I’ve lived in Austin for six years, but I’ve never been in town during spring break. I also never had the classic college spring break. Having a family that loves to travel means that we fully take advantage of that time off to hit the road or board a plane.

Sedona, Arizona is a family favorite. In fact, my first visit was when I was in the womb. As further proof, my niece’s name is Sedona.

On this particular spring break, my sister and her family joined and we stayed in Oak Creek Terrace Resort, which is basically a cabin in the canyon. Last year’s trip to Sedona consisted of a whole lotta nothin. We relaxed and mainly hung around the cabin minus shopping and a day trip to the Grand Canyon. I think returning for a consecutive year motivated us to actually see what Sedona had to offer outside of our ‘regular joints.’

Here’s a rundown of the new things we added to the itinerary:

Mariposa – We had dinner here for my mom’s birthday and oh my gosh…the scenery + the food = spectacular.

Sliding Rock – A state park with a lot of red rocks and a creek you can splash around in if you can withstand the chilly water. We hiked about and climbed our own path for a pretty good view.

West Fork Trail – A friend of mine introduced me to this trail, which seemed to be a more family friendly path. Again, we climbed our own path instead and were faced with a beautiful sight. Oh, then she took me to The Juicery and we had amazing Acai Bowls if you’re into that sort of thing. (;

   Cathedral Rock – My friend suggested we do this hike as a family at sunset. Warning: it was not as easy as West Fork and I’d be lying if I said I the possibility of me sliding off to my death didn’t cross my mind. However! We (myself, my dad, the girls & their dad) all made it to the tippy top & like all the hikers we passed swore to us, it was worth it.        Here’s a rundown of things we do and will continue to do every time we visit:

Enjoy the down time. We didn’t have phone service in the canyon and the wi-fi was painfully slow in our cabin, but we didn’t mind. It was nice to set down our phones (for the most part) and just enjoy each other’s company.

Shop – 89A or “Dry Creek Scenic Road” is like a little main street of cool crap. There’s a lot of ice cream shops & a chocolate factory we love to visit. We always pick up t-shirts at Cheers and my mom loves Wisteria for jewelry and knick knacks.

Eat – We always go to E.T. Encounter Diner (Red Planet Diner when I was little). Mainly because it carries a lot of nostalgia for us, plus the milkshakes are pretty good. I’d also recommend 89Agave to stop at for lunch to refuel during your shopping. Last but not least, we ate at Indian Gardens Cafe & Market for breakfast. We stop here all the time to stock up  on snacks and get coffee, but this year was our first time to dine in and I’m pretty disappointed that it took us so long to do it. I had a breakfast bowl with butternut squash + quinoa + kale + + avocado + 2 eggs on top and if that doesn’t sound right up my alley I don’t know what does. Everything else looked delicious as well and I can’t wait to go back so I can try out their lunch too.   Day trip to the Grand Canyon – It’s 2+ hour drive from Sedona, but it’s always worth it. The Grand Canyon will never get old. This time we hiked down into it a bit and it definitely makes me want to plan a trip specifically to hike & camp in it. <– Who has done this!? Any tips, companies, gear, time of year you would recommend?