Dart and Map

If I had gotten a T-shirt as a souvenir from our trip to Sedona it would read, “I went to Sedona and all I got was this lousy T-shirt, oh, and lost in the vortex.” Not that there is anything lousy about Sedona, Az., in fact it is absolutely stunning and mystical in nature, we were just hoping to absorb some of that mystical energy ourselves, instead we got lost. But can you truly be lost when you know where you are? See how this city can play with your mind?  More about that later, first we had to check-in to a hotel and fuel up for the night.

Once again we arrived without any reservations and were treated to a vacancy at Wildflower Inn whose sign out front boasted, “Best Views,” and it was no false brag. We were treated to a room with quite a view.

It was early evening when we got to Sedona so dinnertime beckoned.  Our next discovery we were treated to was The Silver Saddle Room’s menu at the Cowboy Club. Prickly pear is a local ingredient well utilized in both their margaritas as well as the dipping sauce that accompanies the must-have unique appetizer nopalitos cactus fries. Three words: nom nom nom!

The next morning we headed to Bell Rock, the majestic red formation looming just outside our hotel window, for a hike and to encounter one of these infamous vortexes we’d heard about.  I’m all about energy and any additional good vibes are most welcome.  Touted as well marked we entered the park and began our trek on the trail, feeling just a rush of this anticipated energy.  The beauty is overwhelming and that alone is enough to give you a buzz, but we were determined to ingest more. We passed purple and green cactus and a remote stream along the way. We soon found ourselves on the backside of the rock, but yet to feel anything that would create a tingle or even raise the hair on our arms.  We forged on. And on. And on. And seemed to be further out in this path that circled and should, according to the map, return us to the starting point.  If we continued on we should simply arrive at the place where we started, so we did, but only continued to feel more distant.  We passed others along the way and could even see some folks scaling the rock itself, so we weren’t alone on this adventure, but we were getting tired and a bit frustrated. We weren’t lost exactly, the rock was still right there, we could freaking see it, but somehow getting to the other side seemed impossible. We found signs on this well marked trail, several in fact, and they started to contradict each other, pointing us back to where we had just come from, and after over two hours to get to where we were, we weren’t going back, so we went forward, it seemed to be the sensible route.  Finally we found ourselves scaling the rock itself, just like the others, but with no end in sight, even though we knew there had to be a way around, let alone the front side where we had started.  Perhaps we had encountered the vortex after all, we were just lost in it! The energy had taken its effect but so had our patience. We might not be able to see the path that led to the end but what we did see was the road off to our right. The same road which led to the entrance and lot where our car was parked. What survival skills I did have told me to head for the pavement, so we did. We scaled back down the side and eventually opted for the white lines along the highway to lead us back.

But we weren’t done. Jenn was not going to leave this other than place without anything other than encountering the vortex itself.  So after we regrouped and rehydrated with some water at the car we went back in.  With map firmly in hand we found the vortex. Turns out we had already been by it, so this time we stood our ground on this sacred ground and summoned it with all our might.  Can’t say we really felt it though, or what we thought we would feel, but we were in it and it had affected this journey one way or another, maybe just not how we expected.  But isn’t that the case with the unknown?

What I did know was that we had gotten in a heck of a workout and it was time to leave the vibes behind us and fuel up on some food.  Next stop was Javelina Cantina to store up on some Southwest fare and a toast to our survival.

Video in the vortex!

Cheers!

-Sara