Spring Vacation to Arizona and Utah--Part 1

We decided to redo a vacation we took two years ago, to do some of the things we missed before, and add in some bike riding. I had a hitch and bike trailer installed on our van so we could take our bikes with.

Great Grandma Armstrong with Orrin, Aleya, Amara and Joseph.

Playing Dominoes with Great Grandma.

We began our trip by visiting my Grandma Armstrong in Sun City West, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix. It was fun to see her and my aunt Jesse. They had prepared quite a feast for us with many delicious courses. Our kids couldn't wait to play games like hide the button and dominoes with Great Grandma because that's what they remembered from our last visit. The kids had a lot of fun and Aleya didn't get in too much trouble with all the fragile Grandma decorations.

It was great to see my Grandma again.

Thrifty as we are, we did not get a hotel nearby because the rates had all increased by $40 or $50 a night, since we last stayed there. So, I found a less expensive place in the next town, north of Phoenix . . . which turned out to be 1 1/2 hours away. It was a bit further than we wanted and we were tired and of course there was a mix-up with our room. I had accidentally reserved a smoking room. After changing to a non-smoking room, we dressed in our pajamas and went straight to sleep.

Montezuma's Castle Indian Ruins

Monday morning we packed up and ate the continental breakfast and headed off to Montezuma's Castle. It was fun to see it again and take pictures. I was able to buy another Junior Ranger hat (this seems to be one of the few places you can get them). We found out too late, last time at the Grand Canyon, that these hats were not sold there, only at Montezuma's castle.

Snowball fight, anyone?

Next, we drove 30 minutes to Sedona and Bell Rock. We had wanted to ride on some bike trails, but the Ranger said many of them were muddy. So, we spent most of our time hiking and climbing around Bell Rock. Last time we came, I was 8 months pregnant, so I didn't get to climb up on anything. We also had a surprise that there was fresh snow on the ground all over the place. Some had melted, but much still lingered. The kids were LOVING IT. They had a lot of snow ball fights while we hiked. It felt like the high 50s, low 60s, though and it was nice and sunny, so we planned to make the best of it.

Bell Rock at Sedona.

Look how high Christian and I climbed!

This time we all climbed to some pretty high spots on Bell Rock on the west side. Christian and I climbed the highest to get a 360 view of Sedona and Oak Creek (at different times). I was nervous to be up there without Christian, but a kind young man helped me a little and showed me the best route to get up. Christian had taken the more difficult route and, according to my boys, "Almost died." I think they were exaggerating a bit. We also climbed on the east side of Bell Rock to a point I had wanted to climb up to 2 years ago, if I hadn't been pregnant. It was near the place where Orrin was stuck last time and had to be rescued by some other hikers and their dog. This time we took the easier way up. It was again fun to see the 270 degree view from there. We noticed on the way back that much of the snow on the trail had melted while we were climbing.

Climbing is cool!

A baby's eye view from Bell Rock.

Christian and the kids climbed up very high on the west side.

All the snow had melted by the time we finished climbing.

We spent so much time climbing we left little time for anything else, so we stopped for lunch at a KFC with a buffet (delcious and worth the $6 all-you-can-eat price) and then we went on our way up Oak Creek Canyon toward Slide Rock Park.

Skipping rocks at Slide Rock Park.

We had wanted to stop at Slide Rock the last time we came, but it was closed (it was past 4PM). This time we got there at about 3:45PM and were able to stay until the grounds closed at 5PM. We didn't actually swim, but Christian taught the kids how to skip rocks and they had a blast trying to find the best ones to do it and seeing who could get the most skips. They also had a trail along the river which we followed to an old abandoned shack which I think was an outpost by the water wheel, used to generate electricity for the homestead there. Everyone had so much fun that we may come back again when it is warmer to actually get in the river and try out the natural water slides.

Old abandoned rock shack. It smelled like a latrine.

Wish we could have swam at Slide Rock. We'll have to come back when its warmer.

We next continued north to the Grand Canyon to our hotel, the Red Feather Lodge. We had stayed there before. It is actually a very nice hotel, with rustic decor. The kids got the crazy idea that they wanted to swim in the outdoor pool there (even with all the snow on the ground). Aleya and I were more sensible and stayed in our room.