Palo Duro Canyon. We did the Lighthouse hike. It was 6 miles and very hot that day. Well, it was only 80F, but that felt awfully hot. Thank goodness it was November! There were lots of signs urging us to bring plenty of water for each hiker.
We all wore sun hats and sunscreen except baby A who refused to keep his hat on, no matter how tight I made that toggle. The kids did wonderfully well. My foot neuroma was pretty painful at times, especially going up uneven rock trails.
There were some tricky spots climbing up to the lighthouse and a couple dangerous edges that we were very careful with the kids near.
Baby A's favorite place to hang out during the trip. He loved pushing all the buttons.
Another quick mason jar meal, tomatillo curry, to which I added a bunch of fresh cauliflower and served over rice.
Palo Duro also had a spectacularly beautiful campground.
Next we headed to the most surreal adventure of our trip. White Sands National Monument.
It was warm, but the landscape was white and we were carrying a sled. It sounds like something out of a dream, right?
The kids went sledding down some steep sand dunes and got a lot of sand in their shoes in the process.
We had to buy the sled at the gift shop for 20$, but it was worth it. What a great experience!
The sunset was gorgeous and we had fun taking pictures of wild jumps and acrobatics.
Next we camped in the City of Rocks State Park. Another gorgeous campground. I couldn't believe that the campsites were situated among the groups of rocks. Someone did a great job setting that up.
There was a Botanical Garden, which was great, since I'd been dying to learn the names of all the new to me desert plants. (And we had poor cell coverage in most of the parks).
We also tried to do a hike among the rocks. The kids kept getting distracted by all the fun cubby holes and climbing opportunities. It was like hiking through a giant playground.
That little white spot among the rocks is our campsite.
After that we headed to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.
This proves that even a thousand years ago people appreciated a home with a beautiful view. These dwellings date to around 1250 AD.
The Puebloans who lived here grew corn and squash. They also gathered native plants like prickly pears, and yucca. They used native plants to make lots of useful things, like sandals, grass mats and tools. They hunted deer and rabbits, which were abundant near the Gila River. They had certain areas set aside for food storage.
They also decorated their walls with paintings - art perhaps or a record of their times.
Smaller cliff or cave dwellings are also found nearby.
Next we headed to Petrified Forest National Park. I have wanted to see the petrified forest ever since I saw my first piece of petrified wood in fifth grade. I was very excited to visit this place.
I had to document the one time on our trip that baby A wore his hat for a few minutes.
The kids did about 5-6 of these Junior Ranger booklets. They were excellent and informative, though certain of the exercises were repetitive, like picking up trash in the park.
As we walked on the trail among the petrified trees some looked liked they had been chopped up for firewood.
Then we found this helpful sign that explains why that happened.
It looks so much like wood until you touch it or see it sparkling in the sunshine.
We had some cold desert mornings. Hot cocoa was the order of the day for cold weather. In Arizona we hiked into Lava River Cave.
A river of molten lava streamed through the area leaving a tunnel behind. The floor of the cave was my favorite part. Some sections had ripples where the lava cooled, others had knobby protrusions, like bubbles perhaps. Some sections of the floor had large or medium boulders, others were like broken floor tiles.
The hardest part of the hike was scrabbling through the tunnel with baby A on my back. In some sections the tunnel was too low for that to be possible. Hubby had to carry him against his chest and walk doubled over or scoot forward while squatting with him in his arms.
We also made a quick jaunt over to nearby Sedona to watch the sunset. There were so many people there.
The kids were a little annoyed with looking at still more red rocks.
Camping breakfast. I liked to eat a hearty breakfast whenever we had time. Being outside in the cold made us very hungry.
And then it was on to the Grand Canyon...
More Junior Ranger workbooks in progress.
We thought Palo Duro was a pretty amazing canyon, but I was not prepared for how overwhelmingly large the Grand Canyon is. Some of our fellow tourists were so overwhelmed that they could not bring themselves to go up to the railings to look down.
The Geology Museum was excellent. I loved the timeline and illustration of the various types of rocks exposed at each level of the canyon walls.
In addition to the geology museum they also have a geology timeline around the rim hike. It is illustrated by different pieces of rock from each time period. There was a new type of rock to touch every 10-15 feet. The kids loved it. I thought it was so educational reading the names of the various types of rocks. There were so many different ones. Like a rainbow.
The Colorado River.
At the end of our Grand Canyon visit we enjoyed some strawberry popsicles. It would have been even more delicious if the weather had been hot. Miss L is proudly wearing her Junior Ranger Grand Canyon badge.
Next we headed to Zion's National Park. The camping prices there were ridiculous, by the way. So were the parking fees.
Our dear old friends drove an incredibly long way to spend one day with us. I felt so loved by their willingness to make such an effort.
We hike the river walk, but did not go down into the Narrows section (walking through water) with all of our littles.
We finished the day with a fireside BBQ, lots of friends playing and chatting.
Girl talk.
An mom talk :)
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