My New Favorite Camping Location

The last time Eric and I came to Sedona it was winter time.  We didn't have a lot of time to spend, but we quickly found out that it wasn't a super kid friendly town.  Think of it like the Santa Cruz of Arizona (without the ocean).  Lots of hippies and tree huggers.  (Not that those are bad things to be... but you don't find a lot of either in the desert, generally speaking.) 

I was thrilled beyond words when I was able to make a camping reservation on the banks of the infamous Oak Creek Canyon.  As luck would have it, we got the best spot in the campground.  Literally.  There are only 19 sites, and some of them are terrible.  But ours was perfect!  Just 100 feet from our tent was the creek, with these spectacular views.

On top of that, we had a Dairy Queen a mile down the road, and Slide Rock State Park a mile up the road.  How can you beat that?  If you are super nice, I might even share the info for the campground so you can visit this little piece of paradise too. 

If we hadn't had such limited time, and if we hadn't just spent hours in the creek a mile upstream at Slide Rock, my kids would have been playing in the water all afternoon.  The creek was deserted.  They did have fun watching the tiny fish (or tadpoles, not sure which) nibble on their feet in the water.  It was hard to leave this beautiful place and go home.  I already want to plan a trip back up there next summer.

On our way home, we had to stop by this place.  Eric wanted to replenish his hot sauce supply (and this store has an amazing collection to choose from) and I wanted to take pictures of all the cool signs in the parking lot. 

Next summer, a trip to Oak Creek Canyon will be on the top of the priority list.  Anyone want to join us?

Sedona Rocks!

Imagine having THIS right in your backyard....

After living in Phoenix for almost 4 years, we finally made a trip to Sedona. Eric and I celebrated our 16th anniversary on Tuesday with a much needed adult only getaway Monday night. We used Eric's Hilton Points he collects when travelling and sprung for an upgraded King size suite with a balcony, a gas fireplace and a giant whirlpool tub. It was heaven on earth!

The view from the road as you approach Sedona and Oak Creek...

Highlights included 2 days and one night without kids... gorgeous scenery... dinner at a fabulous Mexican Restaurant... going to see Seven Pounds... hiking in the Sedona Wilderness... Geocaching... Shopping (the only things we brought home were some "lucky bamboo" and 2 bottles of different flavored Hot Sauce)... a stop at the Outlet Mall in Anthem on the way home... and two whole days kid free! (I love my children dearly, but everyone needs a break now and then!)

This was my favorite rock in Sedona... Bell Rock

We drove to a Trailhead that was supposed to be a "moderate" two mile loop, but we parked at the wrong trailhead and 45 minutes later, we got this georgeous vista! We had no idea what trail we were on, didn't bring the map with us, left the GPS in the car (low batteries), and only had one bottle of water between the two of us, so we decided to play it safe and not get stranded in the middle of nowhere. We headed back to the car after I snapped a picture of this dead tree... not sure why I liked it so much! I just thought it looked cool!

After we got back to the car, we stopped at a convience store and paid $17 for 4 AA batteries, 2 ice cream bars, a diet coke and a bottle of water. We decided to count the ice cream for lunch because you can do that when you don't have children with you, right???

With fresh batteries in the GPS, we decided to do a little off-roading and Geocaching in the "Loveable Mutt". That's one of our many nicknames for this car... also known as the "Mighty Montero". How this car has gotten so many interesting nicknames is the subject of another post altogether!

Our Cache took us on a dirt road that the famous Pink Jeeps use. Thank goodness they didn't make fun of our ride as they drove by!

We found our cache in a an area very close to this... hard to believe this is Arizona, huh?

This is the happy dance that he did after finding the cache... or was it after he realized he's successfully survived 16 years with me? Only the two of us will ever know....

Happy Anniversary Eric - I LOVE YOU!