Jon needed a break from work, so he scheduled the Wednesday through Monday surrounding Independence Day as vacation days. I spent Wednesday trying to make a skirt for a lady from church (long, tiresome, and frustrating story that you will not be bored with), so we began our true stay-cation on Thursday. We figured it was a great opportunity to explore our new home.
Thursday: Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well, Beaver Creek, & Sedona
MONTEZUMA CASTLE
We drove north to see Montezuma Castle. It's hard to believe that the people who lived in this apartment-like structure carved it out of the side of a mountain/hill. But, the location was amazingly perfect. A stream running right in front, with the ability to be on the top as lookout for enemies, fields below near the stream for crops. As far as they can tell, the people lived here between 1200-1400 A.D. I stood there in awe, thinking about how long it took them to build this home, how many years they spent there, and the fact that we read about their ancestors in The Book of Mormon. More pictures can be found here.
MONTEZUMA WELL
After we left the castle, we went further north a little bit to Montezuma well. This was an amazing view/hike that I failed to get many pictures of because we left the camera in the car. It was so worth the ascent to the top of the well, and so beautiful ... so much that I am willing to make the trip again just to get pictures of it! Near the end of the hike, after climbing down to the base of the well and back up again, is a small descent down to the backside of the well. It was amazing to feel the drop in temperature as soon as we started down on the trail near the stream. This was by far the best part of the day for me. We sat near the stream, with our feet in the "holy water" and the peaceful quiet enveloped me. We didn't want to leave. I did get a few pictures on my phone, click here.
BEAVER CREEK
As we left Montezuma Well, we saw a sign that directed us to Beaver Creek. Normally, we wouldn't go off the scheduled path for the day, but because we didn't have a set time to be in Sedona, we took the side trip. It was so much fun for everyone. As we drove toward the creek, we saw campgrounds on either side of the road. We went over a bridge, and as we did so, we saw people swimming in the creek. Literally. There were about 20 adults and children in their swimsuits (some were floating on those inflatable mattress-type thingies, ya know what I mean? What are they called?) swimming and jumping off the rocks in the stream. We pulled over and joined all of them ... except we were all fully clothed. It was a much needed respite from the heat. See the rest of the pictures here.
SEDONA
Adam sliced his foot on a rock, and we decided it was time to drive into Sedona. Sedona is a quaint town that reminds me severely of Park City. We walked along the main street of the town and "window" shopped. We didn't dare take all the children into any of the stores because of our fear they would break something, and because it would have been sheer torture getting them to leave. Another place we'd like to go to again to take the jeep tours in the surrounding canyon. More pictures are here.
Friday: Tonto Bridge National Park
Several weeks ago Eliza and Kate were invited to join the other girls their age from church on a hike to Tonto Bridge. They enjoyed it so much that we decided we'd all go during our stay-cation weekend. It was amazing! Initially, when entering the parking lot, we couldn't see anything of Tonto Bridge. I started to wonder where it was. Then, we started out on the hike. There is a grate in the sidewalk before you get to the trail head in which looking through it affords a view down into the little cavern-like area under the bridge. The hike is a 200' descent from there, so I was in awe at the fact that we could look directly at the end of the trail from the beginning. (Does that make sense?) I wish I'd taken a picture, but I figured it wouldn't do the drop justice.
Because Jon's shoulders were so sore from his sunburn, and from carting Maryanne around the day before, I carried Maryanne on my back for this hike. I totally felt it in my thighs on the way back up. At the bottom of the descent is a little pond/pool/inlet that we were allowed to swim in a little bit. Jon saw a crawdad when we stopped the first time, and was able to catch it on the way back.
Getting under the bridge was the best part ... the rocks are worn smooth because of so many people climbing on them to get directly under the natural bridge. I had anxiety and excitement at the same time. And, thankfully, Jon carried Maryanne during this part; I didn't trust my footing enough to do it, and I think we are both grateful that he carried her. It was amazing to say the least. You can see more pictures here.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday: Relaxing days at home
We went to the pool, Jon and I saw Eclipse, the children had swimming lessons, and we recovered from our days of travel and being in the sun. It was a most gratifying weekend with the family.
Comments