Navajo Nation

Summer Vacation goes by pretty quick.  It's good to get outside as early as possible.  This was our first week.

Meteor Crater

had to stay at a KOA campground, the one I had targeted closed years ago
It wasn't bad, they had a pool and a playground and the kids made some friends

Petrified Forest

Great Views everywhere

Painted Desert

Much nicer campground, nestled in a quiet valley of Cottonwoods
right at the edge of Canyon De Chelly

Three burners going
this is how I roll.
My little backpacking stove in the
background is about 1000 times
more efficient for boiling.

Griff is really into this dragon series

First visit to Canyon De Chelly, the other places I had
been to before, but this was all new

The one trail they let you hike down on your own
I was thinking about one of the Navajo Jeep tours, but it was so nice to just stroll
around and not spend a bunch of money

Simple, wide switchback trail to get you to the bottom

Pueblo Ruins

I made it look like they were sitting on an edge,
but really it was completely safe the
whole time. There were guardrails at all
the hairy spots, and I always kept them on
the inside of me when walking the switchbacks

beautiful

I picked up the kids in Sedona where they had spent part of the weekend with their grandparents, and then we avoided the recent fires by heading through Flagstaff and onto Petrified Forest.  The weather was great, not too hot, very breezy.

I got to hit quite a bit of the state that was new to especially coming down rt 12 on the New Mexico border.  What a drive.  Full disclosure: we did end up staying in a hotel the final night due to the excessive amount of road time.  It was late, campgrounds were scarce, I was giving in to laziness.  Shower, pool, and waffles made it worthwhile.