Life is funny. At 12, I went to Arizona with my father and brother. I loved Sedona! Ten years ago, in my first job as an auditor, work unexpectedly took me to Arizona for a few weeks. One weekend in February of 2008, Jordan flew out to join me for a weekend of exploring before we got married and we visited Sedona. Ten years later I had both Jordan and our amazing son to take with me on this trip!
This was D’s first flight! We flew straight from Charlotte to Phoenix. As parents, we provided an entire backpack of treats, electronics not normally provided to him and other fun things for the six hour flight. He was spoiled with his first row window seat and snacks for the entire flight
We were able to rent a car to go to Scottsdale and we would need the car for our adventures later. We stayed in a family resort, rather than the four star adult hotel the work conference was at during the week. We loaded up at the local pancake place that made me believe in diners again to then explore downtown Scottsdale and Taliesin West. There was a parade in downtown Scottsdale, so it was busy. I had to then attend my investment conference that included the likes of Ben Bernanke while the boys lived it up at the pool and around town with fun kid activities. As a side note, outside of Italy a gluten-free girl has NEVER eaten so well!
As the conference finished up on Tuesday, we took a road trip where the temperature ranged from 85 to 25 degrees in one day. We drove around the Mogollon Rim all the way to the very small town of Holbrook on Route 66. We really enjoyed the old, abandoned Route 66 sites.
We went all the way to the town of Holbrook to visited the most amazing National Park of Petrified Forest which encompassed the term the painted desert it was created from, Agate Bridge and Rainbow Forest. This one of most amazing places we have ever visited and to see such diversity in nature over less than 100 square miles is beyond comprehension, much less the idea of natives living here for thousands of years. I may have bought three different souvenirs of petrified rock this day.
After this national park visit where D was sworn in as a Junior Park Ranger (!), we visited the Meteor (Sunset) Crater and drove past the San Francisco Mountain & Flagstaff. We also stopped in Winslow, Arizona and ate lunch at a diner. Winslow is famous for being in an Eagles song, but it is also famous for housing many great song writers for a short time in the 1970s.
We drove the long way back to civilization to Sedona. To be back a third time in this place seemed like divinity. As a family, we enjoyed the next 48 hours relaxing in one of the best places on Earth. We visited the Chapel of Holy Cross where I prayed for my Grandmother who had just passed, as well as visiting Buddhist Stuppa where I also asked for her soul to be in peace. I felt her presence in these places. We ate again at the Sedona Airport refinished fancy restaurant where we laughed together ten years ago about getting married. To look over and see our son was quite something. We explored downtown and relaxed in the beauty of those magical red rocks every hour of those few days.
As we left the Sedona area, we visited the haunted old mining town of Jerome up on the top of those mountains. This is a seriously haunting place even in the sunshine. The town had a hay day during the mining boom and then went bust. We explored the mining places and house.
On Friday, after a long week, we returned to Phoenix for the night and had to show D our tradition of eating at Hard Rock after being gone from home for awhile. As we flew home, we knew we were raising a strong boy who would be brave and have many adventures of his own. Here's to many more adventures as a family! And Sedona, I will see you at 42 to keep the tradition alive!
