Final Stretch Home

We made some more changes to the plan in Colorado.  The girls wanted a break from the car so we camped 2 days with out friends Allison Ernst and Aaron Espinosa.  They took us to a beautiful site in Isabella National Forrest.  We ended up finding a campsite outside the full campground.  The campsite was at around 9000 and had a waterfall.  We exploring up to around 12000 off road.  

There was big horn sheep around watching for camper to leave.  We were told they look for left overs and in the campground like the grills.  It was nice to slow down for a couple of days, especially in such a beautiful spot.

Old cabin at the tree line.

Around 11500 feet 

Trout in the lake!

They are both in there

Snow melt.  The river was cold.  Girls start wanting to swim, but just waded.

Marshmallows roasting!

Up close and personal

Camping in Colorado.  

Heading to Pueblo, Co

We will be camping with our friends Allison and Aaron the next two days.  

Arches and Canyonlands

Two parks today.  Arches in the morning.  We took a Ranger guided tour, which was nice.  After Arches we shot over to Canyonland.  Canyonland was nice but need several days with ATVs to really see.  

The girls have about 11 badges now.  They now have a matching Jr. Ranger hat to go along with their vest.  

Sunny

Long road

It has been a pretty long road, but it helps when it looks like this.

We just past 6000 miles.  Tonight we are staying just out side Arches National Park!

Zion

Zion is a pretty cool park.  So far, it is the only park that has a seperate nature center for kids.  Right when we entered the park we had to stop for bighorn sheep to cross the road.  Since it was so hot out, 104 degrees, we opted to play in the river most of the day.  Plus, Brooklyn found more tadpoles! This time the tadpoles had little back legs!

The girls ended up swimming in their our clothes.

Sunset at Horsebend

Horsebend is one of my favorite places.  It is just cool!  After the Grand Canyon we rushed up to Horsebend to watch the sunset. 

It was a bit windy.

Kaleigh and I beat Brooklyn and Elizabeth back on the hike!  They may argue there was a different finish line, but we disagree!

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon has a special place in my heart.  It is where I done my first long hike and it was with Elizabeth.  Before we were married, Elizabeth and I hiked over 60 miles in the Grand Canyon.  After spending 6 days hiking without showers and not killing each other - I figured she would be a good girl to marry! 

Girls with Tom and Lisa below!

Another night sleeping in the car!

We spent a little to much time at Yosemite and the elephant seals, so we had to push it to the Grand Canyon.  We stopped at 1:20 am and were back on the road at 5:20 - some random rest stop!  We made it on schedule.  This is one of the few stops we met up with someone.  Tom and Lisa Conner drove up from Phoenix to meet us!  Plus, they were nice enough to let us clean up in there hotel room!

Del Taco

And Thank You Del Taco, I missed you!  The best Mexican fast food there is!

First stop in AZ....Kingman.

When we first arrive in AZ, Chris almost took a job in Kingman - where there are hungry dogs!

One of our previous residence....Arizona.