Day 5 - Long day and night

 We left on schedule this morning at 8am headed for Walnut Canyon.  It was only a 15 minute drive from Flagstaff.  We had a busy day ahead with lots of stops and driving so we limited our stay to 30 minutes.  Hiking down the Canyon and back up about half a mile made us all realize that we need to hike more and get in better shape! 

 

Our next planned stop was Meteor Crater.  It is nearly one mile across and 500 feet deep.  We drove to the entrance only to find that it cost $80 for us to see inside.  We decided that the outside view was good enough and continued on our way.

Winslow Arizona was our next quick stop.  We went to the corner and snapped a few pictures in tribute to the song by the Eagles “Take it Easy”.

We stopped for a quick bite at a little café in Holbrook.  The food was pretty tasty but also a little too spicy for me.

“Have you slept in a wigwam lately?”  Holbrook is also the sight for the Wigwam Motel made famous in the movie “Cars”.

Continuing on, we made a quick stop to view the beautiful painted desert, on our way to Four Corners.  Jaz was really excited to see the desert.  I’m not sure it lived up to her expectations.

The drive to four corners was long and rather desolate.  It sits on a large Indian Reservation.  When we arrived it was really windy.  We waited in line for about 45 minutes for a picture at the famous sight where four states touch. 

Leaving Four Corners at 8, we wanted to stop at the Utah state line.  There was a large rock the kids posed on.  Blake found a Geo Cache hidden in the edge of the rock.  It was a small capsule with pencil and paper.  There were a few names and dates (the last one was dated over a year ago).  He signed his name and replaced the capsule for the next “finder”. 

We wanted to stop for a quick bite on the way to the hotel so we could continue to drive.  We decided to make this a long travel day to shorten other days.  Just getting out of the Indian reservation took an hour and it was dark when we stopped for lunch at Subway in a little town in Utah. 

I am typing this entry as we drive to our hotel.  We hope to arrive in West Valley Utah (near Salt Lake) at the hotel around 2am.  Steve and I will get some rest and Ariel will add photos to my post  before we head out at 8. 

Thanks for keeping up with us and your words of encouragement.  This trip has been an exciting journey for us as a family.  It is helping to transition to a new life as well as giving us a chance to spend some time together.  It has been too long!  There are a few arguments but one hotel room and one vehicle force us to work out the disagreements.  We laugh a lot and have such a great time together, we are not anxious for it to end.