Tag: things to do in phoenix az

5 outdoor family activities for Fall in Arizona

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As fall is currently approaching the States, leaves are turning into a stunning color. It’s about time for some outdoor adventures to enjoy the transition from the summer to the winter of Arizona. Been living here as an Arizonan for years, I’ve witnessed the beauty of colored leaves during Fall so many times. However when it comes to this season, I’m still excited. I love to observe that beautiful orange leaves falling down all over the streets, parks, forests, everywhere! Believe me, there’re so many fun things to do during Fall in Arizona. Here are the top 5 outdoor family activities your family can enjoy when it’s Fall in Arizona.

5 outdoor family activities for Fall in Arizona
Visit the farms 

Fall is when the farms offer many fun activities for families with young children. Many offer u-pick fruits/vegetables. My favorite farms in Arizona is the Mortimer Farms, located in which is about 2 hours away up north from Phoenix. We often go there for strawberry picking (season starts from late May to September). It’s a large farm where your kids can interact with farms animals, roam free, and enjoy many fun activities like slides, bike rides, swings, etc. This farms often has weekend events. For more information on hours and pricing, you can go to their website here.

Besides, there are many other farms in Arizona that you can check out. The weather in Fall is perfect for a day out at the farms. Plus, pumpkin season is coming very soon. This is a must-do activity in my opinion.

My daughter petting a baby goat at Mortimer Farms
Pumpkin season at Mother Nature farms
Corn Maze at Vertucio Farms
Camping

Who on earth doesn’t love camping during fall season! There are so many family friendly campgrounds in Arizona. Those are perfect for your family can enjoy starry nights, cool evenings and many other outdoor activities. Just to keep in mind, you need to do some researches and well prepare when camping with kids. Make sure you bring enough gears and essentials for a smooth family camping trip.

If you’re still wondering about where to camp, here are some choices worth considering: Gilbert Ray Campground (Tucson), Lake Havasu State Park, Manzanita Campground (Sedona), Cave Springs Campground (Sedona), Spillway Campground near Payson, Lynx Campground (Lynx Lake), Bonito Campground near Flagstaff, etc

Observe color-changing fall foliage

From early September till late November, Arizona proves its true beauty through yellow and red shades all over the forests and mountains. The locals here admit that seeing the fall foliage is the best activity that everyone should try once in their lifetime. Plus, this fall color gives people chances to photograph amazing pictures for their instagram, blogs or pinterest. 

Here are some of the best places for you to go and see how pretty fall is: Flagstaff’s San Francisco Peaks, Verde Valley and Sedona, Aravaipa Canyon.

One of the 5 outdoor family activities to do when it’s Fall in Arizona Observing fall color leaves.
Go hiking

The temperature is cooling off starting from September. This is such an opportune time to go hiking and stretch your legs in Arizona. If you have kids, you can let them join your short hiking trip on weekends. There are some top-rated hiking trails like in Sedona, Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, etc. The trick is that you need to look for some easy trails when hiking with small children. My friends at Phoenix with kids has a lot of detailed recommendations on her website that you can check out.

Spend time with your kids in National Parks

If you just want something less adventurous, simply spending time with your family in National Park is just enough. There is a lot to do at the park, you can let your children have a ride on their bikes or have a BBQ gathering or play some sports, etc. In Arizona, we often celebrate the Fall by having outdoor BBQ since the weather is just perfect. 

Exploring the outdoor gives your child a great opportunity to learn

Alright, above are my top 5 outdoor family activities you can do during Fall in Arizona. I hope this post is helpful. Hit like to let me know. If you have more ideas, please share below. Check out my other blog post here.

Escape from toddler vs. Escape the room. Which is harder?

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Ever since we have our daughter, my husband and I have never been away from her for a bit. Either one of us stays with her or both. So last night we decided to escape from her for a couple hours. Don’t get me wrong. We love being with her all the time. But sometime it’s nice to have a couple of hours of kid-free.

So we had my mom took care of our daughter, we ran out of the house, hopped on the car, and headed to Phoenix. So since this is our first kid-free time, we wanted to do something that is for adults only that we used to do before kids.

When we were living in Vietnam before having our daughter, we LOVED all the escape rooms there. Escape room is a team building game that you and a group of friends/family will be locked in a room with all the puzzles and locks. Your mission is to find clues and ways to unlock them and get yourself (and your team) out of the room. It is such a fun activity. Since we have Misa we had never been into one. Now we found one near us in Phoenix, AZ which is PanIQ Escape Room. We knew it is the perfect place for our short kid-free time.

So we call my brother and his friend, and headed to Phoenix, with our tickets booked. We stopped by a boba tea shop to get some drinks. Our little fun time can never be without boba milk tea.

After getting drinks we continued driving to PanIQ.

We arrived PanIQ Escape Room and have our team ready for the game. Our room was the Kidnapped room. The other two are Aliens and Wild West. The room we chose was the hardest one in all 3. So we were super excited.

We had 60 minutes to escape the room. They divided our team into 2, each team went to one door. My husband and I were locked in a cage, waiting for my brother and his friend to come rescue us. We also had to find the keys to unlock ourselves.

It does sounds easy, but it is not easy at all. It is very challenging to find every single clue. Since we had experience playing the game back in Vietnam, we were not so terrified. Or I can say we were a little confident. However, we spent 25 minutes to finish 1/3 of the room, and then time’s up when we were almost out of the room. The staff said we only need about 10 more minutes to make it out of the room.

It was such a great time playing. We had so much fun and lots of laugh. Every time we unlocked a puzzle or lock, it’s the best feeling. It’s actually the first time my brother and his friend playing Escape room, and they are now making a team to come back. My husband and I love this game. We will come back too whenever we have someone taking care of our daughter. It is so good to have our brains working their best for such a fun, satisfying, challenging hour.

PanIQ staffs were so friendly and informative. The room was so challenging which we love. I would highly recommend everyone to give it a try. PanIQ Escape Room is not only in Phoenix, AZ. There are some other locations around the country like in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, NYC, Washington DC, Atlanta, and Miami. Kids at age 10 or over are welcome, so you could bring your kids for a family fun if they are old enough. Our tickets for 4 were $80 before tax. So it’s not expensive at all. Click here to choose your nearest location and book your tickets.

After the game, my husband and I had to ran home because of grandma could not handle our daughter anymore. She was crying for hours and throwing lots of tantrums (toddler it is). So our little date night ended right there. To compare, I would say Escape Room game is much more easier than escaping from your toddler(s). I can’t wait to be back to PanIQ Escape Room whenever we find time.

Thank you PanIQ Escape Room for sponsoring this blog post. All opinions are my own. We truly love the game and we will come back for sure.