Arizona-pictures

Trip highlights-

The Grand Canyon really DOES defy all description, so I won't even attempt it. Suffice it to say, a million pictures still don't prepare you to experience the real thing. I could happily spend several days there, if we didn't have the children with us. I'd love to hike it and explore more of the canyon than just the rim. That will be for a future day. I did really enjoy the time we spent there with our family, however brief it seemed.

The Junior Ranger programs at the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest were a big hit with the kids. Sarah was very serious about finishing her assigned tasks and carried her papers everywhere, studying the flora and writing notes. The story time on the Grand Canyon rim was very fun. The park ranger read a fun story about nature's yucky secret defenses for prey. Matthew really loved learning about the lizards that squirt blood out of their eyes.

Sarah said the Grand Canyon made her feel excited like a butterfly. They went on rock hunts to find various rocks with different features, animal hunts, and drew pictures of the Grand Canyon. We were all surprised to learn that the Colorado River actually isn't visible from most of the rim viewpoints. Sarah and Matthew had been so excited to see the Colorado River after learning about it for school. We succeeded in seeing one tiny sliver of river. Matthew looked and looked for that sliver of blue, but couldn't find it anywhere.

Another highlight was when Nathan spotted some California condors. One of them flew very close to Nathan and Matthew and they marveled over the enormity of the bird's wingspan. Matthew loved seeing red-tailed hawks.

Daniel was too little to earn an official Junior Ranger badge even though he did his paperwork alongside the older kids. He was so sad when he was given a sticker instead of a badge. Matthew promptly pinned his own badge on Daniel's shirt and consoled him by promising to let him keep the badge forever. I'm so thankful Matt's generosity, he's such an amazing big brother!

The National Petrified Forest was really neat. The Rainbow forest was incredibly beautiful. Each petrified log had a dozen colors swirling throughout the layers of rock. For the Junior Ranger program here, the children hunted for different types of petrified wood, measured long logs of stone, searched for animal life in the desert, and drew petroglyph's.

I never knew the Petrified Forest also contained spectacular petroglyphs and ancient pueblo dwellings. What a delightful surprise! The petroglyphs were surprisingly numerous and fun to discover. We enjoyed looking through telescopes to the rocks where the art work was laboriously chiseled into the giant boulders. The painted desert was also amazing....it was beautiful vistas full of vivd red and purple cliffs as far as I could see. What an amazing palette of color brilliantly displayed! Daniel was awarded a badge at this park, along with Sarah and Matthew. They were all so serious when they took the Junior Ranger oath. They were all pleased and positively glowing when they walked out with their badges and patches. Another plus was the squashed-penny machine we discovered in the gift store. We collect squashed pennies anytime we find them, so it was fun to add the Petrified Forest and Route 66 to our book of pennies.

We've been following Route 66 for much of our journey. The towns look overwhelmingly like the town Radiator Springs from the Pixar movie Cars. We even saw a motel with giant teepee's for rooms! It's been a lot of fun to cruise Route 66 and see the old buildings and out-dated businesses. It's an adventurous and nostalgic reminder of days gone by.