Arizona & Utah Sweetness

Last week was my Spring Break - kind of late, I know. But now I only have 6 weeks of school left! So Lisi and I drove home to AZ for the week to enjoy the warmth. I heard we missed a big snow storm in UT...or something like that :) We were home just in time for Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny even came to visit me! I think I ate one too many jelly beans.....

So most of the time at home I spent outside (running, hiking, biking) and also reading. I read 4 books in 5 days: The Alchemist, The Screwtape Letters, The Tipping Point and Tuesdays With Morrie...all really good books and I highly recommend them.

So we picked up a friend of Lisi's in Phoenix on the way back up and the 3 of us spent 2 FULL days driving back to UT. We made many numerous stops along the way to play a bit and fully enjoy the outdoors.

Stop #1 - Besh-Ba-Gowah, Globe AZ. These are old Indian ruins that we have driven by a million times so Lisi and I finally decided to stop and see them. They're pretty rad and you can even explore inside. All you Thatcherites, you need to see this!

Stop #2 - Montezuma's Castle, Camp Verde AZ. We didn't actually see it because you had to pay $5 and you didn't even get to explore. It's an old Indian cliff dwelling. We just decided it wasn't worth the five bucks.

Stop #3 - Sedona AZ. We basically just drove through because we didn't have much time, but I've always heard how spectacular it is. I want to come back and hike/bike around. It's comparable to Park City I'd say.

Stop #4 - Sunset Crater, Flagstaff AZ. This is an old volcano that I thought you could hike in and around the top, but you can't. Go figure. There are some pretty cool lava flows all around it though.
Stop #5 - Wupatki National Park, Flagstaff AZ. Many of you know that I absolutely LOVE to explore old ruins. Well, after teaching my Winterim on Native Americans, I really wanted to see these Indian ruins. There were old pueblos in several different places located pretty close together. They were amazing!

Stop #6 - The Grand Canyon, AZ. I hadn't been here since I was about 8 or so years old and I've always wanted to go back. It was a bit of a detour, but well worth it! We got there about dark so we stayed in Tusayan. The next morning we spent a good amount of time at various viewpoints, then we also took a short hike down in to the Ooh-Aah Lookout Point. Ooh Aah - Look at those views! There's also a pretty sweet old lookout tower you can climb up in....

Stop #7 - Lake Powell / Glen Canyon Dam, UT. We wanted to stop and swim, but we just ran out of time, plus the water would be a bit chilly. So we stopped at the dam instead - great views!

Stop #8 - Dinosaur Museum, Page UT. Isn't this a great picture? I love it. So I didn't even know it, but they find dinosaurs bones all the time around the cliffs of Lake Powell. They've found over 100s of species and just 5 weeks ago they found a T-Rex!! Sweetness!

Stop #9 - Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Kanab UT. This was our last & final stop. Running around on the dunes and getting sand everywhere.