner. Now it’s got me thinking about running a half marathon (Indy Mini, I’m looking at you). Thank you Melinda, Duffy and Tucson, for helping me discover this about myself. Also, thank you for enlightening me about slime molds.

After Alamogordo, we set off for Tucson to visit Twitter friends @unredacted and @bittabuffalo. Before leaving, @unredacted warned me about giant curious billboards on I-10 into Arizona advertising for “The Thing” and that I would wonder, should I stop to find out about the Thing?, and that the answer was yes. So I stopped. I paid my dollar. I saw the Thing. You should too.