We just got back from our spring break trip and Shawn and I loved it, the girls thought it was pretty good, and according to Cruz, he never wants to go to the dessert again!!! Ugh!!
We started our journey on Friday April 1st, after Cruz's lacrosse game that was played out in Saratoga Springs. We grabbed IN and OUT and were on the road by 8 p.m. We arrived in Kanab right around midnight.
Saturday April 2nd - The kids slept in and we let them swim in the indoor pool for bit. We loaded up the car and headed to Marble Canyo. Shawn found a hike called Cathedral Wash, which was 4 miles round trip. It was a super cool hike. We had to scale rocks to get down to the Colorado River at the end. Getting out was just as much of an obstacle course as well. We all loved this hike. We drove along the Vermillion Cliffs to get to this remote area. I thought it was beautiful and there weren't many people. We continued driving after our hike and arrived at the Grand Canyon (South Rim) about an hour before sunset. We were all confused with the time change, but we had hungry kids, so we opted to grab food after we looked at the Grand Canyon for a bit. We ate at the Yavapai Lodge dining hall, which is where we checked in for our room. Something I must remember, food in parks is hard. I waited in line for a long time and the food was decent. We got to our room and finished watching the (last 4) teams final four NCAA game before hitting the hay.
Sunday April 3rd - We woke up and ate breakfast in the room from food we brought from home. Yogurt, granola, and instant oatmeal. We got our room all cleaned out and then drove over to a more crowded parking lot to leave our car for the day. We got on our bikes and biked 7.5 miles along the rim of the Grand Canyon on the road that only shuttles are aloud to go on. We stopped at different view points along the way. I thought this was incredible! We made it to Hermits Rest and then headed back. Cruz and Alegra decided to ride the shuttle back about half way back to our car. The only problem is they had to wait a while for a shuttle that could carry their bikes on the front of the shuttle. Shawn, Lexi, and I actually made it back well before them. The kids were starving by the time we finished so we decided to get park and at restaurant at one of the other hotels on the property. Again, waited an hour to get seated. It was quite crowded and by the time we ate and left I believe a lot of the shuttle buses that bus people into the park for a day trip had left. I thought the Grand Canyon was magical! We got in the car for another spectacular drive to Sedona. One thing I wish we would have done is go see the IMAX about the Grand Canyon that was in the town of Tusayan. We came in from the town of Cameron (which had nothing) so we didn't realize there were a bit more food options and this IMAX in Tusayan. We took a cut off to go through a forest area and I wish we would have gone down to Williams and then over to Flagstaff. We found out later that Williams was a cute little western town. I was blown away by the canyon between Flagstaff and Sedona. I thought it was so pretty. We got to our Airbnb at about 7:00p.m. and ate some of the food we had brought with us for dinner.
Monday April 4th - The Airbnb we rented was really close to the Thunder Mountain Trail system. It was also close (about a mile away) from most of the restaurants. We got up and walked to Cafe Jose for breakfast. It was super yummy!! We grabbed a few groceries, stopped at the Local Juicery to check it out and get smoothies and then continued home. We kinda had a more relaxing day this day. We took the kids to bike the 1 mile loop at Thunder Mountain. It was definitely technical but the girls had a blast doing it and trying to get better on it. In all Alegra biked that loop 5 times while we were there, 2 in the morning and 2 that night. Cruz was being a bit of a pill the entire trip and only biked the loop once and then said it was done and headed back home. Lexi hurt her thumb pretty bad and tried to do the loop a second time but then ended up having to walk her bike. We came back and ate lunch at the place and then later found a park to play pickle ball. Before dinner, Shawn and Alegra went and rode the loop 2 more times. That night we got take out pizza and ate pizza and watched North Caroline and Kansas battle it out for the winner of the NCAA games. It was such a tough battle, but Kansas ended up winning.
Tuesday April 5th - Shawn got up early and mountain biked. I went to a nearby donut shop called SEDONUTS and got some pretty yummy donuts for breakfast. After breakfast we headed up the beautiful canyon to do this hike called West Fork Oak Creek Trail- you crossed the river about 7 times but the parking lot was full and all along the canyon it was super crowded. We ended up at a random spot along the road and got out and hiked from there. We ended up at the river with no one around and Cruz actually found a spot to do a cliff jump into the river. The water was pretty cold but he did it. We packed our lunches and we found a nice picnic table near where we parked to eat lunch. Lexi was not happy because she fell into the river a couple times while we were trying to jump boulders to cross it. After lunch we drove through town to the other side (about an hour away) to the Palate Heritage Site (which was a National Park). The had a free tour to see the Native American dwellings and a cool area with pictographs, where we learned a ton. After our tour we drove back home and showered off before heading to Uptown (the tourist area) to eat dinner at 89Agave. We had yummy Mexican food and walked around and shopped. We got home it was still early so we watched the movie, Death on the Nile.
Wednesday April 6th - Shawn and I hiked a different loop on the Thunder Mountain trail, which was pretty, then ran and got the kids more Sedonuts for breakfast. We packed up the house and left Sedona at about 10:30. From Sedona we headed to Walnut Canyon National Park. We walked down a bunch of steps to get close to the Native American dwellings from 1000 A.D. It was super cool. We then drove into Flagstaff to get lunch at the funky place called The Toasted Owl, which was super eclectic and fun. The food was delicious too. Then we headed to Sunset Crater Volcano National Park and walked the mile loop and then continued on the road to Wupatki National Park to see more Native American dwellings. The kids were pretty done with National Parks, but I thought they were so cool! Actually, Lexi, who had the 4th grade pass and got us into all these National Parks, competed the Junior Ranger pamphlets at all the parks and was able to earn her Junior Ranger badges. We forgot to ask about this at the Grand Canyon. We drove a fee hours and arrive in Page, AZ at about 7 p.m. The Home2Suites had a pool so the kids swam and Shawn went and grabbed BBQ for take out. We ate in the room after swimming and watched a cool surf documentary about Laird Hamilton.
Thursday April 7th - Shawn did pack the paddle boards but it wasn't super warm in Page so we decided to pack up and head out of town a bit to Buckskin Gultch and do the Wire Trail - to get to some slot canyons. Although I thought this was incredible and beautiful, it was pretty crowded with families. We only had to hike 1.5 miles to get to some pretty incredible slot canyon. I would recommend it but I didn't love having all the people. After our hike we drove to Kanab to grab a late lunch at Wendy's and then we had the 4 hour drive to home. We pulled in at about 8:30 p.m.
I loved this trip. I thought was saw some beautiful scenery. I will upload pictures!
DAY 1 and 2:
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