For quite a while I have been hearing of the beauty of Sedona, Arizona. One of my best friends (Tati) has always talked about and dreams of visiting it. We once made plans, but since she is in Brazil, life happened and our schedules and wallets just didn't allow for the trip together.

And so after searching online for cheap airline tickets, Phoenix was on sale. I knew it was pretty close to Sedona, so I asked my husband Chris if he could take a week off work and visit this beautiful place with me.

We flew into Phoenix, got our rental car and headed straight to Sedona. As always, we talked to the locals and found out the must-sees for the next day.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross was our first stop, early in the morning, and this what we saw on the way there:

We then went on a hike on Bell Rock Trail, which was full of little surprises:

We took our sweet little time on our hike, as I felt the need to photograph everything. Afterwards, we decided to hop on one of those Pink Jeeps you see everywhere in Sedona. The tour was a lot of fun and we got to some amazing spots:

We had perfect weather during our first day, which allowed for a long hike. The next day was much hotter and we were still tired, so we chose an easier trail, at Boynton Canyon. But because it was much hotter, we didn't explore as much. To our surprise, however, we heard someone playing the flute, which just added to the experience. It was super special to sit there and listen to this inspiring music. This place provided us with much needed shade and a beautiful view:

Hiking and music done, we traveled to the Hualapai Reserve to prepare for the highlight of our trip: White Water Rafting. There was no room for my big camera in our raft, so the cellphone photos and the photos I purchased from the ride will have to do. You can see the full album on Facebook. Here's what I shared on Instagram (follow @lainetorres):

This ride included heart pounding moments with a beautiful waterfall that left me speechless and a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. We still visited the Skywalk and traveled 2h back to the hotel, completely exhausted. It was truly one of the best things I have ever done - I very much recommend it!

We had one night to recover, and then decided to hit the road and head to the Grand Canyon. The drive in itself was pretty nice:

But it's hard to top this view here:

And that was the first sunset we saw in this grand place. It was fantastic!

Our next stop was the little town of Page, to see Antelope Canyon. They offer photographer's only tours, for a little more, but you must have your own DSLR and tripod, and since Chris would just tag along, we were not able to go on it, having to join the regular and completely full tour instead.

It was challenging to photograph a narrow place that is packed everywhere you look without getting an ocean of visitors in the frame. I had to settle for shooting at higher angles:

I was able to squeeze in front of our group and hold everyone for a few seconds, while the previous group moved into the next area - that's the only photo I captured where you can see the ground.

This place is a photographer's dream and challenge, with all the angles and the ever-changing light. I love the colors in the shots above, but I am definitely partial to the black and white ones:

This is the opening from which we emerged after our tour. If I wasn't shown the way, I would have never known what lies just beneath the surface:

We still saw Horseshoe Bend before heading back to the Grand Canyon.

By the time we arrived back at the park, the sun was setting and there were lots of people photographing the beautiful views. I was shooting as well, and got to meet another fellow photographer, who happened to actually include me in some of his shots. We swapped business cards and Bill was kind enough to send me some of those photos. This one is my favorite:

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: William J. Mac Millan - Photo Art By Mac - http://www.photoartbymac.com/location/

Bill told me that the rest of the photos he took on this trip are not up on his website yet, but I am sure they look fantastic. (Thanks for the photos, Bill!)

We stayed overnight at the park and attempted to go on the Bright Angel Trail the next day. Well, we did not make it very far. Out of breath and with shaky legs, I had to turn around one mile into the steep and rocky hike. I was disappointed that I couldn't go any further, but we still got to see beauty all around us:

One of our last stops was a visit to the Desert View Tower, still at Grand Canyon National Park. The view shows the majestic Colorado River and a gutsy man who went exploring beyond the rails:

Here's what you see at the Tower:

And here's the Tower:

My last photo was at the Airport in Sedona, where we arrived late for the sunset, and I had to incorporate the front row into the shot:

We had very little planned out when we traveled to Arizona. We always had our suitcases in the car and were constantly asking people for places to go and things to see. After all this was a very memorable trip, full of unexpected adventures, friendships and unforgettable views. It truly was inspiring.

Thanks for checking out the photos. Which one was your favorite? Have you been to Arizona? Did I miss any of the jewels from it? Please comment below!

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-Laine :)