June 15, 2004

Day 5 of 16

 

We started this day at the Wigwam Motel with a TV and no phone. It was very small but comfortable. Then again we were so tired we could have slept in a shoe :) We stopped for a picture in from of the Rock Shop and the same Route 66 sign Katie and I stopped at in June 1999.

 

Then we headed to Walnut Canyon National Monument to see Sinagua Indian Ruins built into the side of the cliffs. Heather also earned a Junior Ranger badge here. It was about a half mile walk down 240 steps and a gradual decline then back up 1,234 steps and a steep incline. Heather seems to enjoy sitting in the car much more than walking stairs, it must be that dry heat thing :)

 

We then travel to Sunset Crater Volcano. At the Volcano we walked on the lava flow, black sand and stopped at the visitor center trying to explain to Heather what a Volcano is. It was my first lava flow experience, kinda neat and it wasn't even hot, I guess it cooled down in 800 years :) 

 

We continued on to the Wupatki Indian Ruins. These villages were built in like small towns including a Ball Court for games. The really "cool" thing was the "Blow Hole" where cold air came right out of the ground. Talk about prime real estate in the desert :) Most of these ruins dated back to 1000 to 1200 AD. Everything today up to this point was a first for all of us.

 

We finally reached the Grand Canyon ("The Big Hole" as I refer to it as) around 2 pm. Naomi made us stop at every lookout coming in from the East entrance along the south rim. She kept making Brandy Bunch refers and how she one day wanted to take the Mule Train down to the bottom and eat beans out of a flashlight. We arrived at our hotel around 5:30 pm. After checking in we walked to the rim to watch the sunset.

 

All in all another really nice day. We planned a  short driving day to give us allot of time at the Grand Canyon. We did everything we planned for this trip. Hopefully our next trip to the Big Hole will include a float down the Colorado River and a Mule Ride :)