As the sun goes down, the Grand Canyon transforms. The sunlight is like brushstrokes on a canvas of rocks, drawing shapes and textures. These natural paintings are ephemeral, changing from one minute to another, showing magical landscapes, an echo from different planets, by an interplay of shadows. A magnificent sunset is the high point of an unforgettable journey.
In fact, the trip from Downtown Phoenix to Flagstaff is an invitation to discover and see the color transformations, from brown and orange mountains to greenish trees. We left Phoenix mountains to get to Sedona’s spectacular red rock formations. The first stop was in Tlaquepaque Arts and Shopping Village in Sedona, which offers a wide variety of crafts by local artisans, art galleries and boutique restaurants. It’s built as a traditional Mexican village, with cobblestone paths, narrow paths and rounded arches. It introduced us to the Mexican cosmovision and beliefs.
After walking its streets, we had lunch at ChocolaTree Organic Oasis, a beautiful restaurant and marketplace with a peaceful and sacred garden where we could relax and prepare our mind and body to what was to come.
The Grand Canyon National Park is is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River, declared a Unesco Heritage site in 1979. Its landscapes are like a geology masterclass that explains the history of millions of years of our earth. But above all, it’s a holy site and sacred area for the ancestral homelands and inhabitants of the desert. I can assure you that you feel that peace and ancestral energy.
Photo credit Soledad Arreguez Manozzo
Visitors can walk through different walkways and trails that surprise them with very different views of the Canyon that will leave you breathless. That’s because the intensity of the rock formation overwhelms you. It’s like opening a millennial treasure.
The magnificent finale is the sunset that performs a shadow play on the rock formations. It is a unique experience. To paraphrase Queen, visiting the Grand Canyon “is a kind of magic.”
Note: Every road trip needs music. So I created Arizona Vibes, a Spotify playlist to travel by song through the Arizona desert. Enjoy it.