Saturday, March 17, 2007

Sedona and Flagstaff


We were going to go just to Sedona, but Dave knew I wanted to see Flagstaff too- so on the way up we went directly to "Flag" as the locals like to call it. Flagstaff is the home of Northern Arizona University. It's about two hours north of Phoenix, and at an altitude of about 6,000 feet. It is significantly less disgusting than Phoenix (not only is it not disgusting, it is quite nice). Although it was a sunny day, the air was fresh and cool. Ahhhh.
I couldn't begin to capture the beauty of Sedona since we were only able to pull over in a few places. One of the best features of Sedona is that there is a creek that runs through the whole town. I wasn't able to get any pictures of it this time, but I have some from 23 years ago when my friend Karen and I stopped off in Sedona on our way back to Phoenix from the Grand Canyon. I have those pictures in storage, but I can still see the scene perfectly in my mind's eye: We had rented a bright orange car we named 'Orange Crush' and I can see it parked near the creek. We'd been tense on the drive back, but once we got to Sedona, and the creek, everything changed and we were totally relaxed and happy (yes, I do personally believe in vortices, which Sedona is said to have. I felt them again today). In those 23 year old pictures, my shadow is dancing by the creek, reflected on the rocks and shallow water. In the middle of that creek experience a white dog came out of nowhere, like a spirit guide, and bounded over to us. It was close to perfect. Today was definetly another great Sedona experience- I felt really relaxed and happy. Look at this thing. You couldn't make this up. It reminds me a little bit of the Potala Palace in Tibet, or some other dwelling place where people are highly-evolved and don't worry about things like whether it's ok to wear black shoes with navy.
I love these soft, pastel colors especially the taupe mountains in the background.

The lines are because this picture was taken through the windshield. I just thought the round, green, tree thingies were cool.
Dave by his new, gigantic (and very comfortable) vehicle. There's also one of me and Dave that I like but I'm neurotic about posting pictures of myself. I'm hoping to maybe make it up to the Grand Canyon before I leave Phoenix. I don't have an overwhelming desire to go to Tucson and I have this weird 'I feel like I should see Mexico but I really don't want to' thing going on. That said, I doubt I'll go. I think today was the perfect time of year in Arizona for a road trip. In some February or March in the future, I'd love to spend at least a weekend in Sedona.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Where's My Cookie?

I've been working for the University of Phoenix for exactly one year.