Hiking in Sedona

Alternate title:  I shouldn’t post some of these photos on the interweb.

On Tuesday I mentioned that most of our time in Sedona was spent hiking.  We’re wild and crazy kids.

Our first stop was the Boynton Canyon trail.  We were greeted with a bear warning.  My brother and I were fully prepared to take on any wild animals that we might encounter.

No, we didn’t encounter any wild animals.  Yes, I wore lots of sunscreen.  Yes, my nickname was bear meat. No Mom, we will never grow up.

This hike was a 6 mile round trip hike through the canyon.  It was a fairly easy hike.  Most of it was shaded which was an added benefit.

This hike was pretty uneventful.  Some nice Austrian man took our photo at the end of the trail.  We gave my brother lessons in composition while on this trip.  Looks like we should have also offered them to our new friend.

Nate took pretty photos.  My brother and I were obnoxious. The usual. The following pose is still in, right?

My brother wants everyone to know that he took the following photo. Not Nate.  Just to clear that up.

Our next trail was Devil’s Bridge. A 3 mile round trip trail. My brother and Nate enjoyed this trail.  I did not.  This is the time that I tell you all about my fear of heights.  I like to hike flat trails.  Not trails where I can fall to my death…like this trail.  Here is the bridge.  My brother and Nate walked out on that thing.  I did not.  No way.  No how.

The views on the way up were quite awesome.

The trail itself.  Eh.   This was a good part.

The following photo sums up this hike.  Me baby stepping up the trail.  Nate taking photos of my rear (which I cropped out to save us all).  My brother resting and taunting me.  I hate my brother.  And my husband.

We eventually made it to the top.  Where I sat firmly planted in a safe location. 

My brother and Nate walked on out on that thing.  Dumb. Some doctor kept trying to get me to go out there.  I forgave him after he saved us a 1.5 mile hike back from the trailhead to our car.

Our last hike was the West Fork Oak Creek trail.  This hike was 6 miles round trip.  This trail had 12 creek crossings which was kind of fun.

The only thing we disliked about this trail was that the end was pretty uneventful.  We were hoping for some big pool or awesome view. This was it.  Still pretty but eh.

This concludes our hiking tour of Sedona.  Are you still awake?  Anyone?

Do you like to hike?  Anyone else with a major fear of heights?  (Just wait for the Grand Canyon post!)

Random Acts of Craftiness- Husband Judge

Nate had the honor of being September’s husband judge for the Random Acts of Craftiness Challenge. 

I don’t think he could quite grasp how big of an honor this was…as I forced him to look through the submissions and pick his favorites.  I’m sure this would be like him making me pick players for a fantasy football team.  Wait. Nothing could be that bad.  And crafts are fun.  Especially for dudes.

Without further ado, here are Nate’s top 3 picks from September's challenge…in order of entry into the challenge.  Nate’s a middle child.  He likes things to be fair.

Dominos Mirror by Accomplishing Dreams. 

Nate liked that this wasn’t a girly project.  It was practical and not girly.  (He’s a man of many words.)

Candlesticks from Dominos by The Money Pit. 

Nate liked the practicality of these candle sticks.  He thought they’d be something that I’d like.  He is a good judge of my taste.  I tried the phrase “Use your words, Nate” at this stage to try to get more out of him.  As you can guess, that got me REALLY far.

The Almost Sunburst Mirror by Corner of Main. 

Nate thought this looked really cool even though it’s not finished.  Maybe this will be enough motivation for Kelly to complete it.  I mean, it was awarded the husband judge award.  That’s big stuff.

Thanks to everyone that participated!  You check out my project here. You can check out all of the other projects here!

The theme for October's Challenge is Odd and Ends from the Hardware Store.  I think you should join in on the fun.  You don’t even need a blog.  Ponder it.

Will you be participating in October’s challenge? What were your favorite picks?  Who thinks Nate needs to use his words?

Sedona

Do you all remember when I told you that we went on vacation?…a month ago.  I finally have photos to prove it.  For real.  And who doesn’t love blogger vacation photos?

Our first stop in Arizona was Sedona. 

Photos can not capture how amazing this place is.  I felt like I was in movie set the whole time we were there. Hence my movie star hipster pose.

Where We Stayed:  We stayed in this condo. We like using VRBO for our vacations.  This 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo was $110/night which is cheaper than most hotels.  It was pretty horribly decorated but was clean and quiet.  We like the extra space that a condo offers.  It also allows us to eat in breakfast and lunch to help save a little extra cash. The condo also had a salt water pool.  We had the pool to ourselves most of the afternoon.  The owners were super easy to work with.  Thumbs up.

Where We Ate: We enjoyed suppers at Picazzos, Oak Creek Brew Co., and Plaza Bonita.  The food was delicious at all of them.  They all get great recommendations from us.  For whatever that is worth.

What We Did:  We hiked every morning.  We got up early to beat the heat.  We would hike until lunch time.  We would eat lunch in the condo.  Nap.  Swim in the pool.  Go out for supper.  Watch the sunset.  Sleep.  Repeat times 3 days.  Man, I miss vacation.  I’ll share more photos of our hikes in the next week or so.

We were warned that Sedona at the end of August/beginning of September would be extremely hot.  It was hot but not enough to limit us from doing the activities that we wanted.  We woke up early to hike and swam in the afternoon.  Take that heat.  We were also there during the beginning of a rainy season.  It rained each afternoon but we used that time to nap.  Take that rain.  The rain also lent itself to some fun photos.

This last photo reminds me.  The next time my brother joins us on vacation, he’s going to need to bring a girl.  Just saying. I can no longer spend a week as the third wheel. I’ll even host a blog giveaway for the position if needed.  You think I’m joking.

Have you been to Sedona?  Who’s up for being my brother’s next vacation date?