Going to Sedona?: Don’t Make These 15 Stupid Mistakes

#14 will shock you

Photo of author in Sedona in front of its buttes taken by author

According to Travel + Leisure, a travel media brand that aims to “inform and inspire passionate travelers,” Sedona is Arizona’s ‘It’ destination — a once sleepy town that now generates $1 billion in tourism revenue annually.

The article blames Instagram mavens like myself for the town’s transformation from a sparsely populated area to a place where hikers wait an hour to take photos of the perfect sunset.

To be sure, in July the temperatures can reach 100 F. I was in Sedona this December, when temperatures never topped 45 degrees, and some days it was considerably colder. Yet, the tourists — including myself — didn’t seem to mind.

One such tourist told me that he had been in Phoenix for business earlier that week, but just had to take the two-hour drive to Sedona so he could visit the Grand Canyon, which is another two hours and 15 minutes north of Sedona.

The restaurants and streets were bustling with families, and people of all ages rushed to take organized tours in Jeeps®, helicopters and other modes of transportation, as I quickly found out.

I had heard that Sedona was a place of mystical experiences, so I decided to find out for myself what all the hooting and hollering was all about. Though…