Day trip with my girls

So, you'll never guess what I did. I took my girls last weekend and went up to Strawberry and Pine. And I drove ALL BY MYSELF!

Will had to work so he couldn't go with me. Now, I don't know if I've ever told you guys this, but I have this major, unreal fear of driving long distances and heights and mountains and all that but I really wanted to get out of town. So the girls and I packed a picnic lunch, checked the fluid levels on my van, gassed up and took off.

It was wonderful! We saw this cute little schoolhouse in Strawberry. It's the oldest standing schoolhouse in Arizona. It reminded me of The Little House on the Prairie.

I have read and reread all of those books many times, and I loved being able to see a schoolhouse that is sorta like what Laura Ingalls Wilder described in the books. I loved the big stove that was smack dab in the middle of the room. What a chore to keep that thing burning all day for the kids!

The girls got to sit in the desks that the little students used. They were able to use chalk and slates and pretend to do classwork.

They even had a dunce cap and stool for the naughty students. I say we need to bring that type of punishment back to our schools! But, my 15 yr old said the kids would act out on purpose just so they could wear the cap. Oh Lord...

After we left the schoolhouse we set to the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park which is between Pine and Payson. We got a little lost at first, but finally found it. There is no GPS service out in the mountains there, but I was ok with it, unbelievably. I felt free!

This little natural bridge was really amazing. There are caves under it, but we didn't explore them. It was too far down, and I was scared to hike all the way down with Alexis. Here's the bridge.

When we were eating lunch at one of the picnic tables we noticed javelinas! They were right next to our table! I had never seen a wild javelina before. I'm thinking the ones at this park were used to humans so they were not aggressive. Dani got some really cute pictures of them. There was one that loved her and kept coming back to pose.

Toward the end, we climbed down to the little waterfall and took some great pictures. It was so green down there! I loved it. 

I really feel good about the trip I took. I think that making this trip was one of the greatest accomplishments I have made so far this year. I conquered a huge fear of mine. I can't wait for our next little day trip!