Slide Rock - The Recap

July 14, a day for the past two years I try to avoid.  Two years ago, that day, I kissed my daddy goodbye.  It's funny how a simple date can fire up such vivid memories.  For he rest of the world, July 14th is another day that comes and goes.  For me, I dread it for weeks and try to keep my mind away from such awful memories.  In conversation with Amy, she mentioned that on "Wednesday" she was going to take her kids up to Sedona and we were welcome to go.  So being the random spontaneous person that I am agreed.  What better way to avoid the 14?  We had never done "Slide Rock" so I was up for trying it out.

I left a great pair of sunglasses somewhere in this area.

Handed my camera to a stranger and she took this god forsaken picture of my butt.  I'm just going to say the camera adds 20 lbs.

not the truck we drove up in

We traveled up in two cars into two cars.  I like to call one pair the karaoke chipmunk singers and the second pair the quiet peaceful travelers.  There were equal parts Scott's/Weems in each pair. As we approached the park, we stopped a mile or 3 up the road to cram into one car.  They charge by the car, so we tossed two kids in the truck.  Yes, there were really children in the trunk.  We did treat them to air by pulling down one of the seats 1/2 way.  When questioned by the park ranger as to "how many people" we had, there were nervous giggles and a less than accurate number given.  Good times.  You aren't having fun until you've lied about two children in the trunk. 

As soon as we got in, we were excited to hike into the river area.  The kids were having a good time taking everything in.  In retrospect, we should have spent a little bit more time cautioning the kids to walk and be careful.  As soon as Andrew spotted the water he ran and jumped into a slide.  It's really lucky for him that he did not get swept down stream.

freaking cold water

The water was ice cold and almost took your breath away.  Just beautiful.

This was Abbey's first look of disgust.  I also love the exact opposite reaction in Andrew's eyes.

Abbey, almost immediately, had a bad fall and declared this the "worst place ever" and wanted to go back to the car. I forced her to stay and continue, and she did.  She pretty much spent the day waffling between loving and hating this whole experience.  It's not for the faint at heart.  This is real adventure, real fun and real big nasty falls.

Andrew spent about 30 minutes trying to catch a tadpole for his sister.  The perfectionist in him kept him busy with this task until I made him stop.  He also spent a large part of the day working on this photography skills.  His favorite subject was this traveling partner.

He was "praticing" for a while with the same model.

He really has a great "eye". Can't wait until I can him for some free assistant work!

standing, check.  stopping, check.  parking, check.

This sunset and a promise of a new day.