Sedona

Nestled in the Verde Valley near the middle of Arizona is the small city of Sedona where we spent this past Wednesday afternoon through Saturday morning. Famous for its red rock turrets, Sedona is a hot spot of New Age healing and mysticism. It's also where many native Arizonans go to vacation because it is noticeably cooler than the sizzling southern part of the state and an easy hour and a half drive from Phoenix.

I spent Thursday, our first full day in Sedona, visiting many of the local shops. Sedonans seem to take the belief that rocks have cosmic healing powers very seriously and many of the stores are entirely dedicated to selling rocks, gemstones, and minerals in their natural and carved forms.

At one rock store, I asked the woman behind the counter whether the properties of a quartz in its natural prism shape were any different from one cut into a cube or an orb. The properties are the same, she informed me, but the way the stone diffuses the energy is different. Whereas a naturally formed quartz prism focuses the energy to a point making it ideal for concentrating healing energies, an orb broadly distributes the same energy meaning that shape is more conducive to creating an environment embodying the properties of the crystal.

While I'm a bit skeptical of the enhancement claims made about the stones, I did purchase a quartz orb and a flourite octahedron. Clear quartz is believed to be programmable and exude healing and cleansing properties. Flourite, meanwhile, ranges from a light green to deep purple in color depending on the minerals that are present in the stone. It is believed to enhance concentration and discernment. While I very much hope these stones prove powerful, I mostly just thought they were pretty and would look nice on my desk.

Crystals aren't the only thing with purported healing power in Sedona. The Sedona vortex locations are also a top attraction. Vortexes (or is it vortices) are simply spots on the ground especially dense in iron oxide. Somehow that creates a cosmic energy about the area. I don't fully understand it. We visited three vortex sites as part of other sightseeing. One was near the Yavapai Overlook trail. Another was at Red Rock Crossing, site of Cathedral Rock and where we spent a couple hours Friday morning. The final vortex site we visited was at the Chapel of the Holy Cross, where we stopped Saturday morning on our way to Phoenix.

Red Rock Crossing is a state park with hiking and swimming in a shallow, clear creak far beneath the spires of the aptly named Cathedral Rock. You can wade across the water, meditate on the flat, open red rock of the vortex, or build a rock cairn at Buddha Beach. Buddha Beach is particularly impressive. Follow the trail from the parking lot and you'll soon arrive at a clearing in the forest with hundreds of carefully stacked rock piles. This continues up to the creek at the foot of Cathedral Rock.

As we departed Sedona on Saturday morning, we made a quick stop at the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a Catholic church built into a cliff 250 feet above the ground. It's a flat, clean-lined structure with an unbeatable view. From the entrance of the chapel, the rocky valley stretches thirty or forty miles into the distance, dotted with grand mansions and towering sandstone sculptures.

We arrived back in Phoenix Saturday afternoon to finish our trip with reflexology massages and dinner at Gallo Blanco, a hip, Mexican food truck style restaurant. I had the Mesquite halibut, which was delicious.