Hi friends!

I hope everyone is coming off a relaxing weekend! Sadly, because of all the fires that are going on across California, we’ve been locked up inside all weekend. Because of COVID most of our weekends have been indoors anyways, but we do enjoy going outside for a walk, kayaking at the beach, or occasionally having a picnic in the park. The air quality has been so bad this week, leaving the sky covered in a gray/orange hue, honestly reminding me of that seen in Halloweentown when the town is cursed and everything is just gloomy (the OG Disney fans will know what I’m talking about). On the bright side, staying indoors has left me with enough time to really get all the details of our Babymoon up on the blog!

We left for our babymoon on Monday, Aug 24th and came back Friday, Aug 28th. We got up early on Monday morning and left our house at 6 am. As I’m sure you already know, Joey and I absolutely love road tripping so when we started thinking about where to Babymoon, it was already decided (for 2 reasons) that we would drive somewhere: 1) we love driving and 2) with COVID still being a very real issue, we did not feel comfortable getting on a plane to travel anywhere.

The road trip honestly flew by, we love listening to music and podcasts as we drive, which definitely helps pass time. We also tend to look for things on our routes for pit stops or sight seeing, so the driving portion of the trip isn’t just “driving.” It’s kinda cheesy but I always think of the quote “happiness is not a destination, it is a way of life,” and apply that to our road trips. The destination is not the only vacation, but the trip there should be one as well. We definitely have a good time snacking and talking whenever we’re road tripping.

We stayed at the L’ Auberge de Sedona Resort in Sedona, Arizona and it could not have been a better place to stay! The location is absolutely perfect, it’s nestled down below the bustling downtown area of Sedona, along the most beautiful creek over looking the stunning red rock mountains in the background. Read below for the itinerary of our trip!

Day 1

+ Arrive at hotel at 1:30 pm for early check in. Unpack & unwind.

+ 3:00 pm walk the grounds of the hotel, take in the beauty of the river and the red rock mountains surrounding us!

+ 4:00 pm check in to the resort spa, for my prenatal massage that my husband booked for me as a surprise!! It was AMAZING!

+ 5:30 pm after the most amazing and much needed massage, head back to our cottage to get ready for dinner!

+ 6:00 pm pick up take-out from the Hideaway House, a local Italian eatery. Arizona is much more open as far as the Covid situation than California, so places were having minimal dining indoors and tons of outdoor dining. But because we’ve been very careful and serious about our exposure to the virus, we chose to take all our dinners to-go and dined on the balcony of our cottage- I mean with the view we had, who wouldn’t eat every meal you could there?!

+ After dinner, it was time to shower, jump in our hotel robes, and cozy up for a movie night!

And that was Day 1! It was a perfect way to ease into the babymoon after having driven 8 hours to get there!

Day 2

+ 7:00 am order room service for breakfast (baby girl likes to wake me up lately, which has been preventing me from sleeping in). Breakfast out on the balcony.

+9:00 am pool time! We head out to the hotel pool right when it opened (which was 9 am). Because of COVID, they were only allowing 10 guests in the pool at a time and closed for sanitation every 4 hours so we definitely wanted to make sure we made the cut! I think because of the time of year, there weren’t too many people out in Sedona, so every time we went to the pool there was only one other couple there at the same time as us (which we loved).

+ 9:00 am- 12:00 pm relax by the pool. We spent time reading and listening to music while enjoying the scenery and refreshing dips in the pool

+ 12:15 pm head up to the cottage to change and get ready for lunch/ visit the Tlaquepaque Arts Village. The Village is the cutest little area in Sedona where local artisans sell their work. They also have some restaurants and small cafes throughout the area as well. We had plans to eat at one of the cafes but shortly after we sat down the power on the entire block went out!!! It was so strange. Luckily we had finished walking around the shops so we decided to head back to the resort for lunch because I happened to be starving. The resort has a driver that will come pick you up/drop you off within a 10 mile radius, which was really helpful for popping around for food and sight seeing!

+ 3:00 pm order room service for lunch. After eating a quick lunch we went down by the river to sit and enjoy the serenity of the space. There’s something so calming about the sound of a river flowing and I seriously was just so happy to sit and watch it flow, I could’ve sat there for hours!

+5:00 pm shoot a little special Babymoon episode of our podcast, A Good Example. To see some of the views and check out the podcast, click here.

+ 6:00 pm get ready for our first date night of the Babymoon. We had a wonderful dinner date and got back in time for a relaxing evening in.

+8:00 pm shower and unwind with a movie, cuddling in bed. One of the best parts of our trip was just the complete power to do absolutely anything we wanted without feeling like we had any sort of obligation or plan. We are NEVER in bed by 8 pm back home, so it was nice to be just laying down watching a movie without a care in the world. I definitely recommend any parents-to-be book/plan their Babymoon in this fashion. Do whatever you feel like doing and if that means taking a nap and resting in the middle of the day, do it!

The Babymoon was a little out of the norm for me. I like to plan vacations/trips and PACK sightseeing, hiking, eating at the unique spots, etc all into the trip. This was for sure the first trip where I didn’t necessarily fill an itinerary up with things to go do. We wanted the Babymoon to truly be one of relaxation and just the ability to go with the flow.

Day 3

+ 7:00 am I kid you not, this baby is seriously like an alarm clock in my body. I feel her kicking in the mornings, giving me a wake up call like no other. It’s like she’s banging on my stomach to let me know it’s time for us to eat lol. So we ordered room service for breakfast first thing! With our resort package, breakfast/room service from their restaurant was included, which was nice.

+ 9: 00 am DUCK FEEDING! When we checked in to the hotel, they gave us an itinerary of classes/ activities that the resort provided. Because we were there throughout the week and not the weekend, we weren’t able to do all the classes since some were only offered Saturday/Sunday (like yoga down by the creek, only offered on Saturday mornings). Luckily, every other morning, the resort offers guests free duck food to feed the ducks down by the river. I was so excited to get down there and feed them!

+ 10:00 am tour the resort. Throughout the resort, they had multiple art pieces and sculptures recounting the history and details of Sedona. When we checked in, they gave us a map with the sculpture locations which also contained a guide with information about all the pieces. In addition to the art gallery, there were also scenic view points throughout the resort. So after duck feeding, we spent a couple hours just walking around seeing the art and checking out the scenic checkpoints. I’ll never get over just how gorgeous the area/views were!

+ 12:00 pm get ready and head to check out some of Sedona’s famous vortexes. Sedona has a history and reputation for being one of the most sacred and powerful places in the world. Sedona vortexes are “swirling centers of energy that are conductive to healing, meditation, and self-exploration. These are places where the earth seems especially alive with energy.” After having visited and spent time in a vortex, people are said to have felt “inspired, uplifted, and recharged.” There are four famous vortex locations: Airport Mesa, Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock and Boynton Canyon. We visited Airport Mesa because it was the only one that did not require a pretty strenuous hike. I will say, I’m not entirely sure I felt uplifted or recharged so to speak, but it was a pretty hot day and walking up to the vortex I was definitely sweating, but while we were there, the air felt cool and refreshing, so maybe that means something?

+2:00 pm head over to Chapel of the Holy Cross. This is a beautiful church built within the red rock mountains. They do not hold mass but you can visit and light candles and sit for personal prayer. We lit some candles and said a prayer before checking out the gift shop.

+ 3:30 pm head to grab some lunch- we were pretty tired from the hiking/heat and hungry, so we grabbed Chipotle and went straight back to the hotel.

+ 5:00 pm we felt like having another dip in the pool, so after lunch we went down for a couple hours to cool down and swim/stretch our legs a bit in the water. I’ve absolutely loved swimming and stretching in the pool throughout my pregnancy. After enjoying an afternoon dip in the pool, we went back up to the room to shower in our outdoor shower! It was so much fun having an outdoor shower and definitely felt a little extra luxurious after coming back from the pool.

+ 7:00 pm pool closes, head back to the hotel to get ready for date night #2. Everyone at the resort was boasting about this Mexican cafe in the area, Elote, so we knew we had to try it. The restaurant is reservation only and is only open from 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm so it’s a very exclusive place, which I’m guessing they wanted. Because we’d just heard about the “famous” spot, of course we didn’t have a reservation and when we called, we found out that they were booked 3 weeks in advance. The saving grace is, you can order take out without a reservation! So we ordered take out and went straight back to the hotel.

+ 8:00 pm dinner and time to relax.

Day 4

+ 7:00 am like clockwork, I woke up at the same time. I think every morning we were the first breakfast order of the day for the restaurant. They opened at 7:00 am and we literally called before even getting out of bed to place our order. Then it was out to the balcony for another beautiful breakfast with a view.

+ 9:00 am because we were leaving the next day, we started to tidy up the space and organize everything we had opened up and unpacked. I’m a big believer in hanging your clothes when you’re in a hotel, so you bet all my clothes were hanging up in the closet! So the things I didn’t wear or knew I wouldn’t on the last day, I started to pack back in my suitcase.

+ 10:00 am one more morning duck feeding!

+11: 00 am check out the city and do some shopping. After feeding our beloved ducks, we spent the afternoon shopping and exploring Downtown Sedona. We bought the cutest dream catcher for the nursery! I can’t wait to show you once it’s all set up!

+ 3:00 pm check out some more of the red rock sights and bridges. It was beautiful to drive around and soak in the massive beauty of the entire place. I felt like we were in a real life Car’s Land (Disney reference) and I was loving it!

+5:00 pm soak in the massive bath tub in our cottage! We had a spa bath in our suite so had to take advantage of that for sure! Afterwards, we ordered some room service off the dinner menu and spent the rest of the evening packing, relaxing, and just spending time together soaking in our last little vacay as a couple.

Day 5

+ 7:00 pm one last breakfast before heading out!

+ 9:00 am after breakfast, we called the front for assistance packing our luggage and bringing it down. The grounds of the resort are rather large and they valet your car when you check in. The employees drive around in golf carts and will pick you up and drop you off anywhere you want! They brought the golf cart up to our cottage door and packed all of our bags for us. Then it was down to check out and hop in the truck!

+ 9:30 am we were officially off on our route back home!

+ 12:00 pm stopped for lunch at POMO in Scottsdale.

+ 8:00 pm arrived home, tired and ready to knock out!

Luckily, with the day after we got home being a Saturday, we were able to relax and slowly unpack from the week. We had such a great time during our Babymoon, it was truly everything we ever could have wanted to really spend some time together and have one last trip before baby!

I’ll have the Babymoon vlog up sometime next week! Can’t wait for you all to see the beautiful views and landscape of Sedona in video form!