For my 35th birthday, I wanted us to get away from it all.

Following our return from Alaska, there was a lot to be done between then and my birthday; first, there were all of the preparations for Mary's 5th birthday party, which took place at Bill and Erika's house.  Then, there was back-to-school shopping to be done because Mary would be starting kindergarten on August 15.  True, I wasn't worried about her starting school - after all, she was ready for it.  She had been in day care - then pre-school - since she was nine weeks old, so this was nothing new for her.  The only thing that got to me was that my baby girl was starting school!  Where had the time gone?

And, to top it all off, the week following our return from Alaska was one of the most stressful workweeks of my life.  My department was relocating to another building, and coordinating that move was like herding cats or toddlers.  I had returned to work completely relaxed and refreshed, and in just two hours, on my first day back, I was a total nervous wreck again.

Since my birthday fell on a Saturday - and since it was two days before the first day of school - I decided to take a four-day weekend: one day for an extended camping trip, and one day to take Mary to school on her first day.  When John asked where we should go on this extended camping trip, I suggested that we go to Flagstaff, since it was one of my favorite places to visit.  I also suggested that we try to meet up with our friends John Coffman and Jan Banka and do a short hike with them.  So, John did what he could to arrange it.

Lucky for us, John and Jan were planning to be in Flagstaff that weekend; in fact, they weren't the only ones who would be there.  My friend Charlene Magee and her husband Michael would also be there this weekend, to get away from the kids for a couple of days.  Although they wouldn't be available to come hiking with us, they wanted to meet up with all of us for dinner.  So John (Coffman) set up dinner for all of us at Charley's at the Weatherford on the night of my birthday.

On Friday, August 12 - the day before my birthday - we got off to a slow start.  We weren't in a rush to get out of town, so we slept in until about 7:00 a.m., then took our time getting ready.  It was 9:00 before we made it out of the house, but that was fine because we managed to avoid rush hour traffic.

When we arrived in Flagstaff, we stopped for lunch at Quizno's, then continued on through town, towards Hart Prairie, at the base of the San Francisco Peaks.  That was going to be our destination; we had camped there last year and discovered that it was a beautiful place to be.  While there, we took pictures of Mary for her fourth birthday; we hoped to do the same photo shoot - in the same spot - for her fifth birthday.

We were lucky enough to get the same campsite that we had used last year - just off of FR 794, about two miles off of the highway.  By the time we got there, it was already after noon, so we set up camp and settled in for a relaxing afternoon.  We took naps, explored the area, and enjoyed the beautiful day.

That night, we cooked a delicious dinner at camp; then, as the temperatures dropped, we bundled up next to the campfire.  As normal, we retired early - just after 8:00 p.m. - so that we could get an early start in the morning...

As usual, we were all up early the next day.  True, it was my birthday and I would have loved to sleep in, but we were planning to meet John and Jan at 8:30 a.m., at the turn-off to Arizona Snowbowl, and we didn't want to be late.  (Of course, we were still late getting there; some mornings are just like that.)

After we finally met up with John and Jan, shortly after 8:30, we started up Snowbowl Road, towards the Lamar Haines Trailhead past mile-marker four.  That was where we would start our day hike, on the Veit Springs Trail. 

The Veit Springs Trail was a trail that we had hiked before, but John and Jan had not.  We had discovered this gem in a book called Best Hikes With Children in Arizona and found that it was indeed a great hike for kids, not just because it was such an easy, short hike, but also because of its destination.  Veit Springs was once the homestead of Ludwig Veit, an early settler, and his cabin and outbuildings are still there.  There are also petroglyphs on the rocks nearby (although we didn't find them when we were there last) as well as a commemorative plaque honoring Lamar Haines for his work in preserving wildlife.

As we began hiking that morning, we immediately split into two groups: John and John hiked together, ahead of the pack, telling skydiving stories along the way; and Mary immediately glommed onto Jan and insisted on holding her hand as the three of us trailed behind. 

Since we were hiking at the pace of the five year-old, it took us about thirty minutes to reach the cabins at Veit Springs, three-quarters of a mile into the loop.  Once there, we took another half-hour or so just to explore the area, to see all that there was to see.  We took pictures in front of Veit's Cabin, which was only about five feet tall, having been cut down by the Forest Service to keep people out of it.  We also found Veit's well and storage shed nearby; the storage shed was very cool inside - the perfect temperature for keeping food.

Most importantly, we found the petroglyphs!  What we didn't realize, during our first visit, was that we didn't go far enough along the spur trail from the homestead.  The spur took us around a corner and into a small alcove, where - lo and behold - we found them! 

Having seen everything that there was to see at the homestead, we decided that it was time to continue on our hike.  We still had another three-quarters of a mile to hike to complete the loop, and at Mary's pace, it was going to take us at least a half an hour to finish it.  In reality, it took us forty-five minutes, because Mary just wasn't hiking that strong.  We completed the hike shortly after 11:00 that morning.

It was nearly lunchtime when we arrived at the trailhead.  Since we weren't going to be hiking all day, we didn't bring along the usual sack lunch; instead, we planned to eat lunch at Snowbowl, as long as the lodge was open that day.  Lucky for us, we saw a sign at the base of Snowbowl Road, indicating that the lodge would be open at 11:00 a.m.  That was good news for us; it meant that we weren't going to have to go all the way into Flagstaff for lunch!

When we arrived at Snowbowl, we discovered that the ski lift was open for business as well.  Having never done the ski lift, we thought that it would be a fun post-lunch diversion, so John and John stood in line to buy tickets.  Meanwhile, Jan and Mary and I wandered around the resort and watched the clouds roll in.  It wasn't going to be long before an afternoon monsoon storm was going to be upon us.  We were going to have to retreat inside very soon.

It took some time for John and John to get through the line for ski lift tickets; Jan and I went back to check on them frequently to check their progress.  About thirty minutes later, we returned to find that they were finally third in line, so we waited with them.  It turned out to be a short wait, though.  A few minutes later, the ticket agent announced that they were no longer selling lift tickets, due to the approaching storm.  Defeated, we walked away from the ticket office and went inside to have lunch.

Despite the number of people visiting Snowbowl that day, the restaurant was nearly empty that afternoon.  That was good new for us, because we were able to get the best table in the house, right in front of the gigantic picture window that looked out onto the deck and the ski lift.  While we ate, we watched the people who were lucky enough to have purchased lift tickets wait in line for their turn to board.  At the same time, we see the dark gray clouds closing in, and we knew that it wasn't going to be long before people started getting very wet.

Just as we predicted, the rain began to fall, and the lift was shut down.  Minutes later, there was a loud crack of thunder and the skies opened up, dumping torrential rain on the mountain.  All of the Snowbowl visitors who were still outside were now drenched and scrambling for shelter from the storm; we, on the other hand, were enjoying the show from the comfort of our table.  It was a beautiful storm to watch, especially since we weren't out in it!

As the storm began to subside, the lift started up again, but not to take on additional passengers.  No, they started up the lift for one purpose only, and that was to retrieve the riders who were now stranded up at the top of the mountain.  One by one, they came down - some wrapped in space blankets, others completely drenched, all shivering and cold - and as soon as they found themselves at the lodge again, they ran from the lift towards shelter.  Yeah, we thought, sucks to be them!

After the storm had completely passed, we paid our tab at the restaurant and went outside to enjoy the cool, fresh air.  We hiked a quarter of a mile of the Humphrey's Trail, from the lodge to the meadow then back again; we could have hiked more, but Mary was tired and cranky and in need of a nap.  With that, we decided that it was time for us to head back to camp, to rest up before we met up again for dinner at 6:00 p.m.

That afternoon was a very cold one, after that good dousing of rain, and we knew that once the sun went down, it was just going to get colder.  Unfortunately, we didn't have any long pants for Mary to wear that evening and we knew that she was going to need them, so we decided to leave for Flagstaff early, to go shopping at Target.  We bought Mary a pair of jeans and had her change into them in the restroom. 

Our shopping excursion didn't take as long as we thought it would, so we were very early when we arrived downtown for dinner.  We were in luck, though, because Charlene and Mike were also early for dinner!  We ran into them outside of a sports bar, across the street from Charley's; they were thinking about going inside for a drink before dinner, so we decided to join them.

At 6:00 p.m., we left the sports bar and walked across the street to Charley's, where John and Jan were waiting for us.  We were seated immediately at a large table near the bar, with me at the head of the table - in the seat of honor, since it was my birthday.  Drink orders were soon taken, and the seven of us got to talking about skydiving, hiking, and life in general.

About ten minutes after we were seated, while I was in the middle of a conversation, I suddenly found myself completely drenched!  One of the wait staff had been walking by with a tray of drinks and was hit accidentally, sending an entire Pepsi onto my head!  I sat there speechless for several minutes as the drink soaked into my clothes and dripped from my bangs onto my place setting - I couldn't believe what had just happened!  And on my birthday, nonetheless! 

Charlene took me into the restroom and helped me clean up; she loaned me her sweatshirt so that I would have something to wear, and she helped me wash as much of the sticky stuff out of my hair as she could in the sink.  Unfortunately, there was nothing that we could do about my wet jeans and underwear; I was just going to have to sit there like that through dinner.

Despite the accident, we still had a fun dinner; and, as an apology for the accident, the staff at Charlie's gave me my dinner and dessert for free.  So I guess it wasn't a total waste of a birthday party.

The bad news was, my sticky situation made it difficult for us to camp another night.  I had a head full of Pepsi and no warm clothes to wear for the night.  John and Jan offered to let me use the shower at the condo, which I graciously accepted; John also got us a good rate on a room at the Radisson for the night.  So, while I showered at the condo, John returned to our campsite to pack up our stuff.  He returned about an hour later; and with that, we thanked John and Jan for their hospitality and left for the Radisson.

We spent the night at the Radisson (so much for a camping trip to get away from it all!); and in the morning, we checked out and started back towards Phoenix.  On the way, however, we decided to take a small detour - one that we hadn't done in a very long time...and one that we had NEVER done in a 4WD vehicle!  We decided that it was finally time to do Schnebly Hill Road again, only this time in the Jeep!

Of course, we had an ulterior motive: we were looking for an appropriate place to do Mary's birthday pictures.  Since we had decided not to stay at our campsite overnight, we now had to find a new place to do her pictures.  And we were in luck, too, because we managed to find the perfect spot!  A few miles in on Schnebly Hill Road, we found a small pond, surrounded by a wooden fence; it was so pristine and beautiful that we had to stop and check it out.  There, we took some of the most incredible pictures of Mary!  Unlike last year, Mary was really engaged and acted like a total ham during the whole photo shoot.  She ran through the meadow, showed off her Cinderella and Prince Charming dolls, and acted like quite the princess.  We walked away from there with some of the best shots we had ever done.

After finishing our photos, we continued along Schnebly Hill Road, all the way to Sedona.  Unlike our last trip down that road - back in March of 2000 - I wasn't nearly as scared.  Perhaps it was the fact that we were in a Jeep and not an Oldsmobile!  Or maybe it was because I wasn't six months pregnant.  Whatever the reason was, it was much more fun bouncing along that road, just knowing that we actually had the clearance to keep from getting stuck along the way.

It took us about an hour to reach Sedona - and, by that time, Mary was fast asleep in the back of the Jeep.  We decided that it was time for us to head home; our weekend's adventure was over, and we needed to get home to prepare Mary for her new adventure: KINDERGARTEN! 

Return to Naked in the Woods.