20 good years

Sam planned the best anniversary celebration for us last year, and though I knew it could never be equaled, it was my turn to plan what we did this year, and I had to think of something! I realized we were in the ideal situation for babysitting for a brief window of time, because Abe would be finished with his BYU classes but not on a mission yet, so he could be around to drive the other kids where they needed to go, and then of course we don't have any tiny babies at the moment, Gus being a ripe old 17 months and the new baby not due till August. So the oldest five kids stayed home with Gus, and the youngest three (besides Gus) went to stay at my mom's, and Sam and I were able to get away by ourselves for a few days!

I subscribe to one of those "cheap flights from Salt Lake" emails, so I decided if a good deal came up at the right time we'd just go wherever it was, and if not we'd drive somewhere. It doesn't really matter where you go, does it, when you have a chance to go somewhere without kids? Anywhere feels new and fun! Anyway, it turned out that there were $63 flights to Phoenix, so I looked around at what was within driving distance of Phoenix and found Sedona, a place I'd never heard of. It looked beautiful, so we found a place to stay and planned to spend a day or two there and then drive up and see the Grand Canyon too.

Sedona is one of those places where people have "retreats" instead of vacations. The brochure in our rental house advertised full moon yoga sessions, and shops selling healing crystals and aura photography, and about six pages of businesses that belong to the "Sedona Metaphysical Spiritual Association." Supposedly there are several naturally occurring "spiritual vortices" in the area, caused by special…magnetic…lines along earth's energy fields?, which I don't like to make fun of, but…well, actually I kind of do like to, but I won't. But I can assure you Sam and I were very funny about them.

Luckily, Sedona is also a beautiful place NOT to get one's palm read and one's aura photographed. It reminded us of St. George, but packed into a smaller area and with more vegetation. We loved the little house we stayed in (just a guest house in someone's backyard) with this lovely view from the front porch:

What does one even do without kids? Go on hikes, apparently. And eat late dinners. At least that's what we did! We steered clear of a couple hikes that looked lovely, just because the trailheads were terribly crowded, and did some of the "less popular" ones which turned out to be just as lovely.

This was a hike around the mesa the Sedona Airport sits on top of. It's right in the middle of town but felt like it was way out in the wilderness!

And I can't remember the name of this one. (Sam will perhaps remind me.) Ah! It was Doe Mountain. You drive out quite a way from town and then scramble in switchbacks up the side of a steep rocky mesa (there are chains and things to hold onto; it's quite fun [when you are without children to fall to their deaths])—

and then you come out on the big flat top of the mesa and see the most amazing views from every side, all junipers and red rock:

(Sam wore his "Look, a Rock!" shirt and was much admired by other hikers for it)

During the hot part of the day we went to some little shops, which have outsides just as pretty as their insides. We liked the fountains and arched doorways.

I will just pause here to commemorate a really good churro we had at a Mexican restaurant. It came with ice cream, which was already promising, but then when we bit into it it had caramel inside. What?? It was so delicious.

While we're talking about food, I should also pause to remember some really good fish tacos we had in Phoenix on the way from (and back to) the airport. And maybe the best lemonade slushies ever. There were so many flavors, only a few of which we could personally try: mango, passion fruit, watermelon, guava, kiwi, blackberry, peach, tangerine, pineapple…I have thought wistfully of them several times since, as one who recalls Opportunity Lost.

We walked down to Oak Creek from our rental house. It would have been so fun to have the kids there! It was slow-moving but clear and pretty and with deepish little pools for playing in, and flat rocks for jumping into the water or basking in the sun. On the other hand, it was nice to walk along the creek and NOT worry about who was going to soak their clothes and cry during the whole walk home.

We also drove further down the creek where you can see more of the rock formations close to the water. We went in the evening and there were SO many photographers taking pictures of brides, graduates, couples…and themselves. It really was the prettiest setting. I loved the warm colors of the rock reflected in the creek!

We found a big rock with matching tiny rock, for Daisy.

We had such a nice time enjoying the outdoors and being together! And this page now has so many pictures that I think I will put the Grand Canyon in a different post.