Microadventure: Sedona, Arizona

With the kids having the entire week of Thanksgiving off, we decided to rent a small house in Flagstaff, Arizona, for the week. It was a 7.5 hour drive, but we made it a 8.75 hour drive with four stops. We planned day trips to Sedona, Petrified Forest National Park, the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas. We also brought our dog, Blake, who nearly had a heart attack when he realized he got to join the trip at 6AM on Sunday morning.

The daytrip to Sedona was our shortest drive from Flagstaff, just 40 minutes south. We didn’t realize it, but November is prime tourism season for Sedona with daytime temperatures around 65-75 degrees. We drove into Sedona around 9am and encountered traffic and busy trailheads, having to park at the auxiliary lot for the Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte Loop Trailhead. The hike was great for the family to stretch our legs after a long day of driving the day before. The girls were quick to explore and Blake was excited to be part of the hike.

The Bell Rock loop is a four mile hike with a mix of shade from Bell Rock and exposed hiking. As the day heated up, we all got hot as we were dressed for cooler temperatures. We saw some red rock vistas that were incredible.

After the hike, we planned to hike the short Cathedral Rock trail, but police were running crowd control from its nearest traffic circle, so we detoured directly into Sedona and grabbed some ice cream to cool the kids down.

After the ice cream, a local reptile lover had his snakes on display for the community to see. His goal is to have people be less scared of snakes and not harm them when they see them out in nature. People were able to hold and touch a variety of snakes, including a python that was over six feet long. Quincy walked right up to it and some other snakes asking if she could touch them. The smallest and bravest person in the family.