Yesterday we got the great idea to go to the Lava Tubes about 15 miles from the house. My boys have been there many times but Amy and I hadn’t. We got to the road that goes back about 6 miles into the forest and found that it will be closed until March 31. So we decided to go to a trailhead about 15 miles the other direction from the house and go hiking there.
I took some back roads that I knew of and we found a lot of snow. I took the truck because I knew that we would drive through lots of mud and the truck has a high clearance and four wheel drive. Well, we got through the roads of mud and snow just fine… but not off of the road at all! I ran into some Camp Navaho Army vehicles and had to turn around to find another road to the trailhead…. no problem there…. but then I ran into some VERY deep snow and could not get through it. So I turned around, again…. BIG mistake! The truck sunk into the mud.
We tried to put some rocks and sticks behind the wheels to get traction… the wheels just blew it all out! Then I winched to a tree and pulled the truck forward and up out of the ruts. We tried, again, with the rocks and sticks. No luck.
We were about to call for a tow, when I decided to winch to a tree to the side of us… we winched up to about 6 different trees, each one of them pulled us a bit more to the correct direction, until we got the truck back onto the dry road.
After a day of rest, Wednesday we all went to the Grand Canyon, South Rim. I live about ohe hour from the south rim. We took a family friend with us who had never been before.
We started at Yavapai Lookout.
While walking along the rim, we spotted a Condor……
Our walk ended at the Shrine of Ages.
Then we walked back to the car at Yavapai Lookout – total 1.2 miles walked. We drove to the Bright Angel Lodge area to have our traditional ice cream at Bright Angel Fountain. We left the dogs in the car, parked in the shade. Belle was pooped from the long hike earlier. The faint line about dead center of this picture is the trail you can ride on horses down to the bottom of the canyon to go camping.
There are always squirrels running around looking for snacks from the tourists…. it is illegal for us to feed the squirrels.
Leavi took these two pics using the camera in his phone… he has a great eye!
After Fort Verde on Monday, we all went to Tuzigoot National Monument. It is an ancient village or pueblo built by a culture known as the Sinagua. We spent a couple of hours there before driving back into Cottonwood for a great dinner at Strombolli’s. I, also, found “Ye Ole Hippie Emporium
This is a scaled model of what the village looked like when it was inhabited.
On Monday the boys, Amy, her dog, my pup and I went to Fort Verde State Historic Park. It is a military museum near Cottonwood, AZ. The park is the best-preserved example of an Indian Wars period fort in Arizona. The dogs were allowed on the grounds but not in the buildings. All of the restored rooms and exhibits had glass windows, so many of the pics I took had a glare and not enough light to turn the flash off.
Today Amy, the boys, a neighbor and I went to Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff. I have been many times but each of the tour guides has a different take and different information about the family who built the house, the architect and the time period, so I always enjoy the tour. It is two identical houses joined in the middle with a 1000 ft common room used by the two families…. two brothers, the Riordans, and the women they married – two sisters. The house was very modern for its time – 1904.
Here we all are at the front archway… famous for a picture taking spot – mostly for newlyweds because you can, also, get married here!
One of the front porches… I just love the architecture of this building!
Last Tuesday I woke up at 5:30am and was so sick that I could not hold anything down. So after a long nap I went outside to sit in the 60 degree weather to watch all of my animals playing in the sun with each other. The horse pasture had dried out enough so that the horses could walk all over and head box with each other. The ducks were enjoying a warm weather swim while Belle annoyed them and chased the cats. She was having a great time!
Then today the snow started again! And it was almost all melted.
And tonight we have this! Thankfully, it has been a light snow and most of it is not sticking.
Sorry for the “wardrobe malfunction” of the blog this week…. was time to renew my domain name. I guess I did not get notification of the year anniversary because I changed my email addy but failed to notify the domain registry site.
Next week is Spring Break here in Northern AZ. My oldest daughter will be here from Santa Cruz, CA for the whole week and my younger daughter will be here for the weekend, too So, I will have all of my kids here at the same time!! I will miss my GH, as he is still on the road. His birthday is Monday and we will make a call to sing him Happy Birthday!
So, I will have all of my kids here at the same time!! I will miss my GH, as he is still on the road. His birthday is Monday and we will make a call to sing him Happy Birthday! 
Nicole
Talina
Talina
yarmi74
