Once upon a time, in a far away land, elves and faeries skipped and flitted across a field. They kissed the ground, and made flowers bloom. They carved out rocks, and spread green moss over them like butter. They made paths through the forest, cutting out deep gashes in towering cliffs. And when they were finished, they called it "West Fork".
It may sound fantastic (because it is), but when I hike the West Fork/Call of the Canyon trail in Oak Creek Canyon, I can't help but let my imagination run wild. The grand enormity of the rocks and boulders with moss and lichen growing on them is astounding. The sheer rock face of the cliffs that make up the canyon is dizzying. The scale and magnitude of some of the pine trees growing there is second only to the Redwoods. This area feels old and wild. While the trail starts out with a tame sidewalk through tall grass and an old apple orchard, the further in you travel, the gnarlier the woods becomes.
The trail wanders out for a solid 2 hours (or more, depending on your hiking speed). We hiked for 90 minutes as a family, and when we asked some folks on the return how much further to the end of the trail. They said, "It's another 50 minutes, at least." Needless to say with two children in tow, we did not finish the trail, but we did end up travelling farther down the trail than we ever had previously.
When Carrick was 5 months old, we went down the West Fork Trail. Corey's sister was visiting, and we wanted to try something new. Boy were we surprised when we started our hike into this magical place. Halfway down the trail (probably after a mile of hiking) there is a natural swimming area with a "water slide". We didn't know about it, so we didn't plan for swimming on this particular excursion. We did spend some time resting there watching other enjoy their summer splash time.
However, when my parents visited a month later, we took them back and made an afternoon of cooling off in the creek at the swimming hole. I sat on a rock and nursed Carrick, mom and dad put their feet in, and Corey got adventurous and swam around in the pool. I took a few goes down the natural slide while mom and dad held Carrick. That was in 2009.
So here we are, with Carrick old enough to hike on his own, and Lily old enough to observe and enjoy what's going on. We hiked right past the swimming hole this time, as it was November, and about 49 degrees outside. It was interesting to see what the rock looked like that we were playing on all those years ago. The water level was so low (we haven't had rain in several months), that we could see all the way to the bottom of the swimming hole and hop across the slide if we wanted to.
One of the more curious scenes on this trip was a ginormous, angled boulder with all sorts of graffiti on it. The graffiti was written in charcoal, well, charred tree branches to be exact. The West Fork Trail was hit by the Slide Rock Fire earlier this year. When I heard that the fire had spread to West Fork, my heart broke in two. I couldn't imagine such a wonderful place being destroyed by fire. I was especially angry at myself for not going back since Carrick was little to enjoy it's natural beauty.
But, God is amazing, and created nature to be resilient. On the entire hike, there were only pockets of evidence that there was ever a fire in this area. Sure, a few trees had been burnt to a crisp, and their blackened hulls lay on the ground. For the most part, there were only trees with charred bases, showing where the fire attempted to make its mark, and even then, they were only visible very sporadically. The pine trees are especially hearty when it comes to fire. In fact, they need fire to germinate their seeds.
So we came to this boulder with all these names and dates on it. Carrick wanted to slide down it, I wanted to add our names to it. Corey just wanted to reach the end of the trail. So we left our hopes with the boulder and pressed onward. On the return trip, however, we got our wish. I used a chip of charred tree to add the names of our family to the list of hikers who had passed by this spot. Carrick was allowed to climb to the top of the rock and slide down. (He did not smear anyone's name in the process.)
On the way back, we passed by the ruins of the old lodge that once stood on the trail head. I took a picture of Carrick sitting in the old fireplace. Apparently the likes of Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable used to stay at the lodge. This fact underscores the relationship of West Fork as a microcosm of Sedona. Celebrities still come on vacation here. The apple orchards, the red rock cliffs, the creek, the woods, the boulders, the trail itself. This is what makes Sedona. Natural beauty, solitude, an oasis in the desert.
I feel so blessed to have been able to share this experience with my family, all three times I have hiked this majestic path. For a fee of $10.00 to park and use the restrooms, (Corey and I split it), it was the best 3 hours and 15 minutes I remember us all spending together in a long time. No computers, no cell phones (well, at least no calls, I took pictures with mine) and no TV. Just us, the crisp autumn air, and the glory of creation laid out before us.
Entry fee to park (and use restrooms)- $5.00 (split with Corey)
Soup and sandwiches all around at Indian Gardens afterward- $15.00
Balance this pay cycle- $80.00
Happy Spending!
.jpg)
My friend sent me a text message on the morning of the long-expected trip to see if I wanted to make a stop at Firehouse Doughnuts as part of our day out. Firehouse Doughnuts is a recently-opened bakery next to Schoolhouse Restaurant in Cottonwood, and owned by the same person. It was on the way to Jerome. We had heard rave reviews about this place and since we were out enjoying the day, we figured, why not? The parking lot was tiny, but the inside space was generous. There was even a space just for kids to play. They had painted some walls with chalkboard paint, and there was evidence of tiny artists all over. Lily enjoyed playing with another little girl there..jpg)
I opted to get the most for my Fun Dollars and bought 4 regular doughnuts. I knew Lily would want the pink with sprinkles, so put one of those in my box. I also chose an apple fritter, a chocolate creme and a chocolate glazed. I am almost ashamed to admit this, but, I sat there in the cafe, revelling in my day out, and I ate two of the four doughnuts. (I opened Pandora's box with this one. Ever since the NYBD doughnuts last month, I have had more doughnuts in 4 weeks than I have in 4 years!)
After stopping into several shops with our strollers, and burning off the doughnut calories, we headed to the Flatiron. The new owner, Amy, bought the Flatiron almost two years ago, and is a friend of ours. We keep in touch mostly on facebook because she's a busy gal. When I first moved to Arizona, we all used to work at the same restaurant in Sedona. Since then she has bought a business, and my friend and I have had two kids each. Life changes us all, but it was so nice to reconnect with such a loving soul. She made the best pastrami sandwich ever. I was more than happy to give her a $20.00 for the sandwich, iced tea, and tip. She was so kind to Lily, as she banged on the table, rolled around on the floor, and asked for more raspberries. Tiny though it may be, the Flatiron has now earned a coveted place on "Rachael's List of Family-friendly Dining".
Every Sunday, we would go out to eat after church. My dad served two churches at the time, and Sundays were a work day for him. The last thing he and mom wanted to do was make lunch after an action-packed morning. Rarely did we ever just go home and make lunch. Our after church fare came most frequently from one of three places; Larry's, The Paloma Restaurant, or Stockyard Inn. (And when I say "Stockyard Inn", I mean it was literally at a place where farmers bought and sold livestock.)
Other Sundays, we would go to the Paloma Restaurant. It was two towns down the road on highway 24, which meant it was about a ten minute drive. Paloma had absolutely the best chicken and noodles than any of the other places to eat. It had a home-town menu, just like Larry's, but the crowd there was a little different. It consisted mostly of the folks who lived in Paloma and Coatsburg, the two towns in our school system lying to the west of Camp Point.
After our Old Navy and Best Buy run, we drove across town to Target. We needed a few household items, and I wanted to cross off the rest of my Christmas items from my list. Carrick needed a dress-up outfit for Church (our family is lighting the Advent Candle and doing the reading next Sunday). Lily needed a cardigan to go with her dress. There were a few other things we needed like tissue paper and tape too. The only thing I paid for with my Fun Dollars was a pure impulse buy. It was a bag of Reese's Pieces; like almost a pound of them....ooooh yeah! $3.00 for a secret mommy treat. I also use them for Lily's potty treats. She's still a super star with her potty training, and I notice that she's more into it when there's bribery involved.
I once was the proud owner of the original Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD. Hearing the excitement of Deck the Halls, or the medieval arrangements of We Three Kings, or I Saw Three Ships always put a smile on my face during the Christmas season. Even though the album is only half an hour long, I would listen to it over and over again. To me, the holiday season's soundtrack is Mannheim Steamroller. But sadly, last year, when I unpacked our Christmas memorabilia, thejewel case was in the box with our Christmas decorations, but the CD was missing. I sufficed with my other two Mannheim Steamroller CDs, but Christmas felt like it was missing something without Deck the Halls playing over and over again in my car.
So, this year, with two staples of my (our) holiday missing, I decided to do something unprecedented...I took my Fun Dollars to Wal-Mart. I have boycotted Wal-Mart for almost 4 years now, shopping almost exclusively at Target. I think I have been in Wal-Mart only 5 times in the past 4 years, and only for emergencies (like if we are visiting family, and Wal-Mart is what's available kind of thing.) But something inside me spoke up early on this Thanksgiving Break. "Wal-Mart will have what you want...and it will be inexpensive."
Tonight was Carrick's first school performance. The kids celebrated world cultures and sang songs from different courntries. Carrick was part of the group "Ambassadors from France." They sang "Frere Jaques" and "Alouette". He's been singing these songs at home for over a month now, so I will be glad that after tonight, they won't be practicing them at school anymore. I look forward to new songs being added to his repertoire. The admission fee for adults was $5.00, and $1.00 for students. Lily got in for free.
Their last song was "Happy". The music teacher is also a DJ, so she had the music to the song without the lyrics being sung on a recording, kind of like karaoke. Carrick was front and center for this part, clearly visible to everyone. He started dancing and moving around a little during the song, and then, he busted out in karate moves! It was all I could do not to just loose it and crack up during their performance. It was totally worth the $6.00 to see my superstar debut his killer dance moves (and to support the school).
We brainstormed on several ways we could reduce our monthly costs as a family. One of them was our coffee discussion. We still don't have a conclusion on that topic. However, Corey has reduced his morning coffee intake and has switched over to tea most mornings. That reduces our cost by quite a bit. (He did this voluntarily. With the sudden chill in the weather lately, he has felt more inclined to drinking tea.)
On this particular trip, I was on the hunt for (yet another) new travel coffee mug. The brown and gold one I bought from Starbucks back in February finally bit the dust. It had been dropped one too many times, and the lid cracked in such a way that it was unrepairable. I was delighted to see a new stock of travel mugs at Beall's. Right in front of the shelf were two with....the Eiffel Tower!!!! Yes, I have said it before and I'll say it again, I am a sucker for the Eiffel Tower logo. There was a black mug and a white mug. I asked Carrick which one I should get, and he pointed to the white one.
Determined not to loose track of my Fun Dollars this week, the very first purchase of the pay cycle was a wallet on amazon. I had been looking around town, but found nothing particularly "me". I also checked out Target recently, but couldn't find something that was "just right". I even allowed myself to look at the wallets at Dillard's on a Sunday afternoon family shopping trip. There was a gold Michael Kors wallet behind a glass case that just made me drool, but $95.00 was kind of out of my budget.
