Go Together Life

📍Arizona & Utah
Result: Kids – 5 | Adults – 0

On our recent road trip through Arizona and Utah, we decided it was time to resurrect one of our favorite traditions: the spontaneous eating challenge. Our most successful (and infamous) to date was the cricket challenge, and ever since, the bar has been set high. The rules are simple: a weird or wonderful edible crosses our path, someone locks eyes with it, and the rest is history.

✈️ Arrival Shenanigans in Phoenix

This challenge had humble beginnings. A smaller advance crew (aka Mandy and Ally with a few of the kids) arrived in Phoenix a few days early to collect a rental car and start the journey north through Sedona to Flagstaff, where we’d meet the rest of the gang.

After a late-night landing, we crashed at a hotel near the airport, eager to hit the road at first light. In a rare act of selflessness (or maybe self-preservation), Mandy and Ally let the teenagers sleep while they headed out at dawn to collect the car.

The rental process was smooth-ish, delayed only slightly by a charming agent who was deeply committed to hydration (four oversized tumblers of ice water surrounded her desk like a defensive fortress).

Ally took the wheel, Mandy entered the hotel into the GPS… and five minutes later, they were pulling into the parking lot. Except, this was not our hotel. “Where are our kids?” Ally asked, staring at the modest two-story building in front of us. Panic kicked in, quickly followed by realization: we’d gone to the wrong hotel. Turns out, there are two hotels with the same name on the same street, on opposite sides of the airport.

Don’t worry, the kids were still asleep on the 7th floor of the correct hotel. But it made for an excellent kickoff story to our trip.

🥓 Breakfast & Destiny

First stop on our Arizona adventure: Rock Springs Café in Black Canyon City. Come for the biscuits and gravy, stay for the pie, and definitely swing by the general store on the way out. That’s where we found them: scorpion lollipops.

Neon-colored, sugar-encased, crunchy little beasts. One in every flavor, and one for every brave soul. Challenge accepted… though the exact date of consumption was TBD.

🏜 Challenge Day: Kanab, Utah

Fast-forward a few days. Kanab, Utah. The candy had slightly melted in the heat, and anticipation had fully ripened. Unlike the cricket challenge, you couldn’t just pop the scorpion in your mouth and get it over with. No, this was a slow, sticky ordeal. You had to earn the creepy crunch by licking your way to the center.

And yet, one by one, the kids rose to the occasion, sugar high and all, and crunched their way through like pros.

The adults? Well. Let’s just say none of us were interested in eating the lollipop OR the slightly-slimy scorpion liberated by someone else’s saliva. No shame, just… okay, maybe a little shame.

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📝 Challenge #3 Scorecard: Utah Scorpion Edition

Name	Result	Comment
Adam	✅	Didn’t flinch. Just crunched. Possibly part scorpion now.
Ally	❌	Took one look and said, “I support you… from over here.”
Daniel	✅	Licked his way to glory like it was a gourmet treat.
Jon	❌	Strong opinions, weak stomach.
Madison	✅	Barely blinked. We suspect she enjoyed it a little too much.
Mandy	❌	Bought the lollies. Hyped the challenge. Backed out immediately.
Patrick	❌	Gave an inspirational speech… and then didn’t eat it.
Quinn	✅	Said, “How bad can it be?” Answer: not bad enough to stop her.
Reese	✅	Powered by sugar and chaos. Took the scorpion down like a snack.

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🎉 Final Verdict

Kids: 5
Adults: 0

Cue the nonstop teasing that followed for the rest of the trip. The youth have spoken, and they have crunchy exoskeletons to prove it.

What’s next on the challenge front? Who knows. But something tells us it’ll show up when we least expect it… probably when we’re just trying to mind our own business.