Arizona Vacation - Day 3 (cacti adventures)

Day 3 (NOT my favorite day!)

we woke up, ate breakfast, packed up camp, did a couple short hikes, then hit the road to Flagstaff. Sounds easy enough eh?

The first problem of the morning was when Aaron ended up getting a huge cactus spike in his big toe. Apparently this type of needle (from a "teddy bear cactus" I believe)has a little barb on the end of it, so pulling it out was a big PAIN. (literally) (Aaron was trying to numb up his whole toe by sticking it ice water before pulling out)


We FINALLY got it out - with much weeping and wailing....

then we got back to the business of breakfast. Here I am in all my camping loveliness (and yes, I am aware that even though I blame my appearance on camping, it is pretty much how I look ALL the time...)





one of my favorite things about camping... Hot chocolate in the morning.



The next bit of "fun" was when we were ready to pull out the tent stakes but couldn't find the hammer. Apparently Bryan had been carrying it around while he and Katrina went on their morning walk about... SO the whole family got to stop and go on a "hammer treasure hunt." This shot is of Tim finding the "treasure." (after about 20 minutes of looking!)



As we were taking down camp, I kept telling the kids to STAY IN CAMP and help. Aaron wandered off again, with Bryan following this time, and somehow managed to have another run in with a teddy bear cactus. This time he got a big ball of it stuck to his sock/ankle area, right above his shoe. (so who knows exactly how many were actually poking into his skin and how many were stuck to the sock, but at one point I could identify at least 3 spines going into his skin...) At the same time, Bryan started screaming. HE ALSO fell on a cactus! I pulled a couple small barbs from his hand, but he was still screaming. I pulled down his pants to find two HUGE barbs (like the one's in Aaron's toe) in his BUM! One slid right out but the other was apparently another barbed on, and it was tough to pull. I held Bryan tightly and Tim yanked it out. After another couple minutes Bryan was fine and off and running again. Aaron on the other hand, was dragging the whole mess out. for 1 hour while we cleaned up, packed, and loaded everything else, he cried and whined and moaned and cried and whined and moaned and cried.... As we loaded the last stuff, we told him, "you have about 2 minutes before we are loaded and ready to leave. If you haven't pulled it out by then, we will just do with you what we did with Bryan. I will hold you and Dad will pull it out."

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! he continued to carry on until he saw us coming, then he hurried and pulled the final barb out.

After this crazy morning, I was DONE camping with the kids and ready to go home! (luckily the rest of the camping nights went smoothly and the kids were actually semi-helpful, so our camping days can continue...)

Needless to say, Aaron decided that Cacti are STUPID, DUMB plants, and that he hates them! Regardless of his feelings toward the plants, I happen to love plants and nature, so we took the "native plant hike."

Kids with saguaro cactus






It was fun for me that so many of the cacti and wildflowers were in bloom



Kids and dad with susperstitions in the background


By the park entrance sign



After leaving Lost Dutchman, we went to Goldfield.



Personally, I could have happily skipped this stop. It was an unorganized, waste of time and money. I know that sounds harsh, and it probably wasn't all that bad, but I kind wish we had skipped it. We took a SLOW and boring train ride, Aaron got to pan for gold which was his favorite part, Tim and the kids went on the mine tour (I stayed up to "guard" Aaron's pan of gold cause he wasn't done yet...), and we went into the "mystery house" which is one of those places where they build everything crazy so it looks like water flows UP-hill etc... I don't do well in places like that... they make me really nauseous, but luckily it was short, and I did mostly ok and wasn't too sick afterward. The best part of goldfield for me was that Tim has pity on me and spent an exorbitant amount on a yummy ice cream waffle cone for the family to share. YUM!







See how boring this train ride was. If you ever go - SKIP the train!


From here we drove BACK to the hotel in Mesa (since I left my wallet there) then continued on up to Flagstaff where we checked into hotel #2. We then went to the Flagstaff aquatics center (no pictures, sorry) to swim. (can you tell my kids love to swim?) We went there instead of just the hotel pool cause they have water slides, lazy river, and kids play area with slides etc... It wasn't as great as it looked in the online pictures, but the kids still had a great time.

We had hoped to go to the Lowell Observatory and take the opportunity to look through the telescopes, but it was overcast that night so there wasn't much point. Instead we went out to eat (Sizzler, YUM) and then went back to the hotel where everyone just collapsed and fell instantly asleep.