Arizona!

We took a short-notice trip to Arizona in the last week or so.  We flew into Las Vegas, rented a car and drove to the Hoover Dam.  It was 105 degrees and windy.  Those hats and (wet) bandannas may look dorky, but they saved our wimpy Oregonian selves in the heat.  (Why on earth would homeschoolers go to the desert in the summer, you ask?  We had our reasons.)


 

Then we stayed in Flagstaff while visiting the Grand Canyon.  We have long appreciated other people who are willing to take our picture, and then regret it because they take terrible pictures.  See what that very nice gentleman did with the picture below?

 

Now look!  Multiple pictures of family members at the Grand Canyon!  But not all of us at the same time.  Pictures don't do the Grand Canyon justice, really.  We went in on the east side and really enjoyed that it wasn't crowded.

 

I think Stuart was feeling the bright sun.  But he was being too stubborn to wear his sunglasses.

 

Grand!  Canyon!

     

After our day at the Grand Canyon, we headed through Sedona and to this great place called Slide Rock State Park.  This is a place so awesome that they charge $20 per car and it's still jam packed by lunchtime.  Why?  That water is COLD.  The place is beautiful.

 

Marcus did not partake of the slide rocks, but he did enjoy the cold water.

 

Stuart, on the other hand, spent nearly three hours sliding on the rocks.



At one point I took Stuart exploring upriver.  We walked for fifteen minutes and still didn't reach the end of the easy water play--or the end of the people.

 

The water was delightful.  The boys were very happy.

 

Eventually it got so crowded (and hot) that we had lunch and moved on.  On to Phoenix!  This pic was actually taken near the end of our visit, but what the hell.  It's near an open-to-the-public outdoor shooting range.  We could hear the shots while we were hiking.



This is from our first hike in the real heat.  It was probably 100 at 9am.  We only hiked for 20 minutes total because we weren't sure how the kids would do.  Turns out they were fine.

   

Then we got lunch, went back to the house where we were staying, and swam in the pool.  The water was between 85 and 90 degrees.  But since it was 110 degrees in the shade, it still felt good.

 

So we did more hiking.  A saguaro cactus can get big.

 

Also, prickly pear cactus can get big.  I flipped my hat brim up to take a picture, then forgot to flip it back down.  Sue me.



See those brochures the kids are holding?  Turns out those are great for knocking pieces of cholla cactus off the trail so you don't step on it.

That's really all the pictures I have, despite us spending almost seven days away.  The only other real place of note was the Arizona Natural History Museum in Mesa, which had dinosaur bones like crazy.  Then we had a VERY long day getting back to Las Vegas and then back to Portland, getting to our house after midnight.  Fun trip!