A New Landscape

We're still here, I promise! It seems that whenever I've had a second to work on the blog this week, someone inevitably needs something. And so, here it is, a day late (almost two), but still full of interesting things! :-)

When we left Washington to return to Idaho a few weeks ago, I accidentally forgot the camera....BIG OOPS- especially with all the scenery we passed on the way to our new "home" here in Arizona! Fortunately, the camera is still in a safe place waiting for my husband to bring it back. Until then, I'm making do with my phone. Great for documenting memories- not so great when driving through spectacular places like Monument Valley where you want to capture the amazing colors and definition. *sigh* Oh well, it will be back soon enough, and until then, I have no complaints. We've had a great time!

The drive from Idaho went well and the scariest weather we encountered was high winds. This can be a problem when you're hauling a trailer. We did see some snow and a thunderstorm, but it was all manageable and, thankfully, we made it safely through.

Along the drive we were able to see some very American-West sights. One was a cattle drive as we were passing through Idaho.

We had fun looking for unique features in each town, like the arch below.

We also noticed a lot of Mormon temples throughout Idaho and Utah, which means they have a large presence there. It will be interesting to see how the churches change as we move further into the South and in the Eastern Seaboard.

Provo, Utah, is the home of Brigham Young University, which we didn't know until we started seeing sweatshirts with "Y's" on them all over the place. Provo is a beautiful, humongous town with a lot of interesting buildings. I could have probably spent the whole day there just wandering the streets looking at the old houses!

We stayed in Park City, UT for the night, which is where the Sundance Film Festival is held and it was the home of the 2002 Winter Olympics. It's a trendy resort town and we enjoyed it!

Once we moved into lower Utah, we began to see the landscape change. It went from mostly farmland to Suess-esque red rock formations. We stayed in Moab and visited Arches National Park, which was amazing! The arches look like eyes! We also went through Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. The only way I can describe the awe and wonder of that place is the way you might feel going to see the Great Pyramids in Egypt. It.was.that.amazing!

We made a point to drive to Colorado to visit Mesa Verde National Park and see the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi people. Scientists have been able to learn a lot by going through their garbage heap, which is always the best way to get a glimpse of how people live (scary for us, no?). It was really interesting and I especially liked their pottery designs.

I have to say, having a fourth grader in the family has saved us a TON of money when visiting all these National Parks. If you have a fourth grader, I highly recommend you visit Every Kid In A Park and get a pass printed for them. This pass allows your family to get into the National Parks FREE for the whole year!! Be sure to check it out!

Last, but not least, we went to Four Corners National Monument. It's the point where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. So, you can stand in four states at the same time! My kids always laugh at me about how easily excited I am over things like this. What can I say?! I just love it! I also love that the monument is run by the Navajo people on their reservation. They sell jewelry and souvenirs that they've made, themselves. It reminds me of the Native Heritage Center in Alaska and how they featured artists over the summer. You can really talk to the native people and ask questions. Plus, it's wonderful to buy directly from the artist. They were really kind.

Now that we're all settled in to the house here in Arizona, we've begin to explore a little. Sedona is a beautiful tourist hot spot and has a ton of fun shops to explore. This also means that the traffic can get pretty congested. Apparently we're in an energy vortex (I had to look that up), so there are a TON of new age places here advertising an assortment of services, and selling crystals and the like. We've mostly seen native people, hippies, yuppies, tourists, and snowbirds so far. It's interesting, to say the least!

We're also surrounded by beautiful red rock formations, so there are a lot of outdoor activities, as well. We're planning on doing the jeep tour at some point, but you can also ride ATV's, go hiking, and more. Our house is not far from downtown, but it's also near "the wild" so we've been on the lookout for javelinas, cougars, and scorpions. With the weather as cool as it's been (sweater weather), I doubt we'll see many scorpions during our stay.

Speaking of the weather, I must say that having Thanksgiving dinner while it's bright outside is a little odd for us Seattlites. We're used to having a driveway full of wet leaves and a grey sky! In fact, here in Arizona, we've actually begun contemplating whether or not to decorate a Christmas cactus! I guess we'll see!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so many things to be thankful for this year, and one of them is you. Thanks for following along!

- Jen