We got up really early, today, to drive to DIA for our trip to Sunny California for Christmas. Oi vey — 5am. Nikki and I were up quite late last night packing and tidying up the house a wee bit so we’re runnin’ on fumes. Zaiden loved being at the airport — he loves planes. He was great on the plane, too. We sat in the very front with a lady that didn’t mind if he was a little noisy or anything from time to time — which he wasn’t. When we landed, she let him sit in her lap to look at planes out the window (she had the window seat).
Did I type, “Sunny California” earlier? That should have been “Sunny in some parts but not where we are going California.” We heard from Nikki’s mother, Belinda, that there was snow up in Lake Arrowhead (where their “cabin” is) and that automobiles were required to put chains on. So, we upgraded our rental car to a 4wd SUV. We aren’t allowed to put chains on but at least it’s 4wd.
When we got to the “cabin,” it appeared that they did, in fact, get an amount of snow worthy of a little commotion. I guess about 30″. Plus, the snow plow scooped all the snow off to the side of the road which included blocking in some driveways. I’d say their drive way had about 5-5 1/2′ (yes, FEET) of snow in front of it. So, we shoveled the steps down to the front door and we all got nice and settled. We’re all ready for Christmas!
I’ve been trying to avoid mentioning any of this, but I just have to get it off my chest (and on the Internet in an attempt to try to keep people from having the same awful experience we’ve had). The Sedona Summit is the worst resort I’ve ever been to.
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I have not mentioned, yet, that we have had people dropping like flies. I don’t remember who was sick when, but I do know that AJ, Brianna, and Cortney weren’t feeling well, today, because they didn’t go with us on our hike to Devil’s Arch. This is quite a shame because it was a fun hike with some great views! Brianna and Cortney would have loved the last two legs of the hike because you kinda have to scramble up some “stairs.” I went up the first leg, looked at the second, and decided Zaiden would have to wait to see the arch from the top. I went back down and dropped him off with Belinda (who was not about to climb even the first set of steps). Mike gets vertigo from time to time and didn’t want to do the second set of stairs. It ended up being Rachelle and me, then Nikki and me at the top. Belinda took some great photos (click on the one to the right for more!).
This morning I got up early and took Zaiden to the store where I picked up three boquets: one for each of the three mothers (Nikki, AJ, and their mother, Belinda). I didn’t know what kind of flowers AJ and Belinda like so I got them the “Mother’s Day Boquet” that was pre-made and I got Nikki a nice little boquet, too. Zaiden and I got Mother’s Day cards for all three of them and headed home. He and I signed them and set the cards next to the flowers. We timed it all quite well because nobody was awake until we had the cards set up next to the flowers. Score!
NOTE: The photo to the right is a link to the entire photo album for the week. I don’t have any photographs from today so one from yesterday will have to do.
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We packed up our campsite and drove to Sedona, today. We drove through some beautiful country but we couldn’t stop much because we wanted to get to Sedona as quickly as possible so Zaiden didn’t have to sit in the car too long. Even without stopping much, he started to get a little cranky towards the end of the trip.
The last part of the drive was absolute gorgeous. We took the scenic route from Flagstaff (horrible drivers there, by the way) to Sedona. You drop several thousand feet on that drive (I think it’s something like three or four thousand?) and it is just beautiful. Narrow windy road — I wouldn’t want to tow a trailer or drive a bigger RV on that road, though.
We checked into our resort, the Sedona Summit. It seems like a pretty nice place. We have a studio and a two bedroom for all of us. We were hoping to have two rooms close together but the two bedroom was upgraded “randomly” (uh huh) so it’s a bit of a walk between the two. The closes swimming pool is under construction, too, so we’ll have to walk a little bit. Ah well!
The photo at the right is a link to photos from the entire week in Sedona.
We woke up this morning and I felt tons better. Nikki, on the other hand, didn’t. She had been up a few times through the night and was feeling quite nautous and queezy. Zaiden was doing a little better than that but clearly wasn’t doing so well. As I was feeding him breakfast, he seemed quite lethargic. After eating most of his meal, he threw up. Pretty much all of it. After that, he seemed to be feeling much better. He was giggly and happy. I guess even babies feel better after yacking when they need to.
(Click on the photo to the right for more pictures)
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I woke up on Monday morning feeling awful. We were supposed to pack up and head towards Kayenta, UT through Moab and do some camping on our way to Sedona, AZ. TOTAL bummer. Not only was I sick but we had to pack up and leave the hotel. We called mom and dad, who were out of town (they live in Fruita) and asked if we could stay at their house so I could get healthy. They were OK with it so Nikki (bless her heart) packed up everything. I mean everything. All I did was some of the bigger stuff that went on top of the FJ and the bikes. I felt pretty useless.
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We decided we’d stay in Fruita two nights because the hotel we booked was pretty nice. We had a big suite with a hot tub in our room. We didn’t want to stay there one night and not enjoy the room we booked. So, on Sunday we decided to do some four wheeling. The FJ was mostly unloaded so we went to the visitor center in Fruita. The suggested going out “18 Road” but I wanted to get something more specific. Our hotel room had a little pamphlet that mentioned they have maps in the Grand Junction visitor center so we tooled on down the road. Wouldn’t you know it? They were out of maps! The lady suggested we head over to a sporting goods store that has the maps. Guess what? The sporting goods store didn’t have any idea what I was asking for! They has some fancy schmancy little computer where you select what you want a map of and it’ll print out and be laminated and all that but they didn’t have anything that was specific to four wheeling! (more…)
Today we’re hitting the road for two weeks! We’re going to drive to Fruita, CO, and stay there for a night or two in a hotel. From there, we’ll drive down through Moab, UT and find a couple of spots to camp on our way to Sedona, AZ, where we’ll meet up with Nikki’s family to stay at a nice resort, The Sedona Summit, for a week. We’re stoked for a two week vacation as we haven’t done this. Most of our vacations are only about ten days.
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Nikki and I realized recently that we forgot to post the picture on the right from our trip to Washington, D.C. last November. Most odd. This is our favorite picture!
As usual, click on the photo to get into the photo gallery.