Truth or Consequences?

Heading south from Albuquerque we made it as far as Elephant Butte, New Mexico. It's a random place, to say the least. We loved the park we stayed at though, as it had big sunny spots great for sitting outside to watch the sunset, and smooth pavement for the kids to scooter around on. 

We'd had weather on the cool side in northern NM, so being a bit south we relished the warmth of this place. 

Our first day there we headed to the neighboring town of Truth or Consequences. It seems like the sort of place you accidentally end up residing in; you roll into town for a night and wake up five years later. There's a very Vonnegut/Robbins vibe going on, which felt amplified given that it was my forty-ish birthday. (As if I should have more of an internal plot and narration going on based on the randomness of the situation, but my end conclusion was that, to be cliche, life was pretty good.)

When I say it looks like people roll into town and stay, it really does look like this happens. This wasn't a trailer park, just sighted on a normal residential corner. You'd see airstreams with built-on rooms right next to posh adobe homes. 

We walked around their downtown, and only a handful of shops were open. Most were closed so their owners could dance or eat pie (that's what their signs indicated, and I'm inclined to believe them). 

The two local bookstores were open, and full of treasures. At the first one we went to the owner just let our kids pick out a book for free. 

The relaxed vibe runs deep here. Yay reading!

Our youngest found this gem, which made him feel ecstatic.

We didn't check out the hot springs here, but they seemed popular with the locals (or the transplanted-now-locals).

What I liked about this place was that the seemingly loose building codes and general randomness led to lots of unique homes that were fun to walk around and see. This isn't a town to visit if you're looking for anything in particular to see or do, but fun for observing a unique way of setting up homes.

Even the UFO signs in New Mexico are rather non-committal. Traveling here we found the frequent highway road sign "Gusty winds may exist" funny in a philosophical sort of way as well.

In Elephant Butte that night we found ourselves at Casa Taco, which was like their local Cheers. We felt right at home and ate ourselves silly, the perfect celebration and start of a new year!

 

We liked it so much we went there our second night, too. (After that night it felt like we ate salad for a week straight, to compensate for our attachment to the cuisine of New Mexico.)

Fiesta in Albuquerque

Albuquerque was one of the first destinations we set a date to get to before we left home, as friends of ours (our daughters were inseparable in those days before we left) were planning on being there for the balloon fiesta. It was their mom/grandmother's 90th birthday party and family reunion, but we were welcome to crash the party. 

First things first, though, and being our first big city since leaving Seattle we had to stop for Korean food our first night in town. We had gone way too long without spicy red noodles, our particular brand of soul food.

After that we spent some time checking out their plaza and historic church. 

The next afternoon we met my friend and her girls there, and lots of silliness ensued. In typical little brother fashion, this guy sort of stole the show.

He is 13, and eating, finishing eating, or at least thinking about eating, in most pictures. Sofia's restaurant filled him up, and we all loved the food.

We hung out at our friend's hotel that night while the kids swam, then our daughter got to have a sleepover since we all planned on meeting up at the sunrise balloon launch the next morning. 

The phone call tag as we tried to find each other on the field went something like this:

"I'm by the cow's udder."

"I think I see that. We're by spider pig, and Elvis is behind us. Do you see the big queen? We'll walk towards that."

Once again, we felt so lucky to get together with friends on this trip, and make great memories with our children. Without them, we wouldn't have even known about the balloon fiesta. What's the best travel tip you've received?

This is really worth seeing; you feel like a little kid looking up in amazement all morning.

~Judy

Meandering in Flagstaff and Sedona

A funny thing about travel, is that you can see the same place on two different days and love it or loath it depending on your mood. 

Oak Creek Canyon between Flagstaff and Sedona.

When we first pulled into Flagstaff we were in the latter category, as we had a rash of bad drivers around us on the road and a hard time finding good groceries. Hungry Parks are grumpy Parks. Then we were confused Parks (sorry, that should be the last third person sort of reference), as we tackled some hiking trails in Sedona. 

I think northwest hiking could be in the 'hiking for dummies' category, as given the landscape you can't help but stay on the trail. (Hint, if you're standing in the ferns you're off of the trail.) In the southwest, it seems to be more criss-crossing and meandering, with no markers. We'd take a trail only to see it end around a corner, then double-back and try again on another fork. Great hiking for short attention spans, but not particularly rewarding otherwise. We had a decently paced two-hour hike, but probably went no more than a couple of miles into the canyon. 

Checking out some fish along a slow spot in a side stream.

We did have an awesome, or, well, bad, parenting moment (depending on your perspective). Coming to a point where we needed to cross a large creek, Kevin and I were debating crossing points along the bank. His back was to the water as he's telling me that there's no place here for the kids to cross safely, and then I look up and start laughing. 

"What?! No, really, these rocks are too far apart for them!"

"Yeah, just look on the other side of the creek."

There they are, already across and checking out the rest of the trail. Ugh. This isn't the best/worst part. We're going across and both of us get stuck, where we're not sure we can navigate across without falling in. Our oldest nimbly comes out and takes our backpacks, so we can balance better, and easily crosses with them. Meanwhile, I'm still perched on the edge of a rock like a toddler on a diving board for the first time, psyching myself up that my wee legs can make the leap. Their earnest encouragement and congratulations after we crossed were both endearing and embarrassing.

Our next day was so much better, as we met friends for lunch in Flagstaff. We'd walked by that same restaurant the day before, but it didn't catch our eye. It was, however, amazing! Custom order salads, and yummy soups and sandwiches. (I think it's called the Mix, in downtown Flagstaff.) The company of good friends is what we all miss the most during this adventure, so it was so joyful to spend the day with them. We also did a family hike together, but this time the meandering pace was purposeful as both of our youngest (who just met each other that day) are little naturalists that want to take the time to explore all of the plants and wildlife along the trail. 

Seeing him have a companion to share his interests, even for an afternoon, was so much fun.

The seven sacred springs proved too irresistible for the dog, much to the delight of all the kids.

The day before we'd also dismissed Sedona as a bit too touristy (think t-shirt, fortune telling, and ice cream shops), but our friends knew a great local pizza place that made us change our minds entirely. After so much (SO MUCH) togetherness for us on this trip over the past weeks, it was also a bit of a treat that our waiter seated the kids on one side of the busy restaurant, and us on the other, and that we all behaved ourselves and felt grown up. 

It was so good to wrap up our Flagstaff and Sedona leg of the trip this way!
~Judy

Things you need to see in the Navajo Nation

I can have my kids read history books, or discuss current events, but seeing things in person is a whole different experience. Talking about the Bennett freeze and it's effect on the Navajo economy was quite the conversation to have when they see houses without power right in front of them. 

Traveling, though, also gives us a different lens to process luxury versus necessity, as well as consider different priorities for different families or communities. Would you trade strip malls and everything in them for a wide open landscape in their place?

Outside of Tuba City we ventured north to the Antelope Valley Slot Canyon. This is run by the Navajo Nation, and the tour was worth every mile it took to get here. 

From the surface, the slot canyon doesn't look like much.

Once you head down into the canyon it's time to pick your jaw up off of the floor and take a good look around. This was hands-down the most beautiful place I've ever been. 

This was Kevin the entire time. Looking over his pictures that night we had a huge laugh when the kids pointed out the time stamp on his photos (12:38, 12:38, 12:38, 12:38. . . ), as he was taking about ten snaps a minute. 

Our tour guide, Sheldon, was a great photographer and offered to take some family photos for us, in addition to being VERY patient with our slow amble through the canyon.

If left to our own devices we would have stayed there all day. Its smart to run hourly tours, so folks like us don't just stand there for eight hours staring up at the changing light.

From the canyon we headed out to Lake Powell in the Glen Canyon Recreation Area. We had about 15 minutes to check out these cool dinosaur tracks at the visitor center before the government shutdown took effect. 

We ended the day with a wade in the lake, which seemed better suited for boats than for swimmers, but I'm still glad the departing ranger let us walk on in to the park as he closed up shop. 

The morning that we left we said goodbye to the three stray dogs living in (or around) our RV park; if our trailer was any bigger I think that the kids would have tried to take them all with us. 

This article below isn't from the most academic of sources, but I came across it while we were there and found it to be insightful and worth discussing with my older kids. Race discussions in our family tend to be of the joking-around-about-ourselves variety (as we are a multi-racial family, and apparently I'm pink, not white), so it's good to throw in a different perspective for them now and again.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/joeflood/how-the-redskins-debate-goes-over-on-an-actual-indian-reserv?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=buzzfeed

Wandering Among the HooDoos in Bryce Canyon

One of my favorite things about driving around in Utah was all of the old neon and graphic signs. This was one that I liked on the trip from Zion to Bryce. (I think that we were still driving when I snapped this picture, so it's not the greatest quality.) If you take this route be sure to stop at the Red Rock park before you even get into Bryce; it has beautiful formations and very little in the way of foot traffic.

Like Zion, Bryce Canyon has a superb shuttle bus service that you take from the visitor center to all of the overlooks. This eases traffic congestion in the park, and makes walking around easier. Of course, at some of the more popular overlooks you'd think that they were giving away free donuts on the bus the way the crowds rush to get on. Busses come around every 10 to 15 minutes, so there's really no stress in getting where you need to go. 

The bus drivers give great little tips about where to go and point out the wildlife along the way, like these pronghorns.

The overlooks in Bryce are so dramatic that pictures don't do it justice.

We were excited to get started on hiking down into the formations, though!

The passage ways and twists and turns on the path down to Queen's Garden made for a fun hike.

Like Zion, once you are about half a mile down the trail the crowds thin, and you can relax and enjoy the view.

Some of the trails were closed due to potential rock falls; looking at this delicate arch had us stop for more than a moment to appreciate that its beauty may be fleeting. 

Off of the shuttle bus route the drive to the top of the park was a worthwhile detour. I think that it was nearly 9000 ft of altitude, with expansive views to match.

We just stayed one day in Bryce, compared to the week that we stayed in Zion, but it did feel like enough time here. Maybe we had hit a 'majestic beauty saturation point'? For hiking, Zion seems to offer more variety. Of course, we appreciated every moment in both parks!