The next morning we drove to Tonto Natural Bridge, just northwest of Payson. I had never been and my kids hadn't either. This was one of everyone's favorites from the trip. We hiked down to the bottom of the bridge. It was a moderately difficult hike. (Especially if you had broken your ankle earlier this year! But I really wanted to go with my kids and not be the bum mom again who couldn't do stuff so I toughed it out.) They did great, even E. made it. The view from the bottom was phenomenal! It was so awesome to hear the kids' responses when the first saw the bridge. Awesome that a natural wonder could provoke the same response as a cool sports car. T. and the older kids hiked under the bridge while E. and I stayed behind.
The second picture shows how big the bridge really is. Can you see my family in the center with their navy blue jackets on?And here is a prime example of a typical 13-year-old boy. You probably can't read the sign that says,"Do not enter beyond this point."
He obviously couldn't read the sign either!Then it was back up the trail. It was steep! Funny how you don't notice how steep a trail is while you are going down! We noticed this sign at the trail head after coming back up. Maybe I should have paid attention to it before going down....maybe not! My kids were proud of me for doing the hike and that was totally worth it.
Then it was on to the gift shop. Here's a disclaimer about gift shops. I absolutely love them. I love going to the gift shop as much as I love going to the place that we're visiting. I think I have passed this along to my kids because we can't seem to leave a place without stopping in the gift shop. We have simplified the process though. Each child has something that they collect while traveling that makes choosing a souvenir so much simpler. For example, PK collects pins. So whenever we go to a gift shop, he get to buy a pin. PC collects pressed pennies. A. collects snow globes and E. collects post cards. (Yes, last child....the least expensive souvenir. Hmmm..what have we learned along the way?) SO you can bet that everywhere that we went on this trip included a stop at the gift shop.
After Tonto Natural Bridge we headed west to Montezuma's Castle. Ahhh.. a paved walking trail. I will say that it is so awesome traveling with older kids who really understand the historical significance of things. They have learned about these places in school and are genuinely impressed with what they are seeing. So much fun! Montezuma's Castle is such a wonder. We saw pictures from the 1930's where tourists could climb ladders up and explore the ruins. Women in dresses in those days and men climbing the ladders with one hand while holding a baby in the other. Needless to say, you can only observe from afar but it is still so impressive. Take a set of binoculars if you go. Take more than one set of binoculars if your kids are going with you! :)
We continued west and drove through Cottonwood to Dead Horse Ranch State Park. We found an RV spot there to hook up for the night. Here's the deal with the hook-ups. You do not have to hook up at night. If you don't hook up you will need to use the generator to run the microwave, any of the electrical outlets, and the air conditioning. The lights will still run on the battery. The generator is noisy and if you are staying in an established park they usually have a rule against using it. It also uses gas to run and the rental places will charge you fee for every hour that you use it. If it is cold outside you will need to run the furnace at night and will need to be hooked up for that. We were COLD during our night at the WalMart parking lot with no hookups. It would be ok if it was summertime and we were camping somewhere without a hookup. But any other time you will want the heat during the night. Also, if you use a lot of water (like a family showering and flushing the toilet all day) you will need to do a sewer dump about once a day. So this is where staying in an established park is a good thing.
After reserving our spot at the park, we drove up the mountain to Jerome. Neither Trevor or myself had been there before. It's a little mining town perched high in the mountain. It is considered a "ghost town." I was surprised at how high it is situated up there. Literally built in the side of the mountain. We went to the mining museum there and learned about the history of the town. It was all really interesting, even to the kids. We drove around a little bit. I will say that I was a little (a lot) nervous about those windy, narrow, really high roads in that RV. It was one of those really cool places that you'll probably only go to once, but still worth the trip
Even though PK is not smiling in any of the pictures, he is having fun, I promise. 
This shot shows how the town of Jerome is perched way up there in the mountains. You can see it in the middle of the picture where the rock changes color.
Even though PK is not smiling in any of the pictures, he is having fun, I promise. 
This shot shows how the town of Jerome is perched way up there in the mountains. You can see it in the middle of the picture where the rock changes color.We went back to the park for the night and had fun making cowboy dinners and smores by the campfire. By the way Whitty Family smores consist of roasted marshmallows and Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies. Way better than graham crackers and Hershey bars!
Still to come...Day 2
Still to come...Day 2 
2 comments:
Hey that looks like a ton of fun! Guess what trip the gasser family will be taking as soon as Mr Gasser see's this post. heeheehee. Seriously he has been wanting to do that, we almost did it for the fall break. Instead we had another staycation-oh well. I'm glad you guys had so much fun. (ps. I like the gift shops too!!)
I was wondering when you would get a chance to post about this! It looks like a fun time for everyone! I am shocked however that there was no published itinerary though!?!? WInk!
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