Trevor and the kids picked me up at the Phoenix airport, April 27th, and we headed toward Sedona that afternoon. We stayed at Dead Horse Ranch State Park near a town called Cottonwood. 
Don’t let the name fool you as it was a great RV site. As well, we met a family from Rhode Island doing the same thing we are (with nearly the same time line), and we had a great time hanging out, sharing meals and stories. 
From Dead Horse we visited the charming artsy town of Jerome, where homes and stores are perched on the edge of a steep mountain. At night we could see the town’s lights from our campground. It was an unique town with quaint shops. However, many shops were closed when we were there (Wednesday) as they close for 2 days in the week and stay open on weekends.
Another unique and first time experience was the annual Cottonwood Rodeo, 
(never been to the Calgary Stamped but I guess that’s what happens when your a tourist). It was priceless to see the expression on Trae’s face when the first rider came out on the bucking horse. His eyes were popping out of his head and he had the biggest grin on his face. Good thing we don’t live near a ranch! From the grandstand, we witnessed a beautiful sunset.
We spent several days in Sedona as we were enjoying
the company of our new friends and Sedona. We visited a couple of native ruins, 
saw pictographs and petro glyphs and did some hiking, while trying to locate vortexes. Sedona is said to be the home of many spiritual vortexes. 
We hiked a trail to find one, and found was a dead bobcat on the trail!! Must have been a negative energy vortex. Trevor enjoyed Sedona as he was able to get a few bike rides in and thoroughly enjoyed the many trails. He found a trail that took him from Dead Horse Ranch to Sedona for a total of 32 miles. Trae even had the chance to explore the trails on his new bike. As expected, he loves mountain biking.
We chose to drift north of Sedona for one night to Cave Springs Campground so that we could check out Slide Rock Park. It is a super awesome natural slide made by the slick creek rocks in the canyon creek. Unfortunately the water was ice cold and we all chickened out, but it was still cool to imagine what it would feel like to ride down the creek and it was a beautiful spot to have a picnic.
Our next stop was Flagstaff, where we left our RV to get some maintenance. We thought we would save a few bucks and pitch our tent off a forestry road, just north of the city, for the night. But at 2:30am, after Trevor and I hadn’t slept a wink due to discomfort from the cold and the hard ground, we packed it up and headed back into town and got a hotel room. I guess we’ve gotten weak!!! Trae was the only one who was tough enough to not let the discomfort disturb his sleep as he slept right through the night!
The next morning we picked up our RV and made our way to the Grand Canyon.
We stayed in Desert View Campground at the eastern entrance to the south rim for 2 nights. When Kiah got her first sight of the canyon from the village at the south rim she exclaimed “Is that real?”. It truly looked like a massive painting. Like most places of such extraordinary beauty, photos cannot capture what one sees with their own eyes, never the less, we took hundreds of pictures as per usual.
We all went on a hike down the Bright Angel Trail into the canyon and had our lunch at the first rest station about 1.5miles down. We bribed the kids with the reward of a large ice cream cone if they hiked back up without complaint. Trevor hiked alongside Kiah and they even managed to run a portion while Trae and I followed close behind. Trae talked my ear off the entire time without a single complaint while we passed many “out of breath” hikers. Trevor and I were so happy because, although we’ve done many hikes with the kids, this hike was definitely one of the most enjoyable. It’s amazing what ice cream can do!
We managed to convince the kids to go back down the canyon the following day on a trail called South Kaibab. We went a similar distance and were rewarded with a spectacular viewpoint called “Ohh Awe Point”. It was incredibly stunning, however, nerve racking with the kids as we sat near the edge of a barrier-less cliff to take in the views.
We left the Grand Canyon and drove North toward Page, an area known for it’s slot canyons. On route we stopped at a couple of road side stands where Navajo people sold beautiful jewellery, blankets and pottery. We also stopped at a place called “Horseshoe 
Bend”. Here we took a short 1km hike to a cliff overlooking the beginning of the Colorado river where it flows from Glen Canyon into the Grand Canyon. Here the cliff makes a sheer drop off and there are no barriers. 
I allowed the kids to lie on their bellies on the rock while I held on tightly to their legs so they couldn’t get too close. It was another beautiful spot where you need to hold onto your adventurous children. A sense of wonder pulls you close to the edge to peer at the river running below, while there is a feeling that a strong wind or a miss step might send you plunging into it.
We stayed 3 nights in Page at Wahweap RV Park, where we met up again with our Rhode Island friends. We took a Navajo guided tour of Lower Antelope Canyon. It’s a slot canyon that we were able to climb down into and walk a portion of, for about an hour.
We watched the sunlight shine on the sandstone walls causing the red and orange coloured rock to glow. The wavy and twisting patterns in the rock seemed to create images of faces at every corner. We also took a cruise tour on Lake Powell into Antelope Canyon, where the rock walls shot up from the water into the sky in a narrow canal not much wider than the boat we were on. The day was very windy and the Captain of the boat later mentioned that it was difficult to avoid hitting the walls of the canyon!!
We are now headed to Zion, Utah and are very excited for what is next. Trevor hears that the biking is fantastic and we are excited for more hiking.
We approached Zion from the East entrance and as such we had the pleasure of driving the Zion – Mount Carmel Highway. This is a gorgeous road from the top of Zion 
Canyon, through two long tunnels and down several switch backs to the canyon floor. Unfortunately, when we arrived, all the camp sites in the park were taken and it was only 2pm. We did find a spot at an RV park just outside the south entrance. The hefty price of $42/night made us get up early the following day to find a site for $16/night in the park, where we spent another 3 nights. 
We did a family bike ride along the river path and Trevor and I each had an opportunity to enjoy a hike with the kids. They joined me on a hike to Emerald Pools and with Trevor to The Watchman, two beautiful trails within the park. Kiah and Trae are really starting to 
become excellent hikers! They enjoyed Zion as much as we did. They were amazed by the wild turkey we had the pleasure to see wandering through the campground. Trae wondered if we could eat it. It was pretty fat!
the park on trails called Gooseberry Mesa and Guacamole. He managed to do one of the rides with a few Calgarians who were on a bike trip. I did some running on the Zion hiking trails, including an epic day when I ran two popular hiking trails: East Rim Trail to Observation Point and Angels Landing. I ran more than 22km, to the rim of the canyon and back twice, in about 3hours. Needless to say my quads were a sore for a couple of days. Trevor also had the joy of running the canyon trails. The running itself was so easy, because the scenery in Zion is so inspiring, you don’t notice time go by. It's a place where pine trees and cacti co-exist and geckos and squirrels live in harmony. It was so quiet on one of the trails that I could hear the flapping of a bird’s wings as it flew over my head. It was hard to leave this magical place but we must continue our journey north!!!
