Digital Nomad Family – Course Update #5 – More Arizona Fun

by | Mar 12, 2019 | Chosen Course Insights Video, Digital Nomad |

Digital Nomad Family – Course Update #5 – More Arizona Fun
We LOVE Sedona! Yes, we knew that before we arrived, and it was one of the reasons why this was an easy choice to visit during our first year as Digital Nomads. However, we didn’t know that we were going to love living in Cottonwood quite so much.
If you read my post from last month, then you know that we made the decision to live one town over in Cottonwood, AZ which is about 25 minutes from Sedona. Part of this was a financial decision since places in Sedona are significantly more expensive, but what we discovered is that Cottonwood is really an adorable little town in its own right. We really enjoy wandering around Old Town, and more than anything the sense of being part of a vibrant small community.
Life for the last month has felt very “normal,” comfortable, and grounded. We’ve found a routine that’s working well for us. Our nanny Paula comes two days/week giving me time to work with clients, write, and go live on Facebook without Pumpkin-related interruptions. I drive (about 7 minutes) to Old Town Cottonwood if I’m working with clients or about 25 minutes to Sedona to sit at my favorite cafe and work or write, as I’m doing right now.

Then, on the weekends or weekday afternoons we go adventuring. We’ve explored some of the local spots to hike, like Grasshopper Point and Centennial Trail.

We intend to visit a few more before we leave, but it was also rather colder in February than it was in January with temperatures more often in the 40’s & 50’s F. Therefore, it hasn’t been quite the warm, comfortable weather for hiking with a toddler that we’d prefer.

In fact, we have had the fun of seeing Cottonwood, Arizona handle one of the bigger snow storms they’ve experienced in years (all of 6” which my New England friends will giggle about.) Fortunately it hit on days when it was no big deal to just hunker down at home to rest and play.
It was a full 36 hours of almost constant snow, so most of the city simply shut down. They do not have the fleet of plow and salt trucks that other places have to keep the roads clear… even with so little snow.  By day 3 the roads were largely cleared, but the mountains were still snow covered and beautiful.
It was also obvious that folks here don’t have much experience or equipment for handling snow. The neighbor kid was working valiantly to clear their driveway with a dirt shovel, and we got a huge chuckle when a crew of guys showed up with an excavator (think small construction vehicle) and offered to clear our driveway. They asked for $60, but I negotiated them down to $40 (it was only 6” of snow after all…)
If we had access to a snow shovel, then we would have done it ourselves, but there isn’t one here at the house, nor could I find one anywhere in town when I checked around the day before the storm… no surprise.

I was feeling a bit cooped up after 2 days in the house, so we hopped in the car and drove about an hour over to Prescott, AZ to explore their downtown and visit some of the fun and eclectic art galleries.

What we found were the residents of Prescott having a grand time playing in the snow! They got rather more snow (probably 12-14”), and there were tons of people both kids and adults in the middle of the town building snow people and having snow ball fights. Such joy and fun!

A couple weekends ago we decided to check out a few of the local National Parks. (I’m pretty sure we’ve already saved $ using the American the Beautiful annual pass we picked up.) 

We visited the Native American hilltop ruins at Tuzigoot. This ancient pueblo built by the Sinagua people over 1000 years ago offers a tremendous 360 degree view of the local area.

Then, we rather spontaneously decided to also drive over for a quick visit to Montazuma’s Castle, which is an 800-year-old beautiful Native American cliff dwelling. With 45-50 rooms, it really does seem like a beautiful creekside castle. The sycamore trees along the creek are almost as striking as the view up toward the castle too. 

Last week we drove down to Phoenix to pick up my mother-in-law who’s here for a visit, but we decided to also explore the Phoenix Zoo. I remember trips to the Phoenix zoo as a child. My grandparents lived in Phoenix, and I spent many vacations visiting them with my mother and step-father. I can remember riding a camel for the first time and learning about capybaras (which are like huge guinea pigs).

But, Pumpkin is not yet big enough for camel rides, and we didn’t find the capybaras on this visit. However, she really enjoyed seeing the tortoises, baboons, jaguars, and many, many other animals she’s seen in pictures but never live before.

This past weekend we had the momentous experience when three generations all got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time. Brian, his mother, and daughter (and me too) all spent the day exploring what some in his family have referred to as “that big hole in the ground.” While an accurate description, it was a truly impressive experience to spend the day exploring the southern canyon rim together.

I had been to the Grand Canyon once before about 20 years ago, and while it was beautiful then too my strongest memory was spending most of my visit picking up trash because the ground along the rim was COVERED in litter. I felt so stunned and horrified that people could see this majestic view and then just toss their fast food cup on the ground next to it. I’m pleased to say that’s no longer the case.

In fact, the visitor experience created now by the National Parks Service was really excellent and seamless. The wide paved paths, excellent visitors center, and really convenient shuttle bus system impressed all of us. Bonus, we saw so many elk!!!! We saw them primarily from the shuttle buses, so we didn’t get any good photos, but it was a great bonus surprise. 

The view was astounding and impressive. We enjoyed a tasty lunch in Grand Canyon Village overlooking the canyon rim, and a great walk and shuttle bus run all the way to Hermit’s Rest and back. While an extended day of driving and playing, it was an awesome highlight to my mother-in-law’s visit and to our stay here in Arizona.

Mostly, we’ve discovered a wonderful community here in Cottonwood. Pumpkin and I have made some new mama & toddler friends, had some great playdates, and we can definitely imagine coming back some time in the future.

We’ll see when our path leads us back here again! We’re actually a bit sad to leave, but in just a few weeks we’re hitting the road to South Lake Tahoe, CA.

Next time, I will be sharing stories about our road trip from AZ to CA the first week of April.

We’re planning to visit Las Vegas as well as several of the California National Parks including Sequoia and Yosemite.

None of us have ever been to the other western parks, so we’re really looking forward to this leg of the adventure!

If you haven’t yet ensured that you’ll receive our travel updates (and all the other awesome productivity insights too through my weekly messages,) then make sure you click the image button below to get those sent directly to your inbox.

If you want to know how I make sure that we have time for all of these adventures, then you’ll want to watch this quick Facebook Live video I did on 3 Strategies to Avoid Overworking: