SEDONA

 People thought we were crazy to take a road trip when everything was closed down  but it was important to see our granddaughter get married in Phoenix.  We originally purchased airplane tickets, but anticipating health issues, we decided to drive instead.

We left Chicago on November 11, 2020, Armistice Day--at least they used to call it that.  We spent the first night in a Hampton Inn near St. Louis, the second night in Stroud, Oklahoma, and then Best Westerns in Tucumcari, NM in Winslow, AZ.    They may have closed all the restaurants in Blue states but not where we went.  We were able to dine in restaurants everywhere, despite reduced capacities.  In Oklahome, we had some concerns because nobody wore masks, but we didn't catch anything.  On the road, we stopped at the ubiquitous Loves Truck Stops because we both love Loves.  

In Tucumcari, I expected more.  It is famously on Route 66.  It is in the song, and I expected the locals to promote that more than they did.   All the activity in town is by the exit to the Interstate, and, for the most part, everything on 66 is run down or abandoned.   The best thing to see is the many murals painted on old buildings in the center of town.  But the food was good at a Mexican restaurant well hidden on 66.

Winslow, of course was made famous in the Eagles' song Take it Easy.   " I've been standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona such a fine sight to see it's a girl my lord in a flatbed Ford staring down to have a look at me..."   They built a statue of the songwriter Don Henley and permanently parked an old flatbed Ford truck nearby.   We've visited Winslow several times before, and nothing has  been added.

The only othr thing to see there is a circa 1930 resort called LaPosada where many well known Hollywood types spent the night back in the Stone Age.   We toured it on a past trip annd wanted to stay there, but we couldn't find it.  I was driving West on 66 through town when I should have been driving East on the adjacent street to see it.  The GPS was no help.  I didn't realize they were one-way streets.

SEDONA

The highlight of the trip, other than the wedding where we had dinner at Sandra Day O'Connor's house, was Sedona, Arizona.  Sedona is an artsy town populated by aging hippies, living in nice condominiums.  Restaurants and stores are very expensive.  The rock formations surrounding the town are beautiful, and they are said to contain vortexes.  More on that later.

We booked a couple nights at a Hilton resort which was over the top.  We have about 300,000 Hilton points which we dipped into to pay for our room, a 2-room suite.  

We signed up for the nightly UFO tour.  From what they say, with all the vortexes in town, the illegal aliens from space (undocumented space aliens?) are attracted to the area.  According to our guide, Sedona is unique in that respect.  The illegal space aliens apparently don't want to go anywhere else, and it's a quick flight from Area 51. 

The tour is owned by a woman named Anita Owens whom we met.  She sells UFO type merchandise and pamphlets out of her car trunk.  She also writes a blog in which she contends that her first memory as an infant was to see aliens standing beside her crib.  Actually, in Arizona, that's not that unusual, and the border wall won't stop them.  

The tour began after dark.  The guide led our small group to a remote parking lot just outside of town where light pollution is minimal.  The skies were clear, and it was cold.  The guide issued us laser pointers and Third Generation military night vision goggles which he said cost $10,000 apiece.   Not sure if that is just what the Pentagon pays while the rest of us only pay $500; that was not explained. 

Our guide explained that our objective was to look at the sky and watch for moving objects. If the moving objects were flashing lights they were commercial aircraft, IFO's if you will.   The objects that weren't flashing were UFO's at the edge of space.  It was pitch dark at the site but the night vision equipment made it clear as day.  Looking at the sky we could clearly see the fixed starts and the moving lights which were obviously not meteors.  There were many of them, moving this way and that, some slowly and some quickly, sometimes in tandem.  By definition, they were UFO's because we don't know what they are.  The guide said that some may be our pilots, piloting UFO's, and some may be the other guys.  Our government has not been forthcoming with that type of information.  

A bright star like object was a rare conjunction with Jupiter Saturn and Pluto in very close proximity. You can't see Pluto, of course, except with a powerful telescope, but Jupiter and Saturn are very bright.  Pluto, which used to be a planet, was first discovered in 1930 at the nearby Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, 30 miles from Sedona.  We visited on a previous trip--not Pluto, but the observatory.  

We were able to observe the Pleaides, a group of 7 stars from where the space aliens allegedly came, some of them anyway.  Deporting them back there would be a problem, given the state of our technology.

The following morning in Sedona, we signed up for the vortex tour, run by the same company.  There are 15 vortex sites in the Sedona area.  We had the guide all to ourselves, and he took us to a couple of these vortexes.  

Our guide explained that a vortex is a giant magnet of energy that is either positively (yin) or negatively charged (yang). The yin has feminine attributes while the yang has masculine attributes.  If you live in Sedona, you decide which on you want on a given day.   If you want nurturing you choose the yin.  If you want empowering and energizing you choose the yang.   This knowledge was imparted to us by Native American shamans over a period of thousands of years.  They would come to pry and seek guidance for their people.  They would hold ceremonies and perform rituals, but they didn't live at the vortex or stay for long periods.  It was considered sacred ground. 

There may be something to all of this.  At the vortex Dianne experienced nausea and headaches and had to leave the area.  Then she was OK.