Sunday, September 14, 2014

Day 8 - Vortexes and Vegas

Sedona, AZ is a really, really nice place. The folks are nice, everyone is relaxed (but not too relaxed) and there is an air of activity and appreciation from everyone you interact with. In short, if you’re a hippie, golfer or have no need to stress over things like an income, Sedona is probably the place for you several seasons a year. In fact, if Stacy had her way we’d likely be there for the remainder of our lives. Alas realistic considerations like employment and poor ancestral decisions to settle our family members in the northeast eliminate that as an option, but a girl can still dream. 
This praise of Sedona is based on a sample size of two (yeah, yeah, prone to inaccuracy…blah blah…):
  1. An outstanding Mocha Latte and coffee shop experience
  2. Hiking Cathedral Rock

Cathedral Rock is the perfect short hike - it’s an intense up and back, but only takes an hour and rewards you with a new view every few steps. It also provides a few unmarked trails at the top that make for even better exploring. As always, pics are much better than my words could ever be:
The other interesting thing about Sedona is the claim of vortexes that can change your life. Being the illogical spiritualist that I am (sarcasm!), I felt the need to locate and fully (not) experience whatever these vortexes provide you. 
And boy did I ever experience strong emotions! Frustration! Skepticism! A loss of an hour of my life! These damn pseudo science hippie holes are poorly marked and often come with a warning of “you’ll know when you get there”. I’m sure with the right amount of mood altering intoxicants that these vortexes will change your life (and justify the numerous energy healers around town), but I’ll claim malarkey and tourist trap for the time being. 
Having recovered from the vortex disappointment through a combination of emotional In-N-Out Burger and ice cream eating and the promise of a relaxing night in Vegas, we hit I-40 for a jaunt to the Hoover Dam.
If you haven’t been to the Hoover Dam since 2010, you should really go. The Tillman-O’Callaghan Memorial Bridge makes traveling across it much easier, and also opens up new tourist options including an old rail trail and great walk along the new bridge for some outstanding pictures. The first bit of the rail trail was a bit disappointing, but it sounds like the Lake Mead overlook and tunnels further down (we were running out of daylight and had to turn back) make it well worth the couple hours to cover the 6.5 mile round trip.
To wrap up this vacation, we headed back to Vegas where a great deal on a suite helped us settle back into civilization with speedy wi-fi, dual shower heads and a huge in bedroom bath tub. In an attempt to get out of Vegas without going broke while making the most of the location, we took a pretty simple approach:
  1. Walk the strip and realize how little people pay attention to others while under minimal amounts of confusion
  2. Visit the Bellagio because it’s fancy and has a great conservatory and botanical garden
  3. Eat a cheap, good meal
  4. See a GREAT show. You can never go wrong with any of the Cirques, especially when you’re two rows from the stage!
Having survived a night in Vegas without hitting my card's limit, we decided to wrap up a great trip and grab an earlier flight home the next morning. All in all this was a great trip with a ton of hiking, limited missed plans (Canyonlands was the big one) and a ton of unexpected goodness!

Thanks for stalking us remotely for a week!

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