Daddy & Hayden Trip Year 1: From AZ to Africa and Back

We decided to start a new tradition this year: to go on trips with our family, but to break them up and do it with groups within our family. So we will go on trips:

• With one parent and one kid (with each of them)
• With the parents and no kids
• With all four of us together

This was our first weekend and we were excited to put this plan in play. Savannah did a staycation in Scottsdale with Ellie. Hayden and I went to Cottonwood, AZ (about 1.5 hours north of us).

Going in to the trip, Hayden was a little unsettled about it. All she knew was that were were not going with Mommy or Ellie, which she didn't like too much as that was new. She heard about what Ellie was going to do and that she was going to stay at a resort and swim all day. That sounded awesome to her, despite the fact I tried to tell her what we would be doing.

So she was not as excited as I had hoped going in. But once we arrived on our first night, she was starting to feel better about it. We stayed at a cute little motel in the heart of town called the Pines Motel. It got good reviews and for good reason. Good location, clean and comfortable rooms, and most especially important for 5 year old little girls, a heated pool.

Cheers to a great trip!

We dropped our stuff and went out for dinner. Since it is a small town of about 10,000 people we went up and down the main strip in about 5 minutes before seeing a place that looked good, 15.Quince. Hayden chose to sit in the bar in the "grown up" high tables and she was really good for dinner (this separating kids thing really works). It was a fun, lively spot that was perfect for us. After our meal, we went back and crashed to get ready for our long Saturday.

In the morning, we woke up and went to breakfast at Randall's Restaurant. It was a perfect local breakfast joint and I had the Verde Chicken Fried Steak (Cottonwood is in the Verde Valley and it works well since my chicken fried steak had verde chili sauce on it). It was yummy and Hayden ate her whole waffle plus some bacon. She said, "Daddy, let's come back here tomorrow!"

After breakfast we were off to our first adventure: Out of Africa Wildlife Park. This is a huge park filled with (mostly) African animals. Instead of looking like a zoo, many of the non meat eating animals roam free in their mock Serengeti. The desert here is similar to their native habitat so it works perfectly. Of course the predators do need to be behind fences, but you can get really close to them. We were 4 feet from a tiger and ate lunch right next to a tiger den.

There were two main highlights of our 5 hour time spent there. First, we went on an authentic Unimog tour. A Unimog is like a large jeep. Our guide took us briefly to some predators where we saw lions, tigers, a panther, and more.

"Mumph, mumph."

Mix in a breath mint, Kibo.

Then we went into the Serengeti. The animals just walk up to the vehicle. The first one we saw was a giraffe, Kibo. The guide had prepped us with carrots for him and he hungrily ate them all from everyone. He stuck his head right down into our laps practically. It was great. Hayden was a bit nervous about it and didn't want to do it so I gave the giraffe hers instead. "I'm afraid he's going to eat my hand." That's a good fear to have, but in this case it was unwarranted as Kibo was very gentle and barely touched our hands as he deftly took the carrots from us.

We saw all kinds of other animals including zebras, water buffalo, several kinds of antelope, a camel, and an ostrich. Hayden even got to old an ostrich egg (it was unfertilized) which was cool. The guide said it would make 24 omelettes. That got me hungry so I asked what it would taste like and he said "Gamey." Hunger gone.

"Roar."

After our safari we ate lunch and went over to the Tiger Splash show. There is a pool in a fenced in area, with an arena of seats around it. They let the tiger in the area first, a beautiful white tigress named "Chalet" (like SHAL-lay). Then all the workers got in the cage too. We thought they were crazy but the tiger was fine with them. They had inflatable toys on the end of poles which have a lifespan of one show. They would run and get the tiger to chase them, then they would jump into the pool and the tiger would jump in after the toy grabbing it and popping it with one sweeping motion. FYI, tigers can run fast, and SWIM fast too. Just in case you need to know that sometime. And the MC said they've had no accidents in the 18 years they've been doing the show, though he made lots of funny jokes about going through employees (implying they get eaten). The show was great.

After a quick giant snake show, we headed back to our hotel where Hayden wanted to swim before dinner. The swim was nice and we then changed and left for our dinner.

Enjoyin' her beverage in the saloon

Dinner was at Blazin M Ranch, a cowboy themed ranch/town/country show. After going around the town, and the shops for a while. We settled in the saloon for a drink where Hayden got to have root beer. She never gets soda but I figured we were on vacation and this was a special occasion so I became a softy. After our drink we went into the "barn" for our chuckwagon dinner. 

They had chicken and ribs, biscuits, baked potatoes, beans, and even apple pie a la mode for dessert. Hayden at at least a little bit of each, and I was pleasantly surprised when she dived right into the ribs first. She wouldn't even let me cut her 2 ribs apart, choosing to act like she was a real cowgirl. 

The band was great

Following dinner the show started, and I was pleasantly surprised as the music was really good. The performers were excellent, and apparently had won western music awards in the past. The show was fun and was capped by a visit from the local Blazin M Ghost Rider who raced around the outside of the barn on a white horse while the band played Vaughn Monroe's Ghost Rider in the Sky. It was a cool effect as he went around the barn as you could see him in a white cape through each window as he passed. Cool if you are a 35 year old guy. Scary as hell if you are a 5 year old girl. She didn't scream, but she sure held my arm tight.

That was the conclusion of the show and afterwards we went outside where we saw the Ghost Rider on his steed. When we walked up he saw Hayden was shy and scared so he nicely took off his mask and told her it was just pretend. She felt a lot better and even petted the horse.

It was a long day but a terrific one. On the way back to the hotel she said, "Daddy, can we do this exact day again next weekend?" Vindicated! My planning worked and she had a great time. And I had a great time watching her have fun.

And yes, we went to Randall's Restaurant in the morning for breakfast again. And she ate an entire waffle again. A great wrap up to our great first annual trip. She even asked if we could move to Cottonwood as we headed back to Phoenix. I love her passion.

Here are some pics

Click to See Photos

And some vids

A tiger feeding (and standing tall):

And a laughing Hyena (they "laugh" when agitated, which he is doing by acting like he is going to take the food). He is calling for the female in the background to come get some but she was not having it. She did eventually come, but after the video ended.