Being an Arizona Tourist

This year we explored a few new areas of the state - Greer, Page/Lake Powell, and Fossil Creek.  Our Greer trip was actually with 2 other couples from the gym.  A nice getaway from the late summer heat!  We stayed at this awesome family run lodge.  The owner even had a daughter the same age so the girls loved it!  They were not impressed by our canoe ride, Greer lake, or hiking in the meadow.  To this day they keep asking if we can visit Tinley (owner's daughter) again.  We try our best as parents to give them new experiences but ultimately they just want to play!

Now onto Lake Powell.  Wow, what a beautiful place! We could not have asked for better weather (in October!) or better company.  There were 3 families, 6 adults and 5 kids, and we all rented a houseboat for a week.  Can you tell the kids were excited? I had them doing shuttle runs on the dock while everyone was unpacking and got this amazing shot!!

The best part about the houseboat: the slide.  Add in beer & tequila and there were many many laughs! Each family also brought a few toys so we were fishing, paddle boarding, kayaking, and power boating too.  Craig was in heaven! The girls had a blast on the beach and I loved relaxing/wading around on the paddleboard.   Probably one of the best parts of the trip was boating to Rainbow Bridge.  The scenery was stunning and it was a great little hike for the kids. Needless to say, were hoping to make this an annual trip.  By next year we might even have a boat of our own 😁

Funny story about Fossil Creek.  Craig and I planned this as a day date.  We dropped off Allison at school and Drew at Grandma's then headed up to the main trailhead for a 6+ mile hike.  Unfortunately  the forest service was there to turn us around and send us through Camp Verde instead.  After a couple hours on the road and many dirt roads later, we finally made it!  The bummer was we were all decked out for a big hike and only walked about a mile.  The waterfalls were even better than we expected though (look for Craig!)