The Grandest of Canyons

While Billy was parked in Vegas, we took advantage of some day tripping opportunities. 

The first was The Grand Canyon.

We had always planned to go there, but we thought we would double back on the way back east closer to the end of our trip.  After much discussion, we decided that this would be the better option and would save us some time - something that was becoming more and more important to our family (traveling is tiring, and we are all ready to settle down, though not willing to stop the journey just yet) daily.

We checked out the visitor's center first, taking the time to view the film (there are films at almost all of the national parks) and browse in the gift shop. 

As Maeryn watched, she gasped, falling in love with the colors of the canyon.  She asked to go back to the car to get her sketch-book before we viewed the actual canyon.

 

She started sketching even before we arrived.

It was a short walk to the overlook we'd chosen.

I wasn't expecting much - I'd seen a clip from a popular sit-com where the character asked "How long are we obligated to look at this" a few days earlier.  How great could it be?  

 

 Jonah and Michael ran ahead, while Maeryn and I lagged behind so she could keep drawing.  She wanted to capture everything.  I couldn't blame her, especially as I snapped photo after photo with my camera phone.

The Canyon is truly Grand.

The distance to the bottom...  incredible.

The feeling standing and looking down over the reds, pinks, greens, and yellows?  Indescribable.

We all took a little more than "ten minutes".

A Farewell to Arizona: in Sunsets

 

Farewell, Sonora Desert.  Farewell.

Maeryn at The Desert Muesum

You should NOT feed the coyotes.

The next day, Maeryn decided that she wanted to go to the Desert Museum after all.

Michael took her, since I'd already been.

They sent me a few pictures along the way and had a brilliant time, all told.

Here is Maeryn riding a baby mountain goat.  Don't worry, it's just a statue.

An Afternoon with My Girl

Maeryn didn't want to go to the Desert Muesum yesterday.  Today she didn't want to go to Old Tucson.  We're trying our best to understand Maeryn's homebody nature and honor her wishes as much as possible.  Michael and I thought through it and checked things out online and decided that he would prefer going to Old Tucson and I would prefer the Desert Museum, and we switched off on two different days.  It worked out, and saved us money - plus Maeryn and I had a good time hanging out at the campground in the middle of the Desert.

We drew tons of chalk art on the road for our fellow campers to enjoy.  It was nice to get out the sidewalk chalk - we hadn't done much of it since the East Coast. 

After our chalk drawing, we decided to go for a walk in the desert sun.  We imagined we were explorers in the desert searching for treasure.

Yep, she was wearing heels.

We had to find a special key to unlock a treasure box.  We realized that the special key was actually a part of the sacred Golden Cactus, lost to humanity long ago, so we revised our search.  After a lengthy period and a treacherous climb down a mountain filled with slopes of the slippery-est kind, we found the Golden Cactus Arm, which doubled as the key to the treasure chest.  The chest was filled with emeralds, gold, and rubies.

We packed our find into our truck and drove it back to our base camp, where Maeryn wrote a story with illustrations discussing the entire adventure.

A good day.

Below are a couple of photos from Michael and Jonah's visit to Old Tucson:

 

Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

 Staying near Saguaro National Park was just amazing.  We had access to a bounty of resources all about the desert, Saguaros, the Old West...  nature was abundant, and people were everywhere who were eager to answer questions for curious kids and offer explanations for expanding minds.

Jonah and I visited the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.  I wasn't expecting much.  I figured it would be a relatively boring place with information on various cacti species and guidebooks to gemstones and mining.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

The Desert Museum is a zoo, botanical garden, aquarium, aviary, science center, and more.  Set mostly outdoors, tourists walk through the actual desert as they learn about its many species of plants and animals, its history, its caves, and its people.

 

One of the most exciting parts of the museum was the cave exploration center.  We traveled through a cave replica (with some actual rock formations included) and saw examples of all sorts of mine-able gemstones.  These were behind glass, but displayed in a manner consistent with an actual cave, as though the gems were seeping right out of the walls.  Behind glass, we saw cave spiders, bats, and blind fish with the flip of an accessible light switch.  

At the end of the cave, we entered a room depicting the ancient history of the Sonoran Desert, beginning with the formation of the earth.  The entire desert used to be ocean and swampland, with plenty of dinosaurs!  Through a door, we discovered an entire room filled with rocks and minerals found in the area and a microscope (picture at the top of this entry) where Jonah was able to look more closely at several different crystals and stones.

 Outside, we saw old mining equipment used in this area not so long ago.  Behind Jonah and this machine, you can see some rocks in a pile (a hill) - this used to be a huge swamp.  A few prominent dinosaur skeletons were found here.

 They had a great place for budding paleontologists to try their hands.

We saw mountain lions, giant tortoises, several species of deer, Mexican wolves, coyotes, mountain goats, prairie dogs, otters, and a friendly beaver along the desert path through the outdoor portions of the museum.  The mountain lion was so close to the glass we could have reached out and pulled his tail - though I don't think that would have been met with a lot of positive enthusiasm from the lion...

The duck in the photo above was inside one of several aviaries on the property.  There was also an aviary especially for hummingbirds - they zoomed in and out, up and down, and close to our faces.

At the end of the day, we chilled out in the cafe with cookies, chips, and coffee (for the Mama).  There was an extensive gift shop with all kinds of goodies.  We didn't get anything, but it was fun to browse!

Tucson Saguaros

Tucson was our next destination.

I had yet to see any real cacti.  You know the kind.  The ones with the big arms that are always in silhouette against a pink and purple Arizona sunset.  They'd been all over billboards since Texas.  But Texas doesn't have any.

Neither does New Mexico.

I saw my first one along the road and literally jumped out of my seat as the bus bumbled down the road.

"Saguaro!!!  I see one!  There it is!!!"

Jonah ran to the front of the bus to peer through my window.

"I see it, Mom!  I see one too!"


Michael chuckled to himself.  We were in some of his childhood stomping grounds and this was nothing new to him.

Ten minutes later I was looking out on a forest of Saguaros.  Thousands of them all up and down the roadside and all up and down the mountains - like trees without leaves - arms and legs stretching skyward.  Dancers frozen in time.  I squealed with delight.  Yes... me.  I squealed.

Tonight we would sleep in Saguaro National Park.

I insisted we park the bus next to one.

And we did.

And it was good.

First Arizona Hike: Jonah and Me

Maeryn had been doing better for two days now.  Things were finally calming down. 

We still were getting the run around from the heating people and our tenant had been cold for four days, but eventually we knew we would be able to put that behind us. 

We were staying at a state park in Arizona (close to the New Mexico border) where there was a sweet looking hiking trail up and around two mountains.  I asked Jonah if he wanted to go with me.  The hike was 3.5 miles - more than we could do with Maeryn, but totally doable for the two of us, and he agreed to come.

The sun was hot.

But it was a great hike.

The views were spectacular.

The colors here were different - much more alive than the desert in New Mexico.

We were thirsty and tired at the end, but both happy we ventured out into the wilderness... and that we didn't see any Gila Monsters.