After our long hike through Boynton Canyon and the Subway, we loaded our tired and very thirsty bodies into the car and began searching for a refreshing lunch. We found it in the form of an acai bowl cafe not too far down the road. Inside the air conditioned eatery, I inhaled my frozen tropical treat in record time and sat shivering from the shock of cold until we made our way back into the sunshine.

Our day, though, was not finished. We had passed by the famous Chapel of the Holy Cross on the way to Boynton Canyon, and decided we would make a stop on the way back to our hotel. The chapel, nestled into the red hills of Sedona is open to the public during daylight hours and offers stunning views of the surrounding landscape. Unlike urban sprawl below it, it almost feels like it belongs.

The views from the chapel are stunning and well-worth the short trek to take them in.

It is said that the chapel, like Boynton Canyon, is situated on one of Sedona’s famous vortexes. Even if one doesn’t feel a surge of energy here, it is undeniably a peaceful and beautiful place as you will see in the slide show below:

After spending some time admiring the chapel and its surrounding landscape, we returned to the hotel to relax and hose off. As we were determined to take in a Sedona sunset, we chose a nearby, albeit over-priced restaurant to have dinner before we got in the car for one more adventure. Our destination, the famous Airport Mesa, which is also reported to be a vortex site.

We passed by the natural stone mesa to park our car, and began walking along a trail towards the setting sun. In retrospect, I would have preferred standing atop the red rocks, but we had thought we might get a better view from the trail. As it was, the sunset was not as magnificent as we had hoped, but one can never really complain about the views in Sedona.

It had been a long day filled with lots of walking, and we were all quite tired, but instead of driving home, we made our way up to the top of the Airport Mesa road where there is a large parking lot and viewing area to see the stars come out. We didn’t last long.