My Sedona

(It was so hard not to sing the old The Knack song whenever we talked about Sedona)
After the intensity of Vegas, Sedona, Arizona couldn't have been more different.  To begin with, its beauty is natural, thanks to the gorgeous red sandstone rocks.  We also found that there is a serious emphasis on all things New Age, because some think that Sedona is a spiritual hotspot for vortexes and gateways to other dimensions... Er, yeah, we tried to avoid that aspect, but you couldn't help but notice the psychics, spiritual counsellors, clairvoyants, and various things to do with auras and reiki and other things we'd never heard of.

Stripey rocks

There are sights like the one above all over Sedona, and needless to say it was a popular location for cowboy films.  I still can't get over the idea of cacti just growing in the wild, like the desert version of dandelions.

My friend: Did you see that big hole thing in the ground while you were there? 

It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway - the Grand Canyon is big.  I'm not entirely sure what I expected; everyone's heard of the Canyon but I realised I didn't have much of an idea what it actually looked like.  The scale is impossible to describe, because it really is just that big.  You look out over it and you can't see anything else.
Unfortunately, I had grown accustomed to boiling hot sunshine, Vegas-style, so I showed up in a sleeveless top, printed trousers and sandals, with a skinny cardigan for 'warmth'.  I may as well have worn a jumper made of paper for all the good it did me, and meanwhile I was surrounded by sensible types in sensible hiking clothes and sturdy boots, feeling like a typical townie tourist teenage girl.  Luckily my dad took pity on me, and I spent the rest of the day wrapped in his (several sizes larger) glamorous black fleece.

Betatakin

This is part of the Navajo National Monument in the Navajo Nation territory in Arizona.  Betatakin in particular is an ancient cliff dwelling where some of the ancient Pueblo people lived during the 1200s.  Going somewhere like this really made me realise just how ignorant I am about Native American culture and history - I don't know if it's different in the States but when I was in school I can only remember one mention of Native Americans in six years of history lessons.

High-five

This is a 'butte' in Monument Valley which is on the Arizona-Utah stateline, and again part of the Navajo Nation reservation.  It's hard to believe that places like this actually exist on Earth, because to me it honestly looks like Mars.  Monument Valley has been the location for oodles of films and so it's basically the stereotypical image of the American West.
Although almost all of our Arizona stay was in Sedona, we spent the night at The View Hotel, which is the only hotel overlooking the valley.  Our balcony meant that we were able to get up early to catch the sunrise over the valley, which was amazing (but cold).

I walk a lonely road...

I took this photo from the back of a bright pink jeep.  This particular jeep belonged to the (self-explanatory) Pink Jeep Tours, which was taking us on the Diamondback Gulch tour.  With a name like that, how could we turn it down?  It may have been one of the bumpiest, most gravity-defying car journeys I've ever been on, but it gave us a good opportunity to see some of the Sedona sights that we wouldn't have seen otherwise, and on the way back we saw the most stunning sunset.
Still to come - my favourite part, the food.