Valley Verde...

I wish I was a better photographer so I could just ATTEMPT to photograph the amazing beauty in Arizona. We are traveling north from a weeks stay near Sedona. While we were there we were fortunate enough to meet up with Jane and Terry Owen, who are now travelers as well! Jane and I taught together at Meadow View Elementary years ago. When we first talked about taking the year on the road with the boys Jane and Terry were incredibly supportive of the idea and have kept close tabs. We are so glad they have finally made it out of Colorado after THREE attempts and various truck issues. Seeing them here in AZ felt like a hug from home. We adore them, the boys were super excited to see them and in all it was a good grounding, and a wonderful dinner. They had to leave too soon!

    We met up with several other Fulltime Families at the Valley Verde Thousand Trails. There was little internet so while some of the guys went into town during the days to work, Alan would head out at night to find some internet to work.  I am finding that part to be stressful but it’s really Alan who has to go out searching and he doesn’t seem to mind a bit! So I am letting that go.

     The social piece of this is so incredibly important and really an eye opener for us as we traveled alone for most of the year. Now that we are traveling in a group many things are so much easier! The kids for example, run from rig to rig like wild animals. They are enjoying the childhood of our youth, out in the morning, back to refuel mid day and then home exhausted at night after hours of playing tag, making lego movies or swimming. It’s so great to see them doing all those things we have fondly remembered and that so few kids get to do these days. I meet with other Mom’s for coffee under the trees, we chat about roadschooling and different philosophies. We compare notes and share ideas. Then we plan our days either solo or giant field trips. This week we all went to Slide Rock canyon. The beauty is indescribable! As you can see, the water makes a perfect natural slide spilling from pool to pool. It was way to cold for most of us but the boys each tried it, as did my incredibly brave friend Kimberly! 

Aiden was hooked and spend the rest of the day sliding down until his belly was worn raw! Then we hiked back out, it was gorgeous!

Next we are moving on to Lake Powell in the Glenn Canyon National rec area with four other families. We are learning to move within the group and as a group. Having community on the road is

an amazing change for us and has really enriched our travels. Here is a lovely blog post from our beautiful friend Jema, complete with picture of us leaving Las Vegas!

http://www.studiojema.com/weaving-community

Arizona National Parks

Casa Grande National Monument is an ancient ruin of the Sonoran Desert people who lived in this area of Arizona over 650 years ago. Even though the purpose of the structure is unclear they know that the structure was built around 1350 CE. And like most of the ruins in the West it was abandoned 100 years later around 1450 CE. Of course the boys were able to get another badge and learn about the native population that lived int his area before the white man came. There are five different compounds here in the Casa Granda area but you are only aloud to see this one.

Badge Time

The boys learned all about the precious resource that water becomes out here and how ancient peoples harnessed it. They went home and built replicas of the Casa Grande in their Minecraft worlds and continued to see examples of the irrigation techniques in other areas around Arizona. I loved that they were able to learn about the continuing spiritual relevance for the native people in the area as well. It was awe inspiring to hear them speak about how they felt connected to their ancestors while they are in this space

The next National Park was Montezuma's Castle, a set of Cliff dwellings around the Valley Verde area. This is an ancient cliff dwelling in an alcove looking over Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley. The ancient Sinagua people occupied this area from around 1200 CE to 1450 CE and like the Sonoran people they just left the area, and the structures were abandoned. We are seeing this trend in all of the ruins in the Arizona area.









Next door to the Castle is the Montezuma Well where these ancient people believed all life came from. Montezuma Well pool is located in a travertine (re-deposited limestone) spring mound, 135' deep and 470' across. This unique aquatic environment is home to a small amphipod, Hyalella montezuma, The scientists believe this animal is not found anywhere else in the world.









Just 30 miles away from these two sites is the Tuzigoot National Monument which is home to a 110 room hilltop pueblo built around 1100 CE and abandoned around 1400 CE. Like the other sites there is no written record as to why the people left or what happened to them. We have learned a ton of information about the people who lived in this country before the first explorers arrived.

Tuzigoot

petrogyphs

Badges, we need more stinking badges

Meeting Area

Now, we missed a couple of ruins in this state which we will hit next fall or winter but the last one was near flagstaff and was another hilltop pueblo. Wupatki was built around 1040 CE but due to the active volcano, which you can see from the hills above Wupatki, the ancient Sinaguan people were forced out around 1225 CE. 

View from the top

Its Godzira

Our last stop besides the Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon was Sunset Crater Volcano Which was the cause of the ancient people of this area leaving around 1225 CE. The landscape was covered in old lava fields and most of the mountains here were active volcanos at one time. what a neat place to explore

No Jacob don't fall in the lava!

This land of ours is wonderful and full of history and I know we have said it before but the Junior ranger programs at our national sites are well done and full of information for the kids.