As Billy quickly posted last night, we are in Arizona! We spent half of yesterday and all day today exploring the area around Flagstaff. Turns out that the picture I had in my head of Arizona was incredibly off (so far, anyway). I expected to be driving through miles of sandy orange desert, perhaps with a large cactus here and there, while catching views the Grand Canyon, of course. What I didn’t expect were yellow grasslands, volcanic mountains, and forests of ponderosa pine trees.

Speaking of yesterday, we left Page and headed straight for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. A friend of ours suggested we make a quick stop at the Cliff Dwellings in Marble Canyon (thanks, Laura!). Despite their ancient appearance, the stone houses built around large boulders were built in the 1930s by travelers needing shelter as they made their way to the Grand Canyon.

The main dwelling blends right into the scenery. Copious graffiti inside insinuates that more than one person has lost his/her virginity here!

The houses were cool to check out, but finding another hole for Billy to cram into was the main highlight. Looking for Billy-shaped holes is becoming a game of sorts. After we took this photo, a couple crammed their noisy little dog into the hole for a snapshot. Looks like it’s catching on!

Looks pretty relaxing, no?

We arrived at the Grand Canyon in early afternoon and couldn’t wait to get a glimpse of the breathtaking scenery. We hurried to the rim and peered out. I don’t know if it was an exceptionally bad visibility day or if we’ve gotten so used to drop-dead scenery, but we were somewhat underwhelmed by the sight. Yes, it’s huge. And deep. And colorful. But there was a heavy haze that covered the place in a gauzy shroud, greatly dulling the view. We did the drive to Cape Royal Point and hit the overlooks on the way back. We are looking forward to visiting the vastly more popular South Rim in a couple of days (and hopefully the air will be clearer).

A view from one of the North Rim overlooks. This area was better than most, visibility-wise.

The entrance to the cave was little more than rocky hole in the forest floor.

Today, we planned a trip to three unique areas within an hour of Flagstaff. Our first stop was Lava River Cave, a leftover lava tube created more than 650,000 years ago. As we neared the cave, we drove along gravel and dirt fire roads through ponderosa pine forestland and pretty meadows. The parking lot was in the middle of the woods. We wondered how long we’d have to hike to get to the cave, since nothing indicated that we were in “cave country.” As we walked, we noticed that the ground was covered in pine needles and lava rocks that looked and felt like they were made out of styrofoam. Then, there was a giant hole in the ground. Literally.

We headed for the entrance and could feel the freezing cold air coming from the dark mouth of the cave. The sign nearby says to take two sources of light in case one fails. There is NO light in the 3/4-mile cave at all, so if you lose your light, you are pretty much stuck unless someone comes in after you. After a steep and perilous descent over large slippery rocks in the dark, we found ourselves on the smooth floor of the lava tube. The walls of the tube formed a giant arch ceiling that was 30 feet tall at one point. It was dark, cold, and completely silent inside. No sign of bats, unfortunately. Billy took a bunch of photos inside. You can view them here.

Billy emerging from the cave alive!

We climbed out of the cave and headed for our next stop: the Wupatki National Monument. The road leading to the site meandered through a vast straw-colored grassland. It stretched as far as we could see. Dark green junipers dotted the gently rolling hills. Interestingly, there was also quite a bit of black cinder soil. The area lies in the shadow of Sunset Crater Volcano, which was active when the pueblos lived there. Scientist believe that the cinder and ash from the volcano made the land much more fertile for Pueblo crops.

This is a view of the grasslands from one of the dwellings.

The Monument contains many dwellings, including the Wupatki, the largest pueblo around. The Wupatki complex housed up to 100 people. Volcano rocks were built into the limestone and sandstone walls. It was a pretty impressive place!

Billy heading down to the Wupatki complex.

It was getting late, so we quickly headed to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. The grasslands turned to ponderosa forest littered with jaggedy exposed lava flows. The closer we got to the volcano, the blacker the ground became. We hiked the Lava Flow Trail and got amazing views of the volcanic landscape up close. Deep cracks and piles of sharp lava rocks littered the landscape. It felt like another planet. Photography was difficult because it was getting dark. I tried though!

Sunset Crater Volcano is in the background. The foreground shows some of the lava rocks.

That’s all she wrote for today! if you can’t get enough lava rocks, pueblo ruins, and hazy Grand Canyon photos, there are lots more from the past two days’ adventures in my gallery. Tomorrow, we are exploring Sedona and its surrounding area. Ciao for now!