Sedona … into the Vortex

No sooner had we arrived in Sedona, Arizona, and the mysterious phenomena they call the ‘vortex’ pulled us in.

My cousin, her hubby the pilot, another couple, and my male friend were on a road trip and wandered into this little world once we arrived. A great peace settled over me as we turned into the visitor’s bureau, directions at last. Being the co-pilot is not easy, it is a fine line you have to walk. Buffering the backseat drivers from confusing the designated driver is not for the faint of heart.

“Let’s go here, let’s go there, I’m hungry, are you sure we are on the right road” ..and of course the inevitable “I gotta go pee.” But we are older now when someone pipes up “I wouldn’t object if you turned into the nearest place you can for a pit stop” Then everyone chimes in “Me too” The ‘baby boomer’ bladders are aging.

We all pile out at the next rest area and it is a busy one! I gotta say the rest areas in Arizona are some of the best we have ever used. Now where the heck did my male friend wander off to? I go in search and find him admiring the view and checking out the farmers’ fence line in the distance…once a farmer always a farmer.

The visitor’s bureau gives us a short film on the area and we are duly impressed, rock formations are explained and the scenery is inspiring but the wind is chilly. I had forgotten my bunny hug (hoodie). We find the park warden lady and I get her to draw me a picture of where we are and where we can have a picnic (because I’m in charge of directing this mission) and off we go. Her last words that ring in my ears are “Turn right at the last traffic light in town”. The first mistake was making me co-pilot because I am geographically challenged, but if you draw me a picture…  ah, that’s better. But, but, how do you know if you are at the last traffic light in town?

Okay, this vortex feeling was starting to get to us and something was gnawing at our subconscious, hmmm. The backseat drivers are getting cranky… “there are no traffic lights!” “You sure we are on the right road?” “Maybe we should have turned somewhere?” … “How much farther?”

I spy three flea markets that I would love to explore, but do I whine about it and say “I wanna go there?” YES, I DO! But first I need to guide these hungry babies to a FREE picnic site that we don’t need a permit on our windshield for.  I SEE THEM, after a strategic turn (orchestrated by me) we are now on a road that has traffic lights. My guts are now on edge because I have to figure out if that last light was the last. Oh hell… just keep going, and yes.  There it is, the last light with a sign to the picnic area, whew… that gnawing feeling was hunger!

The view is spectacular and we have a covered picnic area to ourselves, so we unpack and enjoy the delicious lunch that my cousin has prepared for us. The red rock formations are caused by ‘rust’ from the high iron content in the rock ‘rusting’ from the moisture. There was once a sea here as well and you can find shells and fossils in one of the layers, it was all explained with actual rocks and pictures and aerial views of the different layers at the visitors center, it was worth the visit. How often do we say I wonder how that came about? It was a perfect afternoon in a perfect setting with perfect company, well our (pilot) does need a leash but who’s gonna reign him in? Not me, I’d like to visit that little world of his, I bet it is really cool.

The vortex is calling us and we pack up our stuff and go forth to seek out this mysterious place where all the centers of the universe draw together. It has something to do with the magnetism of the iron or whatever, google it. It creates this vortex that expands your feelings of whatever it is you are feeling. Mostly they say it is a feeling of peace within yourself, they also talk of UFOs as well… hmmm. The vortex sucks us into each flea market on the way back and my feelings of contentment are so intensified that I could not be happier. The odd part about this is that I don’t even buy anything, but the girls do and our (pilot) gets to visit his own little world at each stop and, and, life is good.

On our way back to Scottsdale the boys/men want to eat the girl guide cookies that we brought with us.  My cousin decides to hold them hostage until she gets a ‘GOOD’ cup of coffee to go with them. We stop at a small café and I jump out of the van with her, I am the co-pilot remember, and need to keep us on schedule.  As she waltzes in and says to the waitress “I hope you don’t think this is a stupid request, but can I taste your coffee?” (I am not making this up) The girl smiles and not missing a beat says ”of course, you can” and leads us to the end of the counter where she pours a little coffee into a little plastic condiment cup…and says “And you probably are wondering why I don’t think that is a strange request” … we all laugh and cousin approves of the coffee. She never did explain why she didn’t think it was a strange request, ah well.

It comes to five dollars, I say “I’ll pay” but my cousin brings out all the change in her purse and starts counting out quarters, nickels, pennies, etc…..and says “Here is four dollars, you pay the dollar” she says to me. The thing is, I only have five dollars. Now I am going to get all her damn change. The nice girl says “Okay it’s all good.”  My cousin then found another dollar and whew, that was a little bit of a mini-drama. We got back in the van and the two boxes of cookies came out. I related the scenario from the cafe to the passengers and we all had a good laugh as we scarfed down Girl Guide cookies.

We missed the call out that we were coming to the Casino we had decided to have supper at on the way back, so we decided to stop at Walking Stick Casino in Scottsdale. We don’t find any specials happening there (Native-run Casinos are very good places to eat in our humble opinion, but this one is found lacking) so some of us end up donating to the slot machine gods. Then we take in a mini pow wow performance, before leaving to make supper at home. The hot tub calls out to us after supper and we make do :  )

This beautiful home that my cousins’ good friends have invited us to share with them is quite nice. It has four bedrooms, three of which have double queen-sized beds, four full bathrooms, and a baby grand piano in the grand living room.  It also has a basketball court as well as a putting green, oh a pool and hot tub. Well, life here is very good and we got to share a piece of it. My male friend gave an impromptu concert on the ’ Baby Grand’ before my male friend and I left on Sunday for a visit with my favorite sister. It’s too bad we don’t play basketball and are not golfers, well that’s not true, we just really don’t care.

Sedona was amazing and well worth the visit, the scenery is spectacular, and the vortex made me feel a calm  within myself or maybe it was the cookies… hmmmm