With Christine's crazy-filled schedule this summer, and Erik's bishopric responsibilities, we just haven't been able to figure out time to go on a family vacation. The kids really wanted to get away though, especially since we didn't go anywhere last year, due to Erik's hospitalization. So, after a lot of planning, and trying to eek out a week to go somewhere, I finally scrapped all the plans, ordered Erik to take a couple days off of work, and we went for a little family trip.
(Joseph City, AZ -formerly known as Allen's Camp, Allen's City, and St. Joseph - is the place of the oldest Mormon colony in Arizona. It is named after Joseph Smith, as is the boy standing in front of the city's marker.)
We spent some of our time on Route 66 - the kids watching the movie Cars as we drove, and me calling their attention to things of interest that we were passing. We stopped in Winslow for lunch, and took a moment to stand ". . . on the corner of Winslow, Arizona, such a fine place to be . . . "
What was fun, was the little Route 66 shop on the opposite corner that was playing the Eagles music as we visited with Glenn Fry.
(This picture is for you, David!)
We headed north-east into Navajo country. We stayed our first night just out of Window Rock. Window Rock was an amazing thing to see, such an incredibly huge "window" cut out by wind and rain. Window Rock is the capital of the Navajo reservation. We met a nice lady there, who was selling jewelry that she makes. She suggested to us that we travel the backway into Canyon de Shelly, instead of going through Ganado. I will always appreciate her gift of wisdom and experience that she gave to us, for the drive she suggested was wondrously beautiful.
(This memorial is dedicated to the Navajo Code Talkers from World War II)
Canyon de Chelly is a gorgeous canyon where the Anasazi built their homes in the cliff. Much later the Navajo began building their hogans (round houses, with an earthen top) there, and used the fertile land to plant corn, and fruit trees. The Navajo live there still. Though Canyon de Chelly is cared for by the National Park Service, the land still belongs to the Navajo people, many who choose to live in and around the canyon. The canyon was specatacular, and there were many cliff dwellings that remained there in the canyon walls. The biggest dwelling was White House Ruins. We could have hiked down to see it up close, but opted to view it from the lookout point, since we noticed that everyone who came out of the canyon from the hike was quite red faced. We figured that we didn't have quite enough water with us (it was a very hot day), and we weren't sure how some of the little legs in our company would fare.
(It's really quite cool inside the hogan.)
(This is Spider Rock, which is 800 feet tall. The kids were excited to see it, for they remembered learning in Art about the Navajo lore of Spider Woman who supposedly lived at Spider Rock and taught the Navajo women how to weave.)
(White House Ruins.)
(Jalen Andrew didn't really like the heights, and looking down into the canyon, but he sure had fun hiking around with us.)
(Everybody's still smiling - that's a good sign.)
After leaving Canyon de Chelly, we visited the Hubbell Trading Post. It was one of 30 trading posts that Mr. Hubbell set up in the west to trade goods with the various Native American tribes. It still functions as a store, where the Navajo can buy and sell.
(Trying my hand on the Visitor Center's loom.)
(Jalen Andrew's favorite part of the Hubbell Trading Post, was playing in the fine dirt outside, as the older kids filled out their National Park booklets. Did I mention that there was a nice breeze there, and that he insisted on sitting up wind from us?)
(James' favorite part was studying and tracking the grasshoppers that were plentiful there. His patience paid off, and he eventually caught one!)
One of the highlights of the trip, of course, was having the chance to swim in the hotels' pools. Jalen Andrew discovered the joy of jumping into the water, and as soon as he would complete a jump, would begin pointing to the side of the pool and say "Lump. Lump."
Though we didn't stop to tour the Petrified Forest again this trip, we did see many petrified logs as we drove past, just scattered here and there across the landscape. We did stop at this store called Geronimo to check out the massive sample of petrified wood that sat outside their store. Incredible!
We topped off the trip with an impromptu visit to our good friends the Jarmans. It was so good to see them! Way too much time has passed since we've been together. They made us a delicious lunch, and we enjoyed catching up on eachother's lives. When our oldest three (theirs and ours) were young, it seemed that we lived at eachother's houses. The kids really liked playing together back then. They were a little more shy around eachother this time (they have all gotten older), but James and Daphne (she's 3 years old) had the best time together chasing eachother and laughing. Watching them reminded me of the way our older kids use to play with the Jarmans. As we packed everyone into the van to leave, Daphne pulled a leaf off a nearby tree and handed it to James, explaining, "This is for you, so you can remember where I live." Then, she plucked another leaf, and said, "And this is for me, so I can remember where you live." It was a sweet token of friendship.
(Front: Jonathon, Thomas, Jalen Andrew, Christine, Rebekah, Bethany
Back: Aubrey, Joseph, James, Daphne)
Maybe it's because my big brother always told me that Arizona was beautiful, but I am still awestruck by the beauty that is here. The pictures don't even do it justice.
He did, however, like trying to climb the slick wall with James - an extra bonus since that wasn't even an exhibit here.
Here are the girls trying to pull their own weight, and here's Joseph laying on a bed of nails, which doesn't at all feel the way you expect it to feel.
