Green Tea Buzz

Cross-Country Trip Day 3, afternoon

Sedona, Arizona

We left the Grand Canyon and drove through stunning scenery to Sedona, on route 180 and route 89A.  Our windshield has become a bug graveyard and no amount of gas-station cleaning seems to help.   Still, I managed to get this picture.  

San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff

The landscape changed to pine forests and red rock as we wound our way down Route 89A and entered the Village of Oak Creek, just outside Sedona.

Route 89A to Sedona

Sedona is absolutely charming.  Ringed by hills of red rock, the town is full of low-lying adobe and stucco buildings painted in earth tones to look as if they emerged from the land.  Lots of cute restaurants, art galleries and new age shops selling crystal, sage, aura readings and vortex tours.

If you missed the groovy '60s (or want to relive it), spend an evening at the ChocolaTree in Sedona.  The women wear long patterned skirts, flowy tops, and scarves and the men wear anything that was reasonably clean and within reach that morning.  Everyone makes extended eye contact and gives you their undivided attention whether you're talking about the daily special or soul-mind-body connection.  They also all seem to have beautiful smooth skin.   

After a satisfying vegan meal, we had some of the chocolate that the shop is famous for (the cardamom rose cup was divine!) and a mason jar of nano-green tea that the busboy recommended as absolutely potent.  About halfway through the tea, my eyes began to glaze over and I began to feel very very mellow.  I couldn't stop smiling and I started swaying to the electronic lounge music.  Time slowed down and it seemed as though I could sit forever, I should sit forever, in this little cafe listening to the music and watching the dance of people ordering, eating, talking, leaving, and then the whole thing repeating again with people who were different and yet the same.  Each time the effects started to wear off, I took another sip of the tea and the sense of complete relaxation returned.  I decided I'd better bring some of that tea back to Miami with me and drink it every time I have to get on the phone with someone.