This town and the surrounding nature are pure magic.
Greg had web work to do this morning and I got up very early and setout on my own. The temperature was cool and the air was fresh. I walked the two miles or so until I found what they call "uptown." There is no downtown. It's a very charming little area with shops on street level and below street level and above. I arrived at the trolley depot and bought tickets for two tours, one to the more commercial areas and one out closer to the big rocks.
I came back to our hotel and Greg and I went for a nice swim and hot tub as by now it was about 20 degrees. We exercised our fat little bodies in the water by swimming a few lengths and then came up to get ready for our tour. It lasted about two hours and we got an overview of the history and also of all the sites we wanted to do in more depth.
Many famous cowboy movies were shot here even though this town only came to be in 1902 so of course there were no cowboys here in the 1800's but the rock and surrounding flat ground make it a perfect movie set for those old John Wayne and Glenn Ford movies. We even went to the movie museum to see some still shots of those movies with the now familiar rocks in the backdrop.
There are all kinds of ordinances about the colour people must paint their homes and businesses, all colours have to blend with the natural environment. Even lamp posts, bridges and light standards are all rust coloured instead of the usual silver in most towns. When MacDonalds wanted to open here they were not allowed their golden arches and could only open if they made their arches teal. An earth coloured, adobe MacDonalds with tiny teal arches on the side of the building, it is one of only 4 in total in the world that don't have golden arches.
After our tours were finished we were hungry and had a delicious lunch at a restaurant and sat under umbrellas on the sidewalk where we were disappointed to find out they are not allowed to serve alcohol. We made do with coke because the street was starting to come alive with trick or treaters. You see here in Sedona they do all of their trick or treating on the main street and it is the shop owners who give out the treats. This becomes a street party from 5 until 8 but I'll get back to that. We took the "free trolley" back to our hotel and were ready to pack it in when I remembered that my cousin Shelly had told me to go the the small airport here to watch the sunset.
Greg had also looked up the location of the four vortexes around the town and one of them was out by the airport. We missed the sunset but climbed up the rock to the airport vortex and on the way up caught the most magnificent views with the moon hanging in the sky between the rocks. We took a million pictures and kept asking each other how we felt. I have been feeling very calm and peaceful all day and Greg said he was energized. Now, both of those feelings could be due to the fact that we took a day off from driving today and we've stopped in a very pretty and low key locale. But just maybe it is the vortex energy! As it got darker the scenery changed and Greg even got his tripod out of the car to take some more photos.
Well, we were driving back to the hotel and Greg said "Let's check out the party uptown." So uptown we went and what a festive, upbeat,wholesome event. Every one was in costume, not just the kids. We even noticed old people in dress-up mode. Volunteers were making sure street traffic moved safely. There were drummers, and dancers and singers and kids dancing in the street. And everywhere treat were being given out. I have never seen Hallowe'en celebrated in this way. Here it is an entire town event. There were thousands in the street and the joy was palpable. Our day was sensational. We were thinking of possibly leaving tomorrow but we have changed our minds and we have booked the hotel for another night.
We will visit another of the vortexes tomorrow and possibly drive to Flagstaff and then we have promised each other that we will watch that famed sunset at the airport. Tomorrow should be a full moon too. Oh, and they do not do daylights savings time here so no time change.I know it sounds like a cliche but this town is very special and we both feel so enchanted by it.
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