sedona is a place i am determined to go back to! for centuries, this spot on earth has been regarded as sacred and powerful and people from around the world have traveled to sedona to experience the mystic cosmic forces that are said to emanate from the red rocks. it is believed that there are vortexes in sedona – swirling centers of energy that are conducive to healing, meditation and self-exploration; places where the earth seems especially alive with energy. it all sounds a little hokey, but we seriously felt something magical in sedona – there really is some extra vibrations towards connection and beauty there. we just got a teensy taste of this because we were only there for a day, and it was a very bad-weather day. our little taste really whetted our appetites and ian and i are both really excited to go explore more in sedona in the future.

we headed to sedona from grandma & grandpa’s house … but made a pretty huge detour to see something ian really wanted to see – the meteor crater. i was a little grumpy about all the extra driving, but i gotta say it was pretty cool to see this big dip in the earth caused by a rock from space! it was so so so windy around the crater so we didn’t spend much time outside, but the boys loved all the cool displays in the visitors’ center.

after learning quite a bit about asteroids, we drove to sedona and got there right at golden hour.

we pulled over to take in the sunset a little before heading to get dinner and go to the motel.

the only pictures i got of our motel life over the couple weeks of this long road trip:

we got into a pretty solid rhythm of fast-food-picnic-on-the-floor dinners, setting up the babies’ beds in the motel-room bathroom (auggie’s tent always went in the bathtub and eve’s mini portacrib next to it – i was always amazed that we could get them to fit!), getting ready for bed in the motel office bathroom after august and eve had gone to sleep, helping moses and gabriel fall asleep in separate beds and then transferring them to the same bed, and then making some plans for the next day of driving and adventuring before going to sleep ourselves.

we were able to get in one easy hike in sedona – around bell canyon – before the frozen rain/sleet started for the day. the colour of the red rock in sedona is so intense and beautiful! we had fun watching the mist rise and descend, counting cacti, feeling for vortexes, and enjoying luscious nature together.

sedona is also known for being a hub of arts & crafts. we stopped at this wild sculpture/art store on the side of the road and saw some cool stuff (a life-sized iron man statue?!):

we headed up to another trailhead, but the weather was just so bad. the sleet was coming down heavily and while we had lots of warm clothes we didn’t have great waterproof stuff … and the views weren’t great with low hanging clouds. so … we went to the city library! as it turns out, they had an incredible children’s section! there were tons of toys and books and our kids were totally delighted. we stayed there for a few hours!

then we decided to brave the weather and check out the chapel of the holy cross, built spectacularly right into the red rock. it is a sacred space in a sacred place and ian and i loved trading off on taking moses and gabriel inside and lighting a candle.

then it was time to leave sedona en route for the grand canyon. we were stunned by the views outside our windows – even clouded due to the weather – and definitely determined to come back.