After we got back from our trip to Asia and Hawaii we celebrated Christmas in Canada before starting a long drive down to Sedona, Arizona. We traveled by van so we could have it there and take our 6 year old Golden Retriever, Malaika. On the way snow storms were coming across our route so we went a different way and decided to stop in Nashville for lunch and a walk around the famous country music city.
We ended up in Memphis for the night, another famous musical city, the home of the blues. Watching the weather we decided it was best to stay in Memphis for a second night and Mom and Dad wanted to visit the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. So the next morning we went and learned a lot about the Civil Rights movement and then we walked down to the famous Beale Street and had lunch at B.B. King's Blues Club.
The next day we were on the road again and made it as far as Albuquerque thinking we would have one more day to Sedona but no, another storm. So we stayed an extra day and went across the road to a cinema to watch a movie. With two extra days of traveling we were all ready to be out of the van so it was a good thing we finally made it the next day.
The house was nice and had a large yard for pitching when it wasn't too cold. We stayed in the first house for two months. It had a lot of space but was a little old fashioned. It did have a big backyard and a nice den in the garage with a pool table, a couple couches and a tv though. It also had a great view of the red rocks.
The best part about the house was the horse trail right down the street. Everyday Kaden, Dad, and I would take Malaika on a walk up the trail. It wasn't too much up hill but it was quite a long trail and you could loop back anytime you wanted. We only finished the entire trail once. The trail led up to a steep hill with a nice view of Sedona. Kaden and I took the steep trail once with Malaika while Mom, Zaddek and Sage walked into the village to the grocery store. When we were at the top we could see them like little ants down below. It was at that house that Sedona got hit with a snow storm. They were used to getting a dusting of snow but this was a good foot which closed all roads and stores but made for great snowmen.
One of my favourite hikes was Bell Rock which was a red rock mountain that resembled a bell. The hike included a lot of climbing.
We had done the hike a few times and climbed quite high as a family twice but never to the top. Then when Kaden wasn't feeling up to it one day Zaddek and I made it. I started the descent down the mountain but it was too steep and ended up sliding down the slippery snowy rock 50 feet down. The water had eroded the rock down the side of the mountain and it would have been quite fun if the end wasn't a pile of rocks on a ledge. I hit the end of the rockslide, caught some air and landed hard on my knees near the edge of a ten foot drop. I called up to Zaddek to take the long way round the mountain. I then ran over to get Mom, her friend Jen and Sage who were waiting for us to get back and had missed the whole thing. I told them what happened and then I took them over to see where I fell just to find Zaddek trying to climb down and get to the path on the other side of the rock slide. We saw him slide on the snow right where I had and start hurdling down the mountainside screaming. Luckily he hit the rocks and didn't go over the ledge either. We both walked away from it not too bad with some ripped up hands from trying to slow down the fall. I had some bruises from landing on the rocks.
Another one of my favourite hikes was Cathedral. Cathedral was also a mountain hike but it took longer to hike than Bell as it was quite a bit higher and the climb steeper. It has a great view of the valley on the other side of the mountain. I never slipped on Cathedral but my Dad did slip on the ice once and free fell down 10 feet landing on some big rocks. He got it a lot worse then Zaddek and I with some bad bruises but luckily didn't break anything. We hiked it a couple of times and went up once to time it for sunset to walk out on the ledge and get some amazing photos.
We couldn't find a house for the entire four months so we stayed in three different AirBnBs. After the two months in the first house we moved our stuff to the new house which was only a few minutes away. The new house was more modern but had less space and a small rocky backyard. There was a nice hike on Baldwin trail down the road that we walked a lot. It went behind Cathedral so it gave us a nice view of it and once when Zaddek and Kaden were finding a way up to the top of one of the cliffs I found a rattlesnake - it was dead though. Still the house was nice but we didn't get to enjoy it much (except the automatic reclining sofas) because we all got really sick.
Once we started to feel better we all went to the Petrified Forest National Park for Dad's birthday. The petrified forest isn't actually a forest but instead where one used to be. The petrified forest is famous for its petrified wood. Petrified Wood forms when a tree falls into mud and is cut off from oxygen. The tree needs oxygen to rot and decay but instead the mud keeps the wood from decaying and slowly the chemicals in the mud replace the ones in the wood. In enough time it can fully transform the wood into petrified wood which is actually a fossil. The forest was now a desert with colourful clay that made for a cool landscape. You could even see a bunch of petrified logs every colour of the rainbow scattered through the desert. We took a few hikes and then we went to Dobell Ranch - a place just outside the park where they excavate the wood and we got to pick out some petrified wood for ourselves.
The next house transfer was more difficult as there was someone moving into our house the morning we left so we couldn't make two trips and there wasn't enough room in the van for all of us. So Kaden, Zaddek and I had to walk around in the heat for hours when there was a delay at the new house. Once they picked us up we got to see the last house which was the best of all.
We all got our own rooms instead of having to share and the house was way up a hill and had much more privacy. There was a huge courtyard with hanging lights and a small pond with a rock waterfall. It even had a casita with a king bed, a tv and its own kitchen and bathroom. We all rotated who had the casita and it was like owning your own apartment.
After a few days at the new house we took a day trip to Antelope Canyon and the Grand Canyon which were only three hours away. Antelope Canyon is famous for the beautiful photos you can take there. Inside the small wind and water carved canyon with the the spiralling sandstone walls it feels like you're an ant in a crack in the cement looking up into the world above.
After our tour of Antelope canyon we went to the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was massive compared to Antelope canyon which looked like it was a small crack in the side the plateau while as you could barely see the other side of the Grand Canyon. With its never ending spires, hills, plateaus, and valleys, covering the floor way down below in the vast Canyon it was difficult to take in.
Both were really cool though and by the time we got back home we were exhausted. After a few weeks in the new house, which included Zaddek's birthday, Easter and lots of hikes like Devil's Bridge, Soldier's Pass and Fay Canyon, I finished the rest of my school and we started to get ready for the drive back to Canada.
The last famous trail in Sedona we hadn't hiked yet was West Fork Trail. The hike was six miles long and followed a small river winding back and forth along its banks. It was a lot nicer than the other trails like Soldiers Pass and Chapel because it was cool and shady down by the river with plenty of tree cover. Once we started the hike Zaddek ran ahead like usual not wanting to slow down for Sage. At the end of the trail Zaddek would always double back and pass us on the way back but we neared the end and he was nowhere to be seen. We asked a few people if they had seen him but they hadn't so Mom and Dad got quite worried. We hit the end of the trail and he wasn't there so I had to wade up the river to see if he had missed the sign marking the end of the trail. He wasn't there either so instead of having our lunch on the nice river bank we had to eat our sandwiches really quickly on a bunch of rocks. Once we ate we were about to go look for Zaddek when he walked up the river from down the trail. Turns out he had gotten lost and decided to follow the river instead. Mom and Dad were happy to see him but upset that something could have happened. We all stayed together then and found a nice spot to finish our picnic and hike back with lots of photo stops.
A few days later we finished packing and Dad left for his business trip. The next day we all cleaned the house and loaded up the van before saying goodbye to Sedona and getting ready for Canada. We were going to meet Dad in Colorado after his business trip so we had some time to kill. The first day we stopped at Monument Valley and we could see it from miles and miles away across the flat desert plains.
The next day we got to visit the Great Sand Dunes again and go sand surfing. The first time we went nearly four years before it was dry and hot and we walked back to the car covered in sand and baking in the heat. This time though it was dark, windy and cold. It was a lot more difficult then I remember but soon I got the hang of it and went down a huge dune that was nearly straight down.
Once I hit the bottom of the dune the board levelled out way too quickly and I wiped out. I had gone first and made it look easy but after that none of us made all the way without falling.
It started to drizzle so we returned the sand boards and after a four hours of driving in snow and iced roads up in the mountains we made it to our hotel south of Denver. The next day we had a few hours before Dad's flight landed so we spent our extra time at Arsenal Wildlife Refuge with acres of open prairie right in Denver famous for its buffalo. The plains are closed in so the buffalo can't roam into the streets of Denver but they have tons of open space in the park. We drove to through the centre of the refuge with plains on either side and saw some buffalo close to the road. It was a relatively small herd with around ten buffalo and one with a small calf. We stopped the car and watched them graze for a bit when the mom and calf started to walk toward us and cross the road right behind us.
Soon more followed and it was really cool. Dad's flight landed early so we had to leave the park and barely made it on time. Once we picked him up we stayed the night in a hotel right next Rocky Mountain National Park. In the morning we drove into the park and saw a lot of deer and a few elk.
We also stopped at a lookout with a great view over the Rockies.
Later in the day we were parked near a herd of elk when Kaden saw something out on the frozen plains ahead of the van. We got out to get a closer look but it was really far away. It looked like either a fox, coyote, or wolf but it was too far to tell. After a few minutes it started towards the road way ahead so we all jumped in the van to see if we could get a closer look. We made it in time and saw it cross the road in front of us. It was a lone coyote that was hunting out in the snow. After crossing the road he slipped into the woods and out of sight.
We had packed some lunch and were on our way to a picnic area when we saw cars on the side of the road which usually that means there is something nearby. As we took the bend I caught a glimpse through the trees and saw a moose lying in the snow. We turned the car and parked by the others and walked down into the valley. There were a few people watching the moose as well and they said there was a calf feeding in the brush. After a few minutes the mother moose stood and started feeding and soon after the calf emerged from the brambles and out into the open. They didn't seem to afraid of us and there was a small creek between us. The calf was probably a year old at least and had long thins legs and huge ears.
We watched it feed and it was a lot more interested in us than the mom was. We sat for over half an hour and then the two of them disappeared into the thickets. After lunch at a picnic site we drove through the park until it closed and then stopped at the visitor's center for a good tip on where to see the Bighorn sheep. We stayed the night at the same hotel and in the morning we decided to give the Bighorn sheep place one last shot. There was a roadside mountain face and apparently they see a lot of Bighorns there. We weaved through the winding road eyes locked on the rocky cliffs and then I spotted them - six juveniles up the cliff. We parked the car and Kaden, Zaddek, Dad, and I climbed up and found a nice spot to watch them while Mom stayed back with Sage. They didn't have the big windy horns like the ones we saw last time we were here but the adult Bighorns tend to live at higher altitudes that are impossible to reach on the icy roads.
It was still cool to see them as they grazed and slowly got really close. They can be quite aggressive at times so we slowly backed up and descended back down to the van.
We left the Rockies and for 3 more days drove the rest of the way to Canada for the summer.
Total vans: 1 very full one
Total miles walked: too many to count
