Exploring Arizona

Our first stop this morning was a trip back in time at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park. It preserves the site of Arizona's oldest Spanish presidio, or fort.

The excavation of the original adobe foundation of the presidio has been enclosed so that it can still be viewed

Chicago West

The latest installment of our travel blog started when we loaded up the covered wagon, um, minivan and hit the road for Phoenix right after the kids escaped school for spring break on Friday. Unfortunately, we weren't quite as lucky in our efforts to get out of Dodge, um, Southern California, so our trek took more than an hour longer than usual. Ugh.

If you haven't guessed by now, this road trip will take us through the Old West (a.k.a. Southern AZ). Our pre-trip homework involved watching a lot of (laughably bad) Westerns. Among them: Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, 3:10 to Yuma, and The Lone Ranger. Does Cowboys vs. Aliens count as a Western?!

More Red Rocks

After our Cathedral Rock hike and a quick lunch stop, we spent the rest of our Christmas Eve afternoon driving around looking at more red rocks...

Baby Bell (center) and Rabbit Ears (left)

Bell Rock

Cathedral Rock

Since this was a last minute trip, I didn't have the opportunity to do as much research as usual. So after our very good hotel breakfast this morning, we went over to the official visitor information center to get recommendations on hiking trails. (FYI, there are a lot of places around Sedona with signs saying "Tourist Info" and "Free Maps," but I suspect that they just steer people to their own businesses.) I asked the volunteer about two trails that were well-reviewed on TripAdvisor, Devils Bridge and Cathedral Rock. She advised against Devils Bridge since much of the trail is along the north-face of the rocks and would likely still be icy/muddy from the recent rain. But she thought that the boys would really enjoy hiking Cathedral Rock, especially since it involved some rock climbing. Sold!

Ancient Ruins

What do you do when Christmas break is approaching, you have a Best Western free hotel night voucher about to expire, and you're itching to get away? If you're me (and last time I checked, I am), then you look at a map to see where the closest national park units are that you haven't been to yet *AND* you price hotels for the most expensive place to cash in the voucher. That narrowed down the choices to...

Viva Las Vegas

Earlier this year we paid a visit to Antique Archaeology (American Pickers) in Iowa. While we've been to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop (Pawn Stars) on a previous trip through Vegas, we completed our History Channel trifecta on Friday morning with a side trip to Rick's Restorations, the location for the show, American Restoration.