Today was spectacular! Sorry we dropped off the radar for a bit. I will go back and catch up though! I hope! We are now in Flagstaff, AZ. Apparently, they do not observe daylight savings time. It was rather annoying at first' because the Indian Reservation DID observe it as we entered Arizona. It was 90 plus in temperature. It was so hot! We are up really high in elevation, higher than Denver, CO. Today we had a nice breakfast at the house we rented, and then headed to the mountains...a very short drive away. We went to Sunset Crater National Park. The area has 600 old volcanoes around Flagstaff, AZ that few people realize are here. We were able to see a lot if them! Beca got to see her first real volcano finally. Sunset Crater erupted about 900 years ago. It is the largest cinder cone volcano. It is about 8000 feet tall, with very steep sides. We were able e to walk around on stony hike in the actual lava field. The lava rocks were incredibly sharp, rough and large. The cinder ash was very thick in places. Sam and Geoff ran up the side of a small cone on a trail. I started up, but sank ankle deep. I could not get up, because I was wearing keens and it got in them. It was pointy! I had to stop and get it out! The kids did the ranger program and are up to 5 badges. They love them! The kids have been playing, "stump the ranger with a hard question". The kids are winning! They wanted to know how deep the lava field was of cinder rocks. The ranger said no one has ever asked before. He asked another older ranger in the back. It is 150 feet deep! Every time the kids get a badge, they have to recite a pledge to be a good steward. I finally got a photo of all of them at once. Usually, as soon as they finish they go up to a ranger one by one! Don't be fooled, by how small the volcano was. We were only able to see the top half!
We took a drive in the park and ended up at a lookout to the Painted Desert. It was beautiful.
Later in the day we went to the Lowell observatory! It is just up the road from our house rental. It is an important observatory and was built here in the middle of nowhere in 1894. They discovered Pluto here. The kids had a great time. It was beautiful at the top of the mountain. It was about 7250 feet high. It was breezy and cool on top. We touched a meteorite that was the size of Zack (45 pounds). It weighed 535 pound of almost all iron! Zack got very tired along the way.
It fell and was ejected from Meteor Crater nearby. It was found 5 miles away from the crater.
After dinner,me came home, had dinner and did laundry! Geoff, Beca and Doug went back up to Lowell to do a another tour and do the nighttime star gazing! Enjoy!
We are all tired, but having fun. I need a nap though!
We are all tired, but having fun. I need a nap though!
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