The Beckhams Go West {Day 17}

In July of 2015 we set out on a grand vacation through the southwest. We traveled for 21 days and over 6,000 miles, visiting 5 states and 9 National Parks. We explored new places and met up with old friends. Overall, it was an amazing journey and everyone learned so much. I highly recommend the Foder's guide to National Parks of the West, we used it when planning our trip and it was a great resource. You can see all my posts about the trip by clicking here.

Day 17 - Tucson & Saguaro National Park

We started our day in Tucson with a friendly game of National Park Monopoly. Sadly, the Park Ranger didn't do so well. Then we headed into Saguaro to hike among the gigantic cactus. The kids loved this park, and especially loved the Junior Ranger pack the let us borrow. At Saguaro they earned Junior Ranger badges and then, as a family, we earned "not so junior ranger" badges.

The Beckhams Go West {Day 14}

In July of 2015 we set out on a grand vacation through the southwest. We traveled for 21 days and over 6,000 miles, visiting 5 states and 9 National Parks. We explored new places and met up with old friends. Overall, it was an amazing journey and everyone learned so much. I highly recommend the Foder's guide to National Parks of the West, we used it when planning our trip and it was a great resource. You can see all my posts about the trip by clicking here.

Day 14 - Montezuma Castle National Park & Tucson

We checked out of our hotel at the Grand Canyon early because we knew it was going to be a long day of travel on the way to Tucson. My friend, who is a park ranger, suggested that we plan to stop at Montezuma Castle National Park so the kids could stretch their legs (and earn another Junior Ranger badge). It was the perfect place for us to get out and walk around. There's short, paved trail that was the perfect length for us to walk. The kids completed the easy Junior Ranger book and we were on our way.

We made it to Tucson around dinner time and everyone was ready for a dip in the pool!

The Beckhams Go West {Day 13}

 In July of 2015 we set out on a grand vacation through the southwest. We traveled for 21 days and over 6,000 miles, visiting 5 states and 9 National Parks. We explored new places and met up with old friends. Overall, it was an amazing journey and everyone learned so much. I highly recommend the Foder's guide to National Parks of the West, we used it when planning our trip and it was a great resource. You can see all my posts about the trip by clicking here.

Day 13 - Grand Canyon National Park

We spent Day 13 exploring Grand Canyon National Park. The kids were up early and it was amazing because it felt like we had the entire canyon to ourselves. We decided to hike a little into the canyon and while we were down there the kids completed some items from their Junior Ranger books. The rest of the day was spent exploring. We finished with dinner at El Tovar in their spectacular dining room.

The Beckhams Go West {Day 12}

 In July of 2015 we set out on a grand vacation through the southwest. We traveled for 21 days and over 6,000 miles, visiting 5 states and 9 National Parks. We explored new places and met up with old friends. Overall, it was an amazing journey and everyone learned so much. I highly recommend the Foder's guide to National Parks of the West, we used it when planning our trip and it was a great resource. You can see all my posts about the trip by clicking here.

Day 12 - Four Corners & Grand Canyon

 

 

On the morning of Day 12 we left Mesa Verde and headed towards Grand Canyon. Cole had requested a stop at Four Corners and since it was on our route I was happy to make that happen for him. The kids had a great time playing in all 4 states and it was a nice way to break up what was our longest drive so far this trip.

The drive all the way to Grand Canyon was about 5 hours. The kids did great and we did stop at a few shops and landmarks along the way. We entered from the east and our first stop was at the Desert View Watchtower. The view was spectacular (of course) and the kids loved climbing all the way to the top of the tower. After looking around we checked in to our hotel. We decided to stay inside the park at the historic El Tovar lodge. We loved it there and we literally stepped out our door and were right at the rim of the canyon.

The kids loved the games they had at the hotel for guests to play. Jr. RangerLand was our favorite.

The Beckhams Go West {Day 11}

In July of 2015 we set out on a grand vacation through the southwest. We traveled for 21 days and over 6,000 miles, visiting 5 states and 9 National Parks. We explored new places and met up with old friends. Overall, it was an amazing journey and everyone learned so much. I highly recommend the Foder's guide to National Parks of the West, we used it when planning our trip and it was a great resource. You can see all my posts about the trip by clicking here.

Day 11 - Mesa Verde National Park

 

 Day 11 took us to one of my favorite National Parks, Mesa Verde. We actually drove to Mesa Verde on day 10, following our hike through the Fiery Furnace. We decided to stay at the Far View Lodge inside the park at Mesa Verde and I'm so glad we did. The kids loved it and there was tons of wildlife roaming around.

 

 On day 11 we started out with an early 700 Years Tour. I had booked this ahead of time and it was a great tour for the kids. Since we had done so much hiking on day 10, they were glad to travel around by bus and just do some short hikes.

 We toured the famous Cliff Palace and both kids just loved the history and stories that the Ranger shared with us. My one complaint about Mesa Verde was that the food inside the park was marginal at best. I didn't realize how bad it would be so we hadn't stopped to stock up on snacks. Next time I'd make sure the cooler was filled before heading into the park.

The Beckhams Go West {Day 10}

In July of 2015 we set out on a grand vacation through the southwest. We traveled for 21 days and over 6,000 miles, visiting 5 states and 9 National Parks. We explored new places and met up with old friends. Overall, it was an amazing journey and everyone learned so much. I highly recommend the Foder's guide to National Parks of the West, we used it when planning our trip and it was a great resource. You can see all my posts about the trip by clicking here.

Day 10 - Arches National Park Fiery Furnace Hike

Day 10, also known as the day we all almost died. Not really, but kind of. I had reserved us a spot on a Ranger led Fiery Furnace hike months before our vacation. The spots are very limited and fill up fast. The recommended minimum age for the hike is 5 years old. I would say that is should probably just be a little bit older. This was a tough hike. You have to jump over ravines, wedge your body in spots to get to another location, climb over cliffs… you get the idea. 

This is my favorite picture from our entire vacation. The is Cole coming through squeeze through arch.

This gives you an idea of the types of obstacles the kids had to master. There were some that were much more difficult, but I couldn't take pictures because I was trying to help them not die.

Kiley did amazing with all the technical requirements. The only probably we ran into was that sometimes her legs were too short.

At the very end you come into a secret area where there is an arch directly above you. Appropriately named, Surprise Arch. Overall, if I had to do it all over again I would absolutely take everyone on the hike. My only real complaint is that the Ranger that was leading it was going so fast that we hardly had time to rest. The technical aspect of it wasn't too difficult. AND even though BOTH kids ended up crying at some point on this hike BOTH of them say that this was their favorite part of our entire vacation. So I guess it couldn't have been that bad.