Our Grand Canyon, Sedona & Tombstone Homeschool Field Trip

We just returned from a whirlwind trip starting in Phoenix to pick up my oldest and her baby at the airport and drifting north to Sedona and the Grand Canyon stopping along the way to some beautiful views and educational opportunities.  Since I started home schooling, I look for opportunities to throw in some fun educational lessons along the way and this trip was ideal.  Our first excursion was the beautiful Sedona with breathtaking views of the most amazing red rock scenes right out of the book but of course, better.  We stopped at a church that was built high up to see something amazing and to have a feeling of serenity.

I took my oldest there many years ago and when we visited, there was music and singing which elevated the level of being at one with the environment.  It might sound corny but there is just something majestic listening to a chant while overlooking God's work in all it's beauty.  After letting the girls experience that, we moved forward through a lava enriched forest area onward to the Grand Canyon.  The beauty with the Grand Canyon is you can see so much via your car or you can walk the trials.  Given that I had a one year old, a four year old and an eight year old, hiking was not in the works.  We were able to drive and stop at each area to enjoy the magic of each view.  Each offered it's own story to see.  The girls were ready to go after taking in about six stops so onward we went.

The reverse trip was to head back south and hit Tombstone but along the way, we stopped at Montezuma Castle, Wupatki National Park, Sunset Crater National Park and many other places along the way.   The Wupatki Pueblo was the largest of its kind less than 800 years ago.  It was a large place at one time and today, members of various Indian tribes return to enrich their personal clan history.  There is a blow hole that is a cool feature of Wupatki as well.

Montezuma Castle was a 20 room high rise built up high in the cliffs.  It tells of a story that started over 1000 years ago.  It's a site to take in if you are in the Arizona are to see a bit of history.  You don't get to take in much but the $5 fee per adult is worth the piece of history you get to leave with.  The Park Rangers were exceptionally nice and helpful. This was enjoyable even though short and another spot I took my oldest to when she was a child.

Next on our drive was Sunset Crater National Park which is an amazing place to visit and reminded me of Hawaii.  Where can you visit a lava field that from an explosion that occurred somewhere between 1040 and 1000 and it still looks like it just happened?  It's incredible to see such variety of land formations across Arizona and we hit this right around sunset so we ran out of time to really take in everything but it was an experience.

On our way down to the Grand Canyon, we visited Sedona but didn't stop except for the church.  The area reminded me of a place in Indianapolis called Broad Ripple due to all the artsy artisian shops.  It's a mecca for artists and those who want beautiful portraits and handmade jewelry and other works of art.  It's breathtaking to say the least to see the landscape along with the Canyon.

Our final trip concluded with a visit to Tombstone and the OK Corral.  Being a big Tombstone fan or is that a BIG Val Kilmer in his finer days fan?  Either way, it was an experience to see all those people dressed up in their timeless garb reenacting history.  I was disappointed to see a cellular shop tent smack dab in the middle of the old timey street ruining the decor of the time.  The shops were all filled with the same merchandise with little authenticity minus a couple of shops that did.  All the shop owners were extremely friendly along with the real people props playing their roles.  Many of the tourists also took the opportunity to dress up too and can't blame them as that looked fun.  The gun shooting was too loud for my girls so the visit was short but there is plenty to do.