Ev'rythin's up to date in Kansas City

We have traveled many miles and had constant adventures since Monday when we last had solid internet.  We are all tucked in to clean sheets, showered and fed ready for a good nights sleep in Kansas City.  Tomorrow brings new adventures.  

We have lots of catching up to do, but instead of a photo dump I will just go back and post one day at a time.  

Let's go back in time to Tuesday morning (5/30/2017) when we hugged our extended family goodbye and hit the road.  We ended up in the cutest little "unknown" town.  Williams, Arizona!!!!  Thriving just outside of Flagstaff with all that Route 66 has to offer. Certainly worth another stop some time in the future.  Emma admitted that she was done with the desert and was looking forward to seeing something a little different.

We had to stop at the popular In-N-Out Burger before we left the West Coast. 

 It was steaming hot in the desert of Arizona, we were a little concerned about our ice chest in the back and our comfort during the evening.  But in good desert form the temps dropped significantly and we nearly froze to death.  Ok, not really but 39 degrees was pushing it. 

Yes, I am wearing a winter coat...we call it Bella...I slept in it and am very thankful for this gift from my mother (picked up back in NM when we stopped for hugs). 

What is it like camping in the desert?

Your feet and everything else stays dirty.

                   

You have bunnies...bunnies everywhere.  Their little burrows surround the campground and we could see dozens of them in the mornings before the blazing sudden heat.

You also risk a wash out...while we were out for the day there was quite the downpour.  Luckily, we put the rainflies on the tents and put one tent under a shade cover (we assumed it was to reflect the heat...but it came in handy).  The desert was so dry that what rain had fallen while we were out left very little trouble for us by bed time.  It was a good night to hang out in the clubhouse and play games and run laundry.

Where were we all day while it rained back at the campsite...of course we we were at The Grand Canyon.  We had some extra time for one more adventure in Arizona...Bearizona.  Keep scrolling for those pics at towards the bottom.

So much bigger than she expected...of course she stopped asking if every hole in the desert was The Grand Canyon.  I have to admit, it was bigger than I expected. 

 The boyfriend was surprised by how green it was, not so much in the photos but plenty of pinon trees for animals. The trees were clicking, some kind of bug we suspect were using a series of clicks to communicate with each other throughout the canyon.  At home we would call them cicada...here they call them...well we don't know...couldn't find anyone there that knew and google isn't being helpful. 

       

I thought it looked like someone painted a perfect backdrop and left it there to fool us.  

The boyfriend has declared that he needs a good week to explore...some good camping and hiking may be in his future.

While Emma was excited about the big hole in the ground..she really loved looking at the forest on the way up and counting elk heads.  The night before we saw not only elk crossing signs but a dead elk on the side of the road.  It was so huge, we couldn't believe it.  Basically, it would be like hitting an horse with your vehicle...we don't want that to happen.

We held on tight to Daisy and kept on the look out for rattlesnakes.  There were holes under the fencing small enough for her to fall through...no edges for her.  

Not only were we thirsty, we we were excited to fill our bottles with real canyon water.

Our little one got "rangered"...on her dream career list.  And we were so excited to see The Grand Canyon train.  A must do for our our next trip. 

We were disappointed to have not seen a bear but we did see Pronghorn Antelope  and this lady elk that wandered in front of our car.  So amazing.  If I lived out here I wouldn't get anything done but critter watching.

Yes, I did say we were disappointed to have not seen any bear.  Well we were also thankful.  These guys are under care in Bearizona.  We thought we would see one or two bears hiding in the woods, but no.  They have a good twenty of so and are overly friendly if you stop your car too long...so keep moving.

         

Daisy was very excited to see the bears...pictures do no justice for how curious she was with her nose on the window sitting quietly.

We didn't see any wild burro out this way, but they had some at the park.  (husband and I saw some back in Nevada several years ago...it was startling)

                      

This beauty was wandering free in the park as well.

And this guy...also we were warned not to stop our cars for wolves will also scratch up your cars and eat your dogs.

Our ranger with her map and backpack to lead us through the park.  We were not on foot long before the sky opened up on us and we had to take shelter in the gift shop. 

Killing time at Cruiser's Cafe 66 in Williams, AZ while the rain passed.

Did we miss the ghost on this stop?  Nope, the canyon has quite a few tales to tell including the haunted caverns where you can spend the night. (big nope and double nope for us).

What does tomorrow bring?  Wait and see!