GypsieGirl Photo Page

On the way back from Montana, Rich picked up Lauren & Chelsea in Las Vegas and they came down to Arizona for a full week. The trip to Arizona was dotted by frequent visits to Hospitals, as Rich vowed to expose the kids to an entirely new culinary adventure, the thrill of sampling "hospital food." The first stop was Mountain View Hospital near the kid's home, where they had a hearty breakfast featuring donuts and coffee drinks, and then to a beautiful new hospital in the pine trees up in Flagstaff. Lauren made a comment in a guest book somewhere along the way, hoping that someone would find her and get her to a McDonalds as quickly as possible for a burger fix.

Just a couple of miles from Flagstaff, Rich and the girls visited Walnut Canyon, a tough hike to explore some Native American ruins on the side of canyon walls. Since many of the dwelling walls had long since fallen, Chelsea did her best to hold up the ceilings so that tourists could pass safely through.

The night before heading up to Sedona, we went to the Drive-in movie with the girls, watching a double feature that included "The Devil Wears Prada" and "The Lake House." The girls really whoopped it up on the horses, and Rich caught a picture of his two favorite women (that would be six and seven of nine).

On the way to our resort in Sedona, we stopped by two places. First, we visited Arcosanti, which is an artist community just off the 17 freeway founded by a Frank Lloyd Wright student. The buildings in this "Urban Laboratory" are built along a canyon wall, and the wind affects through the canyon cool them off, so that there is no air conditioning, even when it is 115 degrees out. We also stopped by the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona and the girls lit candles for their grandmother who passed last year. They also posed next to Roman numerals which represent their ages.

We spent three days at Sedona Pines Resort, which is an old RV resort that has been converted to Time Share using very nice modular cottages. We were the first-ever guests in our cottage, and it seemed like nothing worked, the DVD player, the dishwasher, an emergency flashlight, a closet door, almost everything we touched went on the fritz. But there was lots of wild life, bunnies for Chelsea and bats for Lauren, and Rich BBQ'd a great meal, telling the girls it was bat meat and rabbit meat. We ate at the Los Pinos Grill, and both girls bravely downed a piece from the rattlesnake appetizer, saying proudly, "it takes like chicken." And while we had a lot of fun, mostly, it seemed, the girls just slept, so Rich grabbed a photo of them on the pull-out couch.

The highlight of the trip to Sedona was zipping down the water chutes at Slide Rock. Of course, the girls were hits with teenage boys who were jumping off cliffs to impress them, but then again, Chelsea could out-jump any boy out there. After awhile, we got really good at creating chains, holding on to the legs or feet of the person behind you and going down together. Hint, the best pictures are on the last row, including Lauren as a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, the girl's expressions on their first trip down the slide, and especially the picture of Lauren expelling a gallon of water after going for a dip.

One of main reasons people come to Sedona is for all the new age shops, treatments, and everything mystical. We visited several crystal shops, but the girls weren't overly interested. They did, however, discover some cool posters and cards of "fairies." The girls weren't particularly interested in any of the "real" sites in Sedona, such as Vortexes or the famous rock formations, but they did enjoy the shopping!

Back at the resort, there was a lot to do, about a half-dozen kid friendly activities scheduled every day. We participated in a Golf tournament and met some other real nice folks from Phoenix, and their son and daughter joined us for several of the classes and activities.

On two of the days, we signed up for craft classes at the resort. The first was a class to learn hot to make Native American dream catchers, which were actually easier than I imagined. Then we participating in a fabric painting class where Chelsea and I made t-shirts (sleep shirts), and Lauren made a tote bag. Finally, we took a bead jewelry class and made ear-rings and bracelets.