Thanks to an annual festival at school, my housemate (who taught at the same school as me) and I were able to set off on a day-long road trip north. We had enjoyed the beautiful red rocks on previous trips, and the wildflowers would be in full bloom along the highway roads. Spring in Phoenix that year was relatively cool, and that particular day had a mix of overcast and sunny skies. It was going to be a great day.
While we made sure to stop off at Montezuma's Castle & the Chapel of Holy Cross on the way, our main destination was Sedona, especially some of its great hikes. (In looking back, I'm almost positive my desire to spend time in the wonders of the National Parks stemmed from my time in Arizona - there was always something so peaceful about the hikes we would do and the beautiful creation we would witness.)
I am pretty sure it was a Monday, which worked in our favor because there were not many people with whom to contend. (For those who don't know me well, I'm not the biggest fan of huge crowds.) So, parking was simple. We had no hiking poles or Camelbacks - we just had ourselves - and we were on our way.
As far as hikes go, this one wasn't too strenuous; though, we did gain quite a bit of elevation relatively quickly at some points. And it was pretty desolate... until we ran into that one hiker. It's funny the timing of it all, as I seem to remember we were about to turn back when she made that comment about going further. So, we figured since we had the time and the woman had insisted, we would hike onward. Up more rocks and through some more narrow passages we went as we climbed higher up the mountain.
And then, we saw what she was talking about... what a view:
Yes, we agreed that the extra bit of climbing was totally worth it for a view like that. Wow.
Everyone is always saying "Go the extra mile" - and they are usually speaking in a more figurative/metaphorical sense: In life, the extra mile might be a project (or person) at work that needs extra tending/attention, a student who needs accommodations and special care, or the setting aside of extra time to spend with someone who just needs another person to listen to him/her. But here we had a literal, concrete example of how going the extra "mile" really paid off.
As I think back on this lesson of working just a little harder to go just a little further and see just a little (or a lot, depending) more, it gives me a boost at this time in the school year and it makes me excited for my summer trip to Utah, as in both situations I know that going the extra "mile" will be well worth it.
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