Map of our travels on day six from Sedona, AZ to Tucson, AZ.
On Day 6, we left Sedona and headed to Tuscon, AZ. We drove south on highway 179. This is a very scenic drive and we got to see a lot of the red cliffs. Then we took interstate 17 south and finally interstate 10 south towards Tucson. We passed through Phoenix, and stopped for lunch there. We ate at Chick-fil-A. Though there wasn’t any snow, or anything else exciting on the way, we were pretty much ecstatic, because today, was Christmas Eve! Time passed quickly, and we reached Tuscon at about 2:00 p.m. Instead of heading for our hotel, we drove to the Flandrau Science Center & Planetarium on the campus of the University of Arizona. We arrived just in time for their “Holiday” show. The show explained why we celebrate Christmas. After the show, we ventured into the museum. We saw their math exhibit first. There were lots of brainteasers. One of our favorites were using seven different pieces to form a 3 by 3 cube!
Enjoying a math puzzle at the Flandrau Museum (Image by the Jayasinghe family).That’s a big crystal! at the mineral exhibit (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
Unfortunately, the museum was going to close in half an hour, so we looked at the exhibit that would take the least amount of time, which was the mineral exhibit. It was beautiful. We saw gold, silver, amethyst, sapphire, and even some petrified wood! We also got to see a fossil of a trilobite, which was a completely fantastic experience! Afterwards, we headed towards our hotel.
Our dad had reserved the Country Inn and Suites in Tucson for us. There were two of these hotels, and our dad had thought that we were staying in the one near the airport. When we got there he figured out that we were actually staying at the one closer to the city center! We finally found the hotel after taking a wrong turn twice. The hotel was decorated nicely, had an elegant look, and actually offered free fruit and cookies! They also offered free breakfast in the morning. The rooms were clean and smelled good. We rated it 4 out of five stars.
The red rock “snoopy” in Sedona (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
We woke up in rainy Sedona. It was really foggy, but you could still see the towering red rocks, or Moenkopi Sandstone, that Sedona is known for. Our mom had booked a Pink Jeep tour at 1 p.m. Since we had no plans we drove 5 minutes to uptown Sedona and walked around, for about two hours. Uptown Sedona has a lot of shops! We learned that Sedona was mostly a tourist city, and that was why there were so many shops! Most of the shops sold crystals and minerals, but we saw a Starbucks for the first time on our trip! I am sure there were many Starbucks cafes along the way, but this was the first one we had seen.
Pink jeep after driving on the dirt road (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
At 12:45 p.m., we headed toward the Pink Jeep store. At the store, a Pink Jeep Tour guide picked us up in a pink jeep and we headed toward the edge of the Colorado Plateau to visit the cliff dwellings of the Honanki people. The Pink Jeep was open on all sides. It was freezing cold, the temperature outside was about thirty five degrees, but with the jeep moving fast it was even colder, and it was raining! Soon we left the paved road and was driving on an unpaved, muddy, bumpy road. It was a pretty windy day as well. The jeep was pink when we started, but by the time we got to the Colorado Plateau it was completely brown with mud!
Entrance to Honanki Heritage Site (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
Our tour guide parked the Jeep, and we walked on a dirt trail ( or rather a trail that was a dirt trail and now was a mud trail ) to get to the cliff dwellings. We all got splattered with mud, but, being able to see the cliff dwelling of the Honanki people was well worth it! We all felt like tiny insects standing there next to the cliff!
Honanki Cliff Dwellings
Located near Sedona, the Honanki heritage site is open to the public seven days a week. Our guide said that the Pink Jeep Tours have teamed up with the park service to preserve the dwellings. The dwellings sit under a ledge of rock jutting out from the Colorado Plateau, keeping the area dry. This is probably why the Honanki people chose to build their houses there. Archeologists think that people lived here about 800 to 900 years ago. Today, only some of the brick and mud walls of the dwellings remain. Our guide said that some of the houses were two stories tall, but that early white settlers in the area had destroyed some of the houses for the lumber. We also saw some wall paintings, clan shields, and handprints, that are thought to have been made by the original people who lived at the site.
Handprints on the cliff thought to be made by the original people of the site (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
There were also some graffiti made by more modern people, and one of them made in 1926 even had a date! It would have been cool to touch some of the bricks they used for houses, but unfortunately there was a sign saying that if you touched anything that was used for the dwellings, you would be fined and have to spend 10 years in jail. Naturally, we didn’t touch anything. Besides, we didn’t want to damage the cliff dwellings!
After our fantastic pink jeep tour, we strolled through the shops in uptown Sedona again, and bought a few croissants and eclairs from the pink jeep cafe, since we hadn’t had any lunch. Our grandparent bought us beautiful bracelets and some Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory chocolate, which was delicious! We used to think See’s Candy was expensive, until we got to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. The chocolate was about two and a half times more than what we would have paid at See’s Candy for one truffle.
After a long, but exciting day in Sedona, we were glad to get back to our room to relax.
We woke up, at the Hilton Garden Inn, in Flagstaff hoping that it would snow, but, unfortunately it didn’t. We got dressed and went down to have breakfast offered by the hotel. And when they said ‘breakfast’ they meant it! There were scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, potatoes, biscuits with gravy, french toast, waffles, and cereal. They had various types of fruit, including, strawberries, blueberries, peaches (sliced and peeled), cantaloupe, honeydew, and grapefruit (cut in half). They also had whip cream to top the fruit. You might be wondering, if such a delicious breakfast could possibly be free. Well, it wasn’t. This breakfast was $10 per adult and $8 for children (under 12).
Map of our travels on day 3 from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon, AZ
After breakfast we picked up some jackets scarfs, gloves, and hats. We headed out of Flagstaff to visit the Grand Canyon. We drove on Arizona route 180 (north) and joined route 64 (north) at Valle. This was a nice scenic drive which took us through both the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests. There was snow on the ground, and it looked like a winter wonderland. On the way, we stopped at the Nordic ski center, but we decided to try this out next time because we did not have much time. The drive from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon took about an hour and a half.
On the way to the Grand Canyon (route 180 N, Image by the Jayasinghe family).
The Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon National Park is in Northern Arizona. There are Visitor Centers on both the North and South Rims. The North Rim is closed in the Winter. The Visitor Center at the south rim is open 24 hours every day of the week. This is also the most visited part of the Canyon. Getting into the Grand Canyon parking lot took us a long time. There is a fee to enter the Park. The fee is $30 per car. We bought our pass at a gas station in Valle hoping it would make it faster for us to get into the park, but, it didn’t help. All the lines were full of cars. There were five lanes. We thought that they should have had a lane for people that had passes, a separate lane for people who were paying with a credit card, and a separate lane for people paying with cash. We also thought that the signs should be bigger and easier to read.
At Mather Point at the Grand Canyon, sipping a hot chocolate (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
It was pretty cold at the Grand Canyon, so we were thankful that we had brought our jackets. We watched a 20 minute video about the Grand Canyon at the Visitor Center. Before going to Mather Point Overlook on the South Rim to look at the Grand Canyon. We went to the Bright Angel Bicycle Rental and Café (next to the Visitor Center) to get something to eat. We got a hot chocolate to share and a croissant each. Then we went to Mather Point which is a short walk away from the Grand Canyon Visitor Center. We walked a little bit on the rim trail to see different parts of the Canyon, and finally went to the Grand Canyon Park Store to get some souvenirs.
The Grand Canyon is 18 miles across (at it’s widest), 1 mile deep, and 277 river miles long. The Grand Canyon was carved out from the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado river five or six million years ago. The Grand Canyon is considered a very young Canyon.
Click here for more information on the Grand Canyon.
The Lowell Observatory
In front of the Pluto Telescope (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
On the way back from the Canyon to Flagstaff we went to the Lowell Observatory with hopes of stargazing. The Observatory is in Flagstaff situated on a hill to make it easier to observe the stars. The Observatory is famous for discovering Pluto, but scientists at the observatory have also discovered the rings of Uranus, the atmosphere on Pluto, as well as accurate orbits of Pluto’s two new moons.
The Solar System walk at the Lowell Observatory (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
On the day we visited they had set up the Clark Telescope to look at the moon. We saw the moon clearly, but by the time our mom and dad tried to look at it the clouds rolled in an covered it up. Then, we headed to the Pluto telescope and learned all about how Pluto was discovered. We went on the Solar System Walk (one of two small walks at the Observatory), and we went a little off the trail to play in the snow. In some places, the snow was at least six inches deep. We had a short snowball fight, and then we headed back to the hotel room.
Click here for more information on the Lowell Observatory.
Map of our travels on day 2 from Lake Havasu City to Flagstaff.
Day two of our trip was sunny, but cool. We were driving to Flagstaff, but we stopped to see the London Bridge in Lake Havasu first. The London Bridge was less than a mile away from the Days in where we stayed the night.
The London Bridge
The London Bridge, Lake Havasu City, Arizona (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
The London Bridge is in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The bridge originally spanned the River Thames in London, and was designed by engineer John Rennie in 1831. It was Rennie’s last project, and was finished by his son. The bridge was made for horse drawn carriages and was not strong enough for cars of the 20th century. They needed a new bridge that was strong enough for cars to cross and the old London Bridge was put on auction. It was sold to Robert P. McCulloch who was the founder of Lake Havasu City. McCulloch bought the bridge to help bring more visitors to Lake Havasu. The London Bridge was disassembled, transported to Lake Havasu City by ship, and then reassembled in 1968. Each block of stone was numbered sothat putting it back together would be easier. The reconstruction was completed in 1971.
The Shoppes at London Bridge (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
We looked around the world famous “London Bridge Shoppes”. There were several restaurants, cafes, and souvenir shops. We went to the Visitor Center where they have some photographs of the bridge being reassembled.
SNOW! Seeing real snow for the first time (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
After visiting the London Bridge we headed off to Flagstaff. We took AZ highway 95 North and joined interstate 40 heading west at Kingman. As we approached Flagstaff, we saw snow! It was so beautiful that we had to stop. This was a highlight since we were seeing real snow for the very first time. We made dad exit the freeway so we could play in the snow. The air was really cold, but that didn’t matter at all! When we got to Flagstaff, we were ecstatic to see that the city had gotten at least 6 inches of snow! We stayed in the Hilton Garden Inn. The room was very comfortable and clean. There were two beds, a desk, and a nice, roomy bathroom. The hotel itself was elegant with a fireplace in the lobby which was decorated for the season including a christmas tree. The hotel had an indoor pool and hot tub right next to the lobby. We rated the Hilton Garden Inn at Flagstaff a 4 out of five stars.
Map of our travels on day one. (A) – San Marcos, CA. (B) – Desert View Tower on In Ko Pah Road, in Jacumba, CA. (C) – Imperial Sand Dunes at the Gordons Well Road Exit. (D) – Quartzite, AZ. (E) – Lake Havasu City, AZ.
We were out of bed by 2:45 a.m. We were up so early because of a two week trip to Arizona, to celebrate our birthdays. We were so excited, we couldn’t sleep. Unfortunately, our mom sent us back to bed. We woke up again at about 4:00 a.m, and got ready for the 5-6 hour drive to Lake Havasu City, the first stop in our trip.
Our goal was to leave the house at 5:00 a.m. Instead, we finally left at 6:15 a.m. It took us a long time to get everything packed. There were seven of us, five in our family, and grandparents. We took the Interstate 15 South to Interstate 8 East. Our first stop was at a Travel Center near Campo, California, where we bought a refreshing hot chocolate and some delicious roasted peanuts.
After doing a few jumping jacks to stretch our legs, we hopped back in the van and continued on the Interstate 8 east, until we arrived at the Desert View Tower and Boulder Park, in Jacumba, California (B on map, desertviewtower.com).
Desert View Tower in Jacumba, CA (In Ko Pah Road on I8-E).
We got to see through a telescope in the Desert View Tower, ($6.50 per person to climb the tower), and then climbed through a rock maze at the Boulder Park.
Animal carvings in the boulder park at Desert View Tower (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
There were a number of animals carved out of stone. Part of the rock maze was so narrow, our mom nearly got stuck!
Climbing the rock maze in the boulder park at the Desert View Tower (Image by the Jayasinghe family).Imperial Sand Dunes (Gordons Well Road Exit on the I8-E). (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
After the Desert View Tower we headed east on interstate 8. Our next stop was at the Imperial Sand Dunes just before we crossed into Arizona (C on map). We did not spend much time at the dunes. Apparently these dunes were formed from sands of an old lake called Lake Cahuilla. The Dunes are about 40 miles long and 5 miles wide, and they are moving south eastwards at the rate of about 12 inches every 100 years. We got back on to interstate 8 east, and just past Yuma, Arizona, got on to Arizona highway 95 going north.
After some more driving, we stopped in Quartzsite, AZ (D on map) to stretch our legs, get some gas for the van, and to buy some Doritos, and Cheetos. We finally arrived in Lake Havasu City at about 4 in the afternoon, and checked in at the Day’s Inn.
Although the Days Inn was not the prettiest, the rooms were clean and fairly comfortable. The rooms had two beds, a microwave and a refrigerator. There was a hot tub and a small pool at this location. The room came with free breakfast. After we settled in we went and soaked in the hot tub for 15 minutes before we had dinner. We came up with a five-star rating system, and we gave the Day’s Inn three stars.
