Grand Canyon Part 3

So i know in my last post on the Canyon I said we were moving on and we did but as we left we went to a really cool spot.  It is the Lookout tower, it is on the east end of the park.  We were leaving that way to head to Zion so why not stop?  We got out of Trailer Village by 7am, yes, I was up and we hooked up and were driving out minutes before 7.  :)
There was construction on the one road leading out and we wanted to get through it before they got started which was supposed to be 8 am.  We ended up having to wait about 15 minutes which wasn't too bad, the view was worth it!
For me, this was my favorite view of the canyon.  Almost all the way around you was canyon and you were so high up you could see lots of it and even the Colorado 'river. 
It's funny, each picture i look at here looks different and maybe it isn't the greatest photo, but the canyon looks different almost every time you turn around.  The light is hitting it from a new angle or a cloud has moved in creating a shadow, it is pretty neat.

This one reminds me of a book i read as a kid by V.C. Andrews, something about an attic and kids in it. :) These were mostly taken from the top of the tower. I recommend this area of the canyon and head there early!

Keys

So i do have to write about how i lost the truck keys. Now, i am sure my in-laws are cringing, don't worry they were found.  So we were at the KOA in Holbrook and the night before we were due to check out as i went to lock the truck i realized i couldn't find the keys.  Now, I drove the truck from the store we were at earlier and even put fuel in it in preparation to leave.  So i knew the keys were somewhere.  I was exhausted and mentally done. The boys were out playing cards and i went to bed.  I figured i would start the search in the AM.  Long story short, after tearing the camper apart and freaking the kids out, kevin decided to go dumpster diving.  I thought he was crazy, there was no way i threw them out.  Well, under 5 minutes later he came back with the keys.  I had thrown them in the trash with one of ny endless tissues.  Crisis averted! Needless to say he is forgiven for every transgression he has ever made. 😜 Thank God for Kevin!! He saved the day. And saved me from having to call Paps and Andy, that would of been bad. And now you know the truth about the keys. :)

Arizona Part 2: Grand Canyon!

Here I sit in a VERY expensive McDonalds about 15 minutes outside the park downloading photos to this blog for my many faithful and loving followers.  We won't talk about the fact that the kids were having serious withdrawals from the internet. 
To be honest, this area has a lot of hiking available and other than that everything to do is extremely expensive.  For example we asked about a waterfall hike, well it is over 3 hours away and books over a year ahead of time, oh and it is an overnight backpacking hike.  So that is out.  The smooth water rafting is over $100 per person and we just don't have that in our budget.  We chose to do 4-wheeling in the desert when we go to Zion next week.  The Canyon is beautiful, don't get me wrong and I enjoyed walking the Rim trail and will be back in 2 weeks to do it again with my awesome husband.
The Kids are planning on going on the Bright Angel trail and do the 3 mile hike down into the canyon when their dad gets here (heads up hun). 
Here are some pictures from our time here so far.  We tried to do the sunset last night and it was beautiful with the colors hitting the canyon but I have to say I still prefer the top of Cadillac Mtn in Acadia.  We have another day here and then we move on the Zion national park for some Hiking in the Narrows. Excited to see all these new things. 
OH and for those wondering, Molly has been a main attraction everywhere we bring her. 

Arizona Part 1

Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see...

The Petrified Forest ~ Holbrook, Arizona

Okay, so i am not sure what anyone was expecting from this national park but it certainly surpassed anything I could imagine.  It is obviously a desert now but millions of years ago it was a an area that was considered a forest, covered in water with tons of trees and ferns and people made their homes and livings here.  The dinosaurs also roamed the area, and we got to see some really cool fossils that were found in the area.  So what happened is the trees have turned into stone, some are some beautiful colors.

We spent a few hours driving around and stopping to take in the scenery.  This national park is similar to white sands, it is a 28 mile road that leads you through the desert. Unfortunately i am not very good at photographing anything so these pictures just don't do it justice.  This place was gorgeous.  The colors in the layers of rocks are just cool.  I would also like to point out that i have and am making tons of spelling and grammatical errors.  I am usually writing this and downloading picts at night and I am just exhausted.  Like really tired!!  My body has no clue what time zone i am in and by the time i adjust i will probably be going back.  We eat at weird times, sleep at weird times (if i can sleep) and drive a lot.  I am writing this in hopes that it will help me to remember this trip and the beautiful things we saw and did.  That being said I am hoping to write a journal for myself to remember all those little things that really make the trip an adventure, and yes, there have been many already.  :)

 Petroglyphs...

 crazy ugly crows here...