I guess I am a sucker for mountains...whether the lush greens of the Smokies, the majestic jagged peaks of the Rockies or the vibrant Red Rocks of Sedona, Arizona.

Today a post from Shabbygirls' turf! To the readers of the blog from the Western States, I am quite certain that this photo is not that big of a deal but for a Midwesterner...the first sight of a flat topped plateau rising out of the desert heat surrounded by the iron reds of the Western high desert is breathtaking at the very least.

In a past life, I used to fly out to the West Coast quite a bit and always when we crossed the Arizona landscape I was mesmerized. Once on a business trip to Phoenix, I set a side a day and drove up to Sedona...about an hour and a half north of Phoenix. The trip up to Sedona was as awe inspiring as Sedona itself. The Saguaro Cactus and Prickly Pear landscape was so totally foreign to me. I had only seen these in John Wayne Westerns and I found myself face to face with a ten foot classic Western Icon...the Saguaro...the state flower of Arizona.

Nearing Sedona, I began to see the red plateaus now and then. As I got closer and closer to the town...the landscape changed from the browns and tans of the high desert to Fire reds and iron rust colored hills and plateaus too beautiful to describe...at least with this writers vocabulary.

I took one of the afternoon jeep excursions out into the midst of these rust colored monuments. Luckily...the jeep broke down and we were stranded until another could be sent to get us back to civilization. While everyone was complaining...I found myself wandering off on my own to an area where I was surrounded by beauty. I stood and watched as the sunset...gradually turning rust to red...then to deep intense almost magenta as the sun disappeared over the plateaus. Once the sun set, I was treated to a sky unhindered by the Midwest humidity...so clear, so black with billions of stars only interrupted by sporadic flashes of heat lightening that cast long shadows for an instant all around me. If I were an artist...I still would not have been able to capture this moment on canvass...a moment that I still see today in my minds eye.....so thankful that our jeep broke down.

Shabbygirl...you live in a beautiful part of this country.

By the way...if you look to the upper right of image...you can see Sedona nestled among the canyons and plateaus.