Holy Road Trip!

We made a departure from our usual camping in the desert Spring Break and headed out on a nearly 2,000 mile road trip...and lived to tell!  We actually had a great time and we saw some beautiful sights, did some hiking and swimming, and just enjoyed spending almost a week together.  I won't go so far as to say it was relaxing but Jer and I did manage to take turns getting out on a few runs, and the weather was awesome so I can't complain.  I weeded out lots of pictures but there are still a ton, and I will again express my annoyance with how Blogger distorts pictures—especially if you are viewing on a Mac.

Our first day was a bit hairy, as in we drove all the way to Flagstaff, hairy.  That's about 10 hours of driving time which made a 13 hour travel day for us with some stops along the way.  To save a bit of money on this trip we took lunch with us almost everywhere we went.  We hit the rest stops hard.  I might just add that all rest stops are not created equal.  I pictured a nice one for our first stop but instead we found ourselves at a rundown, windy one near "historic Cove Fort" on day one.  It seemed to be where everyone within a 30 mile radius went for a smoke break.  Yummy.  The kids didn't mind though and entertained themselves chasing down everything that kept blowing away—which was everything.  I found out the night before that the road south of Page had suffered a landslide in February and will not be open anytime soon, so we ended up taking the Kanab, Fredonia, Marble Canyon to Lee's Ferry route.  It was actually really pretty and scenic.  By the time we hit Lee's Ferry, which is in the middle of nowhere, we were in desparate need of a real meal so we hit the local diner.  It was overpriced and a bit sketchy but not too bad.  After that we checked out Navajo Bridge and drove the last few hours in the dark to Flagstaff.  We checked in for a very restful night's sleep with our entire family in one room with two queen beds—okay everything but the restful part.

We did the Easter morning thing in our hotel room, tried unsuccessfully to take a good group photo, and then headed to church.  After church we ate and hit the road to the Grand Canyon.

We spent Sunday evening hiking along the rim trail, visiting the lookout points and visitor's centers, and  taking a few photos.  The Grand Canyon is amazing and Jer and I have already decided to take the kids back when they are all old enough to hike/camp along the way from Rim to Rim.  We are doing that little jaunt in one day with friends in May, so we'll scope it our for a future family event.  On this trip we spent quite a bit of time keeping the kids from running up to edges with thousand(s) foot drop offs.

We even got to see the sunset which was really beautiful.

After running the next morning we did some more exploring and souvenir shopping and returned Seth's rental boots.  Yes, we had to rent Seth some hiking boots.  The night before we left he played in water and soaked his shoes.  We set them out to dry and left them.  When we got to the Grand Canyon we realized but there were no shoes to buy.  We were able to rent him some women's size 5 hiking boots!  They were actually really funny, and it made us laugh a lot to see him clomping along in them for two days.  In Sedona we hooked him up with some new shoes which he was due for anyway.

At the Grand Canyon we stayed in the Yavapai Lodge on the rim which was pretty nice.  We once again were all in the same room and Leah cried a lot, so we were stoked to head to our condo in Sedona.  On our way out of town we stopped at the IMAX theater and watched the movie about The Grand Canyon.  It was really good, and the kids thought it was so cool that John Wesley Powell only had one arm like Leah (he lost his other in the Civil War).

Sedona is only a few hours from the Grand Canyon and includes a really pretty drive through Oak Creek Canyon.  Once we got there we stocked up on groceries and eventually found our place.  We stayed in a condo timeshare on a golf course that was out of town in Oak Creek Village, and it was pretty nice.  The boys had their own room and beds which was the best!  That first day in Sedona we were tired from all the sightseeing and driving, so we spent about four hours playing at the pool.

The boys and Jer were prunes by the end.

Ian truly loved swimming for the first time ever and became pretty brave and comfortable with his floaties on.  In the past he has always tried to keep his head above water.

Miss Leah was cute as ever and as long as we held her with no floaties she was happy.  She apparently trusts us but not flotation devices.  I totally wanted to lay by the pool and read a book or something but that did not happen.

Sedona is a beautiful town.  It's up in the red rock mountains—kind of a deserty Park City.  We went and saw this cool Catholic church built right into the mountain, and I took a picture of that tiny house below.  It was amazing!

Proof that I exist on these family trips!

Ian was fascinated with the "captus" we saw everywhere on this trip.  There were quite a few varieties. Love these boys—either best friends or worst enemies.  With the exception of a minor scuffle in the back of the van while waiting to check in at the Grand Canyon they were best buds on this trip.  We spent the rest of the evening checking out some of the cool touristy places in town and ate an awesome dinner at the Javelina Cantina.

 
We set out our second day in Sedona to spend some time hiking at Red Rock State Park.  It was lots of fun.  Ian hiked over three miles without complaining a bit, and the kids tried their hardest to catch lizards but did not succeed this time.  Leah was not a huge fan of the backpack but was lulled to sleep in no time.  She did not get a real nap on schedule for an entire week.

 

Whenever Ian saw ants he would shout out "ant warriors" and then begin stomping on them.

After the hiking we picnicked in a nice spot, and the kids spent no less than 45 minutes finding bugs and dumping water and/or spitting on them...until we finally dragged them away from this exciting activity and loaded them up.  After a day of hiking we swam and enjoyed our last night in Sedona.

This van was practically our home for a week, and she did great!  Jer and I officially reached the end of  iTunes and even listened to some six hours of parenting CDs—that's a sign you are in the car for a long time.

We ate our last breakfast in Sedona at a popular restaurant called The Coffee Pot, and it was so good.  It was our first and only breakfast out the entire trip and we stuffed ourselves.  We spent the rest of the morning at Slide Rock State Park in Oak Creek Canyon.  I thought it would be too cold to swim so we didn't even have our swimmers out.  Once we got there and saw people were in the water everyone wanted in.  I then proceeded to run a half mile back to the car, get everyone's suits out of their individual suitcases in the roof rack, utilize my bag that folds into a tiny pouch and zips on itself for the first time, and run them back for a quick change but it was worth it.  The kids loved this place and said it was their favorite even though the water was freezing!  It was April 1st after all.  In the summer this is supposed to be one of the best swimming holes in Arizona, but I can only imagine how crowded it would be then.

I had to get in tight on the boys to avoid getting shots of the scantily clad people in the background everywhere!

Jer jumped off a cliff and fully submerged and eventually got Luke and Seth in too.  It was cold.  Ian waded a ton and went under once only to conclude once was enough!  Leah was a good sport about wading those tiny toes.

After ice cream at the park we hit the road for Mexican Hat, Utah.  Not a popular destination but ours nonetheless.  We eventually needed some lunch/dinner along the way but could not bear the thought of stopping at McDonald's in the sketchy towns we were driving through.  We finally stopped in Tuba City, AZ for more sandwich supplies.  Have I mentioned we consumed a lot of sandwich/chip/fruit meals on this trip?  Tuba City is on the reservation and quite an experience. Let's just say we were the only pale faces around.  I voted Jer shopper, and he headed in to the Basha's grocery store.  Just when I was beginning to think he may never return he showed up bearing bread and honey, and doughnuts and milk for the next morning.  Selection in Tuba City was not high.  He said he got almost as many weird looks in there as he did sprinting down the streets of Zhengzhou, China last year to the Walmart—almost!  We then proceeded to fly across the Indian Reservation and past Monument Valley in the dark while I made pb and honey sandwiches and past them out in the car.  Our poor van.  The back seat also became heavy laden with Seth's rock and stick collections.

We eventually reached our destination at the Hat Rock Inn in Mexican Hat, Utah.  I have been in the Grand Gulch area several times backpacking but never quite this far south.  We toyed with the idea of visiting Four Corners but it was another 50 miles out of the way, and we just couldn't do it on our big travel day.  We've already added a return visit to this area someday to float the San Juan and visit Monument Valley to our mental list.  The inn was actually quite nice and Jer took the boys for a late night swim until they closed the place down at 10 p.m.  The next morning we were up and at them after our last peaceful (this one really was) night in the same room.

Leah has become known for looking at the ground whenever the camera surfaces.

Ian was set with his backpack, rocks, and plastic snake collection purchased at the Grand Canyon.  The kids really were so good with all the driving and except for a few meltdowns from Leah we had no problems.

We stopped to take a picture of the "famous" hat rock the town is named for, and we hit one last scenic destination just out of town—the goosenecks on the San Juan river.  This was actually really impressive.

We then made the decision to head on a more scenic route out of town rather than head to Blanding and up to Moab—a way we have driven lots of times.  Instead we headed out of town on the craziest road I have ever driven on.  It was not paved, was extremely skinny, and you could see all the previous switchbacks below you.  I am not one to white knuckle, but I was a bit white knuckled!

After failing to fuel in Mexican Hat we made a phone call and hoped we were right that we could fuel this time of year in Hite, Utah.  It's not exactly a booming metropolis.  In fact, what you see is pretty much it.  The lady there even reopened the store so we could buy the boys a treat.  Gas was over $4 a gallon.  We then hit one more road we'd never been on to get from there to more familiar territory—through Capitol Reef NP, Hanksville, and eventually to Torrey.  We stopped there and ate a nasty meal very near our super deluxe cabin we stayed in a few years back.  Jer also invested in a new, giant sombrero from their general store to replace the one that he already wore out.  You just don't get to Torrey, UT that often.  From that point on we pretty much ended all attempts at chatting, scenery, etc. and just started the movies going to get us home.  The kids really were awesome, and it was a trip to remember.  I hope the kids do.

We got home Friday night and just couldn't pass up the annual Baby Animal Days Festival to wrap up the week.  I truly detest the crowds at this event, but the kids like it.

I thought Leah would love it but that's about as interested as she got.  She looked like she'd rather squeeze the animals tight than pet them.  I think she was still a bit grouchy about her 14 hour travel day the day before!

Love these kids.  The 2013 tour of northern Arizona is officially complete.  Now what to do next year?