Stop #1 - Petrified National Forest, Painted Desert, and Rainbow Desert.
All of the above seemed to follow the same path and even led right to our very special Motel for the night. I was completely unprepared for how beautiful this would be. There is absolutely no way to capture it with the camera. If Arizona wasn't as hot as hell during a heatwave, I would seriously consider moving there just for the great outdoor hiking experience. The heat takes a lot of the joy away from it though. This girl was melting.
Addie has been a trooper throughout this trip. A couple thousand miles in the car, a new hotel every night, and she's still as sweet as can be. Loving my little puppy sidekick.
The kids, too. Moving is never easy. These guys are managing to stay positive and enjoy the experience with very little looking back. I am so proud of them and their positivity.
Seriously, how is this not fake??? Freaking gorgeous in these pictures, yet still not even close to what we saw in real life.
The kids would not believe me when I explained that this was all wood and not stone. So cool to see.
Rainbow Desert - such incredible colors.
Finally to another one of our most anticipated stops. We were super excited to sleep in a wigwam and booked this wayyyy ahead of time so we could be sure that it would happen. Unfortunately, there were somewhere around 7 "forest" fires going at this time, so we were surrounded by a smokey haze. I was lucky to get the pictures that I got in the National Forest because the haze was already moving in as we were leaving.
Parked at each WigWam, was an old car. A couple of them were themed around Disney's Cars. Doc Hudson, Flo, and even Mater's grandpappy were parked for us to see.
There's Doc. Parked right next to our WigWam. WigWam #15.
Inside, it was actually roomy. Two queen beds, a desk, and a small TV.
The bathroom is on the outside edge of the wigwam, so that was a bit of an experience. I not only had to duck to not hit my head on the wall, but also had to squat to wash my hair. I'm 5"7 and could look over the top of the shower head. Aidan's nearing 6 ft. His showers usually last 20 minutes. This one lasted less than 10. I don't think he was too impressed. Everyone agreed, however, that it was worth the stop. But only for one night.
Dinner was a surprise! Reviews stated that Joe and Aggie's was the place to go. The original owners of this cafe were the inspiration for Stanley and Alice, as well as Flo's Diner in Disney's/Pixar's Cars. Lots of Cars memorabilia around the cafe and we were lucky enough to get the opportunity to meet and speak with Joe and Aggie's son while we were waiting to pay.
Visit HERE to read more about Joe and Aggie and Cars
(Personally, I think they did a great job making Stanley look like Joe!)
On our way out, there were Navajo children dancing in the park. They were performing some of the native dances for the locals and for whoever decided to stop by. We were told that one of the dances was a "rain" dance. Not a surprise as the rain was needed for the fires and the dry land.
When we drive back to the wigwam to lay our heads down for the night, we all agreed that while we weren't really expecting anything big on this particular day, it ended up being one of our favorites along the trip so far.
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