11/21/2024 Thursday. Colorado to Utah to Arizona to New Mexico. Today we drove to the Cisco, Utah ghost town, Arches National Park, then stayed in Moab. Elliot got his whip here. Ate at Pasta Jay’s for pizza.

11/22/2024 Friday. Moab to Phoenix. We stopped at Wilson’s Arch and climbed it. Elliot sat in my lap and asked for a pizza kitten story. We both absolutely loved this time together. Hole in the Rock trading post. Elliot got a rattlesnake mug there that reminded him of my cat mug. Newspaper rock. Edge of the Cedars Utah state park with Indian ruins. Elliot got a very cool flint Indian knife there. Kayenta Burger King in Kayenta, Arizona with the Navajo code talkers exhibit. Slept at Bill and Dora house. Bill already asleep when we arrived

11/23/2024 Saturday. Pioneer Living History Museum and Pioneer Telephone Museum, somewhat of a disappointment because it was empty. We did have a nice walk through the desert and saw a lizard. Early Thanksgiving lunch with Bill and Dora’s family (two sons, their wives, grandkids, and their spouses). Slept at Bill and Dora house.

11/23/2024 Saturday. Dinner at Rustler’s Rooste. Elliot’s first time eating rattlesnake. He loved the slide at the restaurant, the longhorn cow outside, and the live music band. Slept at Bill and Dora house 3rd and last night. He loved this place so much we went a 2n time.

11/24/2024 Sunday. 10:00 AM Jeep tour in Wickenburg, Arizona near Vulture Mine and Vulture City. The jeep took us to the “Box Canyon”. Afterwards, we went to Vulture Gold Mine at Vulture City where I went with my father. Drove to Tombstone and stayed there (went to Tombstone with my father, too, and in fact all of these places!)

11/25/2024 Monday. Tombstone, Arizona. OK Corral gunfight. Horse-drawn coach ride. Lunch at a saloon. At night, a ghost tour of Tombstone that wasn’t really about ghosts. Stayed overnight in Tombstone again.

11/26/2024 Tuesday. 1st grade parent/teacher conference over Zoom in the hotel room with Elliot’s teachers and Karolina. Boot Hill graveyard. Boothill cemetery. Tombstone gallows. Drive to Winslow. Eat dinner and sleep there.

11/27/2024 Wednesday. Hopi and Navajo Indian Reservations. Waiting at the Polacca Post Office for our guide to take us to Walpi. Due to snow and wind, he advised not to go. We then waited at the Hopi Cultural Center for our next guide to take us to Blue Canyon and other Hopi sites. She never showed up – had a death in her family and kept postponing, then canceled. Elliot bought a mink skin here that he loves. We explored a Hopi water spring on our own and two Hopi men came and told us to leave, that the place was sacred. Went to Homolovi State Park on the way back to Winslow. Spoke to the ranger a long time. Elliot bought some “Weed-Eater Garden Rocks” that he absolutely adores. Ate pasta dinner at Captain Tony’s Pizza which also had video games and pool like an old-style pizza parlor.

11/28/2024 Thursday. Thanksgiving at Meteor Crater, Arizona! Hike around Diablo Canyon looking for the Apache Death Cave. Explored an abandoned RV, gas station, rest stop. Finally found the Apache Death Cave after a great hike. Near dark and I couldn’t find a safe way down. Didn’t go in this time and Elliot was vey upset. But we went back the next day and explored it. Also went back to Homolovi State Park so Elliot could get more of the “weed-eater” rocks.

11/29/2024 Friday. Apache Death Cave again. This time we went in it and explored. There was a room with small entrance we did not go into. Also did not go all the way back, but we did explore a lot. Drove to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Visited the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. Slept in Albuquerque.

11/30/2024 Saturday. Drove from Albuquerque, New Mexico to home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Total mileage of trip: 2860 miles!