Our Northern Arizona Vaca

This weekend, my boys and I made a trip up north. It's crazy to think that "up north" is the Grand Canyon, considering growing up, "up north" meant the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. THAT is up north. Anyway, while on this side of the United States, we wanted to take advantage of being so close to some awesome sights.

We left yesterday morning and drove the 5 hours to the Grand Canyon. I vacationed there as a child, but Greg had never been. It was as gorgeous as I left it 13 years ago. See for yourself...

Isn't God amazing?

We spent the morning there. We would have loved to hike down, even just a little ways, but that's obviously impossible with a toddler. So we just enjoyed the view from the top. After the Grand Canyon, we drove 2.5 hours south to Sedona. Now, if you've never been to Sedona, AZ, YOU MUST GO! This place is GORGEOUS! There's seriously no place like it...I don't think so anyway. The drive there was gorgeous too. The highway twisted and turned around mountains-and I MEAN twisted and turned. There was a stretch of the highway (probably about 2 miles long) that twisted down the mountain and probably brought us down about 1000 feet in elevation...if that makes any sense. I got some pictures of the drive too...

We arrived in Sedona right about sunset. We ate at a really cool diner called "Red Planet Diner" that was all space themed. It was really cute for kids. And their food was good too! We went to bed early after all the driving we did.

This morning we drove around Sedona and looked at all the gorgeous Red Rocks. We got pictures from up on top of a mountain looking down at the valley where the city is and then the mountains behind it. Isn't it gorgeous?!

Just to the left of the center of the picture is "Coffee Pot Mountain." Can you see it?

One thing you can do in Sedona to get the full feel of the mountains is to go on a jeep tour. However, if you're extremely tight on money (like us,) another option is to find a jeep that is driving on a tour and follow them! Now, in no way is this even comparable to an actual jeep tour (because I got to experience one as a kid when we visited there) but it is at least good to find the dirt roads that take you to some gorgeous places!

After Sedona, we made the 45 minute drive to Jerome. Jerome is a little town that was built in the side of the mountain. It was established in the late 1800s as a copper mining town. Now, they have cute shops all along the streets, and a gorgeous view of the valley.

While there, I got a turquoise stoned necklace and Greg got and awesome belt buckle! Check this out! It's real!

We drove the last 2 hours back home after a good lunch and lots of shopping. It was a fun filled, and very busy two days, but very enjoyable. This was our first let's-go-see-the-gorgeous-views-that-America-has-to-offer family vacation. I think that means we're officially Mom and Dad.