We had our last hike in the Sedona area.  My dear husband has finally obtained an accurate map and after many hours pouring over it (he loves maps) has come to the conclusion that we've done 36.5 miles in the 7 days of hiking. Not bad.  Of course, I've eaten 45 miles worth of calories, probably, so no good news on the big D.    ....crap.....

We did see something on the hike that sums up Sedona, if you ask me.  If I haven't mentioned it, Sedona has many areas that are called a vortex, where there are good vibes, or a feeling of well-being, or tingling sensation, etc occurs.  They are marked on some of the hiking maps.  Anyway, we were hiking and came upon a woman sitting on a big red rock slab, in the sun, eyes closed, just meditating (I guess...or having a stroke or something).  She was about 45 plus years old,  really tall, with waist lenth gray dreadlocks (!), and was swaddled in a beautiful handknit sumptious multicolored wool-looking huge shawl.  I assumed she was experiencing one of the supernatural "vortex" experiences, or something.  Calm, quiet, serene, just sitting there.  That's the first part of the quintessential Sedona experience.
The second part was that a few minutes past her, we met a woman hiking, well, power hiking......about 40 plus, size 2, perfectly turned out in her technical hiking clothing and gear, going about a mile a minute, big smile and enthusiastic "Hi!"   Soccer mom on a caffeine-fueled power fitness hike.  Gotta get in those miles!!

Those two women just summed up Sedona perfectly. That's what you see mostly in Sedona, either the power hiker/soccer mom who's probably married to an investment banker to afford the real estate there, or the spiritual , serene earth woman, connecting with  something.

At least that's my take on it.
 I have to add this: I mentioned to my husband that there are no fat people here, that they must arrest them or run them out of town, and he said, "I'll bet the sheriff catches them at the Burger King and rounds them up."  Thought that was funny. The Burger King and Taco Bell and McD's are there, but they are not the usual look....adobe, very subdued, you have to be looking pretty hard to find them.

Then we got to the hotel in Tempe where my husband has an educational meeting.....darn golf resort.  Too many stuck-up people in golf shirts.  They charge for everything. At our other hotels and cabin they not only gave us a hot breakfast and free internet, they did it at a reasonable price and had a gas fireplace in the room to boot.

I drove to Wickenburg, AZ today for the annual Gold Rush rodeo & festival.  The rodeo was small today, called the "slack," or overflow from the actual rodeo on Saturday and Sunday.  This rodeo is a senior circuit rodeo, with contestants  in age groups of 40s, 50s, or 60s.  I loved it. The next 2 days will add roughstock events. I'd love to see how many 60 plus year olds ride in them! Hope they have enough ambulances on standby.