#rvtrips

[yourvacationguru-blog]

Some pictures we took yesterday at #alcatraz The first one is the Chapel and the next one is of the pool table which was returned to the prison after many years. The next two are of the gun galley with pictures of the inmate cells. Same view the guards would have. The last one is of famous prisoners. #infobdg #history #trip #planning #planneraddict #plannerlife #expertplanner #tripadviser #vacationaddict #vacationsdoneright #rvtrips #rvtrip17

[yourvacationguru-blog]

Some pictures we took yesterday at #alcatraz The first one is the Chapel, pool table returned to the prison after many years, and the galley with pictures of the inmate cells. Same view the guards would have. #infobdg #history #trip #planning #planneraddict #plannerlife #expertplanner #tripadviser #vacationaddict #vacationsdoneright #rvtrips #rvtrip17

[lovelesschristian]

Homolovi State Park-Arizona

I’ve decided to try and catch up and not fall further behind in postings by writing a really old section and then something newer like from our trip to Homolovi State Park this past weekend. I might end up not posting about stuff that happened in the middle, but then I’m not constantly playing catch up? Maybe? Hopefully? Who knows, but it’s a start.

The weather was supposed to be crappy (and it was) over Memorial Day weekend. We decided not to use our POGO Pass (still and awesome deal) to go to SunSplash. I am a wimp when it comes to water that’s not at least 85-90 degrees. I have to work out at the Aquaplex during Zippy’s swim lessons just so I’m overheated enough to stand the 83 degree water at the indoor pool while Zippy “practices” afterwards.

Bryan said we had to take the RV out for a little bit of a drive to “wear the tires evenly”. He might have been lying. I don’t know. It was a great excuse to take a small excursion. Friday we looked around for places to go visit. We looked at Camp Verde, Fossil Creek, and then I happened upon the State Parks Site (I was looking up information for the United Way of Northern Arizona Summit Society that Bryan and I agreed to be chairs of. Yay we get to plan a party and ask people for $500 or more for a great cause.) I noticed Homolovi State Park in Winslow has RV campsites that you can reserve ahead of time. It looked interesting and was only 47 miles away from our house. It looked like only half of the spaces had been reserved ($25 bucks for a space with electricity, $17 with no electricity, they have a dump station and water. The price also includes park admission) so we decided to pack up and head out Saturday morning.

We went to the ranger station first to get our campsite and to figure out what we could do with a preschooler. I know this seems like a silly tip for RVing with a preschooler, but we always go talk to the rangers first. Sometimes guide books and websites aren’t always up to date, and the rangers tend to have favorite things to do. When they actually see the kids, they can tailor their suggestions to your family. Plus nine times out of ten they’ll let Zippy do the Jr. Ranger program and she gets badges even if she’s technically too young.

The ranger was super helpful and suggested some easy hikes to see petroglyphs (we’re spoilt after last year’s Petroglyph National Monument trip, If you want to read about it click here but they were still cool), Ruins, and a LDS pioneer cemetery/fort. He said that the campsites were half filled which sounded like they don’t get a lot of visitors and helped Bryan pick out a space that was out of the way. On a side note I think Bryan should have taken the ranger’s original suggestion of being in the middle near the restrooms because it backed up to the river, but our spot was pretty good and quite.

Zippy even got to play in some dirt and with her bubble gun.

Another suggestion the ranger made was streaming the audio tour of Homolovi II from our phone. Although Zippy did something and turned it off half way through the tour and there is no fast forward button for it, it was extremely informative and really helped bring the ruins to life. So enough with the tips. What do you actually see when you get there?

Pottery. An amazing amount of Hopi Pottery just lying on the ground.

Ancestral Hopi Ruins. This is one of the most recent sites of the Hopi migration and they still have cultural events there.

Rocks! It’s the Colorado Plateau so there is always lots of geology to explore and it’s next to the Little Colorado. Flood Plain + Desert + River cutting through sedimentary and volcanic layers =Lots of different types of rocks. In one place we sat down I was able to find sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous samples all right next to each other. We had a mini geology lesson right there. So fun!

Petroglyphs.  Although if you really want to see some cool ones I’ve heard Rock Art Ranch is the place to go.

Petrified Wood/a forest. It’s right up the road (ok an hour away) from Petrified Forest/ Painted Desert National Park so it’s a great jumping of point. Plus they have their own small Petrified Forest and you can see painted desert from the loop.

Lots of different type of animal poop.

(Ok I was really taking a picture of the lizard the poop just happened to be there)

Zippy thinks poop is hilarious right now so I jumped on the educational opportunity. We saw cow, antelope, elk, bunny, owl (yes I know it’s not poop, but still) and coyote.

Examining Owl Pelts that had bones and fur in them.  I am assuming it was a mouse the owl ate.

Plus we heard coyote’s yipping at sunset.

Graves of dead babies. Old cemeteries always remind me that it wasn’t so long ago that a lot of kids didn’t live past infancy.

Wildflowers

On another side note after talking to my friend Lauren who is finishing up her degree in cultural anthropology and goes on lots of digs, she said to go during the Flagstaff Festival of Science because they open up a lot of the sites that are closed to the public most of the year. Plus they have the experts out there to go on walks with. So cool!

They also have ranger programs and star parties listed on their website to look into before you go. Oh and if you don’t want to camp you can always stay at the La Posada and eat at the Turquoise Room. It’s a beautiful old Harvey House that has been restored. The gardens back up to either Route 66 or the train tracks. You can sit in rocking chairs and watch the trains go by. Plus the food is awesome. I recommend the black bean and corn chowder, mutton, the corn maiden, and the pinon pie if they are serving it. Dinner is a treat, but lunch and breakfasts are pretty reasonable. If you are looking for a little more divey type of restaurant we also enjoy the Falcon, and I’ve heard good things about Little Brown Mug.