Sedona: July 2-3. "What's a vortex?"

I have a sensitive stomach. When I get nervous, unhealthy, overwhelmed, angry... it all makes my stomach churn and my heart palpitate. Anxiety problems from time to time, you know how it is.
Hurtling into the canyon that is Sedona behind the wheel of the Dodge Ram Van, my anxiety level was maxing out. My heart was about to bust through the windshield and fly through the gorgeous trees and over the astounding cliffs and into the breathtaking river below. It was as overwhelmingly beautiful as it was terrifying. Even driving slightly under the posted 30mph, I had a long line of cars up my tail end. I refused to listen to their peer pressure as I was constantly winding around and around and straight down into the beautiful abyss. We survived it and drove straight to food, which was becoming vital.
Our waitress was very kind. With the intense storm clouds to our right (we ate outside, lovely patio and yummy food except for all the peppercorn spicing up my omelet. I'm a pansy with peppercorn, see) we struck up the good ol' fashioned weather conversation. We told her about how the rains have been following us everywhere, across the country and through the desert. She told us about how wonderful and beautiful the rains were in Sedona, as they meant a relief from the heat and brought all kind of beauty about. There's the right attitude. She also used to LIVE at the village at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Yep. Never been there.

She told us about her favorite hikes in Sedona and asked us where we were staying. We had looked up a free camping area, but she told us that one was not necessarily true and certainly not as nice as one she knew of. She gave us specific directions to her recommended spot, and boy are we indebtted to her for it. Whatever her name is. She also recommended some nearby trails and viewpoints where we headed immediately after the meal. And LOOK:

 

Then the rains came, as it seemed obvious they would. So we hopped in the van and drove to a cafe (predictably.)

From there we went to set up camp, hoping our waitress and her directions wouldn't fail us. She sure didn't. It was our most beautiful camp site by far, right on the river with red dirt and trees and greenery and lizards all around... oh, and it was up in the mountains. And we had to drive over crazy uneven boulders and the van shook and bounced in a most uncomfortable dance.

But boy oh boy. What a spot. And those stars at night. You stare up for 5-10 seconds you will most likely see one shooting across that vastness blanketed in shimmering science.
The following morning we went to the famed restaurant of 101 omelets. We do like omelets. Here is a fountain there, shaped like the rock that is shaped like a coffee pot that is the restaurant's namesake.

We check out the tourist downtown strip. Certainly a more beautiful and interesting place to go hiking than to go downtown. But you gotta get those tourist shots, and we did:

The above photo is of a fake scam museum that really sells jeep and helicoptor tours. Them tricksters. There are signs about it being a free museum of the film history there, and when you enter and awkwardly see little framed pictures with no captions on the wall and they start trying to call you over to the counter to buy things, we wandered up the stair case to find the "museum" and got admonished and told that there is "nothing up there". After waiting for the guy to go through his rigamarole of convincing us to spend money we never would have, we continued on to seek out the famed natural water slide park "Slide Rock".
It costs money to get in to the parking lot, but if you park on the side of the road at a pull over and walk along the busy winding canyon road and then along and down the steep cliff... it's free! So we did that.

 

We drove from one watering hole to the next. It was already a bit too cold, and this one paled in comparison to the water slide. But it was almost empty and still a fond memory. Far better than the winter hibernation I'm currently doing back in Chicago....

 

We went to watch the sunset atop a mountain view, but all the best spots were already full of cars with no space left. We went to the less good viewing area, and it was packed and un-spectacular.

 

Then we went to try a Prickly Pear Cactus Margarita! My one fancy mixed drink of the trip. The type that tastes good, doesn't get you drunk but sure makes you feel rotten by the time you're done.

 

 

 I was worried upon our return to our tent and campsite that our site would be stolen, as our tent was a bit down the trail by the river and our van was missing from the parking spot (with us inside it, of course).
My worry turned out to be accurate, as our first appealing pull off from the treacherous road was taken by a new car. How did tiny vehicle get up this mountain? As we pulled up to the vehicle, I foresaw two opposite issues. Either 1.) They'd be jerks. 2.) They'd be nice and want to talk for longer than I felt like. It turned out to be the latter (luckily). They were quite nice fellows and we exchanged stories into the night (as afeared, longer than I felt like. But I stared at the starry sky as often as I felt like. It was pitch black and they couldn't see my distraction too well.) Eventually we found our way to our tent. The next morning we filled up our potentially leaking coolant (see: KG looks like he knows what he is doing in there!)

And after bathing in swim suits in the gorgeous river, we headed down the bumpy road.. onward.

[Sidenote: our free campsite was adjacent to Angel Valley lodge, which we found out from our shared parking space friends is where the creepy religious cult leader sweat some people to death a few years back. Did you hear about that? That's where we were. Lovely spot.]

California here we come! (We thought at the time. It's all over by now. I'm late.)