Happy Things From This Week

This week has been busy in both happenings at this little place here, and in things that take me off the property (like three days that involved picking up assorted grandkids from school and/or babysitting in their home part of the day).  By Wednesday evening, I was feeling kind of run over.  

Almost two years ago I had started the habit of trying to list three 'happy' things that had happened before bedtime each day, and while I was trying really hard to come up with something good on Wednesday to list in my little journal, I reread what I'd written about the previous handful of days.  That reminded me, tired and feeling overburdened as I was, that this busy-ness wasn't all bad and there had actually been many happy little things going on simultaneously. 

So here's some of the happy things I experienced this week.

+Some of the maple trees are starting to turn colors. 

The first red leaf!

+A big group gathering for soup and vacation planning.  On Saturday afternoon all my kids, kids-in-law and grandkids came over.  We had a potluck style soup supper--three soups, salad and bread plus cookies for dessert--and set a date for a (huge NINETEEN people!!) family vacation next summer.  For a handful of years we've been kicking around the idea of trying to coordinate everyone's vacation days and go somewhere as a group, and DH decided now was the time to get serious and actually set things in motion.  So we have a target date, a destination in mind, and now we can book lodging for everyone before all the 2 and 3-bedroom suites at our desired beachfront destination get taken.   Plus everyone can go to their employers and put in for the same vacation days for next summer as well as begin budgeting so they have a vacation fund ready to go next July.

+Saturday morning, DD1, Faline, Buck and I had gone yard saling nearby, as there was a 'country block' yard sale organized where there were 9 stops on different roads ranging from 5-7 miles from this little place here.  The only thing I bought, which I think was quite a great bargain, was a set of 4 wooden tray tables, with a carrier/storage rack for them, for only $5.  Some of the tray tops have water rings, or other discoloration on them, but they are all sound and otherwise in great shape.  This is something I'd been thinking about getting for a couple of years now, and when I saw this set for only five bucks, I quick grabbed it up! It came in extremely handy at our soup supper/vacation planning gathering later that day. We discovered that, as long as we weren't using huge plates, we could sit two people per tray table.  The grandkids thought it was the coolest thing.

+The Yarn Thief, newly turned 11 years old, is still very spry and loves to climb and hunt. She still thinks horses are horribly scary creatures that might potentially eat cats, but she will, at least, sit on a fence post and hunt where she knows they are locked out of and can't possibly reach her.  The fewer mice in the vicinity of the barn, the better!

+Free white peaches!  Given to me by an internet friend that we figured out about 20 years ago doesn't live very far from me (maybe 20 miles).  She also happens to be the LBM's farrier, and was out this week to trim her hooves. This friend has a peach tree that is overloaded this year.  She had brought a couple of lunch bags of peaches with her and offered them to me.  I'd never had a white peach before, but I love the 'regular' peaches, so I gladly accepted her generous offer.  While not exactly the same flavor as yellow peaches (just like different types of apples have slightly different taste), they are delicious!

+The local library hosted a puzzle exchange this week.  I took in three puzzles that I had done and was planning to donate to Goodwill, but this sounded like a better option. I came home with three new to me puzzles.  I'm hoping this becomes a regular event, at least annually if not more often, as you can't beat a free puzzle and even though we're a tiny community we could keep swapping the same puzzles among us for years (assuming none lose their pieces) and still not do the same puzzle twice.

What little (or big) things brought a smile to your face this week?

A Quick Day Trip

By the end of July, I knew I was in dire need of a break from my real life.  Not that there's anything bad going on, it's just been a very busy year for me and I could tell that I'm spiraling into burnout.  I needed, for sanity sake, to get the heck out of Dodge soon.  Because Fall is coming, and with that is a whole bunch more stuff to juggle, care for, attend in person, and otherwise keep my nose to the grindstone while possibly being called in on sick-grandchild-home-from-school (or retrieve from school) care at any moment.  

No more waiting and hoping to catch a break. I had to make one.  The simpler, the better, and more likely to come to pass. So I gave it some thought and came up with my target idea.

Goal: to go look at pretty rocks in the water and not have to think about keeping anyone entertained or safe from drowning. 

In other words, no family members could tag along or otherwise be invited if they weren't capable of being totally self sufficient.  Because other than a trip away with DH last September, all my away from home 'down time' has included grandkids, or was some sort of  necessary home care business item (running up north to get a new dishwasher from DH's friend with the appliance store) and that's just not relaxing to me.

Based on a tip from a friend who also likes to look at pretty rocks in the water (and bring some home), I decided that Lakeport State Park, in Michigan's Thumb, was the destination.  Truthfully, I had an exact place I've been wanting to go to for the last several years, but it's too far away (500 miles, up in the Keweenaw) to be a feasible trip this year (or last year, or the year before. . .)  So, the Thumb it was, since that's close enough--only a couple of hours from this little place here--to drive to and back all in the same day.

I picked two options of days in August, looked into possibilities for horse care on either of those two days, nailed down the day, and booked my horse feeding and stall cleaning body double (aka DD2).  The date was now written in stone on my calendar.  No cancellations, no postponements. It was a hill I'd die on if necessary.  My surviving the rest of 2025 really did depend on me being able to get away ASAP.

I decided DH could come along, if he wanted, especially if he was willing to drive.  I've never had good night vision and hate driving at night, so if he was willing to be the driver, I could comfortably stay away longer and get home after dark.  

In all honesty, I'll confess that I very hesitantly invited him to join me because he's great at inviting others along (even when he knows I'm not wanting company) and then telling me we're not actually going to be alone only when it's too late to back out.  Remember, having others along was absolutely NOT the focus of this needed break.

This past Sunday was the day reserved for this event.  I planned and packed a lunch plus snacks, as well a list of items we needed to bring, and DH and I left for the east side of the state right after church that morning.  It was kind of a coolish, cloudy, and windy day (and silly me who absolutely gets cold in the wind forgot to pack any pants or a long-sleeved shirt or jacket), but that worked out pretty well.  The beach was fairly empty for at least the first half of the time we were there.

Even though we'd both brought bathing suits, neither one of us actually put one on or went swimming.  With the chilly-ish (low 70's) air, the water actually felt warm, but as soon as I stepped out of it, even only having been ankle to mid-calf deep, I was shivering.  I told you I get cold in the wind. *shrug*

I spent several hours wading at the water's edge, occasionally getting splashed up to my waist by a particularly big wave (they were forecasted at 3'-6').  DH looked for a bit too, but mostly sat on driftwood logs and either looked for ships or looked at his phone. 

I'm a really neophyte rockhound, I don't know a whole lot about the different types, what's rare, etc.  So, when I look at pretty rocks in the water, I look for those that in some way speak to me.  Be it color, pattern, whatever.

This particular beach I noticed lots with rings of color.  That seemed to be the theme for the day.  There were a few with spots, and several with fossils, and lots and lots of granite, but many had one or more rings.  I'd get a bunch I liked, and take them to the log DH was seated on to show him, then set them on the log next to him and go back to see what else called my name.  Eventually, I knew I had to pare down my finds and only take home a realistic number.

Below are pictures of the rocks that came to live at this little place here (plus a few as gifts for DD2, who did horse chores for me that afternoon so I could be gone).

After we decided we were done looking for rocks, and neither of us wanted to go for a swim, we left the beach and drove down into Port Huron.  It was a little after four, and I didn't want to head for home yet, so we went downtown to the waterfront where there was a walking path and benches that you could sit and look at the water (which, at that point wasn't Lake Huron, it was technically the St. Clair River).  On the other side of the water, not far at all, is Canada.

The first thing that caught my eye as we were looking for where to park, was a metal sculpture that looked like it could be a horse.  So, of course, as soon as we had parked the car (we took Sweet Madame Blue on this excursion), that was where I headed.  

It was located around a slight bend of the walking path, between the path and the river, and it was a horse!  A life-sized scrap metal sculpture.  Some person had recently picked some of the nearby goldenrod that was in bloom and stuffed it in the horse's mouth, making it look like the horse was grazing the brush.

We sat a bit, hoping to see freighters or other commercial ships in the water (this is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway), but we only saw a couple docked on the Canadian side, none actively traversing the water.

We did see a few Border Patrol and Coast Guard boats patrolling, and a cormorant that was busily fishing back and forth in our area.

Cormorant looking like a tiny Loch Ness Monster

While at the river, we looked up possible dinner places on DH's phone.  There were a few that sounded really delicious, and fairly cheap (looking at the prices on their menu) until we noticed that they were on the other side of the river, in Canada. While we easily could have gone across (the Blue Water Bridge is in Port Huron), we decided an international crossing just for dinner probably wasn't the best use of our time, and we found good sounding food on the U.S. side instead.  DH had wanted to go somewhere with a patio overlooking the water, so we ended up driving a few miles down to Marysville and eating at the Junction Buoy.  It was good.  And in the U.S., LOL.

After that we drove home into the setting sun, which constantly stabbed us in the eyes despite our sunglasses and the sun visors on the car.  It was just low enough, other than the first 5-10 minutes, that the visors didn't extend low enough to block it out.  Rather than taking backroads home for the scenic view, with our sun-glare limited vision, we decided not to risk the deer that would be plentiful in the evening on a country drive and just took the expressway instead. 

And that was my day away.  It was just what I needed. And I'm so glad I went, because the next day I got a text from DD2 asking if I could pick her kids up from school/the babysitter the following Monday so she could go to a dentist appointment after school/work.  Grandma duty calls!

The Shipshe Trip

 Shipshe being the dialectual shortening of Shipshewana, the town in Indiana not far from the Michigan/Indiana border known for it's Amish community.  In the past 10 or so years, I and one or both of my daughters plus a granddaughter or two, have done an overnight trip to there annually or biennially for some time away from home, men, and general life responsibilities.  

We always stay at the same hotel, the Farmstead Inn, which is typically peaceful and quiet, clean and well run, and provides a hot breakfast along with many choices of cold breakfast if that is your preference.  

Over the years, we've found which places we like to shop at or otherwise just revisit, which places we like to dine at, and have developed a routine for our trip.  It's always a summer trip, being that it's hard for DD1, a teacher, to get away during the school year.  Also, the flea market in Shipshewana is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Initially, the flea market was our main destination.  However, in recent years, we spend less and less time at the flea market (which seems to have become less of a handmade/Amish made market and more of the types of goods you'd find at pretty much any flea market anywhere in the US).  Our main targets are 

• the Davis Mercantile with Lolly's Fabrics, Simple Sounds (a music store with instruments and sheet music and all things instrumental), a candy store, a puzzle/toy store, and random other stores (typically we skip most of the random others); 
• Yoder's Hardware and Yoder's Department Store; 
• The Redbud Coffee and Tea Cafe in the Red Barn (very delicious tea blends including my favorite--those with no leaves!  since I don't like traditional tea, only floral/fruit ones); 
• Yoder's Meat and Cheese Co, 
• and of course the grocery store E&S Sales.

There are lots and lots of other shops and attractions in Shipshewana, but the ones I listed are on our 'Must See' list and are places we go to every time.  After this most recent trip, however, I'm wondering if in the future we need to extend our trip by a day in order to have more time to explore more of what's there (most shops are open only until 5:00 p.m.), or if perhaps I need to maybe do a separate trip without the group. . . I'd love to take a 'just me and DH' trip to Shipshe, but I don't think he'd enjoy it quite as much as I do.  For one thing, I'm fairly sure the hotel doesn't allow alcohol, which is fine with me (and one reason I love staying there), but is a hard thing for him to find enjoyable on a 'vacation'.

Anyway, we got to Shipshewana around 1:00, which gave us time to hit the Davis Mercantile first, and not have to rush through Lolly's.  Lolly's always takes time, partly because the sheer size of the store and their offerings, and partly because they have a boat which is always overflowing with fat quarters.  Looking through the boat can easily take more than an hour.  

As soon as we walked through the door, Faline went right to the boat and quite literally dove in.

Once we convinced her that being in the boat wasn't allowed, she found a shopping basket and proceeded to put all the fat quarters with fabrics she liked into the basket.  According to her, her Barbies were in need of pillows and blankets made with fabrics that featured bananas, hot dogs, flowers, stripes, fish, and more.  DD1 talked her down to just two or three of the fat quarters she had chosen.

My personal mission at Lolly's was to get fabric for two flannel nightgowns: one for Faline (she'd called me two weeks before to ask me to sew her a new nightgown because the one I had sewed her previously had 'suddenly' gotten too small) and one for K3 (if she should want one; she did.)  I let each girl pick the fabric for their own nightgown and had it cut to the length needed before I allowed myself to figuratively dive into the boat and look at fat quarters. Of which, I very responsibly limited myself to two.

A thunderstorm blew up unexpectedly, and we got drenched going from the Mercantile to where we'd parked.  Our original plan for this trip had included a swim in the hotel pool after Davis Mercantile and before going out to dinner.  With our wet clothes and hair, we all were chilled and decided to just hang out in our room for a bit after checking in, and move the swim to after dinner.  There was some bored shenanigans from Faline (it's tough being 4 years old and having to wait for the grown ups), but overall she was pretty good with waiting and hung out on one of the beds with K3 watching a video on K3's phone.

After a good dinner from the buffet at the Blue Gate Restaurant, the girls did finally get to go swimming.  We all went to the hotel's indoor pool and swam, played in the water, and relaxed in the hot tub for well over an hour.  The only picture I took was at the end, when Faline and K3 were putting their wet towels into the bin for housekeeping to launder.  The whole trip, Faline was totally hero worshipping her older cousin, and thankfully K3 was willing to go along with being the cool chosen one.

A new tradition we started on our last trip, in 2023, is to hit the breakfast area beside the pool area after we finish swimming.  There is ice water and hot water available there 24/7 (as far as we can tell, we've never checked after 9 p.m. or before 6 a.m.), as well as tea bags, instant coffee, and hot chocolate packets.  I didn't believe it until I tried it for myself, but a cup of hot chocolate after swimming on a summer evening is actually really good.  Rather than making you feel too hot, it's just kind of cozy.  Maybe if you don't have long, wet hair your experience might be different.  But for all us chicks with long tresses, a good cup of hot chocolate post swimming pool is enjoyable.

The next morning, while sitting in the breakfast area savoring our hot breakfast (egg burritos, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage. . .), Faline commented that there was a playground outside and that she'd never gotten to play on it before.  Indeed, out the large windows of the breakfast area, you could see a nice playground belonging to the hotel.  And, indeed, on previous trips, Faline (or K3) had not had the opportunity to play there.  So I asked, since both she and I were done with our breakfasts, if she wanted to go back to the room with me so I could finish packing up my stuff, and then I would take her to the playground to wait for the rest of our group to be done eating and packing.  Of course she said yes!

Once out there, she had to try out every slide and swing and the teeter-totter (yes, this grandma attempted to teeter-totter with someone about 1/2 my height and roughly 1/4 my weight; it was hard on the knees, LOL).  I was amazed, after the first big push I gave her on the first swing, to see her keep the momentum going by pumping her legs.  Apparently pumping is a newly acquired skill for her.

Once we checked out of the hotel, we began our shopping excursion at E&S Sales.  In addition to great fresh baked goods (Whoopie Pies, anyone?), they have lots of scratch and dent, close dated, and bulk food items.  I typically stock up on some bulk spices I can't find around home in bulk (such as bay leaves for soups, marinades and canning dill pickles), as well as random candy (typically chocolate, plus a bag of Bit-o-Honey for DH).

The food purchases, mostly from E&S, but meat and cheese from Yoder's

Next stop on our planned route (which, after E&S, had us making all right turns onto and off of the main road through town until, at the last, we had to turn left to get into the Yoder's Shopping Center for the hardware and department stores ), was the flea market.  Splitting into three groups for most of that part of the morning, I think we made it through the 40ish acres of flea market in record time: about 1 1/2 hours!  Like I mentioned before, a lot of the flea market has become things you can find at just about any flea market, so we cruised right on past many, many booths without stopping to look individually at their items.  I did pick up a few things, as shown in the photo below.

Rubberized gardening gloves for weeding in dewy/wet conditions,

teal blue duct tape for using in the barn (because it doesn't have to be gray or black),

a leaping deer cast iron bottle opener for DH (only $2!!)

After the flea market, we went to the Auction House restaurant for a yummy lunch.  I think they've changed hands again since we were there in 2023, or at least, their menu has changed.  The food was still good, but with the exception of their traditional included side dish of applesauce, coleslaw or cottage cheese with every meal, and the selection of pies for dessert, not much of the menu of stereotypical Amish foods (like the awesome chicken and noodles) from the previous ownership (2020 and prior) remains.  I was a little bummed out that it had a lot of typical burger/sandwich fare with french fries these days.  The BBQ pulled pork sandwich I had was good, but it wasn't those chicken noodles I'd been dreaming of when planning the trip.

More shopping ensued after lunch. Due to where at the flea market we'd parked, Yoder's Red Barn Shoppes and Yoder's Meat and Cheese Co were on our way from the restaurant to our truck, so we walked and stopped at each.  The meat and cheese store has delicious offerings; their smoked gouda is a family favorite. In fact, Honorary Son had asked DD1 to bring home 5 pounds of it!  

Once finished up there, we packed our meat and cheeses into our cooler, tucked everything else into the bed of the truck, and drove to our last stop: Yoder's Shopping Center.  I love looking at fabric in the Department store, but I also love going to the Hardware.  Before I left home, DH asked what I could possibly want from that hardware store that I couldn't get from any of the hardwares near home.  I then had explained that they have way more than nuts and bolts and tools and hoses.  They have beekeeping and syrup making and wine making and canning and baking supplies, as well as tons of off-grid living type stuff, livestock supplies and even puzzles and toys for kids.

I treated myself to, from the Hardware, 

• a new large frosting spreader (my other one having gotten loaned out a handful of years ago and never returned), 
• a French style rolling pin (something I've been considering for a number of years), 
• a new clothespin bag to replace one I'd sewn many years ago that is on it's last legs and I doubt I'll have time this summer to whip up a new one, 
• two nice dish cloths (Rada, I believe; they sell Rada there) with pale green stripes.  Because, while I have, and love, my other Rada dishcloths, none of them have green! (Green being my all time absolute favorite color.)
• a pie crust decorative cutter, which is something I'd never heard of before but was instantly enamored with.  I don't typically make two-crust pies, now I guess I'm going to have to make them more often so I can use my fancy cutter.  I mean, look at that super cool crust on the label!

At the Department store, I reined myself in.  Before leaving home, I'd sternly told myself that other than flannel for granddaughters' nightgowns, I don't need more fabric.  *Sigh*  But there's so much lovely fabric in Shipshewana. . .  So I only allowed myself a few remnants (1/3yd each), two fat quarters, and a 2 1/2 yard piece of bubble gum pink cotton that I intend to sew Faline a surprise summer weight nightgown with.  I did good.  It hurt to leave so much loveliness behind, but I controlled myself.

Flannels and flannel fat quarters and a hot pad pattern from Lolly's,

pink cotton, remnants, thread and fat quarters from Yoder's Department Store.

It was a good trip.  Both in fellowship with my daughters and granddaughters, and in the items on my lists that I managed to bring home with me.  I really would like to go back and check out some of the places I've never been that we just didn't have time for.  Although I think I need to do a whole lot of sewing first, and use up at least a double digit percentage of my fabric stash.  Because I'm not sure I can be so good a second time at not buying all the pretty fabric.  =0)

Sedona With Grandkids

 DH and I took K3 and Toad (the two oldest grandkids) to Sedona Arizona for a hiking trip over their Spring Break.  It was a trip we'd first thought of after visiting Sedona ourselves in March 2023  and decided, last Fall, to finally make happen.  

There's been lots of changes in their lives in the past two years, and we wanted to give them a rest from it rather than being home (in an again changing family) all the time over Spring Break (where they would most likely spend the majority of their days playing video games or watching movies/shows on TV).  We briefly thought about bringing their little brother Rascal along too, but he's much younger and  with much shorter legs would have had a hard time keeping up on the strenuous hiking trails.  At nearly 13 and 10 3/4, K3 and Toad could handle it; plus it was something that acknowledged them as Big Kids rather than Little Kids like the rest of our grandchildren. (Not to mention that Rascal seems to be handling the changes at home easier.)

Like when DH and I went to Sedona in 2023, this trip we flew into Phoenix and got a hotel for the night.  After a good night's sleep, and a nice breakfast, we took the kids to Camelback Mountain.  They had seen pictures of it from our previous trip, and wanted to try it for themselves.

Unfortunately for all of us, there were a lot of other people wanting to hike Camelback that morning and the parking lots at the Echo Canyon trailhead and at the Cholla trailhead were both full. We drove back and forth between the two for a while, hoping to get a parking spot at either one.  We finally did get one at Echo Canyon, but with the parking delay we didn't get on the trailhead until close to noon. Also not in our favor, the temperature was all ready over 85 degrees, and with the sun directly overhead, it was rapidly getting hotter. Remember, we'd come from Michigan where we'd just had a warm spell in the upper 40's.

All of which to say, we didn't summit Camelback this trip. DH in particular struggled (partly, we think, because the kids were keeping a much zippier pace than we had on our previous trip) and he ended up sitting on the side of the trail in a semi-shady spot while K3, Toad and I went on ahead.  

The three of us started up the rock scramble portion, but about halfway up that, K3 and Toad asked if we could turn around and just go back down.  Since I was rather winded and hot myself (keeping up with the young whippersnappers), and I was a bit concerned that they had all ready drank more than half of their water, and I was really worried about DH,  I agreed we could call it good where we were at.  

In retrospect, I kind of wish I'd told the kids to keep going, as the summit really wasn't much further over the top of that rock scramble.  Oh well.  Better to turn around than to lose a hiker to heat exhaustion.  Next time we'll plan to be at the trailhead by 8 a.m. to beat both the heat and the glut of hikers needing parking.

From there, we headed up to Sedona, where we checked into our resort, took the kids out to an early dinner at the delicious Mexican restaurant we'd discovered on that 2023 trip (Javelina Cantina), hit the grocery store for food supplies, then back to the resort for an evening swim in the pool.

And that kind of set our schedule for the next three days: 

• get up about 6 a.m., have breakfast, 
• hit the hiking trails about 8 a.m., hike for several hours/miles,
• back to the resort and make lunch, 
• swim in the pool/soak in the hot tub (really was great for keeping the hips and knees from stiffening up after using them hard on the trails)
• dinner (usually grilled or otherwise cooked in the kitchenette of our suite)
• K3, Toad, and usually DH had a post-dinner swim while I read either poolside or on our patio depending on how busy/loud the pool area was.

Our first excursion in Sedona was to hike to Devil's Bridge.  This time we parked in the Mezcal trailhead lot and took that trail.  Although the kids did their best to act like they weren't having fun (because, you know, tweens), they were typically exploring up ahead and after several reminders not to get too far in front of us, they did get the idea to stop and wait for us to catch up.  Most times we caught them taking pictures of scenery while they waited.  (What?!?  Taking pictures of somewhere you aren't having fun??)

Other times we found them taking advantage of a raised, shady perch a little to the side of the trail.

Of course we did hear the question "How much longer?" several times.  And after having both DH and I usually respond "we're almost there, just a little bit further", and also hearing other hikers coming back from where we were going often say "Keep going, you're almost there; it's just a little further", by the middle of the second day the kids started to joke that "Just a little further" really was hiker code for "Five more miles".  Which isn't true, as the longest hike we did in a day was 5.5 miles round trip.  The others were only about 4 miles each.

That 5.5 miler was on the Soldier Pass trail, the next day.  It was kind of a long day, partly because the parking lot at the trailhead wasn't open for the season, and we had to park down at a municipal park, then walk up a road and through a residential area to get to the trail.  So, of course, on the way back to the car we were all hot, sweaty, weary, running on the last of our water, out of snacks and about an hour past lunch time.

Extra mileage for parking aside, it was a great hike and one that we will definitely plan on doing again.  We saw three great features on the trail, and didn't even go all the way to the Pass for the vista view (we were tired, had hit the 'used half our water' mark, the kids were playing the "how much longer?" record on repeat. . .)  So next time we'll be all in and make it to the Pass. (And hopefully the trailhead parking lot will be open!)

This time, we marveled at  Devil's Kitchen, 

Saw the Seven Sacred Pools (which the kids were a bit disappointed weren't anything they could swim in)

Hiked/rock scrambled up to a big cave (which I didn't get a good picture of), and nearly to the big cave the kids went and explored a little cave, in which they were told (and took a picture of to show their friends) was a little Jesus statue.  So then the joke was that over Spring Break DH and I had dragged them through the wilderness where they found Jesus.  (Irreverent humor, hopefully no reader is offended.)

The little cave with Jesus.

Our third hiking destination in Sedona this trip was Cathedral Rock.  This was another spectacular, and sometimes physically and mentally brutal, hike.  Definitely a must-do again. 

(Ha ha, while proofreading this I'm rereading my descriptions of the hikes and wondering how many readers think I must be a sadist: "brutal" "strenuous" often followed by "must do again!".)  

The vast majority of the trail was over smooth rock (alternately steep and somewhat terrifying) , and you needed to watch for either the rock cairns or the painted blazes on the rock to know where to go next.

My favorite photo from our trip,

about 2/3 of the way up Cathedral Rock.

You get up a ways, and you think "wow, I must be just about there, I've climbed pretty high all ready", and then you keep following the cairns/blazes around this turn and that turn and another steep & narrow climb or two, and you're sure you must be close to the end of the trail.

The steep way up

Same part of the trail, on our way back down.

And you're going, and hikers coming down tell you how great the view is at the end, and to keep going because you're-almost-there-it's-just-a-little-further (and your grandkids roll their eyes because apparently you're going to insist they hike another five miles to get to the end), and before you know it, you are looking at the back side of the pillars that you took a picture of the front of just about twenty minutes ago.

And that is the end of the trail.  And yes, there was a sign, attached to a rock cairn just before a huge drop-off, that said END OF TRAIL.  And you took a picture of your grandkids by that sign, and they both insisted you text them the picture so they could show it to all their friends when they get home.  And you know it was a great trip and they truly enjoyed all those miles of being dragged through the wilderness.

But that wasn't the end of the trip.  Our flight home from Phoenix wasn't until the following evening, so unknown to K3 and Toad, DH booked the four of us for an 8 a.m. off-road Jeep tour (the 8 a.m. tours were 25% cheaper than the tours from 9:00 on, so really it was like we bought 3 and got one person free!).  The tour took us on a really rocky, winding, rough road where we saw many features of the Mogollon Rim.  The scenery was beautiful, and our driver/guide made it extra fun for the kids by punching the gas pedal hard at every bump that was shaped right to give the Jeep some air between it's tires and the ground.  When they weren't shrieking, they were laughing, or at least sporting giant smiles.

All in all, I think they had a lot of fun.  And you know what?  Not once did they watch TV, or play video games that entire week.  I think it's good to expose them to some fun in nature and let them know they can be happy without screens entertaining them.

Of course now Rascal and Faline want to know when it's their turn to fly away on an airplane and go on a hiking trip with DH and I.  Our tentative plan for that is about three years from now, when they will be about 9 and 8, and have long enough legs and enough stamina to go for miles.

A Hiking Vacation Part 2: Sedona

We arrived in Sedona on the evening of the third day of our trip.  Thankfully, the weather had turned from gray clouds and rain, to blue skies with white puffy clouds (if any), sunshine, and mornings in the low 40s that turned into days with a high around 60.  It was gorgeous!  And the scenery was too.

On the fourth day of our hiking vacation, we had one particular destination in mind: Subway Cave.  We'd originally planned to hike Cathedral Rock, but the trails there were still closed due to flooding.  So we went with a main attraction with a trail that was muddy, but not underwater or washed out.

To get to Subway Cave, you first start on the Boynton Canyon vista trail.

You hike a ways, and then you start looking for a spur trail that is identifiable not by signs or trail markers, but by a "large alligator juniper tree".  When you're from Michigan, where there is no such thing as an alligator juniper tree, you hope for the best and keep your eyes peeled.  We finally found it.  Really large, and had bark that looked like alligator skin.  

We took the trail that lead off to the right, and picked our way through a wooded area, over a mostly dry stream bed, and then up, up, up.  (We learned, during this trip, that most caves weren't in the ground, they required climbing/hiking up to and were in the rock cliffs.)

A view of Subway Cave from the outside.

Some of the trail was rock scramble, and some was walking along narrow rock ledges.  DH tripped over a smallish yucca plant while climbing one of those rock ledges, and for a brief second, I thought he and I both were going over the edge to never be seen alive again!  Thankfully although he bumped into me, I wasn't knocked backwards off my feet, and he faceplanted into the ledge rather than falling off of it.  Another new catch phrase coined during this trip:  Beware the yucca!

Up in Subway Cave, looking out the way we came.

In one portion of Subway Cave.

We didn't go into the main part, as it had a very narrow entrance and we're too big around to feel like we'd get through safely.  There's only so much flexibility and balance in 50+ year old bodies, and big bellies combined with leaning around jutting rock walls while trying to balance and walk four to five feet on a 6-8" ledge over absolutely nothing just didn't sound like something we would be successful at that day.

When we were 'done' at Subway Cave, we climbed down and went back to the Boynton Canyon Trail.  We followed that to the very end, which included many small stream crossings.  Most of which were done by very carefully crossing on stones that weren't submerged; many spots were ankle deep, and sometimes we had no choice but to step on rocks that were underwater an inch or two.

It was getting late in the afternoon by the time we reached the end of the trail, the vista.  We sat on a large rock outcropping and ate a snack while enjoying the view before heading back to the trailhead.  I think that was a little bit over six miles of hiking that day.

Boynton Canyon vista left

Boynton Canyon vista right

The fifth morning, we were up early, as we wanted to hike to Devil's Bridge before it got too crowded.  This was a very popular hike, and all accounts said you could expect to wait at least a half an hour to actually get up on it if you weren't there first thing in the morning (like, at the trailhead by about 7 a.m.)

The trail was one of the most trafficked that we'd been on, and for many parts of it you had to wait in line for your turn to go up (or down) some of the steep narrow sections that were rock scrambles.  Boy, were we extra glad we'd done Camelback Mountain on our second day, as without that successful experience on a steep technical trail we would never have pushed on all the way to the Devil's Bridge.  This was some hard, hard stuff.  But oh, so cool to make it to the top, where you actually looked down at the Devil's Bridge, and could go down the trail a bit to walk out on it. 

The Devil's Bridge, a natural arch way, way, up in the air.

Confession: we didn't actually walk on it.  There was a line with a wait of at least 20 minutes when we got to the end of the trail at the bridge, and neither of us wanted to hand our phone to a stranger that long in order to get a picture.  Nor did we want to spend probably an hour taking up space there if we went one at a time on the bridge while the other took our picture.  It took long enough, and lots of maneuvering just to get a couple pictures of it between when one group or person was on it and another.  

It was really cool though, and while it was kind of an excruciating hike to get to it, we were glad we did.  And we didn't stop there.  We decided to hike part of the Chuckwagon Trail to get back to where we'd parked.  It was a different trail than we'd accessed the Devil's Bridge Trail on, and it was less crowded.  Which was sometimes disconcerting, as some intersections weren't marked and we were basically guessing which trail was which and hoping we would end up at our vehicle sooner rather than much, much later.

different aspects of the Chuckwagon Trail

After eating the lunch we'd left in our vehicle. we drove around looking for another interesting trail that wasn't more than about three miles long.  We ended up deciding to hike to the Birthing Cave even though the most direct trailhead for that was currently flooded and you had to park near another trailhead and then do some roundabout hiking to get to the trail for the Birthing Cave.  Thankfully hikers are a pretty helpful bunch, and we were able to get directions from people we met along the trail.  It made our hike a good hour longer than it could have been, but it was another neat hike with a rewarding destination and not too many terrifying rock scramble sections.

View from one side of the Birthing Cave.

Someone's dog looking down the rock scramble that was the only way up to or down from the cave.

That day ended up being about 10 miles, and an equal number of hours, of hiking.

The next day was our final one in Sedona, and our itinerary had us driving back to Phoenix for dinner, and sleep, before flying home the next day.  We decided to not do more than three hours of hiking, so looked for a trail that wasn't too long or too challenging, to fit into that time span.  We ended up choosing to do the Teacup Trail to Coffeepot Rock, and throw in the spur that has you summiting Sugarloaf Mountain.  

It was a great choice, as there was hardly anyone else hiking it that morning.  Which was really good, as the parking area only had space for about ten vehicles.  We got the second to last open space.  And when we came out, after hiking, the lot was full with a line of cars on the street at least a dozen cars long, waiting for a parking space to open up.

view from summit of Sugarloaf 

(opposite direction) view of Sedona from summit of Sugarloaf 

Coffeepot Rock

All in all, it was the best vacation DH and I have taken in a while.  Just what we needed to recharge.  There's so much hiking to do, especially in Sedona, that we can see ourselves coming back many times and still not hiking everything there is.  We can also see ourselves bringing the grandkids (at about ages 7 & up) there sometime in the future for a hiking vacation they would really find fun too.  DH even wants to do Camelback Mountain again.