Arizona - Slide Rock

There were so many places that we wanted to visit while in the Flagstaff area, but we only had time for a few.  We had been hearing about a place in Sedona called Slide Rock.  It is a State Park that began as an apple farm in 1907.  It sounded really fun, so that's where we headed next.

When we first entered Oak Creek Canyon, I was surprised to see that it looked a lot like the canyons in the Black Hills of SD.  The drive was winding and beautiful.  

We reached the entrance to Slide Rock State Park and had to stop to pay our fee to the attendant.  She was also selling bags of apples from the orchard on the property.  We had just bought a bag, so we passed on those. 

After parking, there is a short walk to the creek.  Along the way you pass by some of the old farm tools and fruit trees.  There is an old house and a barn, too.  How fun to live in a place like that!

The creek flows through a canyon adjacent to the old homestead.  The creek bottom is very slippery rock that forms a natural water slide.  We were there in October, so the water was ice cold.  The kids didn't care, though.  They shivered and swam until the sun went behind the canyon wall and it was just too cold for us to let them continue :).

Along the sides of the creek, the rock walls are kinda like stadium seats.  It's neat...the perfect place to sit and take pictures of the kids sliding.

We stayed until the park was closing, then we went back to our campground in Williams.  I got the laundry going to wash up all of our swimming things and Dan got a fire going for us at our campsite.  After the burn bans that were in effect all summer (we couldn't even use a charcoal grill) it was really nice to be able to have a campfire.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for s'mores.  So much fun :)