Phoenix Escape Day 3: All the cactuses

Today we headed south to Tucson

To check out Saguaro National Park and Sabino State Park

Because we need to get up close and personal with some cacti.

As you look at these pictures,

If you are are thinking

“Wow, that’s a good picture”

It’s probably taken by Jackson.

He’s really good at this.

We saw prickly pear

Pencil cholla 

And, of course, saguaros.

We had a really low bar—

I mean, we were “just” going to hike the desert

And see some cacti,

But we were really impressed.

It was gorgeous.

We did a few hikes

Including Valley View…

Which ended with this crazy valley view 

Of SO MANY CACTI!

We paused to take it in.

And maybe a picture too.

We thought this one was a little suggestive…

And needed one more good family picture

Up close and personal.

Then we were off to Sabino—

It came highly recommended from a friend.

And it was COOL!

We took a longer hike here—

About 4 miles up and down through the cacti.

We ran into a couple of roadrunners at lunch!

It was really scenic.

One family picture to mark the occasion 

Before we pressed onward

Past the teddy bear cholla

And a few (ok LOT) more saguaros

We had some dinner in Old Town

And then watched the Olympics from the hot tub

And played alllll the games

One last time

What a weekend!

Thanks, Santa!

Phoenix Escape Day 2: Return to Sedona

Our last trip to Sedona was filled with fog and rain—

This trip was definitely not!

We could see it beckoning to us as we drove north…

We have 2 classic Sedona hikes today—

Up first is Devil’s Bridge.

Off we go!

The trail was really busy,

Busier than nearly any trail we’ve ever done.

But we still managed to enjoy the view

And take some good pictures

A quick 2 miles

And we landed here at the bridge—

See the green in the middle?

You are looking through a hole underneath.

Pretty cool, right?

Wouldn’t it be cool to go out on that and take a picture?

We thought so too—

But here’s the line.

Meh.

We’ve got more things to do.

Like find a good spot for a Valentine’s lunch…

With the AMAZING photo bomber.

We found a nice little spot

In the sun a bit off the trail

And as Mom is pulling lunch out of bags,

Dad pulls out this:

Dang.

He’s just full of surprises.

Dad’s got game.

Devil’s Bridge:

Great scenery,

Good hike,

Lots of people.

After making it through Sedona traffic

(seriously, 45 minutes to go 6 miles???)

On to the next one—

Cathedral Rock.

There were some really cool formations around it too.

(Photo by Jack—he’s really good at this)

It was about 0.6 miles down a road to the base 

and then only 0.6 miles to the top…

Straight up a scramble

Can you find all 4 of us on the rock?

We LOVE a good scramble

And we made it to the top in no time

(Another good one from Jackson)

Everyone smile!

What a view!

Now those are some good pictures

But we wanted an EPIC one.

We watched a few people shimmy out along the ledge

And decided we needed that picture too.

Well…5 of us did.

Another photo credit to Jackson.

But then,

YOLO struck Jackson too…

And we got our EPIC family picture

The shimmy wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked

From afar.

Safely back down,

Mom and Dad needed a Valentine’s picture 

Cathedral Rock:

A bit busy (including a lady in flip flops 

scrambling while holding her dog…)

Beautiful scenery

And our favorite hike in a while.

Yep,

A much better trip to Sedona!

Phoenix escape Day 1: Scottsdale

After picking up what might be our next family car last night

(The Expedition is pretty cool),

We headed to what is the COOLEST Airbnb we’ve ever had

And stayed up later than we meant to

Playing pool and darts and shuffleboard (on a very sloped table)

And foosball and putting practice.

Like we said, it’s a cool house.

Despite the late night,

We managed to drag ourselves out of bed at a reasonable time

Because we have a lot to cram in to our 3 days!

First up—

Breakfast at Hash Kitchen,

This funky restaurant with some tasty Mexican-mix-up breakfast food

And a DJ splicing the tunes.

Definitely a good start to the weekend!

All fueled up,

We hit Camelback Mountain,

The must-do hike in Phoenix.

The first view of the city

This 1300 foot elevation gain is no joke!

But it’s worth the view!

Bird’s eye view of Phoenix

One last look

Before we head back down the Cholla trail

Now that we got our 3 miles in,

We need to refuel.

We headed into Old Town for so shopping

We wandered through a lot of stores and

bought some spices and honey, a hilarious book, some candy and a few cups of tea

And then wandered down the street to an awesome

Pizza and brewery—

Craft 64.

5 stars, highly recommend.

It was a delightful afternoon

Looked a little different than last time we were here

In 2014

Then it was back to the house

For some bocce

And pool time

Wait for it…

We didn’t pay for the pool heat this time—

We needed to warm up in the hot tub!

We finished out our night

With a fancy dinner at Culinary Dropout—

Yep, yet another restaurant name drop.

Mom and Dad are splurging.

We gotta remember this.

Fleeing the cold

With a long weekend ahead of us,

We’re skipping a day of school and jetting out of town…

Getting in that screen time while we can.

On the plane now!

Headed west,

Over Great Sand Dunes National Park…

But where will we land?

 

Connection

Mom's New Year's resolution

is to be more present

and connect more with friends and family.

She's keeping with it,

going on the Downtown LS Wine Walk with the girls

And keeping up with her monthly

"Neo meetings" with her work friends

Well, we're only 2 months into 2026

but so far so good! 

Baskets

Tucker's team has had a pretty great season--

and he's been able to contribute a couple of points so far!

Git it, Tuck!

Our Jazz Man

The ETMS Jazz Band hit the road today

for a "gig" tour of the elementary schools

Band is quickly becoming Beckett's favorite jam