Page, Arizona and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

 

We got to Page, Arizona a day early after departing Mesa Verde early. This is probably our only schedule change that we will be making other than not going to Oregon and Washington to visit Breighton’s friend Aran. We will miss them but catch up with them later in the year.

 

We poked round town the first night in Page. Page is 10 square miles and the only reason it exists is because of the dam that was build here in 1956. Before that it was Navajo land.

 

In the morning we got up early and headed to the dam to see if we could get on a tour of the dam. We were able to get spots in the 8:30am tour. While we waited we watched hummingbirds and worked on our Junior Ranger books.

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Our tour guide grew up in Page and was a retired police officer. He really knew a lot about the dam and the area.

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We learned that the bridge was built in San Fransisco in a field and then broken apart and half was shipped to each side of the canyon and then installed.

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We watched people training out on the damn using repelling down to check for issues.

There is NO WAY I could do that!
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We saw one of the giant rebar bolts that hold back the canyon walls.

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There is even a giant green grassy area!

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Wow we were down low. The circle thing at the top is is visitors center where we were watching hummingbirds earlier.

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We even got to see the inner mechanics of the dam.

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After the dam tour we drove out to Lee’s Ferry, the only place in 700 miles where you can drive down to the Colorado River!

On the way we saw the Balancing Rocks. They were HUGE!

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I tried to climb one, just kidding!

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The next one we saw was even bigger! They formed when giant boulders broke off of the area behind us. After thousands of years erosion washed away the sandstone below them leaving them suspended. Eventually they will collapse, but thankfully not today!

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We got to Lee’s Ferry and touched the freezing cold Colorado River, it was only 47F! Oddly it is the same temperature year round!

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I braved the waters with Mom’s help. I didn’t last long. It was COLD!

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We tried to skip rocks but couldn’t find anything flat enough to skip.

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We saw beautiful cacti in bloom.

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I stopped at every lizard I saw to ask for photos of them.

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We hiked a bit off trail down to the river in a different area.

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We saw more giant lizards!

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Up next was Navajo Bridge. We walked out to the center and enjoyed the view.

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I insisted Dad take a photo from the expansion crack in the middle of the bridge.

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We had a great day exploring. The area is so pretty. Lake Powell, formed because of the dam, is blue. People like in house boats. I think I could live here!

 

 

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

 

We spent the last few days at Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde is the largest archeological site in the USA. It is home to cliff dwelling Ancestral Pueblos from the 700AD to 1270AD time frame.

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We hiked down a trail to Spruce Tree House. You are able to walk on the preserved ruins.

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We enjoyed the hike down in the shade to the site. We are getting better at the hikes as we go along in this trip. I was skipping down the trail.

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The ruins were EPIC! (BTW EPIC is my new word…everything is EPIC!)

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We even got to go down into a kiva. A kiva is a ceremonial or gathering place under ground. It was much cooler in the kiva. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Mom read the self guide book as we looked at all the things at the site. We did talk to the rangers and ask a few questions but mostly we were on our own.

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We drove the Top Mesa trail and saw older ruins that were covered to be preserved.

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The overlooks were EPIC! You could see all sorts of cliff dwellings like Cliff Palace, Mummy House, Sun Temple and more.

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We saw a rare plant called the Cliff Palace Milk Vetch.

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There is another plant called the Utah Service Berry that is really pretty with white flowers. We have been smelling all the flowers and this one smelled like FISH STICKS! EWWW!

 

This is Cliff Palace. It is the largest of all the dwellings. To get to their farm land on top of the mesa they had hand and toe holds in the walls of the canyon that they climbed up. If you killed a deer, guess how you got it down? You had to carry it on your back down the canyon wall using the toe and hand holds! ACK!

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We hiked up to the highest point in the park before we headed home for the night.

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The final morning at Mesa Verde we hiked the Far Sites and saw even more dwellings but these were on TOP of the mesa versus in the cliffs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It was a wee bit chilly outside.

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We got our jackets and headed for a tour of Balcony House.

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We had to climb through tunnels and up ladders to get to a makeshift entrance.

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One of the ladders was 30 feet high!!!

 

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I was zipping up the ladders like they were nothing. If you look back there is nothing behind you!

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We toured the Balcony House and even walked out to the cliff edge.

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Behind me is smaller ladder that we had to climb and then go up the rock walls and up another small ladder.

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The ranger was great and we found out she will be working at Yellowstone in a few weeks when we get there!

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It was neat to see the ceilings and imagine how people lived in such an extreme environment.

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We earned our Junior Ranger badges after completing our books and exploring the park.

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We had a quick early lunch at the restaurant on site. I saw Mom dip a grilled cheese in ketchup and I opted to try it. Turns out, I kinda like ketchup! IMG_9774

Four Corners

I have been wanting to go to Four Corners for a while. I thought it was really neat to be able to stand in one place and be in 4 states at the same time. Here I am standing in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona!

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There wasn’t much to do at Four Corners other than stand on this giant marker. We didn’t stick around for long but we took lots of photos!

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Canyon de Chelly in Arizona and Hubbell Trading Post

Today our adventures took us out of New Mexico again to Arizona. We spent the day at Canyon de Chelly National Monument. It is run by both the US National park Service and the Navajo Nation. Sadly they have a HUGE trash problem. But they are working to help curb the issue by asking visitors, especially Junior Rangers, to pick up a bag of trash. This week is Earth Day so we pithed in and cleaned a median along the road.

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I didn’t want to pick up trash with my bare hands so Mom gave me a paper towel and then I got to work.

Canyon de Chelly was the former home of a cliff dwelling group on Ancestral Pueblo. It is a beautiful canyon with a river running through the middle. We stopped along a lot of overlooks and little trails.

 

 

Mom got a bit nervous standing on the staircase. Thankfully we weren’t allowed to go past the point she was standing.

We saw the beautiful river and decided that we should try to hike into the canyon.

We surveyed the hike and felt we were prepared but the weather was warming up. I have been obsessed with making sure we have food, water and a plan when we hike. I am learning hiking safety.

 

We headed down into the canyon. It wasn’t too bad heading down but after walking about 30 minutes we were all second guessing our commitment to this White House Trail.

I know walking up the hill is harder. The elevation change is really hard to get used to. A vertical height change of 500 feet didn’t seem like a lot going down. I got tired and my ankle was hurting. My ankle has hurt on and off since I was jumping off boulders the other day.

Mom sat with me on a bench while Dad and B hiked further down. They soon turned around too. Oh well, we are working up to this big hikes. We can go for miles on flat land!

 

We drove to the far back of the area and hiked a shorted less speed trail out to see Spider Rock. It is a huge spire over 700 feet tall in the middle of the canyon. No human interference only erosion has caused this beauty.

 

We stopped at the Visitors Center again and turned in ourIMG_9754   Junior Ranger books and got our badges.

After we finished exploring Canyon de Chelly we stopped at the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. We learned about how the Americans and the Navajo had a strong trading post in the 18 and 1900s. We saw the stables, school, hogan, and the trading post itself.

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I loved looking at all of the Navajo handwoven rugs. They were so pretty.

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Here is a picture of some of the pages and patches that we have earned so far on this trip. The patches are usually harder to earn. You either have to complete your entire book or do a special activity to earn them. Homeschooling on the road with the National Parks is pretty fun!

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Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona

Today we drove out to Petrified Forest in Arizona. I thought the views were amazing.

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The colors were spectacular in the Painted Desert.

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We learned about how the area was formed millions of years ago. They even found dinosaur fossils in the soil as it is eroding from the weather.

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We even found an owl pellet that contained a kangaroo rat skeleton.

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We visited the old Painted Desert Inn. We were all tired from hiking and B and I were sad we couldn’t get a treat at the old shut down historic hotel!

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We saw part of historic Route 66 and even saw a 1932 Studebaker wearing away in the desert.

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We saw Pueblo building remnants. Only part is excavated to make sure that the other parts are preserved as best as possible.

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I loved the pink flower and figured out that the white flowers turn pink before they die.

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We hiked a long trail at the Blue Mesa. The soil and rock actually looked blueish purple!

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The rocks had petroglyph carvings from prehistoric times. It was neat to try to figure out what the carvings meant.

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I fell in love with the Indian Paintbrush plants. I used the new camera to take some photos. I worked with Dad and Mom on composition and how to set up a photo.

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By the afternoon I was laying on the ground trying to find good shots with foreground, middle ground and background.

 

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We saw lots of petrified trees. Part of the Junior Ranger program was to hug a piece of petrified wood. We were supposed to look and feel but NOT take!

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Another shot I took with the petrified wood and the Blue Mesa in the background.

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Some of the petrified wood turned into crystallized quartz! Sadly people have stolen some pieces over the years but there were still some samples to see and touch.

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Mom was at her wits end with our constant stories and banter. We drove her to almost diving off the rocks! Just kidding…

 

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I was shocked to see so many HUGE specimens. I loved all the different colors in the once logs.

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More flowers to take photos of. I am loving the flowers with the petrified wood in the background.

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On the way back to New Mexico and the campground we stopped at a roadside stand and I bought a cool necklace made of beads, cedar berry and a piece of turquoise. It was handmade by a local Navajo member.

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I also HAD to have another fry bread! Yum yum yum!

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