Sedona. Many thoughts pop into my head upon hearing that name…..pricey, new age-y, pretty.

A tourist town like this would not usually be on our travel itinerary. Yet October 11, 2012 was no usual date: it happened to be our tenth wedding anniversary. Sedona seemed like the perfect place to celebrate an extra special day, and we covered it all: pricey, new age-y, pretty.

We booked a nice hotel room, received fancy massages, hiked a bit, watched a movie, and even soaked in the hottub.

This city is blessed to be surrounded by the amazing beauty of the red rock walls and canyons. Hiking trails are everywhere, and even a local may be hard pressed to hike them all.

We walked a couple trails, including stops at a Tibetean Buddhist stupa and some of the vortex sites. Vortex sites around Sedona are said to have extra energy emanating from them, including variants of masculine and feminine energy. Visitors come to these areas to mediate, dance, perform yoga, get married, leave offerings, or build cairns. Some come and wonder, what’s the big deal? We felt a wee something extra special when visiting these areas and expressed extra gratitude for the beauty surrounding us.

We were also very happy to make it to anniversary number ten. Let’s hope we can make it another ten years and keep traveling too!