Tag Archives: walnut canyon

Volcanoes and Cliff Dwellings and Elk… Oh My!

We are STILL in the Williams, Arizona area, but not for long!  I am happy to report that all reservations have been made and we are heading out on August 25th to go to California.  We are first going to be staying near Sequoia National Park, and then at a resort right on the southern end of Lake Tahoe!  California is the state that Elijah has been looking the most forward to.  He was born there, yet remembers nothing about it as we moved away when he was less than a year old. We already have 5 weeks of campground stays reserved and I am sure we will be there for quite a bit longer than that.

As for this area, we are STILL finding brand new things to do.  Over a week ago, Elijah and I went to Walnut Canyon National Park right outside of Flagstaff.  We were totally blown away by it and then when we spoke with the park ranger we were were told about two other “sister” national parks that were within 30 miles of this one.  So we ended up having a marathon national park day and we visited all three of them that same day!  The second one was Sunset Crater Volcano National Park (which although he loved them all, this one was Elijah’s favorite), and the third one was Wupatki National Park.  By the day’s end, Elijah had hiked almost 7 miles! Most of which was without me as Popeye was not allowed on any of the trails inside those three parks.  :'(  I had hiked over 3 miles myself and we both had an awesome time.  We came home and told Greg about them (who had stayed home to work) so Greg and I ended up visiting all three of them again that weekend, without Popeye.  Elijah opted to stay home for our second visit as well since Greg and I were overdue for a “date day” and he was still recovering from all the hiking he had already done anyway.  Here is just a sampling of the MANY pictures taken at each park over the course of both days.  First for Walnut Canyon National Monument (which was my personal favorite of the three)

After we left Walnut Canyon we headed to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.  This one was both Elijah and Greg’s favorite:

Once you entered into Sunset Crater National Park area, if you just keep going on that same road you will get to Wupatki National Monument.  The road is shared by both parks and extends for 30 miles.  There is a visitor center and museum at each end for each park.  Same setup as the Petrified Forest & Painted Desert National parks I wrote about in a previous blog post which you can read if you click here.  Wupatki had more intact pueblo dwellings than we have seen anywhere.  To say that we all loved this park as well is an understatment. There are no words for this place other than COOL!!!!  Check it out…

And now for the elk!  Elijah is enamored with them and has researched and learned seemingly everything there is to know about elk.  He says they are his “spirit animal”  Look at what God sent us on our 5th trip (yes, that’s what happens when you stay at the same place for an extended period of time! We just can’t seem to get enough of it!) to the Grand Canyon.  First, here is a super cool close up and personal video of our new beast of a buddy, Mr. Bull Elk.

Here are some other places that Elijah and I also discovered around Flagstaff.  There seriously seems to be now end of things to do and see around here!

An now for a glimpse of our normal every day life.  I have spent much time on the computer lately, I have much I want to get done before we head to California.  I’m about 90% done with my homeschool planning for the year and then I have some tax stuff and business stuff I must attend to.  Remember, it’s not all fun and games!  Here are some shots of our daily life:

 

What do you do when you need some warranty or service work done on your RV and you live in it…  full time?!?!  Well, when you have an awesome manufacturer like Grand Design, it’s easy peasy.  We had some warranty stuff that needed attending to and since we saw this RV Mobile Repair truck several times right here we asked them if they did warranty work.  They do!  We called Grand Design and went over everything and they approved everything, sent us the parts asap and we were able to schedule Cory and his lovely wife to come right to us to do the work.  How convenient is that? We only had to pay a small fee for their trip here, Grand Design covered all the rest.  So, if you are ever near the Flagstaff or Williams area and need some RV work done, call Cody Herring at Aspen RV Services.  His number is (928) 606-2082. They did excellent work!  Thanks, Cody!

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Next blog I will tell you about our latest (and maybe greatest?!?!) find… Prescott!  It’s my favorite town/city so far.  Here’s a sneak peak:

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But that picture is just part of the drive in… it doesn’t even begin to do it justice.  Tune in next time to learn all about it!  Meanwhile…

Happy Trails and Sunny Sails!!!