The Hayneses do Sedona . . . and more!

One of the places that Brian and Ann originally asked to visit was Sedona. We had a great time there with Dave and Meg four years ago, so we thought it would be a fun trip for the seven of us. However, after all of the Christmas activities, day at the zoo, etc., Ann and Brian got cold feet and said they didn't want to go. Dave and Meg were jazzed for the road trip, so we promised Ann and Brian that we wouldn't do a lot of walking which was one of their concerns, not to mention the long car ride with Natasha. We rented a mini-van, packed it with our water bottles, sodas, and snacks and started out on our venture. Jim and I have been to Sedona many times (we actually went there on our honeymoon in 1975!), so we were pretty familiar with the road to get there. Jim also brought his GPS for extra measure. All was going well until the Garmin instructed us to make a turn which took us off our usual route. Instead of trusting his gut instincts, Jim continued on the new path. At first we were delighted in the sights we saw, particularly the autumn leaves and farm-style houses. But it became apparent that our new route was taking us into very unfamiliar territory. As it turned out, we took a HUGE detour - I saw Mormon Lake and Lake Mary for the very first time, and we drove through parts of Flagstaff, a place that Megan had expressed an interest in seeing. And to add a little more drama to the whole scenario, Natasha threw up in her car seat. Fortunately, on a whim, I had thrown some paper towels in the van as we were preparing to leave the house. We pulled over to the side of the road (there was absolutely no traffic to contend with!), changed her clothes, and did the best we could to clean her and the car seat with water and baby wipes. Frankly, she was in a great mood once she was cleaned up and eventually fell asleep for a good part of the trip to Sedona. Four hours (twice as many as it should have taken) after we left the house, we arrived at our destination. One "advantage" of going out of our way was that we had the opportunity to drive through Oak Creek Canyon. The autumn leaves were gorgeous, and it really was a spectacular sight. We had lunch, walked through a few shops, and stopped at the chapel to take a few pictures. When the girls bellied up for their picture, Ann said that Tatyana started kicking. Megan thought maybe she was trying to high five her cousin. On the way home, we made stops in two cities that I have never been to - one for a potty stop for the pregnant ladies and the second for a very important diaper change for Natasha. It was an exceptionally long day - but as we promised Brian and Ann, we didn't do a lot of walking!