Sedona Trip 2017

Last week I was up in Sedona for a work conference that I have been lucky enough to go to for almost every year for the past 5 years. One year it was in Prescott but HERE are my posts from prior trips to Sedona. The girls have come before but the past couple of years it has just been hard for us to both do that and arrange for someone to watch the dogs so I have gone up by myself. Last year I started to get into it, but this year I really tried to take full advantage of all of the hiking opportunities. It is so beautiful up in Sedona and I just love being up there. It is soooo different from Phoenix and yet it is only a little over an hour away from our house. Wednesday morning when I was up there I went for a quick 5k before lifting at the hotel gym and it was completely foggy out. It was very low visibility but I was just running in the golf course neighborhood attached to the hotel so there was no traffic or anything. It was pretty crazy to run in. It rained every day I was up there but the storms are so cool up there. It was a great trip and I hope I am able to go again next year!

Cathedral Rock Summit

 

All the fog!

Sunset at my hotel

Bell Rock

Enjoying the views

2nd year in a row at Devil's Bridge

Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend

Last Saturday while up in Flagstaff we got up at like 6 AM to make the 2 hour drive to Page to see Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon. We picked up some Starbucks and hit the road. It was a long 2 hour drive because the speed limit is not as high as it is from Phoenix to Flagstaff but we kept ourselves entertained. None of us had ever done this before and all of us had just barely heard about it so we didn't know too much about what we were getting in to. We did choose to narrow the morning down to just lower antelope canyon because the tour is cheaper ($28/person). You do have to use a guided tour to enter the slot canyon. I was unable to reserve a tour because they were all booked and there was a long line to get into the parking lot for Antelope Canyon so I was worried when we got up there around 9:30 but we were able to get on a later tour so it worked out well. So if you want to go but the tours are all booked online, I would still go but just make sure you get there early. We hung out and I bought little Native American gifts for the girls since Antelope Canyon is on the Navajo nation. We started our tour a little over an hour later which included about a 15 minute walk in the sand to the ladder that goes 80-100 feet into the slot canyon. The stairs were super steep but it was definitely worth it. The slot canyon was amazing. We had a great tour guide named Savannah and despite some annoying French tourists, it was amazing. You walk through the canyon for about 45 minutes so it is a lot longer than you would think. There are constantly lots of people down there but you can still get amazing pictures and they do a good job of managing everyone. The pictures and video don't do it justice. It was soo cool and definitely worth the drive. After the tour we had to stop for some Navajo tacos and it definitely hit the spot. On our way out of Page we also stopped to see Horseshoe Bend. It is about a 1.5 mile roundtrip hike/walk but also totally worth it. I am not super afraid of heights but it was even a little freaky for me. There is no fence or anything like they have at the Grand Canyon. There were lots of tourists there but we still got some great pictures and I am so glad I got to see it. Below are some pictures and a little video from the go pro!

 

 

Our tour guide took this for us. I had no idea you could do a vertical panoramic picture.

this is called Rocky Mountain Sunrise.

This is Lady in the Win or Pocahontas. Also, that is definitely bird poop in the bottom right corner.

 

little archway

probably one of my favorite pictures, exiting the slot canyon

They are hungry but it was worth the wait. Dreaming about that fry bread!

 

walking out to see Horseshoe Bend

so insanely beautiful

Even he scared me a little getting so close to the edge

so glad we got to see this.

Sedona Trip

Last week I went up to Sedona for a couple of days for a work conference. Last year Justin and the girls came up as well (here) but this year it was too hard since we had just gone on vacation so I went up by myself. I definitely missed the girls (thank you facetime) but it was nice to have the time to myself. I got caught in some REALLY hard rain on the drive up which was not fun in my Prius, but once I got up it was so nice and cool. I just love being up there. I also got up early one morning before the conference started and got in a hike to Devils Bridge. I had never done it before and went completely by myself. There was not even anyone else on the trail because I went so early, which was a little weird at times because I wasn't sure if I was going the right way, but it was so beautiful at the top. Sedona is awesome and I am so glad I got the chance to go again this year. Here are some pictures and a little video from my hike:

 

Had to use the self-timer to get this picture!

Bartlett Lake

My brother-in-law is very into fishing and does lots of tournaments and has been wanting to take us and the kids out for a while now so last Sunday we finally got it together and planned a trip out to Bartlett Lake. It is about an hour from our house but a really pretty drive as you start to get out of town. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but it ended up being a lot of fun. He took us on his fishing boat to the other side of the lake and we set up a little canopy on the beach and hung out with the kids. They loved splashing around and even did some jumping off the boat. Cameron loved the boat ride over and you can see it in the video below. Aspen and Everly loved the sand and snacks, haha. The water felt great and even when not in the water it felt very comfortable in the shade. My brother-in-law even helped Teddy catch a fish which was super cute. We hung out for a couple of hours but left in time to feed the girls lunch at home. I was not expecting to enjoy it that much and am looking forward to more trips this summer. It also made me even more excited for our family reunion trip to Lake George, NY which we leave for in about 2 1/2 weeks. The kids are going to have so much fun! Lots of pics and a quick little video:

rocking out to Spotify

Beautiful AZ morning

my people

 

 

baby smiles!

my baby girl

not surprised Mae had to touch the fish