Final thoughts on Sedona

On our last morning I wanted to do a short walk. So I climbed the steps to go for a walk around town. This area is called Upper Sedona, I suppose based on elevation. I do not believe that there is a Lower Sedona and I'm not even sure about just plain old Sedona, but no matter.

Upper Sedona consists entirely of tourist restaurants and souvenir shops. It's amazing to see such a concentration of similar stores. You think there would be some differentiation. You can almost imagine the frame of mind of somebody doing this. "I'm going to open a store in Sedona that doesn't sell junk." Then, of course, once you open the store, you're completely driven by what's sells. The junk sells. So that's what you sell. Unless, of course, you have an idea for a store that sells jewelry. And jerky. And flutes. 

There's also a thriving commercial spirituality industry here. At any number of places you can get psychic consultations and aura readings. Most of them will photograph your aura for you. I would like one of those cameras. They will also take you out to tour the vortexes. Supposedly, the Sedona area is rich with swirling energy fields that can have life-altering benefits. I do kind of feel the need to explore the whole vortex thing. I feel like I can do it with an open mind. I figure receiving energy from the vortex might be like putting your Bluetooth device into discoverable mode. If my phone can do that, why not me? And I haven't any knowledge about their existence, one way or the other. Just the fact that it wouldn't be the first thing I would think about when I landed the spot, doesn't mean it isn't there. 

Fortunately, they seem to have not corrupted all of the natural beauty here for commercial purposes. You need trails and such to really access some places, but they haven't ruined anything in the process. There doesn't seem to be any building of any sort on public lands around here and so hikers, jeeps and bicycles and I presume folks on ATVs as well can use it and enjoy it. I can certainly see finding a place a few miles outside of the busyness to settle down, if you're into this kind of thing.

Some of it is just commercial, some of it was just fun, some stupid, but the beauty is absolutely real. And I'm okay with all that. And I think you can enjoy this place without being completely enamored of all things red rocked.

We did stop by Bell Rock, one of the famed vortexes on the way out of town. The description on line clearly said that you could feel the energy as soon as you got out of your car, so we felt no need to hike up to Bell Rock itself. It's a nice enough looking rock.

Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to feel the energy (sort of like forgetting to put your Bluetooth phone into 'discoverable' mode, I'd imagine), but I felt nothing. Oh well. It was a nice easy trip home, so maybe that was the energy somehow.