From Ley Lines to Energy Vortexes

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Did you miss me!? I missed me! I missed you! And now we're back together, yay!!

I swear, when I'm not traveling I feel like my soul is dying, like I can't get enough oxygen. And when I am traveling I'm in the moment, breathing, living, loving. So that's where I've been, and now I'm back home, and ready to share my adventures with you! Let's jump right in.

Some of you know that I was supposed to participate in an energy retreat in Sedona in January. It got postponed, but of course my adventurous self decided that I was going to head out west anyway because the excitement had been working up over the previous 4-5 months and I just had to go. Instead of spending two whole weeks in Sedona like originally planned, I did re-work the itinerary somewhat.

Are you familar with the Peter Lik photo that was taken at Upper Antelope Canyon? **Frantically googling Peter Lik** Well, photos of people (acquaintances) visiting that location kept making their way into my feed. I decided to look up where that was in relation to Phoenix (where I flew into) and Sedona (where I planned to stay). It turns out that the famous canyons are located on Navajo Nation in Page, Arizona, which is a three hour drive from Sedona. After some quick back of the napkin calculations, moving around of flights, and last minute accommodation updates, I was set for my trip. 🤩

I flew into Phoenix and picked up a rental car. I used to use Enterprise religiously, but they became way too expensive, so now I use Budget and I am a FastPass member. (Highly recommended.) As I was booking the rental car online prior to leaving, there was an option to get a "mystery car." Hm. I was intrigued. It was way cheaper than all the other options. I just needed to get from point A to point B, right? And there was a Book Now option that meant if I made payment right then and there, I could have the mystery car for 8 days (!!) for.... wait for it.... .... ....$200. Yup. I didn't care if the car was a Fiat! (No offense to Fiat, it was just the tiniest car I could think of. Maybe a better insult would be a Dodge Neon (remember those?) or a Chevy Nova.) Anyway, I get to the airport and they bring around a Jeep Compass. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. The woman asked me, "How do you like it!?" I was like, "Are you kidding? I ordered the mystery car! This is amazing!" and she laughed and replied, "You got lucky!" Yes I did. Yes I did. Welcome to Arizona.

So I headed straight up to Sedona. I checked into the hotel and since the sun was going to set soon, I went exploring. And this is what I found.

^^ That's my shadow

The main rock formation in the panoramic photo and in the second photo above is known as Courthouse Butte. Most if not all of the rock formations in Sedona have a name. I imagine it's because people hike them, and some are associated with energy vortexes, so it makes them easier to identify. I'm not sure what the rock formation is called in the third photo, but man, that sky!

Speaking of skies and of mystery cars, you can bet that I never do a road trip without a good playlist. This road trip there were a couple of songs that I ended up listening to more than once. Simon and Garfunkel's America seemed quite appropriate, as did Lady Gaga's Always Remember Us This Way, because the first lyric is "That Arizona sky... burnin' in your eyes..." Hearing both of these songs just reinforced that I was in the right place.

I decided to have dinner just after the sun set and then call it a night. I had been given a list of restaurants at the hotel, and the lady had flippantly said, "I never recommend these two (and she indicated them) because they're local." Well... not really sure what that was supposed to mean... but guess where I had dinner? At one of "those" restaurants. I will give you a million dollars if you guess the name. [Jan - this one's for you.] The restaurant is called "Mariposa." If you're up on your Spanish (and you should be by now - because you and me are headed back to PV in July! #spoileralert) then you know that Mariposa means.... none other than.... butterfly. 🦋❤️

Dinner was lovely. The space was gorgeous. And the food was delicious! Thumbing through a new read (thanks Chels!) while sipping my usual cosmo (some things never change!),

and then some chilean sea bass (did you know that's my favorite fish ever!?), and then this for dessert...

I mean, what more is there to say. There was a butterfly on my cheesecake.

And then there was this poem in my book.

Mariposa drops 🎤.