Sedona

Exhausted, we headed out of the Grand Canyon to Sedona, which is 2 hours away. We fueled up with one of our cravings from the canyon on the way, Taco Bell. And we aren't sure how we feel about the Doritos taco just yet, we still feel it deserves one more taste test.
We were asleep within 15 minutes of getting to the timeshare (Adventure boy's uncle has a hook up at Poco Diablo, supa' nice place) and slept for nearly 11 hours.
And when we got up, our legs wouldn't bend without groaning. So we spent the day trying to convince them to bend about the touristy shopping part of Sedona, but looking more like stilt walkers instead.
Thanks to Urban Spoon, we had an amazing breakfast at a place called Coffee Pot Restaurant. Its out of the way from tourists, mostly locals, and just beneath the red rock icon that bears its name. They're only open for breakfast and lunch, which is another indicator that its awesome. They feature over 100 varieties of omelets, but I had strawberry pancakes myself.
We perused the shops a bit just to relax and give our legs a chance to adjust to walking normally again. The town reminds me a lot of Gatlinburg, touristy right the in middle of beauty. As you look up there are gorgeous red rock structures all around that are not hidden by high rises or built on by the rich. Its incredible. A rarity for many cities.



After a while, we headed to slide rock - essentially a river where the local play and, yes, slide down on the rocks. It seemed really crowded and not worth the $20 it costs to park (yes, $20!), so we ventured toward Cathedral Rock, a structure on the south side of town which meant on the way to Phoenix, where we were staying that night. Plus it apparently had a vortex force, which appealed to the boy, so off we went.
Just like the grand canyon, I couldn't help I had been missing out on awesome natural trips like these by trading them for Americanized, super-touristy ones like Disney every year. I felt so small but so amazed that we were seeing something probably none of my friends or family members will ever see in their lifetimes. Mostly out of lack of interest and partially out of lack of resources or energy, but still, I couldn't help but feel incredibly spoiled.
The hike was only a mile, and only a 600 foot elevation gain (that's only 10% of the grand canyon hike), so we figured we could do it with ease.
Except the first 3/4 of the mile were relatively flat.
The last 1/4 was basically uphill and when I say uphill, I mean up-rock.
As in, straight up the rocks.
Which are very smooth.



I made the mistake of assuming this hike would be easy and therefore not require my FiveFingers to climb.
So I wore my Sanuks (these amazing shoes that are my newfound favorites that are flip flop bottoms, go buy some for the love of your feet, now!).



And slipped the whole way.
But, like the canyon, it was worth putting my legs through the pain and even the risk of falling all the way down. The view was incredible.



One of a lifetime.
The kind they put in movies.
As we drove to Phoenix, watching the sunset along Red Rock Country on the drive, I realized I fell in love with Arizona more than I had expected.
There is a beauty of the desert that matches no other.
It is incomparable.
It is tough to get the views, but those that push through, deserve them.
And the Del Taco that we got for dinner, too. We definitely deserved that.
And the Filiburto's tacos we got the next day.
And the Krispy Kreme we got afterwards.
I'm not sure I've ever eaten so much bad food in such a short time frame in my life.
And it didn't stop there.
But that's for a different post.
We ended up back at the Phoenix airport on Tuesday night. Waiting for a plane. I realized the next plane I would be waiting on would be taking me to Vancouver for an hour before waiting on another to take me to Shanghai.
This was the first time in a very long time that I waited on a plane with someone else. And probably the last for a while, too.
I realized I always travel alone, meeting friends elsewhere. And that's really all I can hope for while waiting on my next plane.
That I'm going alone, but having the adventure with friends.
New friends.