Ockey Family Adventures: Arizona Day 4

This morning we had a really nice breakfast in the hotel: eggs, sausage, and pancakes as well as the usual stuff. While we were eating Mom got a tip about a fun little stop in Holbrook called the Wigwam Lodge. It is a hotel where the rooms are shaped like teepees, and it supposedly gave rise to a scene in the movie Cars. We stopped and took a few pictures, and there were a lot of vintage cars in the parking lot. Much of the tourist draw in this area revolves around old Route 66.

We really liked the old cars parked out front.

We drove back into Petrified Forest NP to do a few more hikes. The first was a really nice nature trail behind the Visitor Center called Big Logs Trail. We learned a lot from the trail guide as we completed the short walk. Across the street we did a longer walk called Long Logs. It featured some of the longest logs we'd seen as well as a native dwelling reconstruction made entirely of petrified wood. We had a really good time walking and telling riddles and stories.

Dad made friends with a cactus.

The logs on the Giant Logs trail were huge.

There were so many huge pieces of petrified wood.

Seth called the inside of these logs rainbow explosions.

This is the largest log in the park.

Mom loves hiking with these people.

The Agate House is so cool. It's made completely out of petrified wood.

The Long Logs trail was a great hike.

We loved finding super long logs on our last trail.

The boys were such good hikers.

It was finally time to leave Petrified Forest. We drove I-40 as far as Winslow, listening to the Eagles the entire way. There is a special corner in Winslow, Arizona, dedicated to the Eagles song Take It Easy. The corner mentioned in the song is right on Route 66, and there are statues of Jackson Browne and Glenn Frye who co-wrote the song. We loved the rock-n-roll history, and Dad even bought an expensive apron to commemorate the occasion.

Standin' on the Corner in Winslow, Arizona.

This was one of our favorite stops on the trip.

All of our boys want to be rock 'n' roll historians like their dad.

Dax wasn't quite tall enough so Dad offered to be the stool.

Seth loves playing the guitar.

A few miles down the road we stopped at the Meteor Crater. It was expensive to get in, but we saved money by eating lunch in the parking lot. Then we checked out the small museum and the movie. We learned a lot about the meteor, and even saw the largest surviving fragment, which we rubbed for good luck. Then we took a tour along the rim of the crater. It's hard to get a sense of how big the crater is, but they claim two million fans could sit around the bowl and watch 20 football games being played in the bottom. The tour was interesting, and since it is still fairly cool, we didn't even suffer from the sun.

Meteor Crater was way cooler than Mom expected!

Seth wanted a picture from every angle of the crater.

We even got a family picture in front of Meteor Crater.

We spent most of the day at the Crater before continuing west on the 40. Just before Flagstaff we stopped for one more adventure. This one required us to take our poor van over twenty miles of tub-thumping washboard roads, but we found an amazing waterfall at the end. The overall height is bigger than Niagara, but it cascades down in many different sections. It's official name is Grand Falls of the Little Colorado, but most locals call it Chocolate Falls because of the dark brown water. We've seen very few waterfalls with so much going on. There was a long curtain with many side curtains both high and low. It was hard to capture it all in a picture.

Grand Falls was truly Grand!

We really enjoyed walking around and checking out the waterfall from all sides.

Can you see the rainbow? Mom caught it for just a second.

It was getting late, so we rolled into Flagstaff and ate at the Galaxy Diner. The walls were covered with pictures of artists and actors from the 50s. We walked all through pointing out famous people to the kids as they cooked our food. The food was really good, and we enjoyed more of the Route 66 history. Then we topped off the night with ice cream and movies in the hotel room. The boys really needed an easy night, so it was a perfect ending.