This year to celebrate our anniversary Josh and I decided to take a vacation day from work and spend the entire day together. It was one of our best dates ever! We were able to just enjoy each other. No kids crying or talking or screaming in the background. No chores that we had to do. It was just the two of us on on an adventurous day trip.
I had our entire day planned. The only thing that I had told Josh was that he needed to request the day off from work and his dress attire for the day should be comfortable shorts, a t-shirt and sneakers. Everything else was a surprise.
The morning of our anniversary we loaded up the car, took the kids to preschool, stopped for gas and some Dunkin Donuts coffee. With coffee in hand, our journey began as we headed up north towards our destination. Road by road I provided Josh with directions. Eventually we arrived in Sedona, however, the final destination was still an adventure in itself. Once we reached the sign for the hike I had planned for us to climb, we still had about 1.5 miles of driving down a very bumpy and rocky dirt road. Luckily for us, we took the CRV as I had researched this might be the case. We finally made it to the trailhead of one of Sedona's hidden gems. The hike I had chosen for us is called Devil's Bridge (Thank you, Alex, for the recommendation.). Devil's Bridge is the largest natural sandstone arch in Sedona. From the trailhead, it is only about a mile hike up the mountain to reach the bridge itself. The hike was beautiful -- full of vegetation and magnificent views of the red rocks. And the final destination was even more spectacular. What an incredible ending to a hike! The pictures below do not do it justice. One of the best hikes I have ever traveled.
I had our entire day planned. The only thing that I had told Josh was that he needed to request the day off from work and his dress attire for the day should be comfortable shorts, a t-shirt and sneakers. Everything else was a surprise.
The morning of our anniversary we loaded up the car, took the kids to preschool, stopped for gas and some Dunkin Donuts coffee. With coffee in hand, our journey began as we headed up north towards our destination. Road by road I provided Josh with directions. Eventually we arrived in Sedona, however, the final destination was still an adventure in itself. Once we reached the sign for the hike I had planned for us to climb, we still had about 1.5 miles of driving down a very bumpy and rocky dirt road. Luckily for us, we took the CRV as I had researched this might be the case. We finally made it to the trailhead of one of Sedona's hidden gems. The hike I had chosen for us is called Devil's Bridge (Thank you, Alex, for the recommendation.). Devil's Bridge is the largest natural sandstone arch in Sedona. From the trailhead, it is only about a mile hike up the mountain to reach the bridge itself. The hike was beautiful -- full of vegetation and magnificent views of the red rocks. And the final destination was even more spectacular. What an incredible ending to a hike! The pictures below do not do it justice. One of the best hikes I have ever traveled.
The Beginning of the Trailhead
The View Along the Trail
A Prickly Pear in Blossom
Devil's Bridge
Together Standing on Devil's Bridge
After the hike, it was time to head to our next destination. We drove south of Sedona to a little Arizona town named Cornville. Cornville is a small little community that is nestled on Lower Oak Creek in Verde Valley. Cornville may a small agricultural community, but in recent years, it has become home to several different wineries. Our next stop was to check out a couple of these wineries.
We first visited Page Springs Vineyards & Cellars. After tasting a couple of different flights of wine and purchasing a couple of bottles, we decided that this winery would be the perfect location for us to enjoy a picnic lunch that I had prepared for the day. They have a scenic deck that overlooks Oak Creek. It was just perfect and quite romantic. We even had a chance to see a beautiful white heron fly out of the creek to a nearby tree.
The View We Enjoyed During Our Picnic
Our Picnic Supplies
Our final destination before heading back to Phoenix was Oak Creek Vineyards & Winery. I was amazed to see that grapevines grow up the rocky mountainside of this winery. Who knew that Arizona could manufacture wine? Anyway, we enjoyed a tasting that consisted of a variety of their wines and before we finished our visit, we had purchased one to take home.
Cheers to Us!
The afternoon was winding down and so was our day date. Time to get back to Phoenix to pick up our kids from preschool and return to the realities of our daily lives. We thoroughly enjoyed our little escape and vow to make this type of adventure an annual anniversary present to ourselves.
P.S. Love you, Josh! Thanks for spending an incredible day with me. I cannot wait for the next one.
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P.S. I do not believe that grapes actually grow in Arizona. It must be some Disney-like manufactured scenery to make you believe that what you are looking at is real, when in fact it was constructed in a large warehouse in some deserted land like...Arizona.