Highlights from Our Sedona Girls’ Weekend

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 2 Comments

Every year, I take a girls’ trip with my three best friends from high school — we met in 7th grade and have stayed in touch through college (we all went separate ways), and then many of life’s moments (some of us went to grad school, some lived abroad, some got married, some had kids, etc.). Even though we now live all over the country (NYC, Albany, San Jose, and Cleveland), we have recently made it a priority to reconnect with an annual getaway. Past trips have taken us to fun places like Santa Barbara, New Orleans, and Chicago, and this year we chose Sedona, Arizona for our annual girls trip. Here’s what we loved and recommend if you’re planning your own trip to Sedona:

Where We Ate

Sedona has no shortage of amazing dining options, and here are a few we tried a few that we loved:

  • Elote Café – A must-visit for upscale Mexican cuisine with bold flavors. Reservations are essential (book early!), but this place had the BEST food I had on the trip.
  • Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill – Known for its beautiful views during the day, and fun even after dark. Features South American-inspired dishes and drinks (I got a glass of mezcal). Perfect for a special night out.
  • Coffee Pot Restaurant – A classic breakfast spot famous for its 101 omelets (yes, there are 101 omelets on the menu, including a PB&J omelet!) It is perfect for some greasy diner breakfasts, and they have a cute gift shop where they sell their cute coffee mugs! Great way to fuel up before a hike, or before spending hours at an airport.
  • Indian Gardens Café & Market – A cute stop along Oak Creek Canyon with a beautiful shaded patio. We visited on our scenic drive and loved the food and beautiful garden patio!

Hiking Adventures

Sedona’s red rock trails are breathtaking. We started our mornings with hikes to beat the crowds and enjoy cooler temps – and even catch the changing light on the rocks/mountains as the sun rose!

  • Coffee Pot and Teacup Trails – Scenic and moderately easy, leading to the Coffee Pot Rock. We extended the route for about 5 miles round trip. We were so lucky to be able to walk to the trail head from our Airbnb!
  • Marg’s Draw Trail – A peaceful trail with sweeping views of Sedona’s red rock formations. Also about 5 miles round trip with some extra exploring. And a great way to view the famous Snoopy Rock! This trail was pretty much empty when we were there and featured some different landscapes/flora throughout, which was amazing – highly recommend! Definitely a hidden gem!

Tip: Start at sunrise or shortly thereafter for magical lighting, fewer people, and perfect hiking weather.

Shopping

  • Oak Creek Overlook Vista Native American Artisan Market – We stopped here during our scenic drive along Highway 89A. You can stop for a scenic overlook/walk and then enjoy an open-air market where Native American artisans sell authentic jewelry, pottery, and crafts. Shop and then take photos of the Oak Creek Canyon.

Something Unique

  • Crystal Magic Psychic Center – We splurged on aura readings, and it was such a fun, unexpected experience! Even if it’s not your usual thing, Sedona is the perfect place to try something new. Related – Don’t forget to read or ask about the vortexes before you go to Sedona!

Stargazing

  • Evening Sky Tours – Sedona’s dark skies are incredible! We booked Evening Sky Tours for a guided astronomy experience. Our guide Wes was fantastic – he was so knowledgeable about stars (and science in general) and passionate. We saw planets (got a great telescope view of Saturn and its rings!), the moon, and even two shooting stars!

Sedona truly has it all: natural beauty, great food, gorgeous outdoor hiking and unique experiences. I kept thinking how magical our hikes were – they were so beautiful and I never got over how breathtaking they were. I highly recommend you check Sedona out!

A little out of the norm

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

This week was fun — and a little out of the norm! While I stayed active, a few things kept me from my regularly scheduled workouts this week:

  1. GM was still home from school, which meant my days were filled with working and hanging out with him. It was a little crazy so some mornings or even lunches when I would normally be working out, I was instead catching up on work and life stuff to accommodate being with him most days
  2. I headed to Sedona for a girls trip! This meant no normal weight workouts or runs for the long weekend – but instead, lots of fun and catching up with girl friends, which I can’t complain about.

Knowing this, here is what the week looked like:

Continue reading →

November Virtual Coffee Date

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

Hi friends! I can’t believe we’re in NOVEMBER and already thinking about the holiday season! I’m here for it. I’m joining Coco and Deborah for their virtual coffee today, while also sharing a fitness update for a fitness linkup, so I’m excited to share what’s going on over here.  

Here’s what I’d tell you if we were chatting in real life:

I’d tell you that I’m ready for the holidays. I know, I know… we just wrapped up Halloween, but I can’t help it. I love the holidays. The cookies, the baking, the time off work, and most of all, seeing the magic of the season through my kids’ eyes. It’s pure joy. I’m already counting down the days until Christmas! And don’t tell my husband – but when he’s not home we’ve even started listening to some holiday tunes.

Bought him a holiday shirt on one of his days home this week

I’d tell you that Airline travel recently started stressing me out. I’m traveling this week and airline travel has been stressing me out lately. I’m not sure when this started, but I’ve been feeling more anxious than usual, especially with all the flight delays and cancellations due to the government shutdown. I’ve been triple-checking my itinerary, and even though I know I can’t control it, I’m still nervous! Anyone else get travel anxiety?

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you how wonderful it was to have my parents in town last weekend. The kids were so excited to have them here, and my parents were all in on Halloween with carving pumpkins, handing out candy, and all. It rained pretty heavily the first day they were here, but we lucked out with sunshine on their last day and snuck in a beautiful fall hike. The leaves were beautiful and it felt like the perfect way to wrap up their visit.

I’d also share that I saw an author talk this week! A fellow mom at the school my kids go to gets tickets through her work to see authors speak on occasion, and she texted me last minute with an extra ticket to see Liz Moore (author of God of the Woods) speak on Monday. I am so glad I went – she was a great speaker (really down to earth) and now i want to read some of her other books!

If we were having coffee, I’d share some good news. GM is on the mend! After his surprise emergency appendectomy, he’s finally cleared to go back to school next week. I’m feeling so grateful that B took him to the hospital when he did. His recovery has been smooth, and I’m just so relieved everything turned out okay. It’s one of those moments that reminds you how quickly things can change and how lucky we are when they go right.

We have played a lot of Play Doh this week

If we were having coffee, I’d also tell you how happy I am to be running again. After dealing with a hip injury, I’m finally back out there. It’s slow, and most days it’s still a run-walk combo, but I’ll take it. I’m just so glad to be moving again and not just walking or stuck on the indoor bike. There’s something about being outside, even for a short jog, that lifts my spirits. Especially on the weekends when I can run in daylight! I even got in a 3 a.m. treadmill slow jog before a flight this morning. So happy to be back at it!

2.5 miles at 3:19

So that’s me. What about you?

  • Does travel give you anxiety?
  • Are you ready for the holidays yet?

Linking up with My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and The Running Teacher for the  Fit Five Friday linkup and the Ultimate Coffee Date hosted by Coco and Deborah
 

Halloweeeek!

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 10 Comments

Happy Hallo-weekend! We had a great time celebrating Halloween despite everything going on (including my son and his appendix taken out last week) and I truly can’t believe we’re in NOVEMBER.

October was an interesting month – I was coming off an injury and starting to run again, we had two fun races, and I continued lifting weights and walking. It’s the first month in a while that I actually have running mileage to report! While not my traditional numbers, I’m still pleased that i got in some runs. Here were some October highlights:

  • I did 2 races! I got in the Happy 5K and Bulldog Bolt 5K with my son – we ran/walked them as I was recovering from my hip injury.
  • I kept up my weight training.
  • I started running again – I’m still recovering and trying to walk/run as much as I can, as well as not run daily. But that’s hard!
  • Total miles: 101.63 miles

Here’s what the week looked like:

Continue reading →

Unexpected Rest Day

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 9 Comments

While I’m still recovering from my hip injury, I’m mostly taking it easy on my runs. But this week included an unplanned rest day on Friday — not related to anything with my body. Instead, my youngest was in the ER for an emergency appendectomy so we spent the day (and night before) at the hospital. Anyway, I digress – besides that, we had an uneventful week! And now we’re focused on recovery, and relaxing, enjoying some (hopefully) good fall weather.

Here’s what the week looked like:

Continue reading →

Getting Back Out There

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

You know what’s hard? Not running every day! I’m getting back into running and in my past life (aka a few months ago) this would’ve meant running daily. Over the summer I was hitting 40+ mile weeks, running 5-10 miles in the morning before work or on the weekend. But, we all know what happened – I got injured!

So, I’m trying to get back out there, but also taking it somewhat easy. This means fitting in running, walking and weight lifting – but nothing too crazy. For now, that looks like run/walks and NOT every day. Oh yeah, and having fun! This week that meant a few runs, some walking, some weight lifting, and also the Bulldog Bolt 5K/fun run at my kids’ school! So, here’s what that meant for this week:

Continue reading →

Still trying

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 9 Comments

After running a few days last week, I’m still trying to get back to “normal” – but also listen to my body and make sure I’m recovered. Who would have thought it would be so hard not to run? I’m sure runners would understand this but if you’re not a runner, telling yourself you can’t run sounds like an easy enough to ask. It is very much a mental exercise, forcing myself to not run!

I tried to focus heavily on the cross training this week – with weights, body weight workouts, walking and cycling, and just a few days of running. I’m hoping that all this will pay off, and I’ll recover stronger!

Here’s what the week looked like:

Continue reading →

Trying to get back

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 10 Comments

I am trying so hard to get back to running!!! After taking most of the past month off and only walking and cycling (with the occasional short jog here and there), I decided this was the week to try to run! It was good and bad — I tried to run a little more each day, and felt relatively okay for the most part. On Saturday after my run I felt a little twinge, but hopefully next week this return to running won’t come back and haunt me!

Here’s what the week looked like:

Continue reading →

Outside is the best side

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 10 Comments

It was another fun fall week, with mostly good weather. We had rain for the first time in weeks a little early in the week, but the rest of the week was warm and sunny again! While I didn’t get in any running outside during daylight, I did get in some good walking outside when I could and enjoyed taking in the nice weather.

Here’s what the week looked like (spoiler alert, once more it was walking, cycling and weight lifting, notsomuch running):

Continue reading →

The best weather

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 11 Comments

Wow, we had some GREAT weather this week. It was 60s in the morning, upper 70s/low 80s in the afternoon, and 60-70s in the evening. It was sunny and blue skies. I wish it were likely this year-round, because it just brings me so much joy to be outside – it’s really good for your mental health! Even though I’m not really running, I was able to take advantage of it and get outside to walk.

Here’s what the week looked like:

Continue reading →