Entering Arizona, (Days 6 - 7)

The 4th of July, Petrified Forest Nat'l Park, AZ

With our bodies still on PA time, we were up and driving by 6:00 AM.  We crossed the border into Arizona and the clocks went back an hour so we reached the Petrified Forest National Park at 5:55 AM. Pretty good time. :)  We cooked some pancakes in the camper while we waited for the gate to open at 7:00 AM.  

The park is a 28 mile drive with numerous scenic views and trails.  It was the fourth of July and we were fortunate to find a couple to take our picture holding their American flag at one of the petroglyph sites.  I know that you are supposed to be “wowed” by the petrified wood and the ancient ruins, but oddly enough, my most memorable moment was when we crossed a dry river bed.  From the bridge, I saw a mud hole with a cow standing in it.  Beside the cow was a mummified (well dried up and dead) cow.  As we continued to explore the riverbed, we found a living calf, a dead calf, and 3 or four other living cows.  It had a real “circle of life” feel to it.

  We were all glad to arrive at the Thousand Trails campground, in Cottonwood AZ, early in the afternoon.  The employees all gave us a hardy welcome when I told them that I was Alan Koelble’s daughter.  That is always fun.

With the help of the kids we chose a great camp site.  We opted to exchange the provided sewage hook-up for lovely shade, a large “back yard” and access to a nearby desert stream, with water in it and no visible dead cows.  Gabe pulled for the site pretty hard as there was a camper with 3 hummingbird feeders across the street.  I have been informed that in PA there is only one type of humming bird, but Arizona has 12 (?).

Photo by Gabe

  Other than the sign on our back fence informing us that we share our space with a rattlesnake (we even found a shed skin), we have thoroughly enjoyed our location.  We have now spent two nights here and are sleeping better and better as we adjust to time changes and different beds.  It was fun to learn that our neighbor with the feeders is a retired test pilot for the army and a Pre-med student at Pitt (I was too).  He also lived in Gloucester, Virginia during the same time as my own family.

Our first night at Thousand Trails (the 4th of July) we took an evening drive to Jerome, AZ.  It is an abandoned copper mine town turned “artsy”.  Cottonwood has an elevation of 3,000 feet and we drove up a mountain to 5,280 feet, home of the Mile High Cafe.  Not much was open but window shopping was fun and the restaurant that was open was fabulous!  I had a delicious taco salad with roasted pumpkin seeds at “15.quince”.  Nate had an elk burger.

The next day we spent a leisurely morning at our campground.  Gabe took literally hundreds of photos of birds, mostly hummingbirds and Luke began his work on a movie about a boy who is pursued by minotaurs.  You can probably see it on YouTube.  I am actually featured in the film.  :)  By lunch time Nate and I were ready for an afternoon outing, so we unplugged the camper and took off for Slide Rock National Park.

  What used to be a successful apple orchard homestead is now a natural canyon water slide visited by hundreds of people each day.  Nate, Luke and Gabe slid down the shoots of water and jumped of cliffs for an hour or so while I shutter-bugged.  It was packed with people.  Nate and I noted that there were no people running or doing dangerous things (other than the obvious).  The place was a hazard in numerous ways but people seemed to be using more caution than they would at a pool.  I can remember my sister Darcy, a landscape architect, telling me that playgrounds with more risk rarely have more injuries because people exercise caution.  Parents watch more closely, etc.

  Anyway, the natural wonder made for a fun filled afternoon followed by a bit of shopping and ice cream on Main Street in Sedona, a small town nestled in Oak Creek Canyon.  Nathan and I were constantly in awe of the beautiful rugged landscape around us.  Both at Slide Rock and in Sedona the towering red formations towered above us.  It was quite impressive.  Our favorite stop was the Sedona Art Gallery and School.  Gabe was taken with all the photographs and was excited to learn a little about technique from the guide.  It was a fun coincidence to learn that the man, now retired, did his undergraduate work in Engineering at Carnegie Mellon, just like Nate.