Sunset in Sedona

After our adventures at the Big Sur and a few days exploring Los Angeles, we headed to Arizona. We had driven for days in California so this time we flew from L.A. to the Flagstaff Airport. Ironically, we didn't get any sleep before our early morning flight, and by the time we arrived to Flagstaff, we were exhausted. Wasting a precious vacation day catching up on sleep is unacceptable, so we loaded ourselves with coffee, rented a car at the airport and decided to spend the day in Sedona. 

The drive from the airport to Sedona is about 1 hour long and the scenery is worth every minute of it. Unlike the Grand Canyon (which I will write about in my future posts), Sedona seemed to have very few tourists. We checked in at the Sedona Rouge Hotel and Spa - our room was beautifully decorated and super clean, with a little private patio outside the room that had breathtaking views of the red Sedona rocks. The hotel serves very good complimentary Illy coffee every morning, so we took advantage, loaded on some more caffeine and headed towards the rocks for a hike. 

There are many trails of varying difficulty levels to choose from, but we went for an easy option, considering it was already mid day and we didn't want to stumble into rocks in the dark. 

I believe the name of the trail was Bell Rock Vista (see the full list of Sedona trails here). It took us about 1-1.5 hours to get to a nice view point in time for sunset. I was absolutely blown away by the beauty of the rock formations with multitudes of layers. It was just me and my boyfriend atop a rock that was incomprehensibly old, surrounded by no one and nothing but space and these magnificent rocks. It felt strange, almost disorienting, to hear absolutely nothing but the wind, which was quite strong because of the altitude we were at. As if the rocks had a lot to say to us, to share their wisdom accumulated over millions of years. We no longer felt tired but instead were energized by what we were witnessing. Then sky started turning different shades of red. Everything around us was on fire! It was so special and magical, I felt extremely grateful to be there and witness such beauty. It was as if a show was put on just for us. 

I hope the images will take you there...

We had the best sleep that night. The plan was to head to Grand Canyon the next morning, but a sense of adventure got to us at breakfast and we decided to change our course last minute. 

Stay tuned for the next destination!

XOXO

- Oliya