Shane’s big 3-0 was one for the books. I started researching and planning travel ideas back in the Spring. A tropical vacation would have been nice and relaxing but I wanted to plan something a little different and something that Shane had never done before. Shane grew up in Vermont in the mountains and likes the outdoors and nature so what better place to travel than to the Grand Canyon? You may remember I traveled out west right after college graduation so I used a lot of the same ideas for this trip. I booked our flights and hotel and kept his birthday travels a surprise for six months!
Shane didn’t find out our travel plans until we got to the airport and even then he didn’t know everything I had planned for our long weekend getaway. Remember these luggage tags I got for our three year anniversary? We finally got to use them on a plane 🙂
We took an almost six hour flight from Newark, NJ to Phoenix, AZ which felt verrrrrrrry long and uncomfortable. The only good thing was that I sat next to the cutest puppy who was so well behaved so that made the flight much better. Once we landed in Phoenix, we shuttled over to the car rental center, hopped in our rental and drove about two hours to Sedona. The drive was scenic and beautiful, unlike anything we ever see on the east coast. Shane was stunned by the mountains and kept telling me to take pictures from the car. I told him to wait… that we would get amazing pictures in the next few days…
Our first day in Arizona was pretty much a travel day. By the time we got to our hotel, The Ridge on Sedona Golf Resort, it was dinner time. We went to Oak Creek Brewery and Grill for dinner. They have an AMAZING pretzel appetizer. I could have eaten just that for dinner. Once we finished dinner, the day of traveling and the two hour time difference caught up to us and we headed straight to bed.
We woke up the next morning and headed to the Red Rock Café for breakfast. OH. EM. GEE. It was delicious. It was so good, in fact, that we ended up going back there for breakfast two days later.
After breakfast we headed into town for a Pink Jeep Tour. Shane and I shared a Jeep with a bachelorette party. Woo! Our tour guide, Josiah, was awesome. He had lots of corny jokes and knowledge about the area. He also had a lot of geological facts and information which Shane loved. Shane sat up front with Josiah and off we went. We did the Broken Arrow/Scenic Rim Combo, so our tour started off with a drive of the back country through winding dirt roads and views of the mountains. Then, we headed to the Broken Arrow trail where we drove on all the red rock that Sedona is famous for. There were some trails we went on that any right-minded individual would be like “no way am I driving on that” or “no car could conquer that” and Josiah drove us right up (or down) with no hesitation. It was exhilarating.
Next, we walked around town and headed to Open Range Grill & Tavern for lunch. We sat on the covered deck area under heaters overlooking a beautiful view of the red rock. That night we drove to Airport Mesa to go star gazing. There is absolutely no air or light pollution in Sedona (like there is on the east coast) so we could see every star in the sky.
The next morning we woke up early and made the two hour drive to the Grand Canyon. Although I’ve been there before I was amazed all over again. Pictures do not do it justice. We just stood in awe at every point we stopped at.
We spent five hours at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, starting at the Visitor’s Center and Mather Point, walking a little bit in each direction, taking the shuttle to Bright Angel where we had lunch and then headed to the more remote areas for amazing views.
Our last morning in Sedona I had a hot air balloon ride scheduled but unfortunately we got the call at 5:30am that it was too windy to fly. We were so disappointed because it was something that both of us had never done before and we were excited (and scared) to experience. I guess we’ll keep that on the bucket list for now.
Unfortunately, unless you schedule activities and tours ahead of time, it’s very difficult to do anything last minute in Sedona. We looked into a helicopter tour, a couples massage, ATV/buggy rentals, etc. but everywhere was booked. Shane was able to get a tee time at Oak Creek Country Club so I rode along in the golf cart while Shane played 18 holes.
The drive back to Phoenix was easy and we checked into our hotel by the airport. For dinner, we went to Rick Bronson’s House of Comedy. The headliner that night was Vladimir Caamano who we recognized from one of our favorite TV shows. That was a nice surprise considering we decided to go to the club at the last minute.
Overall, Arizona was a great trip. It was the longest we’d been away from Ayla which was hard for us. When I went into her room to get her ready for school the next morning I swear she had grown five months instead of five days. The end of a vacation is always difficult. I mean, who wants to get back to reality? But, being reunited with Ayla and Rocco make it all worth it.
