Ferrell Family Roadtrip: To Sedona

Date:  Wednesday, June 19, 2013

So we woke up rested and happy in Flagstaff on our second full day in Arizona.  Some locals had told us to take the boys to Slide Rock State Park so after a little research, we decided to spend the day at Sedona starting with a little water fun at Slide Rock.

"The park is named after the famous Slide Rock, a stretch of slippery creek bottom adjacent to the [Frank L. Pendley] homestead. Visitors may slide down a slick natural water chute or wade and sun along the creek. The swim area is located on National Forest land which is jointly managed by Arizona State Parks and the U.S. Forest Service. Together these areas have seen the making of many Hollywood movies such as "Broken Arrow" (1950) with James Stewart, "Drum Beat" (1954) with Alan Ladd and Charles Bronson, "Gun Fury" (1953) with Rock Hudson and Donna Reed, and a scene from "Angel and the Badman" (1946) with John Wayne."  Source:  Slide Rock State Park

It took about an hour to get to Slide Rock State Park from Flagstaff.  It was a beautiful drive through winding, curving mountains.  There were signs warning us about Elk crossing so the boys and I kept our eyes busy looking for them.  Didn't see any though.  :(

The boys had a great time.

But the water was soooooooooooo cold!  Apparently, the snow melting from the mountains feeds into this water, and even though it was really HOT in Sedona, the weather hadn't been hot long enough to really warm up the water!

It didn't seem to bother the older boys too much.

Shane wasn't too comfortable with how deep it was in some places.

But Zach and Alex encouraged him and helped him when he tried to "slide" into some of the deep waters.

We made up a picnic lunch and cooler to take to the park, and after a while of playing, we found a shaded place under some rocks to eat a little lunch.  But the boys didn't tarry too long and headed back to the freezing cold waters of Slide Rock. . . .

Zach and Alex could have stayed there all day, but after 3 hours, Dave and I decided that it was time for the "grown-up" portion of our day.  :)

But we did have a little trouble getting the boys out of the water . . .  See those little boys in the far background of the next picture . . . that would be the Ferrell boys . . .  on the complete opposite side from where we were sitting . . .

Just a little while longer . . . please . . .

Can we go down it one more time . . .

The boys said it was the very best day . . .

After we left Slide Rock, we headed to Sedona to see the sites.  Our friend, Bob, sent a message through Facebook telling us of some specific places to go.

One of the places he suggested was the airport.  He gave us no explanation saying that we would understand once we got there.

The airport is on top of a mountain and from the top of the mountain you can see the City of Sedona . . .

I was not comfortable on the road going up that mountain . . .  Dave just laughed and laughed at my discomfort cause he knew that this road was nothing compared to some of the roads we would be traveling in the Rocky Mountains.  :)

I love this next picture of Shane.  He's so cool and confident.

We drove down the mountain into Sedona and took a driving tour of all the red rock formations for which the Sedona area is known.

Driving tour means that lots of my pictures were blurry!  But that's okay because really the pictures don't depict the red rocks adequately.  They are so cool looking and one day, when it's just me and Dave, I want to go back and explore these rocks on foot and up close.

If we had stopped to explore with the Ferrell boys, Dave and I would have ended up having to carry a couple of them back to the car.  They don't seem to have the same stamina for exploring as I do, and Dave doesn't have the desire to carry Shane all the time  because Shane seems to always give out.  I think it was the heat in Arizona.  So we opted to drive and look.

So ends our second day in Arizona.  We are spending one more day in Arizona and then heading to the Rocky Mountains.

I wonder what vacation plans Dave has tomorrow for . . . 

                            the Ferrell boys and me!