Day 3 - March 31 - Flagstaff

After Leah and James dug into their candy-filled Easter baskets and hunted for eggs in the hotel room, we set off for a day at three national monuments in the Flagstaff area.  First on the agenda was hiking around Sunset Crater Volcano, which is part of a volcano field in the San Francisco Peaks region. According to the guide book, the volcano's last eruption was in 1085 AD and the lava flow extended 6 miles (with the volcanic ash covering more than 800 square miles), so it was a pretty big explosion.

Here's Leah in front of the volcano getting ready for the hike:

The hiking trail wove through petrified black lava and offered stunning views with the snowcapped mountains in the background:

The next stop was Wutapaki National Monument, which is just a short drive from Sunset Crater.  After the volcano erupted, some of surrounding land benefited from the volcanic ash, as it helped the arid soil retain moisture and make the dry climate a bit more inhabitable. There are quite a few Native American ruins around Wutapaki and from what we've read, it sounds like many of them were built 30-40 years after the eruption.

Our third stop was Walnut Canyon National Monument, which is a cliff dwelling and Native American ruins near a large canyon in the Flagstaff area.  Unlike Wutapaki, these canyons are walnut colored sandstone (not red).  We don't have any pictures of this stop, because the kids were overtired/trying to sleep in the car, but it was a nice end to a gorgeous day!

We hope to have more fun tomorrow.

Day 2 - March 30 - Flagstaff

Today we drove 70 miles from Flagstaff to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon for some hiking and site seeing at one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.  The canyon is enormous (277 miles long, 18 miles wide, 1 mile deep) and since we only had one day to explore it, we decided to hike down into the canyon for the 360 degree views at Ooh Ahh Point and then walk along the rim for some more sights.  The rim of the Grand Canyon is at 7,000 feet of elevation, so the air is a bit thin, which makes hiking with kids in a backpack pretty tough!

Here's a group of people riding mules up the canyon's switchbacks (this is where we hiked from):

Views from the South Rim & Mather Point:

Day 1 - March 29 - Traveling

After a long, cold New York winter, we decided to break loose for a week of sunshine, family time and site seeing in the American Southwest.  We cooked up our latest adventure just 3 days ago -- and after scrambling to book flights, hotels and a rental car in just a few days time -- we now find ourselves in Flagstaff, Arizona for the first part of our next adventure.

We'll try to post pictures and write about our trip, but today was strictly a travel day, so there's not much to say.  After six hours in a plane, a two hour layover, and two hours of driving, we're tired.

Here's the view from our hotel window.

And since we just decided to come on this trip a few days ago, we haven't spent any time researching what to see and do in Arizona. If anyone has any suggestions, please let us know!  We'll be in Flagstaff for 3 nights and Scottsdale for 4 nights, otherwise, we'll mostly be planning it one day at a time.