Ahhhh, Sedona. The beginning of our incredible trip started in this beautiful place. My dear friend Christy and I decided to go on another trip together after we had so much fun in Europe 3 years ago. When we booked this trip, we were both newly pregnant and were excited for this to be our "babymoon". As mentioned in a prior post, I ended up loosing that baby and having very mixed feelings about whether I should actually go on this trip, knowing it would bring back emotions of the miscarriage because the whole time I would be thinking, I was supposed to be pregnant too. But after much consideration, I decided to go forward with it and I am so happy I did. Arizona is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. It was truly breathtaking and exceeded all of my greatest expectations.
When we got off the plane, we were starved and Christy immediately found us a cool little place super close to the airport that served ramen, fried chicken, and donuts, so naturally, we drove straight there. Leon was wacky because he had woken up so early and had no nap, so in an effort to make conditions better, I ordered him a few donuts and watched him jump up and down in the booth while other restaurant goers stared... mom of the year, duh. After our fab lunch, we began the drive to Sedona. Its about two hours away from the Phoenix airport and the drive there was beautiful. We stopped along the way at Montezuma Castle National Monument. This is one of the best preserved glimpses into how indigenous people of America once lived. The structure is about 5 stories and has over 20 rooms. Can you imagine living here?
As we drove into Sedona, Christy and I both just looked at eachother like, "Is this real life?" it was so amazing. Shades of red and orange surrounded us in every direction and since Leon was finally napping, we just drove and drove looking at all the beautiful sights. We decided to stop and walk into this incredible church we stumbled upon that is built into the side of the red rocks. Next we drove to Bell Rock to do a very short hike before dinner. I was worried about Leon and whether I would have to carry him the whole time but he was just running up the rocks having the time of his life!
The next morning we woke up and drove to Sliding Rock State Park just in time for them to open. Since it was early, no one was there so we had the park to ourselves. Yet again, Leon was off climbing rocks and jumping around. If we had been here during summer we definitely would have dove in the water.
That next day we went on a Pink Jeep Tour which was so much fun even though we couldn't go off road since Christy was 30 weeks pregnant. Leon loved it so much, he napped the whole time :)
Our last night in Sedona we spent hiking to the top of a mesa our Pink Jeep Tour guide told us about to watch the sunset. We were there all by ourselves and it was so magical watching the sun go down over this beautiful place.
