Lia's Christmas Trip to Arizona

After Lia had such a good time seeing Lauren for a few hours at Disneyland last February, I came up with the idea of gifting her a trip to Arizona to stay with Andrea and her family as her big Christmas gift this year.  After running the idea past Ron and Andrea and getting the green light from both of them, I secretly bought our plane tickets back in October.  I then "wrapped" up a few items and placed them in a decorated envelope to put on Lia's couch with the rest of her Santa gifts on Christmas morning.  Lia was so surprised by this gift and was so excited at the idea of flying to Arizona just a few weeks later.  We flew out Thursday evening and then spent the next four days in Arizona and just returned home very late last night.  We saw and did a lot and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the beautiful desert and how different it is from Washington.  The one crazy part of our trip was that it occurred at the same time that a storm was in Arizona which brought rain to the Mesa area and snow to the Grand Canyon area.  Luckily, Andrea warned me before we left and so we were able to pack some warm clothes which turned out to be essential to enjoying our time in Williams and the Grand Canyon.  Here is a break down of our trip in the desert...

January 13th:

After flying in late the night before, Lia and I enjoyed a quiet and slow morning on Friday.  Since this was the one warm day of our four days there, we loved wearing short-sleeved shirts and feeling the warm sunshine on our face and arms!  We left around lunch time and enjoyed walking around the temple grounds of the Mesa Temple which is so different than the majority of the temples in the world.

Lia and I standing next to two massive cactuses with the temple in the background.

After stopping for some pizza lunch, we drove to see an orange grove and to visit Andrea's favorite orange store.  It was so fun to show Lia orange trees for the first time in her life.  Here she is standing next to boxes and boxes of freshly picked oranges!

Lia holding an orange on a tree.  What a novelty for a Washington native!

Mother and daughter surrounded by orange trees!

After picking up Lauren from school, we then went back to their house to visit with Andrea's mom who I haven't seen since 2006 when Ron and I drove to Mesa to see one of my HB roommates get married.  It was so nice to see Dani and to get caught up with her after all of these years.  We then went out to eat Mexican for dinner with everyone plus Andrea's husband, Matt.

After dinner, the four of us said goodbye to Dani and Matt and drove on to Scottsdale to walk around their "Old Town" area.

After walking though several fun shops, we drove to back to Mesa to grab some frozen custard for dessert before heading back to Andrea's house.

January 14th: 

 After another slow morning, we packed up and left Mesa for two days to go on our Grand Canyon adventure.  We drove via Sedona and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon exploring this beautiful town that looked just like Radiator Springs from the Disney Cars movie.  We stopped at a few scenic points to take some pictures as we approached Sedona.

Lia and Lauren.

Andrea and me.

At my dad's suggestion, we drove up to see The Chapel of the Holy Cross built right into the red rock overlooking Sedona.  We were able to park near the top and easily walk up to the church to take it all in.  Both the chapel and the view were amazing.

Lauren and Lia standing on the platform outside of the entrance of the church with the stunning red rocks in the background.

Mother and daughter.

The inside of the church.

After visiting the church, we drove through downtown Sedona and stopped at a darling shopping village called TlaquePaque which was also recommended by my dad.  This shopping area is fashioned after a traditional Mexican shopping village and means the "best of everything."  We spent a fun hour wandering around the quaint alleyways and popping in and out of various shops selling jewelry, pottery, quilts, and other handmade crafts.

Lauren and Lia sitting in front of one of the fountains found in this village.

We then continued on our way and arrived in the town of Williams right at 5 p.m. when it started to snow.  Since this town is actually located on the old Route 66, we had to stop and take a picture.

We then enjoyed a relaxing evening inside the Grand Canyon Railway & Hotel.  We ate dinner at the buffet and relaxed by the large fireplace in the lobby.  Although it snowed all evening long, it had not started to stick which was a huge relief to all of us as Andrea's car only had all-wheel drive (with no chains or snow tires).

January 15th:

Much to my surprise, we woke up Sunday morning to a foot of snow on the ground!  It had started to stick when I went to sleep about 11 the night before, but I had hoped that it would stop during the night.  Instead, it did the opposite and snowed all night long, producing a massive amount of snow on the ground.  The huge blessing for all of us is that snow stopped falling around 8 in the morning and did not snow all day long although it was predicted to continue throughout the day.  As a result, it allowed us to have great views of the scenery on the train ride and of the Grand Canyon.  Here are Lia and Lauren before boarding the 2.5 hour train ride to the Grand Canyon.

Lia and I standing in front of an old fashioned, steam engine train that we did not ride up to the Grand Canyon.

The steam engine covered in snow.

We enjoyed a scenic 2.5 hour ride each direction to and from the Grand Canyon.

Some of the snowy scenery we passed on our train ride.

Lauren and Lia posing with the conductor who passed through our train car one time each direction.

We were all worried that the clouds in the sky would create a total white wall effect and cover up the Grand Canyon.  Much to our relief, the clouds were perfected located just above the rim of the Grand Canyon when we arrived.  In addition, the sun was even shining on some parts of the basin of the canyon.  It made for the most stunning picture that just took my breath away when we arrived!

We were able to take several pictures of the Grand Canyon before the white wall of clouds moved into the canyon.  This happened a few times during the three hours that we were there.

A picture of a darling snowman that someone else made with the sunlit Grand Canyon behind it.

Lia and me.

Since Andrea can't handle cold temperatures for more than a few minutes, she and Lauren went to go seek refuge in the lodge while Lia and I went on the most enjoyable walk in the snow.  We were able to follow the trail that parallels the South Rim of the Grand Canyon that had just been plowed for about half a mile before turning around and heading back to meet them.  Between walking in the beautiful, fresh snow and taking in the incredible views of the canyon, it was so invigorating and the definite highlight of the trip!

Lia and the fresh pile of snow that separated her from the edge of the Grand Canyon.

Mommy-daughter selfie.

The beautiful, winter wonderland that Lia and I walked in that afternoon.

The contrast of the white snow and the red rock of the Grand Canyon made for beautiful photos.  I am so grateful that we were able to see this natural wonder framed by snow.  It truly was a once in a lifetime experience!

We then met up with Andrea and Lauren in the dining room of the famous, El Tovar Hotel and enjoyed a delicious lunch.  We then walked through a few gift shops before Lia and I broke away from Andrea and Lauren again to go on another walk along the rim the other direction.  We enjoyed walking as far as we could before turning around to head back up to the hotel and down to the train before it departed at 3:30 p.m.  We then rode the train back to Williams and arrived a little before 6 p.m.  Although it had not snowed all day, we had to borrow a brush from the front desk to remove the massive pile of snow on top of Andrea's car.  In addition, the hotel sent out two men from maintenance to dig out her car from the foot of snow that had piled up around it.  We were so grateful for their help!  After slowly driving out of the parking lot, we were so relieved to leave Williams before the next snow storm was predicted to come that evening (which did end up happening).  We were also so grateful to find that all of the snowy roads back home had been totally cleared earlier in the day.  We made it back to Mesa by 9 o'clock that evening.

January 16th:

We woke up to a rain storm in Mesa on Monday morning.  Lia and I had to laugh that we brought our Washington weather with us!  After waiting all morning, the rain luckily stopped by lunch time and so we headed out to visit the Goldfield Ghost Town located at the base of the Superstition Mountains.  This mining town prospered in the late 1800s, but complete shut down in the 1920s.  Although the original buildings all burned down in a fire, other old fashioned buildings from other parts of the state were brought in to recreate this town in the same location.  Although it was pretty cold and windy while we were there, the four of us spent an enjoyable afternoon wandering around this quaint ghost town and going in and out of several fun shops.

Lauren and Lia at the start of the dirt road that took us through the center of Goldfield.

Lia and I posing next to an impressive cactus that is growing next to the saloon.

Lia, Lauren, and I standing on the steps of the darling church located at the end of the main drag.

The girls enjoyed panning for crystals and other beautiful rocks in the actual mining sluice located behind the ghost town.

After leaving Goldfield, we drove back into Mesa and met Andrea's mom for an early dinner at another Mexican restaurant. We then returned back to Andrea's house to pack up our belongings before heading to the airport at 6:30.  Due to our plane being delayed, Lia and I then spent the next 3.5 hours at the airport before boarding our plane around 10 o'clock.  We didn't arrive into Seattle until after midnight Washington time and pulled up into our driveway at 1:15 in the morning!  Needless to say, we were both so grateful to be home after a wonderful and memorable weekend in Arizona with our friends!