My parents were so nice to get a room for us with some of their extra time-share points up in Sedona. We definitely needed a break from everyday life. We headed up Monday afternoon, after getting the transmission flushed and searching for closed toed shoes for the older kids.
Because we had already been in the car for a while (at least it felt that way), we stopped at the first rest area just outside of Black Canyon City. They have a scenic view, so we took the opportunity to let everyone get out of the car and snapped a family picture.
After getting back on the road, Koltyn starting screaming his head off. He has started to throwing a fit everytime we put him in his carseat lately. But this time he just kept on going, so we popped in a John Mayer cd and...violla! He stopped crying almost instantly. Koltyn must be a John Mayer fan, or his ears just popped, but we like to think it was because of the music.
That night, after getting all the kids down for the night, Kevin and I snuck out to the balcony for some hot cocoa. It was so nice to sit outside, snuggle, have an adult conversation and watch the steam rise off the pool (which actually had some people in it). I waited until sunrise to get a picture of the beautiful view. I love the red mountains of Sedona.
After breakfast, we traveled down the road about 5 minutes to hike the Fay Canyon Trail. Kimble quickly found two sticks that she started rubbing together. She said that she was trying to get the wood inside. Silly girl!
Once we reached the main attraction, this arch in the rocks, we took a break before turning back around. Kimble searched for more wood, then joined the rest of us in admiring the "vortexes" other people had left behind. At least that is what we think they were. There tons of them in this one spot that we stopped.
Karter was our guide back to the car. He would stop every few yards, tap his chin while pondering which direction to go (like there were a ton of choices or something), then point in delight and yell, "That way!"
We wanted to visit Williams, since we won't be riding the Polar Express Train this year. On the way through Oak Creek Canyon we stopped at a couple of scenic views. First at a bridge that crosses over the river. It was so high up and made me very nervous with the pretty wimpy gaurd rails.
Once we made our way out of the canyon, we stopped again to let the kids out of the car. Kevin and I took a picture five years ago at this very spot on a trip for our first anniversary. Boy, has our family changed!
After arriving in Williams, we walked around the downtown area and found a public playground. Of course we had to let the kids play for a little while. It was really neat. They had a criss cross teeter-totter that Kimble loved. Koltyn was ready to get out of the stroller, finally.
Karter was impressed by the talking, and waving, cowboy outside of this souvineer shop. He could not stop starring at it.
We stopped for dinner and then made our way back to the train station. We found out that the Polar Express was not running that night, so we waited for the train to return from the Grand Canyon instead. They do have a Polar Exoress train sitting at the staion, probably for picture purposes, so we checked it out. We had to take a picture in front of the Grand Canyon Railroad sign before we left. After all, it has become a tradition.
Wednesday morning, after checking out, we stopped in at Tlaquepaque on our way out of town. Karter was having fun on all the colorful stairs and Kimble really liked all the animal statues.
We finally made our way back to Queen Creek and we are happy to be home. It was a great adventure that we will not forget any time soon. The weather was perfect and there was so much to see. Thank you to Mom and Dad for making our trip happen!
