Ottawa Family Catches Red Rock Fever (Freebie Alert!)

Vacation rental guest, Jennifer Chandler writes about her recent trip to Sedona. Jennifer has devoted her life to providing a low or no-toxin environment for her family. This commitment to healthy living is a legacy she gets from her mom, Jane Chandler. Jane's Etsy Shop will be featured in the next issue of Mothering Magazine, she sells eco modern design stuff for babies, kids and kids at heart. There's a fab giveaway going on for one of her beautiful quilts on Cloud9 Design. Now back to Jennifer and Sedona.

Here in Ottawa, my partner, daughter and I have taken quiet time and a good number of conversations to focus on how, when, and why we want to return to Sedona as soon as we can. We spent almost two weeks in Sedona at the beginning of January, and it was both a time of re-awakening and relaxation - simultaneously! Staying in Dana's family home, Casita Colibri was the nexus, the highlight, and the incredibly comfortable grounding for our adventures and quiet evening nesting after long hikes.

As a couple, and now as a family, we have committed ourselves to living with as small an ecological footprint as possible, and to limiting the toxins and body-burdening chemicals that are so prevalent. This is why we chose to visit Sedona after having found Dana's healthy vacation rentals on an Internet search, not the other way around!

Normally, one chooses one's destination and then figures out where to stay. Having an eco, non-toxic, and toddler-friendly place to stay was our paramount concern, and we were fortunate to have found Dana's healthy home. Without it, I'm quite sure we would not have made it to Sedona and had an enriching experience that featured the most solid family bonding we have had since my partner took a few months off work when our daughter was born.

Our daughter learned a great deal during this trip - about a whole new part of the nature, about the kind of experiences we can have as a family, about what hiking is, and how to avoid touching a cactus - and undoubtedly had spiritual experiences she was not able or willing to identify or share. Sedona is a truly special place to us, and at the heart of that is Dana's lovely home, something we are working on visiting again soon.

Photo of Red Rock Crossing, Arizona by Steve Beinhorn
This blog is for bottom-up dispensers of cool who enjoy eco-travel deals and healthy living. We feel that "the small, the slow, the local, and the personal" will build the new economy. Your comments will help enrich this information for all of us. Please share your tips and experience.