Denorme Family

6/6/13

Day 6 - The Grand Canyon.... again by popular demand

Today we had a free day and the kids decided that they wanted to go back to the Grand Canyon. We had another great weather day and hiked a different part of the rim. We also enjoyed a great lunch at the historic El Tovar lodge which opened up in the early 1900's.

Mules trekking down to the base.

The El Tovar Lodge

View from Hopi Point. The mountain range in the background is 60 miles away.

One of the three Elks there were hanging out near our car.

California Condor hanging out on the ledge.

6/5/13

Day 5 - Sedona

We had a great day in Sedona today. The morning kicked off with the family jumping in a pink jeep and going off-roading. What a ride! Then we had a great lunch at the Cowboy Club eating cactus fries, fried rattlesnake, fry bread, and bison burgers! With the temperature reaching 100 degrees, we stopped by Slide Rock State Park to slide down the natural rock chutes in the 50 degree water. Very refreshing! What great views in Sedona.

6/4/13

Day 4 - The Grand Canyon

Today we took the Grand Canyon Railway (www.thetrain.com) from Williams, Arizona to the South Rim. What a great trip to and from the canyon! The trip each way took around 2 hours. During the train ride we were able to see wildlife like a herd of antelope race the train. Once we made it to the Grand Canyon, we took the Bright Angel trail into the Canyon. Then we came back up to the rim and followed a rim trail path that had great views. Caleb described it in one word while driving back to the hotel, "Awesome". Words and pictures cannot describe the Grand Canyon. What an amazing day.

6/3/13

Day 3 - New Mexico to Arizona

Left this morning from Albuquerque heading West to Arizona. We stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park where we were able to view and hike through the painted desert and the petrified forest. This was an amazing park to visit and the Denorme family would highly recommend it. After the park we headed into Flagstaff where we will reside for the rest of the week.

Observations:

Found some lava rock in New Mexico
West New Mexico has beautiful landscape with a great mountain range
We crossed the Continental Divide
Had to avoid tumbleweeds coming across the highway
Caleb counted 14 trains he saw just today
Words cannot describe the painted desert
Route 40 from Albuquerque to Flagstaff is a must do drive
90 degrees today but enjoyable with the humidity

6/2/13

Day 2 - Missouri to New Mexico

Observations:

Love Oklahoma's speed limit!
Cows everywhere.
Oklahoma City is a good looking city.
We drove through tornado devastation - very eye opening.
Passed our first 1000 miles of the trip in Hydro, Oklahoma.
Texas is flat.... Very flat.
Texas cows smell when you have 10,000 of them on one acre.
Texans love their Dairy Queen.. We had to partake.
New Mexico has a beautiful mountain range.
We witnessed a thunderstorm in the horizon for 30 miles.... Very impressive.
Great Mexican food in Old Town in Albuquerque.

Key stats:

Little under 1500 miles driven in 2 days in under 22 hours at the average speed of 68 mph through 7 states!

6/1/13

Day 1 - St. Louis (Columbus to Joplin, MO)

In our trek across the country we stopped to visit the Gateway Arch.

Quick note:

Four hours into the trip I noticed a nail in my front tire while filling up on gas. Thank goodness we were in Terre Haute which had choices for tires. Long story short, got four new tires in less than one hour ... We did not miss a beat!