Yesterday we spent a full day wandering around Sedona. This is the first time I have ever visited, though I have known about its reputation as a spiritual place for a very long time. My mom and sister had "New Age" leanings, and my mom had dragged my dad here a few times. My father and I were heretical sceptics, but we humored what we called their "ooh ooh" stuff.

You can't spend much time in the town without hearing about vortexes(I wince hearing that word, always thinking vorteces is correct, but either usage is acceptable). Here's what it's all about:

As it turns out, we were in a vortex on the night of our stargazing/UFO hunt. As a skeptical local guide said to me, "I find it interesting that every vortex is so easy to get to. Page Bryant was perhaps the mother of the New Age Movement, but she wasn't much of a hiker." Page Bryant's book, " The Sedona Vortex Experience", was influential in shaping the current culture.

The idea of Sedona as a magical place of worship, though, goes back to the native tribes who lived in the region. They never lived in Sedona, but would make pilgrimages here for religious ceremonies.

While my wife and I took a jeep tour through the red rock region, my daughter visited this buddhist monastery.

She has buddhist leanings. She told us over dinner that the buddhists do not consider the monastery grounds as being a vortex, but they are welcoming of the idea that Sedona, like everywhere, can be magical.

I do want to add a little bitcoin note here. Our jeep guide began talking to us about his life. His parents always struggled financially to take care of their five kids. He dropped out of college after finishing a few credits. He bounced around many jobs while having fun as a young man. He got married and divorced, and has a ten year old daughter. He asked me about investing and real estate because I received a business phone call during the ride. I went into my orange pill speech, at which point he told me he had some eth. That's when I introduced him to the term shitcoin. I tried my best to explain the ins and outs of why eth is as bad as fiat, but it's not easy when you're bouncing around a rocky dirt road in a jeep. I hope he took my advice and traded that eth for bitcoin when he got home.