Hello to all of my readers. First of all, I’m sorry I’ve been less than consistent with my blog posts. I really feel like I’ve been wrestling with WordPress, and I do mean wrestling. I had actually written my post earlier today, worked on fixing some formatting, and now my post is gone. So if you do see my blog on another platform soon, you’ll know why.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to go out and see some of the magnificent sites here in Sedona while I’m here for an undetermined amount of time. A friend of mine told me about Buddha Beach, so I had to go check it out. I looked it up on my GPS, packed a breakfast bar, a bottle of water, a flashlight, a compass, and my multipurpose tool. All set, right? I found out I have to work on the art of my trail exploring.

I got to my destination, parked my car, and headed out to the trail to guide me to this fabled land of an actual beach in Arizona. I’m from Florida, and when I’m out in parts like this the fact that there’s no water around, at least not ocean sized amounts of water, usually hits me at some point. I was still skeptical, but on my way.

Sure enough, I did come up on Buddha Beach, and saw an actual beach with water. From here, I thought I would just go a little further up the path, take in a little more scenery, and backtrack to where I started from as it was getting late in the afternoon, and I knew to be back before sunset. Sounds like I’ve got it all together right?

Well, I somehow managed to keep going further along the trail than backtracking. I was getting more pics, and moving along when I realized the parking lot area I came up on was not where I parked. Ok, time to ask for assistance. I found a park employee in a golf cart and asked him how to get back to where I started. He showed me on his map where to go, so I started out right away, knowing I only had so much daylight.

I had to cross Oak Creek to get back to my area, or at least that’s what I thought, so I crossed, which was an adventure in itself but I made it, and then started down the road. I was on a trail leading back to the trail I started from, but I had misunderestimated (gotta keep those Bushisms alive best I can) the distance.

When I came up on the next parking lot I encountered, which wasn’t my parking lot, and saw the sun about to touch the mountaintop, I knew I was in trouble. Thankfully, I came across a couple of wonderful people, with their dog, that were about to drive away. I told them about my predicament, and they offered me a ride. I’m still wondering how I got so far from where my car as parked in just a few hours, but that can certainly happen as I discovered.

As I sum this all up, I have to take it as a sign to redirect my efforts in accomplishing what I need to accomplish during my time here. Sometimes you have to just keep pushing to get to where you’re going, and as I found out, no one can do it alone.

A big shout out to Mark, Cindy, and Lily (their dog) for helping me in a time of need. On the brighter side of things, it was great to make some new friends. Note to self, pin the location of where you’re parked on your GPS next time.