SW+1YR-TWO: Rising in the Vortex

Unfortunately for Skye, I made the decision to keep on Eastern Standard Time, so I could rise with the sun each day we were in the Southwest. I was unemployed at the time and in the middle of a spiritual resurrection while Skye was on vacation. I had the luxury of knowing I had no job to return to when we returned. Not Skye. So, in Sedona I woke before the sun, and went outside to watch the sunrise. Begrudgingly, Skye watched the sky as well. I think she was glad she did.

Slowly, form took shape in the eastern sky. At first it looked like the silhouettes of a cast of characters from some mythology or maybe some Disney movie. But it definitely was living. As the sun rose behind the red rock, color came to the land as well. But it was still a silent movie. No cars were stirring out on the roads yet.

That was soon to change. Sedona is a small city in the midst of an amazing landscape. It’s like people came for the show and stayed. In the valley, development after development has taken root, and the highway through Sedona is almost exactly that.

From Airport Mesa, you can see the town stretched out before you, but you can also see the red rock formations and the canyons leading towards the Mogollon Rim, kind of like the edge of the Colorado Plateau, where the high lands of Arizona begin.

But we were staying below in Sedona for the day, and headed for Boynton Canyon, something that reminded me of the box canyons I saw in western movies as I grew up. The only thing different there was the Enchanted Resort in Sedona, a beautiful gulag in the midst of the canyon, set off from the canyon in places by barbed wire, and signs warning of death to trespassers, or something close to it.

By the time we got to Oak Creek, we were ready to listen to the water whisper of freedom and mystery while flowing over the red rock itself. I think I heard it speak of its lasting qualities, its everlasting rush of the present, and its faith that it will remain while one day the city itself will go the way of the ruins in the hidden caves of Boynton canyon.

And we were in the whirlpool of its vortex.

Google Sonnet: Sedona (the SW+1YR Remix):
Driving the Loop from Phoenix to Sedona Is to Travel from the Past
to Present in the Footsteps of the Famous and Infamous

I met Juliette outside Calling All Angels before
     she moved to Sedona.
Sedona had been recommended to us, for its lovely red terrain.
Did psychic Sedona really foresee her own death?
Come to Sedona and soothe your soul.

As it turns out Sedona hasn't seen rain in over 140 days.
I would like to see that cave when I make it to Sedona.
Sedona seemed like a great compromise.
I wanna send everyone "power" from Sedona.

I had the great opportunity this weekend to be spoiled in Sedona.
I had not been to Sedona in ages.
There were other monologue shows and the last was Sedona.
Sedona is just about the perfect distance from our house.
Through the heart of Sedona, and the realm of mystics,
I am finishing the transition stages of this Chapter
     of my life in Sedona.