After our restful day at a KOA in Flagstaff, we headed south. Neither Paul nor I had ever been to Sedona to see the Red Rock Mountains, so we took a bit of a detour so we could take a gander. Some people say they rival the Grand Canyon in beauty.
We started off at Slide Rock State Park. The river was high (and cold) this time of year, but during the summer, many people come to this beautiful area to play in the water and slide down the river on a "smooth" rock bed.
After that, we headed through the town of Sedona. Sedona is set right in the heart of the red rock mountains. It is a very clean tourist town. As we drove through town, I hopped out to buy some fudge while Paul drove around the block a few times. While I was at the fudge shop, I also picked up some true Arizona suckers for the boys... scorpion suckers! There were real baked scorpions cooked into the suckers (Of course they had their poison and stingers removed). Sounds tasty, huh?
The boys thought they were cool... until they started getting through to the scorpion... They they got disgusted. I even upped the ante by offering them each a dollar if they ate it. Nope, no luck. Noah thought he could do it, but ended up throwing up. What do you do with 3 three-dollar suckers that no one wants? That's right... Give them to Nathan! He ate the scorpion's head off without a second thought! (Gives new meaning to the verse... "Which of you fathers... if your son asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?" Luke 11:12. Mind you, it doesn't say anything about mothers...)
We stopped at the Red Rock State Park because the kids were wanting to earn another Jr. Ranger badge. Ugh, what a waste of time!! Note to self: Don't go to a STATE park for a ranger badge... It took them more than an hour to complete, and they got cheesy badge and a poster of the Phoenix Zoo. I was really hoping for those iron-on patches that we got at the National Park... Bummer.
Of course, we had to get a picture with the Sequoia Cactus that is famous in Arizona. There are not many other places in the world that have this kind of cactus (if any... I can't remember). They are amazingly huge desert plants!
Oh, come on... you didn't think I let Nathan eat ALL of them... I worked on that sucker for over an hour to get that scorpion out in one piece. I had to show the boys how it's done! I have to say, it was somewhat disturbing to eat. Kind of a crunchy, chewy texture. Gross.
We crossed the Colorado River into California last night and stayed at a campsite right on the river. I asked the manager if he had any "crabby baby sites" (since I DID have a crabby baby), he laughed and I don't think he thought I was serious. Maybe a lot of people use that excuse? A bit later he asked, "So, it's for two adults and... one child?" "No, six", I replied. He did a double-take at me to see if I was serious and then he said, "Well, we need a much bigger site then..." We got the prime spot in the park, I think. It was a huge site right up a small hill by the Colorado River without a camper around us! Nice.
We woke up, had our french toast, bacon and eggs and on we went... Pacific Ocean, here we come!!
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