One of the benefits of working 12 hour shifts, (if there can be any) is that I can often manage to schedule a week off, without missing a day of work.  Well, after I’d worked the holidays in Phoenix, they were happy to let me put six days off together, in my schedule.

We decided that we couldn’t leave Arizona without making a trip to the Grand Canyon.  Again, my naiveté regarding the desert and climate in Arizona showed.  We headed for Flagstaff in January.  Thankfully, we had the foresight to take winter coats.  We left Phoenix, and the temperature was about 50 degrees.  We arrived in Flagstaff, 2 hours later, and there was snow EVERYWHERE!!  We had to buy hats and mittens for everyone! LOL!  

I loved Flagstaff.  With all the pine trees and snow, it looked like home.  Even though I was pretty sure that if all the snow was gone, the ground would look pretty much like it did in Phoenix, I could pretend that there was grass underneath all that snow.

We drove to the Grand Canyon National Park, about an hour, maybe an hour and a half from Flagstaff.  It was 9 degrees, ice and snow everywhere.  Being a mom, I was convinced that some member of my family was going to slip on the ice and go under the barriers and over the edge into the canyon.  The baby (2 at the time) spent the whole time strapped tightly into his stroller, and I had a tight grip on the 5 year old, as well!  I’m happy to report that my worst fears were NOT realized, and our family ended up the day intact. 

In spite of my day of anxiety, it was well worth the trip.  Experiencing the Grand Canyon up close is like no other experience, I’ve ever had.  I’d love to take the kids back someday, perhaps when they are teenagers, and hike down into the canyon…. Though I don’t think we’ll make that particular trip in January!  The Canyon with snow was breathtaking.  Our pictures were a disappointment, because photos just can’t give you a sense of the vastness and depth of the canyon, or the sheer beauty of the color. 

When we left Flagstaff, we went down into Oak Creek Canyon.  It was a pretty awesome experience.  The road into Oak Creek Canyon, from Flagstaff, twists and winds its way down into the canyon, then follows the river towards Sedona.  The rock formations were like none I’d ever seen before; they looked like castle turrets, carved into the rock.  The sheer vastness of the cliffs above was emphasized, when we saw houses, and huge trees, along the road, and then the cliffs behind them. 

When we left Sedona, we weren’t quite ready to head back to Phoenix, so we decided to go through Prescott.  On the road to Prescott, we stumbled into the little mining town of Jerome.  Perched high in the mountains, Jerome had some of the most incredible views, and we arrived just in time for a breathtaking sunset.  In it’s past, Jerome had been a boomtown, where they had mined copper.  For the most part, what’s left now, is the history. (and the sunsets!)

This trip was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Arizona!