Northern Arizona - Great Family Trip

Finally able to recap our families Northern Arizona trip that included visits to the Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, Meteor Crater, and Grand Canyon.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to visit a couple planned spots due to timing, weather...etc.  We'll have to get to Sedona & Jerome another trip!

We started our trip leaving Phoenix and heading to the Flagstaff area for our first locale to stay at.  We decided to do some camping at Ashurst Lake, which when we checked in were told there were bear sightings the night before.  This should be fun!  This spot was awesome, we were just off of the lake which took a bit of time to get to.  It was about ~10 miles outside of Lake Mary which gave us a good "off the beaten path" feeling.  There was a lot of wind that kicked up and blew our tarp over which was awesome!  We enjoyed some good camping food with the kids and had a bit of an experience that next early morning.  Lori & I awoke in the middle of the night to something scratching at our tent.  Not sure if it was a bear, deer, or other kind of wildlife, but I wasn't getting up to check unless it decided to join us in the tent.

Needless to say, no signs of any issues in our campground so no issues! We then headed out to Holbrook to check out the Petrified Forest & Painted Desert.  We checkout out the Petrified Forest first and did some hiking around the trails and checking out the sights.  As we were driving throughout the park to the Painted Desert, the weather turned to rain & lightning.  Needless to say, we didn't get to hike around there, but we did get some great pictures (see slide show) and view alot of sites.  We'll have to return to really do some wandering.  We noticed a stop for famous Route 66 highway that we checked out with an abandoned vehicle.  We'll put that on a separate road trip! 

We checked into our KOA cabin in Holbrook during a rain storm so we quickly unpacked our clothes and items we didn't want to get soaked.  We ended up having some Italian food at a local spot that was surprisingly tasty!  We then played some games before we turned in for the night on some real beds.  Everyone appreciated that after camping!

As we left the KOA site, we traveled to the Meteor Crater!  I had done this once before a long time ago with my grandparents & great-grandparents and had some memories.  This was eye-opening!  It was a very hot day compared to the day before.  Apparently, NASA astronauts trained here in preparation for the moon landing.  Lots of history and the movie they have was well worth the visit.  We took part in the tour of the Meteor Crater and the guide was awesome!  He was really friendly, and though his name escapes me, he lives either at the facility or in the area.

We continued our trip to the location that I think we all were looking forward to, The Grand Canyon!

We again ran into some weather on our way through Flagstaff to the Canyon.  When we finally arrived, we setup our tents in rain...again in the park.  We did some quick viewing of the visitor area, but went into town for dinner since it was a bit late.  We ate at the local BBQ place which was very busy.  The food was real good and my daughter ate a 20 oz steak by herself!  Lori & I split the same steak and my son had a cheeseburger.  After alot of driving, we adjourned to our camp site and just relaxed.  Our last day was upon us!

We enjoyed a good breakfast that morning and went to the visitor area to check out all of the sites.  The weather was off and on all day, which was kind of a nice experience as we got several different views of the canyon with overcast & sunny landscapes.  We of course ate lunch at the El Tovar restaurant.  Definitely going to have to splurge for one of the cabins that is really close to the edge of the canyon.  Extraordinary views and you can sit on the porch and just hang out!  We enjoyed the Kolb & Lookout studios and the views they offered!  We didn't hike into the canyon; we will save that for a later trip when we can actually plan more time to do that. We closed out the day getting some Sunset pictures; I honestly could just sit there for hours watching the clouds and suns rays move across the canyon.

At this point we were all pretty exhausted and ready to return home.  We decided to close up camp and head home that night.  I would have liked another day, but really didn't care at that point.  We did have a bit of excitement on our way home.  Just north of Phoenix we found that a large haboob (just call it a dust storm people) was coming through the valley.  It hit us pretty hard and we pulled into a truck stop to grab a quick snack and stretch.  We made it home with no issues and decided to unpack in the morning.

It was a great trip, although I think we tried putting to many places on our plan, but I wanted everyone to get a broad look at what Northern Arizona had to offer.  Next time the trip will either be longer or more focused on certain areas!  Traveling from Eastern AZ to Western AZ and Central AZ takes alot of time on the road.