As I type the majority of this, it’s 4:30 p.m., we’re taking a quiet time break in the hotel room, it’s overcast for the first time since we’ve been here, and I think all of us are feeling allllll the activity.
Translation: we’re tired!
But man oh man have we managed to pack a ton in to this Spring Break adventure! Like so many of our vacations, we feel like we’ve hit so many highlights while also barely scratching the surface of this beautiful place.
But we’re so grateful for any and all time we’ve managed here, and we’re all in agreement that we’re so glad we ended up in Sedona for our trip! It’s visually and topographically unlike anywhere else. I definitely recommend it to anyone interested. :)
Now.
For our day…we began with another lovely breakfast at the hotel, followed by a second hiking adventure!
It hurts me that there are something like 300 miles of hiking trails in Sedona, but we only managed to tackle a couple of them, ha. Oh well. That’s life with kiddos—and life when you typically have four(ish) night/ three day vacations. Too little time; too much to do!
It felt like an impossible task to try and decide on this particular hike, as we knew it would be our last official chance and we didn’t want to choose poorly.
Spoiler alert: I don’t think it’s possible to chose poorly here in Sedona, but…we picked another winner!
We decided on Bell Rock and we’re so glad we did. There was one option to do about a 4.6 mile loop hike that would take you around Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte, but we knew our kiddos wouldn’t make it that far.
Instead, we chose to do the rock scramble UP Bell Rock, and it was the perfect choice. The kiddos got to climb and play and feel like real rock climbers, and the heights and scary ledges were just manageable enough for me, ha.
And again; we had beauuuutiful weather the first half of the day, with perfect 50/60-degree temperatures.
And again; we had beauuuutiful weather the first half of the day, with perfect 50/60-degree temperatures.
I swear I’ll post about Flat Little Man, soon. But these pics are too hysterical not to include!
Approximately 75% of this hike was pretty fun but slightly strenuous rock scrambling like this. You have to be careful with your footholds and be totally fine going up a pretty vertical incline, ha.
The only reason I was okay with it: there were lots of wide expanses along this hike. Very few areas where it felt like I could fall right off a cliff’s edge. More like I’d end up on a long and bumpy and very unpleasant slide down, down, down.
These yahoos were so proud of themselves for each plateau we achieved. They would have kept going to the very tippy top!
Look at this color-coordinated cutie pie!
She got a little accidental sun on her neck yesterday (despite sunscreen), so we found this hat that matched her sweater perfectly, and a super fun scarf to keep her extra covered up. :)
These yahoos were so proud of themselves for each plateau we achieved. They would have kept going to the very tippy top!
Look at this color-coordinated cutie pie!
She got a little accidental sun on her neck yesterday (despite sunscreen), so we found this hat that matched her sweater perfectly, and a super fun scarf to keep her extra covered up. :)
She loathes wearing her hair down these days, but we also made her keep it flowing and free to cover more of her neck. And it’s so lovely! I can’t wait for the day when she’s more confident again in switching up her hairstyles. All in good time. The tweens are complicated years and my girl is handling them with such grace. :)
Apparently, all I have to do to get some extra physical support via hand-tugging up buttes is to be heinously afraid of heights. Then my boy is all over me, for protection, and I lurv it.
I die over this shot…
And this panoramic, ha.
Such beautiful, beautiful scenery. And ironically, on both our hikes, despite higher elevations, the wind was not intense at all!
Good luck to the laundry fairy (read: Yours, Truly) in getting all this Sedona orange/red out of our clothes and shoes, ha.
Love this shot of Chicklet—and I love her pants! And she always looks so beautiful in peachy/orange. And blue, of course; her favorite color. :)
Ugh. Chica looks so old, here.
I mean…the jump shot was so cute the other day, I had to try, hehe.
Seriously another fantastic round of outdoor fun. So grateful we were able to work this hike into our schedule m, and I only wish we’d had time for many, many more!
Now.
Because we were trying to jam every last ounce of fun and activity into our days here…we had approximately seven minutes at the hotel for a quick change before racing to our lunch reservation at a restaurant called Mariposa.
It has to be said: the food here was wonderful, but not more wonderful than all the really great meals we’ve had while in Sedona.
BUT.
The view.
I mean…THE VIEW.
These pics don’t even do it justice, but our table in the corner of these panoramic windows was just…beyond stunning. Aside from maybe a Kauai oceanfront meal, I don’t think we’ll ever have a scenic setting that can top this.
Even Little Man kept waving his hand all around the giant windows on all sides of us, saying it was unbelievable.
And the door at the front of the restaurant was a stunning work of art. Impossible to capture in this pic:
As the restaurant is the only thing up on this particular stretch of land, it’s pretty much an Instagram-worthy shot, every which way you look. 360 degrees; I kid you not. You could just blindly point and click and have the most gorgeous pic.
I know tons of people prefer to come here for a fancy dinner, but beyond an incredible sunset, I don’t think I’d want to waste this view on evening-time darkness! I’m so glad we came at midday.
I can’t believe how fast three days have flown by, and how much more we wish we could do!
Even Little Man kept waving his hand all around the giant windows on all sides of us, saying it was unbelievable.
And the door at the front of the restaurant was a stunning work of art. Impossible to capture in this pic:
As the restaurant is the only thing up on this particular stretch of land, it’s pretty much an Instagram-worthy shot, every which way you look. 360 degrees; I kid you not. You could just blindly point and click and have the most gorgeous pic.
I know tons of people prefer to come here for a fancy dinner, but beyond an incredible sunset, I don’t think I’d want to waste this view on evening-time darkness! I’m so glad we came at midday.
I can’t believe how fast three days have flown by, and how much more we wish we could do!
But I know we packed a lot into our time here, and Sedona has been a major win for us. Just the kind of diverting and majestic atmosphere we hoped for. :)
It will feel like a long travel letdown day tomorrow, but I’m going to try to keep my vacay high as long as possible.
More later, peeps!
Over and out.
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