Arizona Adventures- Day 1, Part 1

Arizona is slightly more interesting than I originally thought.

Which means, we crammed a TON of places into a few days. It was a blast!

Well, for the most part.

Technically, our "first" day was flying and arriving. Thursday, we flew out of Minnesota at 2:30. Arrived in Arizona around 4. Luggage took awhile. Then our rental car was a good hour wait. It was around 6 when we arrived at my brother-in-law and sister-in-laws place. After a delicious dinner out and hitting up a Whole Foods, we weren't left with a ton of time.

They let us crash at their place for the night before we headed north for our big adventures. (Thank you for that!)

We started pretty early. I think we left the house around 7:30. It was going to take a bit to get where we wanted to go.

I think I'm just going to share some of the pictures from the first part of that day, because they will tell it better than I can.

On our way out!

You can see my hair blowing.

So weird having windows down in October.

It was beautiful out!

Hot air balloons!

Sorry, I'm a simple person.

Not sure if you can see the giant spider web.

Thank God no spider.

Must have been human sized.

Montezuma Castle

"Well preserved cliff dwelling, built by prehistoric Sinagua Indians in A.D. 1100."

Postcard reference for those that are curious.

I wanted to go inside.

But NOOOOOOO.

They watch pretty closely too.

No easy way up that hill.

Some sort of bird dwelling on the underside of the cliff.

It was neat to see the walls built into different areas of the cliff.

One of the openings held a hive.

Very large hive.

There was a sign that said, "Ancient bees here. If chased, please run."

Sweet.

Not sure if your supposed to do that...

must have been snack time.

 

He's so weird.

Don't feed the animals!

What the castle looked like on the inside.

More driving north. Saw some "fog".

Turned out to be smoke?

Lots of fires up here.

Kind of sad to see that.

My chip bag was on the verge of exploding.

We kept creeping up in elevation.

"Popchips" was going to take on a whole new meaning.

Our second stop of the day, Red Mountain.

Volcano time! 

1.3 miles of hiking to get in there.

Cactus that you can eat?

There are brown balls of fruit that grow on it.

You can make jelly with it.

Tempting...

But pass.

After what felt like years of walking, we reached the good part!

Not sure what he's doing here...weirdo.

We climbed a portion of the rock.

Not a good plan.

Easier to climb than it is to get down.

I roll easily.

So very beautiful!

Jalon decided to explore up high.

Due to my "rolling" I felt it was safer for everyone if I just stayed put.

See him waving?

I barely got this picture.

I was being hunted by a stray wasp.

I spent the next 5 minutes sprinting around the cave area.

Another pretty view.

Hiding inside some sort of hole.

Looked like a waterfall area...when Arizona has water.

Does that actually happen?

I have my doubts.

I found an elephant!

Woo-hoo!

 

Time to go.

So hot.

So tired.

After all that rolling, escaping bees and hiking, I was ready to head out.

 

That's it for Day 1, Part 1.

I have too many pictures and don't want to be too boring.

The rest of the days aren't that exciting, just so you know.

 

I'm way too lazy for all that jazz.