Sedona, Arizona

I had fully expected to spend Christmas in the warm(er) embrace of the southwest weather. But alas, emotions happened–– I missed family and friends––so I booked a last minute ticket to catch everyone home for the holidays (ugh, feelings). My flight would be going out of Phoenix, so Derik and I spent the last day of what has been an epic road trip heading back to Arizona.

But in another quick plot twist, we decided to pass through Sedona on the way down. Oh, you surreal city of wondrous red rocks and commercialization. Interesting residential homes and shopping centers selling healing crystals, hemp, and other hippy-dippy things weave in and out of the landscape so much so, that it’s hard to imagine how this was once vacant desert land. 

Sedona: the city of red rocks and the world’s only blue McDonald’s

Here’s my favorite part: the city and nature are so interwoven that even capitalist machines like McDonald’s have to play by Sedona’s rules. It forfeited its golden arches to brilliant turquoise to oblige to the city’s scenery, making the location in Sedona the only blue McDonald’s in the world. Nice job, Sedona. 

Four hours later, Derik and I said our good byes in Phoenix. Hard to believe that just five days and 2,615 miles earlier, I was a stranger who posted a message online asking for a car share and he had picked me up from a truck stop in Barstow, California. Together we traversed the landscape of six different states, found friends in strangers, and learned the best way to (almost) run yourself into a snowy ditch in Montana. I couldn’t think of a better way to end 2014.