Had a great time visiting Arizona during our spring break. We started on Friday night and drove about 3 hours to The Knights Inn for the first night. It was one of those places that you tell stories about because it was ancient. The red shag carpet really set the tone for the entire facility. We were up early and on the road in no time.
Our first potty break was in AZ at this look out spot. It was at this point that all the Navajo jewelry stands started to pop up. They were everywhere along the highway. Unfortuatly we didn't stop and look.
Colorado River
We took advantage of the view from the Old Navajo Bridge that went across the Colorado River near Lee's Ferry. There was a girl there with a large antenna waving it around. We went up and asked her what she was doing. She was locating tagged condors in the area. There was a condor on the cliffs near that bridge that she pointed out to us. She even had a replica of one of their eggs there for us to see. They lay one egg every two years.
Desert View Lookout Tower
Our next stop after lunch was at the grand canyon on the south rim. This lookout tower is pretty cool. This place looks old but it was just built to like that way. Its more of a look out spot with a gift shop inside.
This was from the bottom of the tower looking up at us in the top. Stairs spiral around on the inside. It was kind of cool.
First time for all of us. This was at the south rim. It was an amazing view!
Phoenix, AZ
Finally made it to Arizona late Saturday afternoon. All along the freeway entrances and exits there were these cool designs that I thought were pretty neat. I had Jacob taking pictures of them for me throughout our trip. I have a fun little collection of them now.
We had time to settle in at the hotel and have dinner before it was time for bed.
Sunday in between conference sessions we drove out to the Mesa temple. It was gorgeous. A little oasis in the dessert!
Pueblo Grande Museum
Monday while Dennis was at his conference, the plan was for me to take the kids to the Musical Instruments museum, but of course I got lost and couldn't figure out the printed directions we had. We opted to walk around the pueblo grande archaeology museum that was 2 minutes from our hotel instead. The kids were disappointed but I bribed them with swimming at the hotel if they did this first.
The museum provided umbrellas as we walked around the site.
When you come from 72 degrees to 92 degrees it feels more like 102 degrees. We were so glad that there was a pool at the hotel.It was actually really nice. The boys played nurf ball with a couple other boys who were visiting from somewhere near France. They were here for all the off season baseball games.
Monday night when we went to pick up Dennis from his conference we unknowingly got caught in Diamondback traffic as all the crowds were all headed to the first baseball game of the season at Chase Field. It made for a very messy pick up but we finally got him. We headed out to have dinner together and play a little that night.
Castles and Coasters/Golf and Stuff
We spent the last few hours of our day at the Castles and Coasters adventure park. The coasters are only open on the weekends, but we rode the go-karts and bumper boats while the boys did a round of 18 hole mini golf. While the girls were waiting for them we hung out at the arcade and played all the games they wanted. It was a pretty fun night together.
Phoenix Zoo
Tuesday morning we loaded up all our gear, reluctantly checked out of the hotel and headed out to the zoo. We spent the whole day there. This is where the heat really caught up with us. It was pretty fun though.
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| This guy looks so real! |
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| Gotta have an Icee and of course taste each others creation. |
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| Bonnie opted for cotton candy instead. |
4D Imax show of Rio. Well 15 minutes of it anyway.
Bonnie found lots of "friends".
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| Sting Ray Bay |
Work Conference
Dennis finally met up with one of his "most favorite" mission companions, who is from AZ and just so happened to be the guide for one of the tours at the conference.
Just before heading out of Phoenix, Dennis took Afton and Bonnie for a potty break and found some cool insect pieces just outside the building where his conference was being held.
We had a quick dinner at Jack-in-the-box then onto Flagstaff to stay the night before making the rest of the way home. We were racing the clock because we had to get Jacob home in time for work at 4pm. We did it with about 20 minutes to spare. I will say that it was nice having three drivers to split the drive time with. It was a great trip and also nice to be home.
