Day 16 of our ultimate road trip was spent in Sedona, AZ and although I keep saying this, I'm going to say it again: this place is amazing! Within the first few minutes of driving into the canyon on the way to Sedona, Ben and I were already talking about returning for a long weekend getaway. By the end of our day, we were absolutely in love with the place.
We spent the morning with one of our favorite hikes of the trip: Cathedral Rock. This hike was fun and special because it had great rock climbing, but was also very safe for Josh. The kids had freedom to explore along the way and often selected their own routes for climbing.
Before the hike with Cathedral Rock in the background.
Fun fact: Seth and Sam had their Mexico World Cup soccer jerseys on, which led us to two different conversations with people from Monterrey, Mexico. Small world!
It was fun to climb up the slopes of the rock cliffs. (And also nice that we all had hiking shoes with good traction.)
Climbing like mountain goats
Josh does such a great job keeping up with the big boys!
I was in love with the wildflowers blooming.
The landscape was so beautiful.
Wildflowers + Cacti = amazing
We made it to the top! Time for water, snacks and resting our feet.
The view that we were rewarded with from the top.
Time to head down
A favorite picture of the trip for me.
This was one of the coolest parts of the climb (on the way up and down).
After our hike we were hot and hungry, so we headed into Sedona for a great lunch in a restaurant shaded by the trees of the river. There is so many neat restaurants in the town, many of which were gluten free (it reminded us a bit of Portland). We walked the town a bit to find ice cream for the kids and some souvenirs. By that time, we were super hot and ready to head to the creek. We drove to Slide Rock State Park, which I think must be one of the funnest places in the world. Everyone else must think that as well, because it was packed with people.
The rocks literally make slides for you.
Seth indulging in the fun. Somehow I didn't get pictures of Sam. (Josh and I chose not to participate.)
The red rocks combined with crystal clear water was breathtaking.
Me and my buddy while the big boys and daddy went to cliff jump.
I love that the twins are so adventurous.
Sam and Seth
I love that the kids jumped before Ben.
The super cool channel that they were jumping into
Josh wanted to participate too. I love that he's wearing his goggles, silly kid.
The twins probably jumped 7-8 times, which was ironic because at one point in time, we spent about 10 minutes coaxing an adult woman to jump. Poor lady got stage fright and ended up with a whole crowd chanting her name to jump.
Seth
Seth again
Let's call this Sam because I seem to have a disproportionate amount of Seth pictures this day.
My boys.
I want to spend days exploring this river and canyon.
The view on our walk back to the parking lot. Pretty amazing, huh?
After Slide Rock Park, we drove back into Sedona to watch the sunset and have some dinner. We got to the lookout point early, as it gets super crowded. We got a great spot for the view, but then had to wait about an hour for a sunset, which wasn't great with squirrely boys. Thank goodness the people around us were gracious to our kids digging, tossing rocks, playing tag, and generally being disruptive.
The first glimpses of the sunset.
Sometimes I feel like other people are more gracious to my kids than me: they were driving me crazy!
It was beautiful to see the sun shining on the red rocks.
And a couple panoramas of the sunset
The colors in this one might be my favorite.
Sedona summary: if you are anywhere close, go and visit. Or plan a trip there soon. We can't wait to return!
No comments:
Post a Comment