When we woke up the morning of Tuesday, March 15th, in our Flagstaff hotel, we felt more refreshed than we had in days. Not
all the way refreshed, of course...I shared my bed with two little girls who can be restless sleepers. I woke up several times to find Aurora shoving a limb in my face or climbing on top of me. Still, the room was
warm, and that was more than enough for most of us!
This was the day we were to head home, but not before taking an alternate route on our way south. We decided to visit Sedona, a town we'd heard great things about but had never visited. To get there, you have to get off the freeway and drive down a small two-lane road for about an hour. It was slow going, but as we descended further and further into Oak Creek Canyon, the views became truly spectacular!
Nathan and I grew up in Colorado, so tall canyon walls and coniferous trees make us feel right at home. That, and the small skiffs of snow that kept popping up! Sedona wasn't as cold as Flagstaff, but there was still a bite in the air. It was perfect!
Before arriving in Sedona proper, we stopped off at
Slide Rock State Park, which was located just north of the town. The park was originally an apple orchard before being converted, and there are still a lot of old farm machinery laying around, as well as several homes, a barn, and a store. These days, they are only for tourist eyes.
However, the main attraction of the park was Slide Rock, which is basically a "natural water-slide," carved by water directly into the rock bed of Oak Creek. It's perfectly shaped for a fun, slippery ride through the water. We didn't bring our swimsuits on this camping trip, so on this day all we could do was sit and watch the brave souls who arrived ahead of us. That water was quite chilly; I salute their courage! I'm not sure I could have climbed in.
We were able to sit on a shelf of land several feet above the water, and watch people splashing and playing. Perhaps someday, we can come back on a warmer day and attempt the "water-slide" ourselves! Our girls were all a little disappointed they didn't get a chance to try it out. I've heard the park can get very crowded in the summer, but Nathan and I said we'd like to try it out again in the future nonetheless. It looked like a lot of fun!
After our short stop-off in the park, we drove the rest of the way through the canyon into the town of Sedona. We were immediately impressed; it was so beautiful!
Nathan and I agreed that if Breckenridge, Colorado, and Moab, Utah had a baby, it would look a lot like Sedona. If you don't know what the heck I just said, I'll sum up: Breckenridge is a ritzy ski town in the Rocky Mountains, and Moab is an outdoorsman's paradise of a city, frequented by bikers, hikers, runners, and climbers. Sedona manages to be an interesting blend of those two cities; it has no shortage of AWESOME ROCK FORMATIONS to climb on, and there are tons of biking and hiking trails everywhere. The town itself is filled with trendy shops, restaurants, and art galleries, as well as several small parks. And with the relatively mild Arizona winters, it can easily host visitors year-round.
Long story short: Nathan and I fell in love with Sedona almost immediately. It represented a perfect blend of the ski towns we grew up visiting in Colorado, and the arid beauty we have come to love while living in Arizona. Plus, our whole family loves to hike, and Sedona is a hiker's paradise; there are innumerable canyons and trails snaking their way through the city and the surrounding hills. We decided to pick one trail to hike on this trip to Sedona, with the promise of more to come later!
We decided to let Lorelai pick out the hike (at the time, we thought it might satisfy a requirement for the Faith in God program she is working on through our church). She chose
Fay Canyon, a shortish (only 2 1/4 miles round trip) but scenic trail on the outskirts of town. Other pluses: Fay Canyon had plenty of shade, a well-worn trail, and some gorgeous vistas.
Oh, it had a natural arch too! Unfortunately, I didn't get any really good pictures of it. There was an alternate branch of our trail that led to the arch; some of the stronger and more daring hikers took that route, and later on we saw their tiny forms hanging out next to the arch. I was tempted, but we thought the hike might be too strenuous for the kids, so we kept on going to the end of the trail.
Once we found the rear walls of the canyon, we saw several signs warning us to stay off the Native American ruins. The fact that there
were ruins on this trail was news to us; we'd never heard of them, and we didn't see them anywhere. Maybe we didn't go far enough up the trail? Either way, we didn't feel like seeking them out. A hiker who'd arrived at the trail's end before us had brought a Native American-style flute and was playing some music as we reached the final rocky ascent. It was a little haunting, but a beautiful greeting to the trail's end.
It was a bit precarious climbing up the huge boulders at the canyon wall. But it was well worth it once we got to a large, flat outcropping about a third of the way up the canyon walls. The view looking back through the trail was truly spectacular.
We felt almost as if we'd left all civilization behind. We could no longer see the parking lot where our van was located. Nor could we hear any traffic or city noise. It was just our family, the other hikers, and the rustling oak leaves of the forest that closed gently around us.
I don't know if we will ever revisit Fay Canyon (there are
so many other places to go hiking in Sedona, we might not have time), but at least we were able to get a lot of great pictures of the occasion.
The hike out of the canyon was uneventful, but very satisfying. By now, we were getting pretty hungry, so we drove back into town for lunch. We decided on
Javelina Cantina, a "Mexican" restaurant (it was really more Tex-Mex than authentic Mexican, but it was pretty good in spite of that. Sorry, living near Tucson has made us Mexican food snobs).
All of us ate greedily and loved our food. Plus, we got to admire the nice view from out the windows.
The restaurant was located inside a small marketplace filled with several galleries and boutiques. We decided to do a little window shopping and goofing off before we got back in our car.
After stretching our legs a bit more, we reluctantly decided it was time to head home. Our whole family loved Sedona more than we'd expected, and it was hard to leave. We wanted to spend at least another day or two exploring and enjoying the great outdoors and the beautiful weather! It was kind of surprising, considering how tired out we'd been coming from camping the day before. But we told ourselves we would come back someday and give ourselves more time to explore this awesome city.
The only downside? Driving south out of the city. Yikes, all there is was a small two-lane highway that was insanely congested with tourist traffic! If we do return, we will have to find an alternate route into town. Once we'd cleared Sedona, it was a smooth ride back to our home.
Overall, our trip was eventful and exhausting, but memorable. Our frigid campout will be a story we can smile over for years to come, and it will be a reminder to our girls that they can accomplish hard things. And we also got to see a lot more of Arizona's natural beauty up close and personal. We live in an incredibly lovely place, and I'm so grateful for the chance we had to explore it some more.
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