So, this morning the alarm went off at 5am for our hike to Devil’s Bridge. We shuffled out and shipped off to the Mescal trail parking lot and took the route deemed “most scenic” by folks on YouTube and the AllTrails app.

This hike was a 4.3 mile out and back…and probably the longest hike I’ve done in the past 20 years. During our research nobody said it was gonna be easy…in fact, most said to expect a leg-buster.

It was.

The way up was slow and savage. The way down was even slower and brutal.

What they did not tell us was how scary that bridge photo-op would be. And it wasn’t just scary as hell being out there on it…it was scary as hell watching other people on it! Everything in my soul kept repeating “Just don’t look down, just don’t look down”…to myself and everyone else up there with us this morning.

We negotiated swapped photo ops with a solo hiker named Gina from West Virginia, who went out first and did yoga warrior poses like a badass on the bridge.

When it was our turn, I’m like “I wanna go out to the narrow part that makes us look super brave”…and then half-looked down for a split second walking out there and felt dizzy and off balance…and then I was super scared and held Jen’s hand for dear life while Gina took like 6 photos of us in what would become the longest half minute of my life.

Gina called to us, “Put your hands up!”from the photo side like she was saying “Have some fun out there!” but all I can remember is a conscious frozenness, my wide-legged, statued stance willing my legs to stay strong instead of buckling and falling to my death. I wanted more than anything to be alive and for my time on the Devils Bridge to be over.

I remember saying to Jen, “Okay, I’m good” and getting off that bridge like it was haunted and chasing me.

We stood in amazement watching the next couple after us go out onto the bridge and they went even farther out than we did and the guy picked up his wife and they laughed.

And then I had to turn away when they went to the edge and dangled their feet over…Jesus Christ, I felt my stomach turn with concern and tried to manifest hope they’d make it off the bridge safely.

They did.

And thankfully Jen waited until we were off the bridge to share that a few people have recently fallen to their deaths from this bridge in the name of photo ops. Jen musta encouraged a dozen people heading up the trail to “make good choices” as we made our way down.

But it was a beautiful hike and very scenic with lots of trees… the incline and stairs definitely kicked our asses, but we both had a moment of clarity coming back down the trail…this innate sense of muscle memory, even though we’ve been out of the hiking game for quite some time. Like it all came back to us easy, like riding a bike. Our bodies felt grateful, the best kind of sore…the kind you crave, the kind you earn. The kind where your body says, “This is what I’m made for! Stop sitting all the time!”

And then our bodies reminded us for the rest of the day that we are old and out of shape…every time we got up from a chair or out of the car, and every.single.stair has been a biscuit-burning reminder of what we put our calves and quads through this morning.

Once we made it back to the car, we went on a hunt for breakfast and a chair to rest our legs. We found The Secret Garden in a little hub full of artistic shops called Tlaquepaque (you don’t wanna hear me try to pronounce it) and had lavender iced coffee and a fun cocktail with local Chakra vodka infused with matcha green tea and mint.

In a moment of fate, Gina from West Virginia, who took our photo up there on the Devils Bridge of terror, was seated right next to us a few minutes after we sat down. Connection! Timing! A sign! So we had a wonderful conversation and she told us Sedona is her favorite place on Earth and she’s been here every year since her first time…she gave us some restaurant recommendations, hikes she likes, and great places for stargazing. She said being here always feels like self-care…and I felt that. She’s absolutely right.

Then we walked around the artsy shops, but everything was expensive and posh…we did find some fun statues though for *safe* photo ops.

We were absolutely beat…down, but not out. Came back to the room for a little recharge and some flip flops then headed out to the Peace Park on the west side of town to get some meditative time in at the Amitabha Stupa.

This place had a calm and soothing energy. We felt it the moment we got out of the car. Like there was nothing in this space to worry about, only peace and love…like being inside a hug. We sat and relished at the significance of this energy shift and closed our eyes to breathe in the moment of total peace and a feeling of interconnectedness with all things.

Then, in what might sound like an odd shift, we headed over to the airport. We heard there was a vortex near here, but I don’t think we found it today. We instead found a lovely little restaurant overlooking the runway.

This place didn’t feel much like a powerful source of healing energy, more like a place rich people go to have a martini before their private jets are scheduled to take off. But we took some photos anyway and saw some people on top of a rock nearby…maybe that’s the vortex? We’ll find out tomorrow on our Jeep tour.

Jen took me out tonight for a pre-birthday dinner at this amazing restaurant, Mariposa, recommended to us by our new friend, Gina. This was a meal where we felt every bite and sip with intention and gratitude. And the location had an absolutely stunning view. The food and vibe was out of this world.

We were supposed to go stargazing tonight, the moon has grown since we’ve been here, but we’re exhausted. Tomorrow we wake up again with an alarm for our last day here…starting with our Jeep tour to the vortexes on the summer solstice.