Vacation in Strawberry, Arizona

So this summer, Neal planned our vacation for us and kept our destination a secret. On Thursday morning we piled into the car and began heading up north. I was super excited to be headed off into the unknown (I just love surprises). As we're driving I'm imagining we're headed up to Sedona, Flagstaff, or maybe even Las Vegas...but after a while we turn off the main highway onto a road I've never been down. At first I thought, well this is fun we're headed on a new adventure. Although pretty soon we got deeper and deeper into the woods and farther and farther away from civilization. Without trying to let Neal know how disappointed I was I kept a smile on my face but began to worry I was going to be stuck in a tent out in the middle of the woods for 4 days (sorry I'm all about staying at places with full amenities). So with a smile on my face I silently prayed for some signs of civilization...

After about a half hour of worrying we turned onto a dirt road and ended up here... (in Strawberry, Arizona)

A 4000 square foot cabin in the woods. It was absolutely perfect (and I didn't have to worry about peeing in the woods for 4 days). I should have known Neal would plan the perfect vacation, after all he planned an amazing honeymoon in Aruba all by himself!

The house had a porch that wrapped all the way around it. We spent a lot of time out there just relaxing. Here Neal is putting out peanuts for the squirrels. We didn't actually have any come up close but we did have a heard of cattle walk right past the back of the house (which was backed up to the Tonto National Forest).

Tyler enjoyed sticking his head through the bars (and yes he did get it stuck in there a few times, poor guy).

Tyler also spent a lot of his time playing in the fountain in the backyard.

We had lizard hunting adventures...
and took walks around the forest in the backyard.

One day we went to the Tonto National Forest and hiked down to the Natural Bridge. It was a beautiful sight. We couldn't hike all the way through the bridge because Tyler was a little too small but hopefully we'll be able to go back when he's a little older to explore it even more.


These pictures really don't do the bridge justice at all but there was a natural bridge in the rocks where water fell from the top. It looked a little like a cave that you could climb back in and at the bottom were rocks and ponds with fish in them. It was really pretty.


Here we're taking a break after the long hike down and into the cave. Tyler made Neal carry him most of the way (it was a long hike down and even more tiring on the uphill climb out).

Here's Tyler again with his head between the poles. This was at the bridge where he found a squirrel to play with.
Overall it was a great vacation and I can't wait to go back again someday. Thanks Neal for the great surprise!