Prescott is a town full of outdoor enthusiasts. My guidebook said it is a good place to live, but a hard place to find work.

We were tired and so we stopped right away at The Raven, a cafe that Ghis and Michelle discovered when they passed through.

It felt more like a pub inside. They had a huge selection of beer and it was happy hour. It was also DJ night, so the music was a bit loud. We did enjoy having a place to sit and hang out and the pizza was good, too.

There was a bit of snow lying around in Prescott, but we slept in the Wal Mart parking lot and weren’t cold at night.

In the morning, we drove another very windy road. I got a bit car sick from riding in the back, and Louise switched places with me for a bit. We descended for a long time until we reached the flat, cactus-filled part of Arizona again. We showed Louise the saguaros, those cacti that we love, and we even climbed under a fence to get close to some.

Jerome is a ghost town high up on a mountainside. It was a mining town, but part of the mountain broke away after being mined and eventually artists took over the town and made it the lively place it is today.

There are lots of places to shop, but the best part is the view. Also, I found that Jerome residents have a good sense of humour.

The most fun we had here was tossing coins into a toilet and an outhouse. It’s a fundraiser for – I don’t know what – but it worked. We threw, or tried to throw, all our spare change down there.

The road out of town was very curvy and a bit nerve-wracking in spots. It took us through some mountains on the way to Prescott.

I fell in love with Sedona from the moment I saw its red rocks. Sedona is surrounded by mountains and hills made of this red dirt. They sell t-shirts there that are dyed with the dirt.

The town has a lot of tourism and it is also very new age. Louise and I shopped at a Mexican-style shopping centre that had a lot of arts and crafts stores. They also had a great toy store and I really love those!

We slept at a hotel that had a pool that Morgane loved and a hot tub that Ghis and I loved. We stayed out late in it and met a great mother and son from Maryland. We had a lot of fun and they didn’t even kick us out of the hot tub until pretty late. We love the Hampton Hotel!

In the morning, we went for a short hike up a steep trail and after only five minutes, we were at a lookout where we could see Sedona below and mountains all around.

After that we tried to hike up a neighbouring peak, but only Morgane and Ghis made it to the top. I stopped when it became scrambling more than hiking.

I met a nice couple back at the lookout when I enquired about their musical instruments. It turned out that they were Native American flutes that he had made. He played both of them and I fell in love! There were beautiful to look at and to hear. They had just been at an instrument-making gathering.

The last thing we did before leaving Sedona was shop at the Natural Foods Store. I loved it and found all my favourites and some new stuff, too. I specialize in healthy junk food. We filled up the van with good stuff for the next few days.

In the morning, after swimming with Morgane, we went back to the Grand Canyon. We started at the visitor’s centre and walked along the rim – it’s called Rim Walk, I believe.

We saw a different part of the canyon and there were lots of lookouts that made my heart beat quickly. All along the walk, there is nothing preventing you from walking right off the edge and into the canyon.

At one point, we could see a ranch far below and the long, winding trail that led there. It’s a long trip in, but we were jealous and wished we could have gone down there.

By lunchtime, we were tired from walking and I had absorbed as much as I could of the canyon by walking along the edge.

We left for our next destination: Sedona -the city of red rocks.

We made it to the Grand Canyon and had a little daylight left to look around. Morgane was mostly impressed with the snow. “I’m from Canada,” she shouted. “I’m used to playing with snow.” After half and hour, she had snow everywhere and had to go warm up in the van.

Ghis drove us to three different lookouts so we could see the canyon. The sun started to set, lighting up some of the mountains and casting others in shadows.

At the Grand Canyon, you can basically walk around the edges and admire the view. It’s hard, even when you’re there, to comprehend it. Only when you follow a cliff downwards with your eyes can you begin to imagine just how far down it is.

You can’t hike down into the canyon in the winter without ropes and crampons, but it must be amazing. The canyon was carved out by the Colorado River. The layers that we can see in the canyon reflect the history of the earth – each layer shows a different time.

When it got dark (and cold), we retired to The Grand Hotel for the night. We all agreed that it was too cold for camping.

This morning we turned onto Route 66, the old highway that stretched all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles. It is now a historical highway and while it wasn’t busy, it was clear that we weren’t the only tourists.

The first place we stopped, there was a fake gas station with a vintage car parked in front of it. Inside were booths set up to look like in the sixties. You could buy lots of things including a copy of Elvis’ driving license. I bought a Route 66 Beer (root beer).

We stopped so that Louise and Morgane could tour the Grand Canyon Caverns. They had a good underground visit and took lots of pictures. I’ll have to post some of them later.

Ghis and I took Carmanah on a walk through the snow, which she loved! She saw a rabbit run by and she started to chase after it, but she was so terribly slow that we could only laugh and applaud her spirit. We also met some friendly, gentle horses.

We had lunch at the Roadkill Cafe. The food was normal, but the names of the dishes weren’t very appetizing. Their motto was: You kill it, we grill it.

After lunch we just kept driving so we could get to the Grand Canyon before dark.

With Ghis’s sister, Louise, we left San Diego and headed towards the Grand Canyon. We have one week to do our tour and get back to San Diego again, so we drove a lot the first day. Morgane always has company in the back seat now.

We were rewarded with an amazing sunset as we drove past the Mojave Desert. Then the moon rose over another mountain and it got even better!

We slept at the Wal Mart in Kingman, Arizona, so that we could drive part of old Route 66 in the morning. Yes, we slept all four of us and the dog in the van… and survived. But tomorrow night we’ll be in a hotel at the Grand Canyon because it’s freezing there!

This morning we played tennis – another perk of Jean’s townhome. Before that, Ghis walked the twins to school and they were proud to show off Carmanah.

After tennis we met some very cute dogs with a very nice owner who says we can visit her horse sometime. Morgane sat on the ground and got her face licked. She was trying to take pictures of the dogs.

Later we went to Balboa Park and played in the park. We went to peek to see which museum was beside the park and it turned out to be the science centre – the one that our pass gets us into for free.

After amusing ourselves (while Ghis napped in the pop-top), we looked at the next museum. It was the Museum of Natural History and we got in for free there, too. But it was almost closing time, so we’ll have to go back to see the Imax film.

On the way home, we stopped atop a hill to take pictures of this sunset. Ghis convinced us to climb on the roof of the van, but I haven’t seen those pictures yet.

Here is the top of the van picture:

Morgane and I took Carmanah down to the beach today. It’s a beautiful spot and there were lots of friendly dogs to play with. Most of them looked like they’d need a bath once they got home.

Since it was only $15 for a second day, Morgane and I went back to Legoland to do the things that we missed. Like the roller coaster. We rode two, but the dragon one was closed for maintenance.

Again, Morgane spent the most time in the big playground and building cars to race down the ramp. It makes me happy that she likes this more than the rides.