Over the past month or so, I have had the opportunity to see so much of our Arizona landscape that I rarely ever take the opportunity to do. After racing in Sedona in early February then running the Ragnar a couple weeks ago from Wickenburg to Tonapah to Surprise to New River to Carefree to Fountain Hills to Scottsdale to Tempe, I was reminded that our beautiful state has a lot to offer. And our kiddos haven't seen much of it! And we are all Arizona natives, dang it.
I am excited for Spring Break. We're busting out of the Brown family norm and doing something new. We thought it would be a great opportunity to take our kids to some places they've never been and give them a dose of some good old Arizona culture. We debated about going South or North, driving or taking a train, but the North via car won for this trip. Next time it will be Kartchner Caverns and Tombstone. And I still want to take the train from Williams to the South Rim. Another time, though.
For this quick 3-day adventure, I've done my homework and made a list and mapped out what I hope to be a fun-filled trip across Northern Arizona. I remember visiting a lot of these places in my 6th grade ELP trip and/or summer vacations with my grandparents. So far, here's our plan:
- Head out Thursday morning and visit Montezuma's Castle
- Hike into Montezuma's Well and picnic there
- Drive to the Grand Canyon and stay Thursday night at the South Rim (luckily I found us a room there so we won't be camping!)
- Take a family friendly rim hike and explore the beauties of the canyon. Get Barrett really pumped up to do the Rim2Rim with us in September (woot! woot!). Eat some Hagen Daaz. Take lots of pics. Start to indoctrinate the kiddos that hiking is fun! Buy souveniers :)
- Drive to Flagstaff on Friday afternoon and visit Sunset Crater National Monument and Waputki National Monuments
- Tour the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Friday night and have some cool star gazing experiences with their giant telescopes
- Spend Friday night in Flag
- Drive through Williams, AZ on Saturday and check out some cool historical sites, lunch there OR go to Camp Verde and do the Out of Africa Park
Yay for something new! Yay for new memories and cool cultural experiences and good family time. I am excited. I hope the kids are too - hard to tell, since they have no reference point on this one and no idea what to expect. They are used to the beach or snow or camping or cabin (all of which actually sound pretty fun right now too). I think I am itching for a little vaca.
I keep saying before I can see the country or world, I need to see AZ. It is so diverse and beautiful with so much to see. Dyan is heading to the GC on Thursday too.
ReplyDeleteIf you need a place to rest or hang out, we'll be here in PV, not far from Camp Verde. Oh, plus Williams has the Bearizona thing which looks pretty awesome.
Maybe we will run into you at the GC. we are heading up Thursday. I too want my kids to appreciate AZ
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