The last bit of light after sunset disappeared quickly. Sparkling stars were peering through the pinyon pine boughs above us. We were in the deep shadows of dusk as we picked our way down the rock-strewn trail back to the parking lot.

By “we”, I mean all three of us. A 1 year old Mordecai in my arms. A pregnant Julianna. And a very tired James.

It had already been a very full day. That very morning I got up before 5am to photograph a sunrise that—despite my best efforts—didn’t quite turn out like I expected (as you can read in this blog post). After that, I’d hiked several miles as the desert day began to heat up.

I shifted my happy little burden from one side to the other. And that’s when I discovered a new shade of brown smeared in various places on my shirt. And boy did it come with an aroma all its own! Eventually—slowly—we made it back to the car, grateful to set down my chattering bundle held at arms length. After we got Mordecai cleaned up, I went to go find a trash can to deposit a few unpleasantly smelling items.

And that’s when the migraine hit. It started with the tell-tale aura and quirky vision impairments. I had overdone it. I know now that the lack of sleep from the last week of late nights and early mornings had been the underlying trigger.

To make a long story short, we got back to our Airbnb pretty late that night. And I’m sure that contributed to getting off to the airport late the next day. But though we didn’t miss our flight out of Phoenix, typical delays and atypical weather landed us in Pittsburg at 2am . . . and in the mean time, landed me sprawled out on an airport bench with a second migraine waiting late into the evening for our connecting flight.

But was it worth it?

Absolutely.

I’ll never forget those blissful moments sitting on a giant, dusty rock with Julianna leaning against me, watching a 360-degree sunset over the remarkable landscape of Sedona, Arizona, listening to Mordecai playing happily and in his own little world with the pebbles at our feet.

There’s nothing else like it. Yes, I was tired. Yes, it had been a long day. Yes, tomorrow would be busy too.

But to have taken the time to spend a special opportunity together as a family in such a beautiful place, and at just the perfect time too . . . the cost was totally worth it. Especially in retrospect.

Plus, I had gotten the epic photos that I was hoping for in Sedona at sunset, too!

Maybe I’ll share more of them later. But for now, here are a few of my favorite photos from our relaxing, family sunset photo excursion at the base of Bell Rock.

Sometimes, the best light of all is after golden hour, after sunset, and when the light reflecting in the sky is so faint you can hardly see what you’re doing to compose, focus, and trigger your multi-second exposure.

I couldn’t help thinking of a song sung by Gene Autry, “Ridin’ down the canyon to watch the sun go down, a picture that no artist e’re could paint . . .” Only God could make a pile of red rocks like this. “Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.” Psalm 102:25

The last lines of Mr. Autry’s song floated through my head as the darkness enveloped us in the cool of the day. And he was dead on. “I tell you folks it’s heaven to be ridin’ down the trail, when the desert sun goes down.“