Arizona - Day 8 and trip home

OK - I am finally going to get this trip report done, and then I can move on to writing about other things! Thanks for your patience, readers (if I have any left).

Our plan for our final day in Flagstaff:
- go running (OK, I was the only one with this plan)
- go out for breakfast
- visit Walnut Canyon (cool Native American pueblo ruins)
- go back to Sedona and give it another try
- do several loads of laundry, pack & get ready to leave by 10am the next day.

I actually started the day with laundry and running. I got a load going and then did a nice 4 miles or so. I say "or so" because my Garmin ran out of batteries after the first 1/2 mile, and I was forced to time myself with my ipod! This was a much more successful run than my previous 4-miler. I started earlier, so there was more shade, and the day was cooler and a bit overcast. I didn't feel like I was being baked under a heat lamp, and so enjoyed it much more.

I came back from my run and Tom and I got everyone going. We went out to breakfast at this awesome place (we actually returned the next morning as well since it was so good). We ended up getting a very late breakfast there (like 11am), and then we did a little shopping in Flagstaff.

By the way, I haven't said much about the town of Flagstaff. It was very, very nice. Some excellent eateries, and decent shopping. My younger girls would have liked more kid's options (particularly for clothing - they are way more interested in that than toys these days), but the rest of us found some nice stuff. In particular, there were some really good outdoor outfitters, which makes sense because it is such an outdoorsy spot. I would have liked to see the University, the Museum of Northern Arizona, and the Observatory, but that didn't happen. A reason to go back I guess!

Anyway, we could see that a rainstorm was brewing, and we decided to head over to Walnut Canyon to see the ancient pueblos there. I had been looking forward to this for our entire trip. However, as we drove in they let us know that the walk into the canyon where you can actually walk by (and even into) some of the pueblos was closed because of a rock fall! Very disappointing. We decided to go anyway, and spent an hour or so at the museum and overlook.

While we were there the skies did open up and it poured rain for about 1/2 hour before stopping. In this picture you can see some of the pueblos (and also the rain):



Another shot of the canyon, and a cute picture of me and Annika:




We did enjoy our walk there, but it would have been a lot more fun if we had been able to go into the canyon. This rock fall happened during the winter, and hopefully they'll have it cleaned up by the end of the summer.

We left Walnut Creek Canyon, and drove down to Sedona again. Tom was sure we would enjoy it if we gave it another chance. Another breathtaking trip down Oak Creek Canyon - just amazing! We decided to check out Tlaquepaque, a shopping area which was designed in colonial Mexican style. It is really beautiful! Even though that style is not really authentic for the area, it really works - lots of courtyards and fountains.

Unfortunately (the second disappointment for the day), it was almost dinner time and we didn't realize that all the shops here close at 5pm! So while we had a really excellent (and really expensive!) meal there we did not get to do any browsing at all.

Here are the girls in front of one of the beautiful fountains:


After dinner decided to try to salvage our Sedona evening by heading to Airport Mesa to see the sunset. Finally a winner! It was absolutely breathtaking:


Honestly, the picture doesn't do it justice!

The kids had a good time jumping around while Will caught them in mid-jump:



We headed back to Flagstaff up Oak Creek Canyon in the dark, and were rewarded with two things. One was an amazing view of the stars. We stopped the car for a few minutes and went out to enjoy it. And the second was that as we were driving we saw a whole group of elk by the side of the road! One of them was an enormous male with big antlers, and the others were females with calves.

So our Western wildlife total was:
- a quail
- a jackrabbit
- a roadrunner
- a big-horned sheep
- bunches of California condors
- and some elk
(not to mention the amazing numbers of hawks, plus the fact that my daughter claims she saw a skunk)!
Not bad!

We finished the laundry, cleaned up the condo, packed the suitcases, and headed to bed.

We needed to be out of the condo by 10am. I was hoping we could do it a bit earlier, and maybe stop at Montezuma's Castle on the way down to Phoenix, but we didn't manage it. We left pretty much on the dot of 10, and headed back to our breakfast place for a farewell meal.

Unfortunately, some of the folks in our group were not feeling too great (which showed up later in various ways - I'll spare you the details!), so didn't end up eating too much. We got on the road at about 11:30, which pretty much gave us enough time to drive down to Phoenix, turn in the rental car, and get to the airport for our 4:20 flight.

Aside from the not feeling too well part, it all went smoothly. We reversed our amazing trip down 6000 feet, and through numerous eco-systems all the way to Phoenix, and had an uneventful trip home. We arrived at about 11:45 pm - we were actually a few minutes early, however that was erased by the inefficient baggage handling system in Philadelphia and we waited more than 1/2 hour for our bags. Luckily we had the next day to recover before I had to deal with work again!

Final thoughts:
- I really want to go back to the Southwest. I think if we return we would want to be a bit more mobile. With a big family it is great to spend a week in one spot, but now that the kids are older it isn't so challenging to move around with them. I think we would have seen more things and really enjoyed changing locations every 4 days or so.
- The Grand Canyon is amazing! I am beginning to plan ahead to do a rafting trip down the Colorado (just me and Tom) in a couple of years. I want to see it up close and personal!
- Most places that I visit I fantasize about living there. Not Arizona - it is beautiful in its own way, but is not green enough for me. But I could happily keep coming back regularly to visit.

We had a great time, and I'm so glad I was able to bring my children to see such a wonderful place.

Arizona trip - Days 6 & 7

Well, the day after our trip to the Grand Canyon we knew we needed to take it really easy. So we all slept in, and pretty much just hung around the resort for the day.

Will went up to the Activities Center and played World of Warcraft (his current obsession), and then we played a round or two of pool. We hung around, read, watched TV, and generally did nothing!

There were only two things that had to get done on that day
- I needed to find a good trail ride for the family, and sign us up for it sometime before we left. This was the one activity that all the kids in the family wanted to do. Tom did a lot of riding as a child, and the children have all also had riding lessons (some more than others). I have the least experience in the family, but I was game! Anyway, I was able to get us on a 1 1/2 hour trail ride at 9am the following morning with High Mountain Stables, located about 40 minutes away in Mormon Lake.
- My husband ended up spending much of the day talking to our lawyer in Western Massachusetts, where we are working on selling a property (very long story!). After 2 years on the market, we had gotten a good offer about a month before. However, due to a very long set of complications, we still did not have a contract. Of course, their lawyer finally sends us a contract while we are on vacation! Tom had some questions about it that needed to be resolved, so there was quite a bit of back and forth about it.

We ended this very quiet day by seeing Get Smart at a local cinema. We are all big Steve Carrell fans! The kids all really enjoyed it; I thought is was only OK. I was a big fan of the TV series as a child, and I thought the movie wasn't nearly as funny. We all tried to go to bed quickly since we had to be up early to get to the trail ride by 9am.

We got up by about 7:30, and were out of the house by 8:25. We were running a bit late, since they wanted us to be a few minutes early to fill out the paperwork. The drive to Mormon Lake was another lovely Arizona landscape. This time we were driving by high mountain lakes and forests. We missed our turn and did arrive a few minutes late, but it was fine. We filled out the paperwork and were assigned our horses.

Here are some shots of us on our horses (I'm missing since I'm the photographer!):







They lined the horses up in a particular order (it seems some horse like/don't like each other), and we went off. There was one other family on the trail ride with us. We went up the mountain into the beautiful forest of Aspens and Ponderosa pines. It was very quiet and relaxing. The horses were obviously very used to this trail, and did not demand much input from their riders. At one point, Ally's horse shied and bolted a tiny bit - she handled it very well!

Here are a few photos from horseback:





And one that the "cowboy" in charge took of us:


The two "rules" of the trail were that we all needed to have a good time, and we couldn't let our horses eat while we were riding. If the horse we were riding snagged some grass, we either needed to sing a song, or we needed to kiss the horse at the end. Annika's horse was apparently always eating (they gave Annika a crop so her horse would behave!), and she sang more than once. Ally, however, preferred to kiss the horse instead:




We all had a great time, and I highly recommend the experience. We spent a few minutes visiting little petting zoo at the next-door Mormon Lake campground, and then got back in the car. I had originally thought we would go straight to Sedona from horseback riding, but the family preferred to head home first. This ended up being a pretty good idea, since we were all in long pants and hot shoes for the riding, and it was nice to clean ourselves up and change.

I can't remember what we did for lunch, so we probably just grabbed food at the condo. I do know that everything took longer than we expected, and we ended up heading down to Sedona much later than planned.

The drive from Flagstaff to Sedona down the Oak Creek Canyon is magnificent - and a little scary! The switchbacks are incredibly tight, and you are going down about 2000 feet in elevation in about 15 minutes of driving. You literally drive down into the famous red rocks of Sedona. As you get near the bottom of the canyon there are some amazing campgrounds, houses and resorts. We would love to stay there someday. We went by Slide Rock State Park, and would have gone in but the parking lot was full - so we kept on going into the town of Sedona.

Sedona is an an amazingly beautiful spot, but the town itself was a disappointment to me. It was so commercialized and gift-shoppy! It was a lot like a mall, but with more crystal shops. We got ice cream and did some shopping (the kids saw lots of things they liked), but unfortunately it was very hot, and just the sort of place that I hate, so I ended up getting very impatient and cranky.

Here are some photos of the beautiful rocks of Sedona:




We stayed as long as we could stand it, but we still wanted to get to Slide Rock State Park. This is a place where Oak Creek forms a natural swimming hole and water slide, and looked like a lot of fun. We got there at about 5pm, and it would be open until 7 so we had a few hours to enjoy it - there is a $15 fee per car to get in, so we wanted to make it worthwhile!

It really was a lot of fun! However, the rocks are really, really slippery - at one point I almost landed on my head. Also, when you go down the "water slide" it is very tough on your butt! We all wore pants over our swimsuits to minimize the damage.

There was a nice swimming hole and Will & Hannah both jumped in:




This is Tom & Annika going down the slide:



I keep saying this a lot, but it was also an extraordinarily gorgeous spot:



I had forgotten to bring towels (whoops!), and we were all somewhat tired from our long day, so near the end of our time there a bout of crankiness set in. There were actual tears and sulking! So we dragged our tired & bruised selves back to the car and headed home. Annika claimed that she was so sore she couldn't sit on her rear end, and when we got back she took a nice long jacuzzi bath.

After a nutritious dinner of KFC & Taco Bell, we went to bed. Only one more day before we have to go.