The Road To Sedona

“Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out. You’re curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you’re waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.”

Randall Munroe

I’m not sure what happened.

Christi and I set off in our hire car yesterday, headed for Sedona, an easy hour’s trip from Scottsdale, Arizona, where our conference had been.

Christi is my Community Support Manager, and she is based in Seattle. I am usually in Australia. That’s us below, feeling just a little excited to be together on the same continent!

So, we were in our hire car. We were talking. The road wasn’t well signed. We were talking. (That was probably it…)

Somehow, somehow, we ended up almost at Flagstaff, an hour further on, before we noticed we had missed a turn off.

We’d flown right by Sedona. I didn’t care. All around us were Ponderosa Pine trees and mounds of snow, and fresh streams of clear cold water. The sky above us was bright blue, the air was cold and crisp. In short, it was fabulous.

Also, did I say SNOW? (Not a biggy for most people, but for this beach girl from Australia who has been living through fires and heat waves it was amazing.)

We decided to push on to Flagstaff where we stopped for a Chinese Food lunch (hot and sour soup – so good!) and then got back on the road again, trying to get back to Sedona.

Oh, that wrong turn was fortuitous. The scenery driving back from Flagstaff to Sedona was breathtaking. Just as the afternoon sun hit the big slabs of rock we drove down the mountain. All around us was rock, pine trees and snow all sparkling in the sunlight. It was magical. We stopped talking and just took it all in. I was not expecting to see snow on this trip. I was expecting cactus and rocks and sunshine and dust. Arizona is a place of delights.

Finally, in late afternoon sun, with her rocks glowing red and purple in the light, we hit Sedona and found our hotel.

Our long drive was every kind of wonderful, just like all good adventures should be!

I hope you can find a way to let the Universe do some of the driving this week. Who knows where that might lead you?

Sending you gentle hugs, and a little cactus flower magic, Nicole xx