For Labor Day weekend we went with our good friends, the Carroll's, up to Sedona.  We love Sedona because it's only 2 hours away, it's BEAUTIFUL, and has lots of fun hikes (like 100's!).  The afternoon we got there, we decided to hike "Cow Pies" (named for the formations of the rocks).  It takes 4-wheel-drive to reach the trailhead.  This part of the road was kind of a climb, and had lots of deep gauges and potholes.  After our family got over it, we hopped out to watch the Carroll's try to traverse it (the part with the potholes is back where the car is...

Apparently their 5-year-old thought it was a lot of fun bouncing around in the back seat!  He wanted to do it again!

We got to the end just as the sun was starting to set.  It was beautiful the way the red rocks just lit up!

The next day we did another favorite trail of ours - the West Fork Trail.  This hike is easy and takes you along a creek the entire way, actually criss-crossing it the whole way.  You have to rock hop and walk along fallen logs to get across (no bridges, except for the one at the very start that you see in the picture below).  It's really fun!  On either side are sheer cliffs which give you shade as you walk (unless the sun is straight overhead).  It's gorgeous!

When we got to this spot a couple miles in, we decided to stop and play for an hour or so.  We built a dam, the kids went down rocks like slides in the water, chased garter snakes (yes, snakes! but they were teeny tiny garters), relaxed, and had fun!

Totally fun weekend!!