Bridging Four States

As we made our way north today, we couldn't resist stopping by The Four Corners. This is the only point in the U.S. where four states meet. Can anyone name them? We paid $5 person to stand in half hour line to spend 5 minutes ( or less) taking our photo. But we probably would have kicked ourselves if we had skipped it.  The Navajo Nation manages the monument and small arts & craft booths surround the exhibit.  We drove through Navaho lands on our way to Moab, Utah. It was such a desolate stretch with only a smattering of houses here and there. Such wide open spaces!  Not somewhere you want to encounter car problems! And one last side note to the 4 Corners. By modern surveying, the monument is actually about 1,800 feet east of the actually intersection. But by the original surveying back in the late 1800's to early 1900's, it was very accurate. Pretty good surveying work!

Sedona and Meteor Crater

Happy July 1!  Today we drove to Sedona via 89A, a mountainous route with some hairpin curves. It went through Slide Rock state park. Cars lined the road edge and waited to get in full parking lots. Off to the side, we could see canopies lining the rocks. In other areas families flocked to the river, staying cool for the day. In Sedona we took a jeep tour into the red rocks behind the town. It is a beautiful area. We learned about the flora & fauna, geology, and history of the region. To our amazement we were shown a giant sinkhole! We stayed clear of the red zones around it!  One rock area hosts a seasonal waterfall.  It was dried up.except for some shallow pools- some of which had tadpoles swimming in them. Given how warm the water must get, that was a surprise.  Sedona is definitely a tourist destination, but the town has done a great job in planning. All the homes and shops are the color of the natural surroundings. Our guide joked that there were six shades to choose from. It makes for an attractive town that blends in with its spectacular surroundings instead of detracts from it.

Our next stop of the day was Meteor Crater. This is the best preserved crater in the world. It is 4000 feet across (3/4 of a mile) and 550 feet deep. The meteor that created it was 150 in diameter and traveled 11 miles per second. That means if you got on a flight in Los Angeles, you would arrive in New York in 5 minutes!  At Meteor Crater, scientists learned a lot about cets and how to recognize a meteor crater from a volcanic crater. This was an interesting stop!

Petrified Forest National Park

This morning we set off early to find some petrified wood.  The Petrified Forest is part of the Painted Desert. Around 217 million years ago this area was near the equator and very tropical. It has slowly moved north and east.  The petrified trees are conifers.  It is surmised that the trees died, fell into a stream and were carried downstream where they were covered by sand and mud which prevented decay.  The silica in the water caused the organic material to be replaced by quartz crystals which fossilized or petrified the trees.  We saw stumps where the tree rings were so clear amd huge trunks just laying om the groumd.  There were a lot of places selling petrified wood. The park service assured us that this as being collected on private lands so we bought a few small souvenirs. John was angling for a big stump piece but we just couldn't figure how to fit it in our packed minivan-ha ha!

Family Time!

Thank you to Charlene and Darlene for making the drive up to see us (without AC even)!  We so enjoyed our time with you! Sending you lots of love!

DeLorean and Dinner and DeLorean

On the highway headed to Flagstaff, Isaac spotted a shiny, cool looking car.  "That's the car from Back to the Future!". I explained the little I knew about it, e.g. how the stainless steel resisted rust (Probably a moot point in Arizona), and how the designer was later charged with drug charges. 

We got off the highway in Flagstaff, found our hotel, and unwound.  We hunted out this great resteraunt, the Pita Jungle.  Delicious gyros and hummus!  And the temperatures were finally cool enough for outdoor dining.  

After dinner we sought out a highly ranked frozen custard shop near our hotel.  And to our surprise... we see the very same DeLorean parked outside for their 'old car night'!!  We told the owner how we spotted him earlier in the day on the highway.  He answered every possible question we had about the car, and gave us some great stories about the developer, and its role in the movie.  

The rest of the night included different fsmily members swimming in the hotel pool, running on their treadmill or reading up on the day's sites.

Arizona Explorations

We departed the Grand Canyon today by the Desert View Drive. It was much less crowded than the South Rim and we had some great views along the way.  We stopped at the Watchtower designed by Mary Colter. She designed a series of structures in the Grand Canyon. The Watchtower was completed in 1932 and was designed to reflect the architecture of the Ancient Pueblo Peoples.  At this stop we also were introduced to the air crash tragedy of 1956 in which two planes had a mid-air collision. This event was a catalyst for the formation of the FAA.

Our next stop was the Wupatki National Monument. See above photo. Wupatki means "tall house" in the Hopi language. This ancient Pueblo dwelling was made up of over 100 rooms and was several stories high. It was inhabited in the late 1100s. The building itself has been partially reconstructed by archeologists using the same methods as the original builders.

Further along the road we came to Sunset Crater. This volcano erupted just prior to the settling of Wupatki. Some theories have suggested that the ash made that region more fertile resulting in that settlement. As we drove we saw A'a lava fields which reminded us of our Hawaii trip. It seemed so strange to see this in AZ!  

 

Off to Flagstaff for the night.

Rim to River

On Wed (Jun 28) I left Michele and the kids at the tent site and headed down into the canyon at 6am.  This was something I had been planning and training for during the winter.  At the time we planned the trip back in January, no one else wanted to enter the lottery to get the overnight hiking permit.  

The trip down was 7 miles of trail descending a full vertical mile to the Colorado river on the South Kaibab trail.  The scenery was stunning, with the sun coming in at such a low angle.  

I stopped briefly at the Colorado to gather some sand for my collection.  I got down to the Bright Angel Campsite by 9:30 am ... well before the heat peaked.  With temperatures of 115 degrees in the shade!  I spent the day trying not to lose my energy or getting sun burned!  There were lots of other early morning hikers to chat with, spending our day chasing the shadows and staying hydrated.  My tent was nothing more than a screen, and worked adequetly.  Sleep was still not easy to come by with the temperatures still in the nineties well into the night.

For my hike up the next day, I decided to again depart early.  This time I broke camp at 3:45 and trekked under the stars with my headlamp.   I can tell you that crossing the roaring Colorado on a suspension bridge in the pitch black is a little nerve wracking!  The Bright Angel Trail seemed to go on forever, winding back and forth to scale the steep inclines.  The sun started peeking into the canyon by 6:30, making the effort all the more hot and exhausting, but providing the inspiring views.  By 8:45 I was all the way up to the rim - exhausted, but really satisfied to have completed this challenge.