Exploring Sedona

On Saturday, we spent the day exploring Sedona. There really wasn't much that the kids could do. They weren't really at the age yet when they could appreciate how beautiful these rocks were, etc. And we really could not hike that much so our nature walk was quite limited. Maybe when they're older, we can take them back here and discover the different trails.

But one thing that I knew they could appreciate was water. So, our first stop was Slide Rock State Park. It was an all-natural pool that formed amidst the red rocks of Sedona. I don't know what body of water it officially is - a creek? a river? a stream? Whatever it was, the kids enjoyed. We did not know that there was going to be a part that was deep enough to swim in. From what I had imagined, we were just going to wade in it. I did not dress the kids in their swimsuits so they did not get to swim. I told the kids that they could swim in their shorts because I had brought them extra set of clothes each. But they chose to just wade instead of swim.

While the 3 older ones were wading among the slippery rocks with DH, look what DD3 was busy doing. Yup, she was busy eating! LOL! She and I had laid a towel on one of the flat rocks and were just chilling and watching and soaking up the sun! Oh, it was hot that day! It was easily in the low 100's. But there was a breeze every now and then so it was fine. Nevertheless, we did lather up sunscreen big time.

The original plan was to meet up with the senior group for lunch. But we took longer than we expected at Slide Rock and we had no signal. They had gone ahead and ate lunch without us. It was fine by us though. We had sandwiches and chips and drinks with us so we were good.

After Slide Rock, we went to the Chapel of the Holy Cross that was built into the rocks. It was a small chapel but the view from up there was amazing!!! Simply beautiful! It's high atop this hill and when you're up there you get a real nice view. If the sun weren't blazing down on us that strongly, we would probably have stayed longer. Plus, the kids were starting to get tired by this time. There was a short climb up to get to the chapel itself. It's a paved walkway but it can still be quite a walk for kids. Imagine DH who was pushing a double stroller with DD2 and DD3! LOL! I told him, he push the stroller on the way there and I'll push on the way back! LOL!

We went back to the resort after this. I thought the kids would be knocked out by now. But once DH asked, "Who wants to go swimming?", their ears perked up and the eyes lit up. No sign of tiredness or sleepiness from any of the three older ones. DD3 was, by this time, off to dreamland. So, swimming they went. DH had his reason for wanting to tire out his kids.

After swimming, it was time for church. We went to St. John Vianney. Again, a really nice location. I don't think there is any place in Sedona that isn't beautiful! After mass, we stayed around and had some pictures taken. The parishioners were so helpful, even suggesting places to shoot at. There was this lady who was behind us while we were getting out of church and saw us starting to pose for a group picture. She stopped and pointed us to another location across the lot where it was a nice view too. Then, she passed by again in her car and pointed to another location with a nice bench where we could take our group picture too. I teased her that I could hire her as our tourist guide.

After this, we headed back to the resort for dinner. Then we started for home. Yup, you read it right. At around 9pm, we loaded ourselves and our stuff into the Armada and started the 7-hour+ drive home.

We arrived in our area at around 4:30 am, had a really early breakfast at Denny's and then went home and everyone went back to sleep.

And that concludes our family vacation to Sedona.

4 comments:

Faye | Friday, June 27, 2008 8:34:00 PM

Hi Joy :) ganda nmn ng grand canyon :) My husband and I planned to go there too when we were in Las Vegas two weeks ago :) kaso ang layo kaya hindi kami natuloy *lol*

DigiscrapMom | Saturday, June 28, 2008 6:53:00 AM

i'm sure everyone had a wonderful time! i enjoyed reading your stories about your family vacation.

i love your photos too :) i'm sure i'll be seeing a lot of your beautiful scrap pages soon :)

happy weekend!

Aggie | Sunday, June 29, 2008 5:17:00 PM

Hi Joy,

Sedona looks so HOT! Parang Pilipinas. I was reading your entries and realized ung picture ni DD1 sa Second Arizona post mo kamukha nya si Camille Pratts :D

Andyan na pala parents mo. How are they adjusting. My in-laws went there for good sana last March pero super bored sila. They might go home next month.

I have an ongoing tag about married life. If real life wont interfere, I hope youll join :D

http://www.mbaviso.com/aggie/2008/06/26/aggie-wants-to-know-1/

Joy | Monday, June 30, 2008 8:27:00 PM

Sedona has dry heat compared to the humid head of Manila. So even if the sun was glaring down, we weren't sweating.