Journey Photo Journal Number 2
. . . So, we continued to haul this heavy 5x8 u haul across the desert. My home is in storage awaiting movers in MI and all the most precious things I own were in this u haul weighing a ton and making me nervous over mountains and valleys. We stopped at four corners to buy a snow cone, cool our engine and take a photo of ourselves standing in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.
Then we made it to our cabin in Cottonwood, just outside Sedona. It was hot and pretty. This Dead Horse Ranch State Park should be called lizard park because everywhere you look are lizards on the trees and in the grass. Galen came running back to the cabin one evening yelling that when he was catching a big toad he stumbled on a ginormous tarantula in front of the bathroom doors. In fact he had! It was HUGE and could move every leg independently. It had just bitten a bee and the bee was flailing around. A man who worked there moved it to the woods with his shovel and Katie jumped in to keep him from touching the frog with the shovel. We spent our days exploring Sedona in a rented car because our u haul was too dangerous for the curvy roads . . . and saw Jerome and Sedona. We spent our evenings star gazing - one night we saw over 16 shooting stars . . . and we told scary true stories, roasted hot dogs and marshmellows and basically tried to stay cool. I drummed a bit by the river in the mornings when folks were sleeping.
Amber was a good sport. We kept two industrial fans blowing away/ when she stayed in the cabin as we explored the area.
In Sedona we ate at a spiritual health food Korean place which served awesome salads and chicken. It overlooked the red rocks and was very unique.
This is Oak Creek and we picked any random spot to stop and wander. There were so many beautiful swim holes we could have spent hours exploring rocks and water here.
Galen learned from the locals how to rock climb around the creek and take various paths back to the water bed. I felt a bit nervous watching him do this.
Katie and Phil found so many beautiful and deep cool places to swim here! Katie is five years to the exact day- older than her cousin from Buffalo- both Capricorns- and this is the first time they have gotten to know each other.
In Sedona I did the drumming and star gazing. Here I found myself very concerned over our car being able to handle this trip with the weight we pulled. I had the brakes checked, they were fine. I had many people tell me different 'flatter' ways to go places. Finally I just found these really nice people who owned a storage place and stored my big most important 'stuff' in a facility there. I released my baggage in Sedona lol. All that was left was our camping gear and travel things. I down sized to a smaller trailer and we could safely move forward. We can go just about anywhere now! The man at the storage place will bring it to me in Oregon when he is on the way to lake tahoe in a couple months. It even has my teddy bear from two years old, and all my jewelry. I only have the clothes I own now. Wow. He and his wife are from Moab, UT and they told us the most magical ways to get there from Sedona.
On the way to Moab we stopped to see the Grand Canyon on the south rim.
Katie has no fear on the edges of cliffs and I feel dizzy . . .
Monument Valley has been my favorite feeling and view- even beyond the San Juan National Forest in New Mexico, Grand Canyon, Colorado Rockies . . . it is fantastic. The Valley of Gods at Sunset just had me stunned. This photo isn't the Valley of the Gods, its of some monuments. The kids took so many better pics as I was driving - there is a town called 'Mexican Hat' deep in this valley . . . which is named after a local huge rock with an upside down sombrero balanced on top! We had a big laugh.
We stopped on the side of the road and Katie took off for a long ways toward the rocks. This is her finally coming back.
Galen and Amber walked around a bit.
Phil took some awesome photos at a shack where Navaho folks often sell jewelry. There is a Navaho tribe along this road. He saw a necklace hanging on a nail and blowing in the wind. He started to take a photo of it and it fell off the nail. When he brought the necklace out I was amazed - what a great gift! I'm wearing it until he wants it back - but he says I can have it lol.
Here's the necklace- . . .
Today we're in Moab- we arrived last night in a lightening storm (small enough so that we couldn't capture good photos of them- all of us singing Lincoln Park tunes for the last 40 miles) and today we'll be hiking out to Delicate Arch. Hot! But we'll swim and rest tonight if plans go well.