This year we decided to do a family road-trip rather than going to the beach. Jonathan, Mom, Casey, Barrett and I set our sights out west and flew to Arizona for a week. It was also Barrett’s first time to fly! We flew into Phoenix on Saturday morning and grabbed some coffee, lemonades and pastries at a local coffee shop, Deseo Coffee Shack before heading toward Sedona.
For lunch, we stopped in the cute little town of Jerome where we ate at The Haunted Hamburger (read about their resident hammer stealing ghosts here) and took a walk down the main street.
Jerome was born as a copper mining camp and was founded in 1876. At one time it was the 4th largest city in America and was known as the “wickedest town in the west”. Today the population of the tourist town is around 450. While there we also made a stop at the Audrey Headframe Park. The Audrey shaft and headframe, built in 1918, was the largest facility of its kind during its years of operation for the rich copper deposit. During it’s almost 20 years of operation it lifted more than 3.6 million tons of ore yielding 320,000 tons of copper, 190 tons of silver, and 5.3 tons of gold. At the park you can can stand on glass above the 1,900 foot shaft. It is the largest wooden headframe still standing in Arizona.
Fun fact: The shaft is 650 feet taller than the highest point of the Empire State Building!
Next we were off to our first official destination of the trip, Sedona. The first thing we did when we arrived was stop at the visitor’s center for a map of the area. The nice man at the center suggested we drive the Lower Red Rock Loop to Crescent Moon Ranch and then return to town via the Upper Red Rock Loop.
We stopped and spent some time at Crescent Moon Ranch where Barrett played in the water in Oak Creek.
After a long day of traveling, we checked into our airbnb rental house and ordered some delicious wood-fired pepperoni pizza to-go from Pisa Lisa.
After a good night’s rest, we headed out early Sunday morning to go on our first hike of the trip, the Birthing Cave. Sedona is famous for vortexes throughout the area and the Birthing Cave is the location of one of these vortexes where spiritual energy is felt.
Next, we drove to Red Rock Café for a much needed breakfast/brunch before our second hike of the day.
Our next hike was at Soldiers Pass. During the busy times of the year, you have to park and take the shuttle to the trailhead (the shuttle map and schedule can be found here). We hiked the Soldiers Pass trail to Devils Kitchen and then on to Seven Sacred Pools.
For dinner, we made reservations at Javelina Cantina on the patio and even saw some javelinas while we were there!
After dinner, we attempted a sunset hike at Red Rock Crossing; however, the trail directions we had were terrible and we hiked too far along the trail. I think if we would have hiked the Red Rock Crossing trail to the view of Cathedral Rock the sunset would have been great. Another sunset hike option we didn’t have time to do is the Airport Mesa.
Before we went back to the house, we made a stop in town at Black Cow Café for some yummy dessert.
On Monday, Casey, Jonathan and I got up super early to do a sunrise hike to Devils Bridge via the Mescal Trail. We arrived at the trailhead at 4:45 am, put on our headlamps and set off on our journey.
It was totally worth getting up early to watch the sunrise amongst the red rocks!
We picked up Mom and Barrett after our hike and went to The Coffee Pot Restaurant for breakfast.
Casey, Mom, and Barrett went for an adventure that afternoon with Pink Jeep Tours to Broken Arrow. The guide was amazing and called the area “The Playground”. He even had fun names for what they saw such as “the merry go round”, “the seesaw” and “the slide”. It was a very bumpy, but exhilarating ride!
While they were on their jeep tour, Jonathan and I hiked the Boyton Trail to the Subway Cave. The Boyton Trail does not end at the Subway Cave so you don’t need to hike the whole trail; however, you do need to know where to turn off of the trail to find the Subway Cave as it is not marked along the trail in any way. Click here for a really good description of how to find the cave. It’s always helpful to have the All Trails App and don’t be shy in asking others along the way if you are heading in the right direction!
Before we went into the Subway Cave we also checked out the Sinagua ruins along the side of the red rock walls.
Later that day we hit the road for our next destination, The Grand Canyon! We made a quick stop in Flagstaff for dinner at Beaver Creek Brewery before arriving in the town of Tusayan to check into our airbnb bungalow.
On Tuesday, we grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonalds. Eating at a chain restaurant on vacation goes against all of my beliefs, but when you have hikes to go on before it gets hot it is what it is!
We arrived at the Grand Canyon and hiked a portion of the Rim Trail. We started the Rim Trail at the Bright Angel Trailhead and walked to Powell Point. The trail is also paved. From Powell Point, Jonathan and I took the park shuttle to Monument Creek where we walked to Hermit’s Rest. Casey, Barrett and Mom stayed on the shuttle until Pima Point then they walked to Hermit’s Rest where we all met up to get on the return shuttle to Bright Angel Trailhead. Click here for the shuttle map and schedule.
We had a late lunch/early dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge/Fred Harvey Burger.
We drove a portion of Dessert View Drive to Grandview Point before we started our sunset hike. For sunset, we opted for a less crowded area of the park and hike the Shoshone Point Trail. The trail is an unmarked dirt path behind a gate with a makeshift parking lot along Dessert View Drive (you can find the trailhead on google maps). Don’t let the beginning of the trail deter you because this was by far our favorite part of the Grand Canyon. The views are unbelievable at the end of the trail! Be aware there are no guard rails here. My sister had a “leash” for Barrett for this hike in the event he stumbled.
Unfortunately it was too cloudy for a good sunset, but the panoramic views were worth the hike. It was an added bonus that there weren’t a whole lot of people and there was a bathroom at the end of the trail.
We ended our day at the Grand Canyon Chocolate Factory where we all had the delicious locally made gelato.
On Wednesday morning, we drove the remainder of the Dessert View Drive stopping along the way at the “Duck on a Rock”, Moran Point, Lipan Point, Navajo Point, and the Dessert View Watch Tower. Unfortunately the watch tower was temporary closed so we could not climb up in it.
For breakfast, we stopped at the Cameron Trading Post before driving to Flagstaff.
In Flagstaff, we stopped at Walnut Canyon National Monument where we hiked the Island Trail. The hike is only 1 mile roundtrip; however, the trail is considered strenuous because it descends 185 vertical feet into the canyon with a starting elevation of 6,690, and returns the same way (there are 736 steps roundtrip). Along the trail are 25 cliff dwelling rooms constructed by the Sinagua (spanish for “without water”) a pre-Columbian cultural group that lived in Walnut Canyon from about 1100 to 1250 AD. You can also look out from the Island Trail and see many more of their dwellings within the canyon walls.
After leaving the canyon, we made a quick stop at the Flagstaff Visitors Center for a photo op at the Route 66 sign. On April 29, 1926, the name “US 66” was first proposed for the cross-country route and we were standing on the route almost 96 years later!
Ice cream was a must before we left Flagstaff, so we walked to The Sweet Shop Candy Store from the Visitors Center.
Next, it was on to our final destination of the road-trip… Scottsdale. We checked into our airbnb rental house before going to dinner at Cien Agaves and walking around Old Town Scottsdale.
On Thursday morning, we drove to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve where we walked the Nature Trail and Saguaro Loop. The cacti were incredible to see up close. The Saguaro cacti take around 20 years to reach only a foot in height. They are also considered to be “immature” until they bloom which is between the age of 50-75 years. Once they mature they bloom and begin growing arms. Fun fact: Many of the Saguaro in this preserve sprouted before Arizona was even a state!
After our morning walk amongst the cacti, we went to Butters nearby for breakfast.
The rest of our day was spent relaxing by the pool in the backyard of our rental house before dinner at Culinary Dropout. Then, we madde one last trip for ice cream at the Sugar Bowl.
Sadly on Friday it was time to return home, but not before we made another trip to Butters for breakfast (we just went to a different location closer to the house and airport).
We had a great family trip to Arizona!
So Many Places So Little Time 