Fun in the Sun - Camp Verde, AZ

Pit Stop from Morro Bay to Sedona: Kingsman, AZ (Kingsman KOA)
Final Location: Camp Verde, AZ (27.5 miles from Sedona)
Rv Park: Verde Ranch RV Resort
Dates: May 21-26, 2024
Experiences: Biking, Hiking, and physic readings

If you read the last post, you know we ended up leaving Morro Bay a day early. We were eager to get a head start in Sedona, AZ. Blake’s gut was feeling better by the end of day after the race and after a little discussion with our little crew, he was up to drive as far as we could to get to us to Camp Verde. This is where our RV resort we were staying was located at. It is about 27 miles from Sedona. Not too far of a drive. We could not find any RV parks in Sedona that could hold the size that we were, let alone any in Sedona. I’m sure if I really looked around, I could have found something closer, however, Camp Verde is a quick drive. Honestly, Blake wanted to make a track down to the Cliff Castle Casino one of the evenings there. We stayed there a few months back during Thanksgiving, this past year. This isn’t your typical casino but a total family friendly resort, that caters to children and adults. The boys love the Kid Zone there and it’s a location they have spoken about quite often since we have left. The ultimate kid zone with arcade, movies, indoor jungle gym, rides, etc..However, we only got as far as Kingsman, AZ. As we were driving, our drivers were pretty over the drive. We found a place off the interstate, which was a well-kept KOA there, and on the drive, we realized we were on the most famous route. ROUTE 66. Kingman, we learned is a city along Route 66, which is the historic road in which led a role for American history! We are kind of history nuts when it comes to stuff like this- Blake knows so much of the most random things, however, they become pretty relevant at times. And in this case, we were able to see the massive water tower, stamped with the Route 66 sign while on the main interstate to our place to stay. The cool thing about this whole day trip was that the boys, mainly Kaycen was literally quite aware of what Route 66 was, thanks to Disney’s ‘Cars’ movie. Little history lesson on Kaycen, if you didn’t already know- the kid was OBSESSED with Cars, the movie. He would watch that show over and over to the point, he knew the lines and would say them as the characters were speaking them from beginning to end from like 2-4. I don’t think he can quote each line from start to finish anymore like he had, but he sure knew what route 66 was and what happened to it.

We didn’t do any site seeing or touring at this location. It was just a pit stop for all of us. The next day, we were stoked to make it to our final destination, to get the vacation started. We let the kiddos run around, play at the park and run off some of the built up energy from the day prior, prior to leaving. Upon arriving, it was all about getting situated, letting the kids run around and all of us get acquainted with the area. The next morning, Bell Park Pathway. The great thing about many of their paths in/around Sedona and the surrounding areas is that the trails are not for biking only but are for hikers, as well. So, if you don’t bike- you can hike. For us, we love biking. We get around faster, quicker, it is fun and, I mean we love to hike, but being on a bike doing it, is way MORE fun, for us! We woke up, had a nice slow morning dodging the already blazing sun!

HELLO SEDONA! We have been waiting for this return.

By the time we got ourselves out to the parking lot of the trails, it was already pretty toasty. 4 adults, 3 kids and 2, 2-3’s, I am sure was a site to see as we pulled up and gathered around the cars with all our bikes. So two of our bikes have shot gun seats for the 2 and 3 year old. They rode with the dads around the trails and rocks. When the two kiddos hop onto their seat, they are the captain in charge- full of smiles. At least for Raylee, she wants fast, faster and to do all the trails. She is the best little rider, constantly humming, singing, dictating where to go, what to do, and just living her best life as the co captain of the Santa Cruz mountain bike. How we never knew of this little add on feature for bikes, with the two boys, we will always regret. This add on feature to bikes does not hold anyone back.

This trail, we have done a few different times, Rhett wasn’t on his A game this day. Constantly complaining it was too hard, whined it was too hot- but later that day we recognized that he actually was not feeling good. That evening he ended up with a fever and pretty sick. This lasted a good day and half. Unfortunately, with that, we spent most of the next day hanging out in the motorhome, nurturing him back to health. Thankfully the site we were staying at had plenty to do, so we made a trip to the pool with the other kiddos, and they still were able to enjoy the day.

Speaking of pool, that was our first experience with a random gush of high winds in the Arizona desert. As we were sitting pool side, on a calm midafternoon sunny day, we were interrupted with the most random gush of wind. It came on like a lightning bolt, blowing anything and everything it could handle and swept it away. The pool shade umbrellas yanked from their spots, thrown all over- two, one including ours was ripped right into the sky and was like a scene from Wizard of Oz, as it was flying high into the sky and gushed far far away from us. Kaycen immediately ran out of the pool to grab his things, as I think he was more embarrassed as he saw his little undies on the other side of the gate exposed to the public. Needless to say, he was stressfully trying to grab all our things that were torn out of our bag and as him and I were gathering all the things and replaying what had just happened, we looked over at Blake with laughter. He was still stuck in the same place he was when the wind hit. Frozen, just looking around, holding onto Raylee with the sheer look of confusion in what just occurred. It was a matter of second It was our excitement of the day, other than Rhett recovering from a morning/afternoon of sickness.

My sister and brother in law took the day to explore on their own. As they came back, we all rallied a family evening of a family dinner and talked about what we would do the next day. We found a bunch of cool trails, obviously. We are in the land of trails on top of trails. This cool little trail that I found would lead us up to Cathedral Rock- a scene that was so beautiful, it looked surreal. It stated it was family trail. As I was searching from some trails that would accommodate our well-rounded family of different skill levels- mainly thinking of the kiddos. I think I combined certain details with other trails and so, when we landed on an agreement to where we would go next- we learned the next day, maybe not necessarily a trail to take 5 kiddos and a pregnant lady! The length of the trail was shorter, 1.2 miles but the elevation gain was intense, around 741 ft within that 1.2 miles. And with that elevation came rumbling rocks, steep elevation, and squeezing into the cervices of the mountains to climb to certain sections to be able to get to the top. Looking back at some of the reviews of the trail- I probably should have read them first. Many said it was a great easy family trail, but there was a grip load of comments saying NOT a beginning but a moderate trail due to the steepness, rocks, rock climbing that has to be done in order to get to the top. Oops! Sister in law award right here. Here, I was telling them it would be short and simple. But truly, all in all, we all made the best out of it. Blake and I took the 4 older kiddos straight to the tip top of the cathedral mountain and it was a site to see. They loved it and gained much attention while climbing upward and in the cervices of the mountain, as they kept reenacting as if they were spider man and some other super human superhero, that I can not recall! So worth every ounce of stress and worry that I was carrying as we were doing it. At the end of the day, isn’t it these moments that are a challenge that literally bring the best out of children and add to the shaping of their development. Their glory of completing a trail like that is something that will stick with them. Their determination, their tiresome sighs as they struggled on up, but then forgotten the moment they made it to the next tier and then the rush of excitement as they would see the next challenge for the next stage is something you truly can’t describe. Their giggles and laughs of confidence was the cherry on top. To watch it take place and see it all happen definitely resonated with us in that moment. Thinking back on it now, that is exactly why we are doing this trip. To watch them grow, watch the excitement, watch them be challenged, but find the solution in whatever it is that they are attempting. It was a site to witness from all 4 of them! And really a good ole lunch in the uptown part of Sedona to end that section of our day was good close to that chapter.

This place will forever, officially hold a sweet spot in our hearts, as it is the place Blake took off the training the wheels for Raylee. Our goal this summer was to get her to learn to ride a bike on her own. She already knew how to ride her Strider, and we just purchased a new bike for her 3rd birthday, a couple weeks prior. It took a short amount of time to figure out how to pedal. My biggest concern was starting her on training wheels. She already knew how to balance from the strider, I felt if we taught her on a bike with training wheels, she would fall into some of the training wheel habits and rely too much on that support. So, off they went. We recognized, she had already started relying on those extra wheels for support of the 2 weeks of having the new bike. It took her about 20 minutes before she recognized how to balance her body to stay on. She was learning on a slope- whether that was harder, I am not sure, but it was easier to train her as the down hill would assist her in the pull of gravity, and the uphill assisted her in giving her enough resistance to find stability in her balance as she was pedaling up hill. The girl got it down. A little wobbly, but for her first go around, she nailed it. The training wheels off, and in the trash they go! 3 weeks into turning 3. Blake can officially check off her riding a bike on her own, off his list of ‘to do’s.'

The next best thing we checked out was Slide Rock. It is part of the state park and could most definitely be a good half day or all-day event for a family. It was a short 0.3 mile hike down to a natural water slide that has been ranked as the top 10 best natural water slides in America. This little gem was hidden on an historic homestead of a family that took over the land and worked it long enough to claim, squatter rights back in the early 1900s. It use to be an apple orchard of some kind, they have many artifacts there from when the farm was in operations, tools and equipment that got the property in livable conditions that it is in. It was a neat little history session prior to entering the cold ice water on a slip and slide bed of rocks. The kiddos all found a way to enjoy the water one way or another. Blake and Kaycen decided to jump off a high peak into a deep rock bedded area. A brave experience to say the least. We didn’t stay too long, honestly, not truly knowing what to expect. But stayed long enough to enjoy the scenery, and have the kiddos make a few slides down. I would recommend a nice hot day, plan with some snacks and water and just relax an afternoon out there!

When in Sedona, one must attempt a psyhic reading, right?! I’ve always been interested in doing one, but never have. So, when you have a sister in law that is just as interested and ready to take it on, you jump on board too! The kids were calm, resting as we passed a place that did reading, chakra readings and scans. We jolted to a stop and took a turn into Crystals Magic Psychic Center and took turns going in to get our readings, as someone stayed outside watching the kiddos. It was so interesting and super cool to do. It wasn’t as scary at all. The negative conatation behind it wasn’t anything more than just my imagination. I’ve watched enough horror films to be terrified of what the outcomes could be and/or how the energy space could be. However, this was like your everyday business when you walked in, that was super professional, clean, not hippy like at all, either. Blake and I decided to do a couples reading. This was to showcase our past, present and our future. How our energy was together and the life we have. We were able to record ours and I am so glad we did. There was so much information and so much to take in that in the height of the emotion of it all, there is no way I would have rememebered much of any of the information that given. But to Blake’s surprise, as he isn’t too sure about this stuff, but was open to doing it with the sly smirk of “ whatever you say babe.” So, off we entered, got our reading and maybe I’ll share it publically in another post. But I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to know more! To say the least, Blake and I potentially could be soul mates, which is so neat to have heard, especially the way they defined that word. And the path we are on together is the path, we are suppose to be on, as this was our souls purpose. We were advised to keep doing what we are doing and keep taking these chances because it is doing the greater good in this world. However, you want to define that. And together we so balanced, which is funny- because we do not feel that way at times. LOL. But she was dead on with our past, our foundation, our present and our future is wild if it comes to fruitation. And how it comes to fruiation, we don’t know, and honestly I am still unsure how we are to get to that point. But it seemed so very promising, and very enlightening. So for those who are terrified, on the fence, or unsure about a reading, I would say, set the fear aside and try it. There are so many different types, people and places, just do your research, read the reviews and go with your gut! :)

Sedona always puts a smile on our faces and memories for the memory bank! This is a place we feel like we can come back and always experience something different. We have only hit up only a pinch of the red rocks here and having now spent a total of 14 days altogether from this trip and our previous trip, we haven’t even placed the slightest dent into this location. The secrecy is divine, the biking and hiking trails are too much fun and the dream for trail seekers, the people are so kind and for an outdoorsy family like us, this is a massive playground we cannot get enough of! We are excited to when the boys get bigger and stronger and we can really hit up some of the trails without the worrisome mama thoughts. But for now, we soak up what we can, and so proud that our boys can do what they can do to keep up on the trails we currently have already done.

Until next time Sedona…oh yes, there will be a next time for sure!! Our time in the red rocks is not over yet.