Being tourists!

So, we're kind of stuck in Winslow today since Keith's mom is coming to visit this weekend (aren't you all jealous that you don't get to experience Winslow first hand??), we decided to take advantage of the day by checking out the local touristy stuff that we haven't done because of our dedication to getting out of the Winslow area as fast as possible!

First stop was the Homolovi Ruins State Park. If you Google map it it looks like we could just walk to it from the double wide-but nope! We have to get on the interstate to get to it-ugh Arizona. There are a number of excavated archaeological sites there. Our first stop was the Homolovi I Site that looked like it had been filled back in with sand. The only evidence that we were on a site were all the ceramic shards and obsidian flakes all over the place.

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The Homolovi II Site was quite a bit more interesting! It has a group of five rooms in the West Plaza and a kiva in the Central Plaza have been excavated and stabilized to show the original floor plans.

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So, then the plan was to go the the Meteor Crater, but the dropping temps, crazy strong winds and seriously ominous looking clouds convinced us otherwise!!

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So of course that meant we had to go shopping!

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We have driven by this tourist trap so many times that today seemed like a great time to stop and while it was just kind of junky I loved the kitschy mural!

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Wine and chicken mole poblano waiting for me-gotta go!!

My tiny little world

At the request of my fans-and by fans I mean my mom-here is a view into my world in Winslow-it is very small!

During the roughly 22 hours a day I spend in the double-wide, I spend most of that time right here:

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It is so weird to spend so much time inside, in this one place!! I try to be diligent about homework and working ahead so I don't feel guilty about not doing any work at all on the weekend and the SUPER slow internet here makes it really hard to slack off....all work and no play makes jack a dull boy, all work and no play makes jack a dull boy, all work and no play makes jack a dull boy, all work and no play makes jack a dull boy, all work and no play makes jack a dull boy-whoa snap out of it!

Here is our living room (nope, I didn't clean to take these pics!). Can you find the dog in this picture? If not-look for the socks on the floor and you'll be really close!

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Yes, Mom-we have a real stove.

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Here is a view of our closest neighbors and a look at the luxurious Five Mountain Estates-which I guess is kind of a up-scale trailer park where you can have horses (which I did not know existed)

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From Arizona

37 days and counting-visiting the Midwest in the winter never looked so good!

A little different kind of adventure!

This weekend instead of hiking adventures, we spent the weekend in Flagstaff a little differently than usual-babysitting a nine month old and going shooting!

We spent the weekend at Derek and Kathryn's place the way we usually do-watching football and eating delicious food that Keith made us! On Saturday night, Keith and I watched Cole so Derek and Kathryn could have a night out. Since Cole is pretty much the best and cutest baby in the whole world, there are really no horror stories!

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I have to say babysitting is a lot more fun to do as an adult when you actually like the kid, then when you're 13 and just need a some money to go to the movies!

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On Sunday, since the Bears were getting massacred by the Cardinals, we decided to go shooting! I had never even held a gun before-this was awesome!

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We shot 22's, handguns, and a rifle.

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From Arizona

Yes, I am a bad ass!

Sedona: Land of Red Rocks and Tourists

This weekend escape our from Winslow was Sedona, where we did a little hiking, wine tasting and a lot of eating!

It was too early to check into our hotel when we got to Sedona, so (big surprise here!) we went for a little hike.The main highlight (although I'm not sure that's the right word for it) was BJ being the luckiest puppy in the whole wide world-let me explain.

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After a couple minutes on the trail we heard some movement in the woods-my immediate thought of Bear!! was wrong but it was a HUGE skunk-needless to say we got the heck out of it's way and oblivious BJ had no idea what was going on. We round the next bend and what's there-another HUGE skunk and this time BJ notices it and takes off running after it-oh dear lord NO! We try to call him back but he keeps pursuing. Keith realizes that he needs to just go drag BJ away from the skunk, by the time Keith pulls BJ away BJ has had his nose directly in the skunks butt and made it away without being sprayed! My only guess is that the skunk was having a confused Pepe Le Lew moment and thought this stinky black thing must just be an amorous skunk-and I'm sorry there are no pics I couldn't get a shot of two black animals running around in the woods (Keith is very disappointed by this!)!

Sedona is very beautiful and has some great restaurants, but it is also full of old people tourists so we did what we could to stay out of the downtown area. We were planning of spending Saturday wine tasting, but our day didn't last as long as we thought it would. The first place we went to Page Springs Vineyard had some really great wines but kind of a weird set up-at least for us Oregonians- for $ 10 ($10 !?!?!) we got to taste a preselected flight of five wines (they had a number of flights-no mixing and matching) and while they were good and we did buy a bottle it would have been a massive amount more fun and we probably would have bought more wine if we got to pick what we tasted and didn't have a ridiculous fee that was not refunded with the purchase of a bottle (unheard of in Oregon!). The second place we went to was Oak Creek Vineyard-this place was a little better at only $5 for 4 tastes and the wine was surprisingly really great. The third place was Javelina Leap Vineyard-all we needed to see what 4 tastes for $12 before we walked out-do these people think this is Napa-it's Arizona!!

What to do for the rest of the day? Go to Jerome, AZ "the largest ghost town in America"-on Halloween:)

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It was really just a cute (and of course touristy) little town and unfortunately there were no encounters with ghosts-although if we ever go back we should stay at the Jerome Grand Hotel that is obviously haunted and you can get the ghost hunting hotel package-awesome!!

Since Sunday is 'Punishing Hike Day' for our little clan, we were on our way up Wilson Mountain right after breakfast. It was a hot and beautiful day and the hike promised great views of Sedona and the surrounding areas and it did not disappoint!

From Arizona

From Arizona

From Arizona

It was such a pretty day, but the hike was pretty hard, so we had to take lots of breaks in the shade-which BJ did not mind at all!

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BJ and I both need a nap!

If I fall asleep, will it be over?

When I started writing this blog I planned on full disclosure-and so far everything has been pretty awesome. I feel like Winslow is trying balance the universe-we just had too much fun, too many great experiences in Enterprise and Winslow is planning to bring us down a notch and it is succeeding.

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Today Winslow looks more like a post-apocalyptic hellhole than usual. It is insanely windy and that has caused a raging dust storm. It is also getting really cold at night and we have been using the pellet stove in the dinning room to heat it-usually only turning it on the morning.

From Arizona

I had the stove on and was sitting at the dinning room table doing homework when all of the sudden smoke came pouring out of the back of the stove-now I have never used one of these stoves before and it seemed common sense to be to turn it off and unplug it and while it was probably the right thing to do if things were normal-but this is Winslow-so more horrible things have to happen. As soon as a shut it off sparks fly out of the back of it and it keeps smoking-and then the smoking gets worse and worse until the whole house is full of smoke. Keith finally gets home for lunch and figures out that the pellets at the hopper were on fire and causing all the smoke and that is was probably the force of the raging winds outside that caused that happen. Of course by the time Keith gets home, BJ and I are of the front porch so we don't breath in too much smoke-there's nothing like crying on the front porch with your lungs burning in the middle of a dust storm to ruin your day-thank you Winslow!

Now I am trying to get the overwhelming stench of smoke out of the house and clean up all the dust and dirt that blew in when we had the windows open. Oh and our landlord thinks there may be something wrong with the stove and has asked us not to use and it's supposed to snow tomorrow....

Exhausted, Sore, Stinky, Starving, Exhilarated!

After a delicious breakfast of Moroccan oatmeal, we got going on the North Kaibab Trail to hike 7 miles down to the Cottonwood Camp Ground. According to the Park Service: The North Kaibab Trail is the least visited but most difficult of the three maintained trails at Grand Canyon National Park. The trailhead is at 8241 ft and the campground is at 4080 ft-yup we have to go straight down over 4000 ft in 7 miles-ouch!

Here you can see some of the trail-all of the trail you see we hiked-then it turns right and you can't see it anymore.

From Grand Canyon

At least it was a pretty day!

From Grand Canyon

More of the trail:

From Grand Canyon

There were a few things on the trail I didn't expect, like pretty fall colors but the most annoying of them were all the trail runners-what is wrong with you people??? You are in the Grand Canyon and you're just running past it-not appreciating it all! I think these people are crazy!

From Grand Canyon

After an exhausting seven miles, we finally made it to camp (not before a super perky teenage trail runner jogged by me and had to say 'Yay! Keep up the good work!' She's lucky I didn't have the energy to throw my boot at her!)

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And even though my feet were killing me-my two best friends, Aleve and duct tape made everything a little better!

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After one of the most beautiful and warmest nights camping I've ever experienced, it was time to go. What goes down the Grand Canyon must go back up! This is the part I was scared of!

This is what we had to go back up-the little plateau in the center of the picture is where the trailhead is

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At least we had the most perfect morning to do the most demanding and painful hikes I have ever done!

From Grand Canyon

After climbing, climbing, climbing, and climbing we finally made it to the top-in only 4 1/2 hours! Keith thought it would take us me 6 hours! After we got up to the top I started eating and haven't really stopped-pizza, Snickers, Pepsi, ice cream-delicious!

I can't believe it! We hiked down into the Grand Canyon! Even though I can barely walk today, it was totally worth it!!

Love at first site!

This weekend we went to the north rim of the Grand Canyon and it was my first time ever going to the Grand Canyon! It was so amazing!

We left Friday morning-after stopping in Flagstaff to drop BJ off-and made our way to the more remote, less touristy side of the Grand Canyon. We made a stop at the Backcountry Permits office to see if it was possible to hike down and camp in the canyon-it was-but that's for Saturday.

On Friday, once we got to the camp ground and set up camp, I still hadn't seen the canyon yet-agh! I was jumping around like a spazzy five year old until we finally got back in the car to do a little touristy driving around to overlooks and of course we did a little hike.

From Grand Canyon

I was so excited to finally see the canyon! After going there and actually seeing I don't think any picture I have ever seen has done it justice-it just isn't possible!

From Grand Canyon

From Grand Canyon

Our first day at the Grand Canyon was beautiful and relaxing-but there would be no more relaxing for the rest of the trip starting Saturday!!