A fairly restful night in our wigwam – although Mom & Dad were a bit surprised by Graham early in the morning. Dad thought he had boxed him in pretty good in the other bed- he was surrounded by 2 suitcases and a chair; but at about 3:00 a.m. – Dad awoke to Graham standing right beside him with his foxy and taggie. He had gotten out of bed all by himself and walked over to our bed. He got into bed with Mom & Dad and slept longer than anyone else.
The kids were ready to get outside to feed their pet dinosaur this morning. Before Mom and Dad could get ready, they were dressed and outside. They also spent a lot of time playing hide-n-seek around our wigwam and then looking at all the antique cars parked in front of the wigwams. After packing up, we drove down the road for breakfast around 7:45. Breakfast was at Joe and Aggie’s Café.
The kids were intrigued by all of the Cars movie paraphernalia that they had around. We later found out that the café had a cameo appearance in the Cars movie. (It is on right now in our hotel room and we haven’t seen it yet though.) The kids must have been starving because they each ate a whole pancake-the butter and syrup probably helped quite a bit too! After leaving there we headed towards Sedona.
We called about train tickets for the Verde Canyon Railroad. They had just a few left so we had to travel quickly towards Clarkdale. The GPS said that we would arrive right at 12 which was the exact time we had to pick up our tickets. We had one bathroom stop but made the trip fairly quickly. It took almost 3 hours and we were all ready to get out of the car when we arrived. We made up some time so Dad drove Mom by Tuzigoot National Monument. She ran in to get stamps while everyone else stayed in the car. We did drive around the ruins before getting back on the road to the train depot.
Robby picked up the tickets while Tara tried to pack the diaper bag and grab enough snacks/toys for a 4 hour train ride. We knew we were taking a chance with a ride that long but someone from Robby’s work had just been on the train and said it was beautiful. We had to board the train at 1 so we had some time for a picnic lunch in the shade. As we sat outside, everyone walking up said something about the kids (and I do mean everyone-maybe since Graham was acting as the unofficial greeter). Soon the conductor was calling “All Aboard” and so were Anderson and Graham. Graham was so excited to ride on the choo choo train. He probably enjoyed it more than anyone else.
As we pulled out of the station, Reagan, Anderson and Graham were all on their knees looking out of the window. They looked out the window for quite awhile. The scenery was beautiful-eagles, rock formations, bridges, caves, rivers and even a bear (which none of us saw). Each coach also had its own observation car. So we all went outside and then inside and then outside and then….well, you get the idea. Anderson loved walking between the two cars. When we were in the shade on the observation car it was very pleasant outside but the sun was hot! We did pass the time with cookies, juice boxes, ice cream sandwiches and candy. Anderson and Reagan even did a little bit of coloring. Graham spent most of his time dancing in the aisle, greeting the other passengers and crawling all over everyone. Campbell enjoyed the train-naps and bottles-what could be better.
At the end of the train ride, everyone commented on how well behaved the kids were and what a beautiful family we had. Tara and Robby breathed a sigh of relief that they had made it through the 4 hour ride with few meltdowns! After picking up an ornament there and a potty stop, we were back in the car. The drive to Sedona was short so we made the loop around Red Rock State Park to view Cathedral Rock. Sedona is absolutely gorgeous. We were there when the sun was setting and it was comparable to the Grand Canyon (I know, I said that yesterday about the Painted Desert but this was indescribable).
Robby remembered going to Slide Rock when he was a kid and I have seen it recently on a show, so we wanted to stop and at least see the place. We drove through Sedona and all the way to Slide Rock and the gates were closed-closes at 4! Probably was for the best since if the kids had seen people in the water, they would have wanted to play too. On the way back into town, we spotted where our jeep tour is tomorrow.
We had a little Mexican food at Jose’s before driving just a few minutes to the hotel. Supper was great and again the kids ate quite a bit of their food. Robby had the Mexi Combo while Tara ate the Nachos Supreme. Our hotel is like a condo but since we arrived at night, we haven’t seen the golf course that it is setting on. This is our third hotel and our third night without a bathtub. But it was past time for the kids to get clean so they all had a shower. The shower is huge so they had a blast playing-however, it feels like these walls are thin and our neighbors are just right next door so they were probably being too noisy.
After putting on pajamas, we turned on Cars for the kids to watch. Robby and I are watching more of it-the scenery is just what we have seen. Very cool-Anderson just saw the cones that Lightening stayed in and said “We stayed in those.” At supper, Reagan said that her favorite thing was staying in the wigwam. Anderson said his favorite was the train ride. He also saw a picture on the wall and said “that the painted dessert” and then he saw another one and said “that is the Grand…what do you call it?”
Tonight as we were getting ready for bed, Campbell laughed and laughed at Tara. It wasn’t just a tiny laugh, the baby was really tickled. We hadn’t heard her laugh like that before-she must love traveling!
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