Glen Canyon National Rec Area

 The area around Glen Canyon was a great place. I don't think I have ever visited this area around Lake Powell and like many other things we have seen I was pleasantly surprised. We stayed at the Wahweap campground in the Glen Canyon National Rec Area. It was a beautiful sight every morning and evening with the sun rises and sun sets. After a day of rest we visited the Glen Canyon dam with a group of fulltime families we traveled here with.

Bridgeeta loves Uno.  

Not a bad view for morning coffee!

We were being stalked by the dam security agent as we walked from the dam parking lot into the dam bookstore. Then again as we started the dam tour. The Glenn Canyon Dam tour that is! Glenn Canyon is breathtaking, I have never seen anything like it. They have a fantastic Dam tour as well, (Only $5 wahoo!) We learned all about the importance of the Colorado River to the entire country and how they use Hydroelectric to create energy. We even got to see one of the generators as it was being pulled apart and serviced. We went as a huge group so it was nice to have the kids all learning together. And, the best part, they got to use the phrases, "Dam tour, Dam tour guide and Dam bathroom" at nauseam!

Antelope Canyon was an awe-inspiring experience. Nothing in this country has compared...YET! We have ten thousand pictures of it, ideas about how to share them???? Slot canyons, who knew? On this stop we were able to visit one of the most unforgettable places I have ever been. We were able to tour Antelope canyon, a slot Canyon in the area. It is a sacred area on the Navajo reservation. Our guide was an awesome Native guy who taught us all about photography in low light as well as the structures in the canyon. When we arrived it was incredibly windy, the sand acted as a sandblaster stinging each piece of uncovered flesh and piling in unsuspecting places, like our ears and hoods! We fought our way through the sandstorms to an unassuming crack in the earth. Once we descended down, down, down into the canyon the world was transformed. Even the children stopped hooting and hollering for a moment as they were struck with awe at the beauty and serenity of the area.  Then, of course they were hooting again! The acoustics were awesome! I can’t explain the beauty of the place, it’s something you need to experience. However, the tours are full so if you go you better be good at soaking up the beauty pronto before you have to move on! I think they need to open up a contemplative tour but so far, no such luck! It was a great reminder that we never know what is lurking beneath the surface. Intense beauty, deep sorrow, great joy… you have to be brave and dig once in a while to get to the good stuff.

Hamilton Year One Map

This is where we have been in the last 11 months! So that makes almost 30, 000 miles . We will be headed to the West Coast this Summer after leaving Colorado, oh and yes, we have decided to stay out at least another year. Keep following those crazy Hamilton's around the country!

visited 35 states (70%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Brazil travel guide for Android

Boondocking

“Wanna save another $50 bucks and stay here tomorrow night too?”

What could possibly evoke such a statement? The allure of a heated pool? Unlimited WIFI? Cable TV? A sweet playground? Shuffle board?

Nope, it’s boondocking night at a Camping world outside Huston Texas. We had dinner outside the rig, watching the highway zoom past, barely able to hear one another over the roar. But as the sun began to go down, and it cooled off, the boys miraculously found toys instead of the computer or the TV! No wifi meant I had nothing to research, no facebook to catch up on. And Alan and the boys chased each other around the camper for an hour. Then the boys and I had a dance party in the parking lot, singing at the top of our lungs.

It’s about making the mundane spectacular. About turning each piece into  something precious or at least unique. Making an adventure where there seemed to be only…  a parking lot. This is a lesson I fully intend to take back to the sticks and bricks life, when/if we return to it. Whenever that may be.

Gotta go, it’s family game night, Simpson’s clue!

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. 

Arizona Sights

As Laura mentioned, Arizona has some wonderful sites to be seen as well as some great National Parks and National Monuments.


During our last days in Tucson Laura and the boys were able to visit the Bio Dome just outside the city where they took a tour with other Full Time Families. FYI nothing at all like the 1980 movie, fascinating nonetheless! 

We were also able to take a day trip to Tombstone Arizona where I got to see one of my favorite towns in history. First we stopped at the the old BootHill Cemetery and saw the graves of Marshal White, Billy Clanton and the McLaury Brothers.

Next we got to see the shootout at the OK Corral and take our pictures with the Earp's and Doc Holiday. Laura wanted a picture but only with Doc as I believe she had a little crush. I was also able to get a shot with Ike Clanton since he was the least favorite of the audience.

 This was another one of the things I really wanted to see on our adventure through the US so it was a great day for me. After checking out all the sites we stopped at Big Nose Kate's Saloon and  I had a Big Ass Burger with a Big Ass Beer... or two.

Big Nose Kates

After Tombstone we spent a week in Florence where the boys were able to spend Easter with Nana and Papa Bob. The campground we stayed at was in the desert but the sunsets were beautiful and seemed to last forever. Nana and Papa Bob took us all to the Goldfield Mine Ghost Town were we got a tour of an old mine and had a drink in the saloon that several of our old west stars have stayed during the filming of their movies. This was a pretty cool little tourist trap and for our last part of the day we rode the train around the town where a crazy old norseman (Viking I would say) told stories of the mountains in the background and how aliens are rumored to visit there. Ya, I said the same thing while I was listening to the stories, this man is off his rocker. When Alan says off his rocker, he is downplaying it. The guy told us that lizard people were rumored to come out of a portal int he mountain and he would sure hate to see one in town shopping at Victoria's Secret. Eleven years on that rail loop and that guy has become a few ore carts short of a gold mine. The gold mine tour has a huge impact on the boys. They were fascinated by the whole process and it has carried over into other aspects of daily life as we'll share with you later! It was a fantastic trip and getting to spend time with Nanna Debbie and Pappa Bob was fantastic.  

Corporal Punishment

GoldField Saloon