The Surrendered Path

Sedona was an incredible lunch stop. We arrived hungry and drove straight to Red Rock State Park.

We parked and realized that from our parking spot, we somehow had the most unexpected and incredible views of Bell Rock.

On the drive in, we had read that the parking lot regularly gets packed by 730am and felt very lucky we got such a great parking spot. (We read Sedona gets 4.5 million travelers a year)- wow! It was still crowded, especially for pushing almost 100°.

We hung out in the van using our ceiling fan and eating lunch, taking advantage of the breeze blowing through, and fantastic views.

Parker enjoyed a popsicle afterwards.

Both times we walked around the grounds there was the hoppiest little grasshopper leading the way jumping ahead of us. It made me giggle.

Joshua Tree for breakfast and Sedona for lunch was leaving us very grateful for all the beautiful raw nature.

Sedona is known for having multiple energy vortexes where the Earth’s pulse is stronger in a swirling pattern. Many people are drawn here to enjoy it. There are different spots all over the globe where this phenomenon is measured and sought out.

There are 4 hiking spots in Sedona where this is measured and observed and it turns out Bell Rock is one of them.

People love enjoying solitude here and some say they experience great insights on life.

We have kids. So, instead of quietly meditating, we pointed out plants and bugs, watered them (the kids) holding water bottles up which they chugged continuously, encouraged them to keep going, telling them that were doing great, and carried them some of the time.

Our only insights were that we wanted a shorter walk. On a longer walk recently, back in Tennessee, Parker laid down on the path and told us she was done. So we made sure to stop short of that.

I teased Marcus that since I live with an energy vortex (Read about Marcus here: https://thesurrenderedpath.com/2023/03/09/32-on-our-knees-full-of-gratitude/), that was enough for now and maybe we can fully hike and experience Sedona another time.

We didn’t want to stay in the heat and opted to drive a little further north through Flagstaff and just to the edge of town. That would shorten our drive time Friday to Arches and we found that very exiting too.

When we arrived it was cooler, we were up at 7,000 ft elevation, and we were expecting temperatures down to 40° during the night, something we all found very dreamy.

As we drove we got closer and closer to our old trading post that had been converted to an RV park stop. It sure looked like a building wouldn’t be popping up soon but, sure enough, in the middle of nowhere, there it was.

We backed into spot #3 just in time to hop out and see sunset over The Painted Desert which borders the property.

Bedtime was minutes later. The kids were out quickly, Parker seemingly mid-sentence. Marcus and I had the giggles for a while, we couldn’t stop laughing and expressing our great enjoyment in each other’s elbow poking our backs, or our pillows overlapping.

We eventually got the giggles out and drifted off, comfortable as could be, snuggled up, and as the colder temperatures set in during the night, and suddenly no one minded a bit.

We slept in today till about 7am. We have a time change in the first push of our drive, and should arrive to Arches National Park just in time for lunch.

Xo, Katie