March 12-25, 2017
We were told that Sedona was a
beautiful area and it is very true. The red rock rising from the
earth is such a stark and beautiful contrast to the surrounding
green.
We stayed in the Cottonwood Thousand
Trails (Verde Valley) which was a little disappointing for Greg and
I. First, it was about a 40 minute drive to any hike even though
not that far as the crow flies. Secondly, the campground was ok but
I was surprised that there were no kid activities even though it was
Spring Break time. And to make it worse, the pool was closed for
renovations. Boo hoo hoo
But the best news is that just a couple
of sites down, Jordan and Jacob met two new friends, Avalee and
Aleena. They had SO much fun together each day for the nearly two
weeks we were there. And one day their family joined us for an
outing. We hiked the Eagle's Nest trail in Red Rock State Park
then drove to see the Meteor Crater in
AZ. It was so huge! You could fit 20 football fields in the
bottom. The meteor is estimated to have traveled at 26,000 miles per
hour and hit with such force that fragments of the meteor have been
located 3,000 feet below ground and up to 7 miles away. The crater itself is 4,000 ft across (~3/4 mile) and 550 ft deep (although 700 ft feet at time of impact).
This is a picture of the largest
fragment found. It is estimated that the meteor was 150 ft in
diameter.
On our own, we hiked to:
Devil's Bridge
 |
| (The sun made this picture difficult. The natural bridge is slightly right of the center of the picture with a dark area in the arch). |
Cathedral Rock,
And we visited:
Tuzigoot National Monument, which are
pueblo ruins dating back to 800 AD. This particular pueblo had 120
rooms and was built up on a hill.
Montezuma Castle National Monument.
This was a 45-room cliff dwelling with 5 levels. It's so interesting
to think about how they built and lived in such a dwelling and then
to learn WHY they did so. In this location, they were near a creek
and the land below provided them with a place to farm and plant life
for other needs. The land would flood from snow melt and monsoons,
but this brought in new fertile soil and since they were high on the
cliff, their homes were safe. Additionally, in their position, they
were shaded in the summer and sunny in the winter, they could send
signals to other nearby villages and they had a great view to watch
out for approaching dangers.
One last activity to mention was the
Cottonwood Recreation Center. One of the locals told me
about this and since the campground pool was closed, we decided to go
check it out. We had so much fun!. Indoors, they have a little
snaking lazy river with a twirling whirlpool in the center, a play
area where you can shoot water cannons, and a fun, twisty tube slide.
They also had a lap pool and hot tub for the adults. We spent a few
hours there and enjoyed it so much that we decided we must do it
again. The next time we brought our friends along for the fun.
It was hard to say good-bye to our new
friends. We enjoyed their company so much and the girls were such
great friends to Jacob and Jordan. The eldest wrote such sweet
letters to the kids to say good-bye and they got up early to surprise
us for one last good-bye on the morning we left. Another great
family that we have to find again in the future!
Now, we are heading back to Texas. Since it was the end of March, we thought there might be a chance to see the Saguaros in bloom so we stopped at Saguaro National Park. Unfortunately not, but the ocotillo were blooming and we saw one or two other blooms. We will have to try again some other time.
We are excited to get back in Texas but before returning to Austin, we will spend a few days in Indianola with Grandma and Grandpa. We are looking forward to seeing them and being able to go fishing!
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