road trip: cliff dwellings at walnut canyon national monument


While in Flagstaff, we briefly adventured to Walnut Canyon and the ancient cliff dwellings of the Sinagua people, ancestors to some Hopi clans.  They abandoned the location some time in the 13th century for unknown reasons, perhaps drought or pressure from the newly arrived Yavapai.




















road trip: the grand canyon

one of our first stops was the grand canyon.  our family spent two days on the rim at the el tovar lodge hiking and exploring.  we got there right at the start of a cold snap, so it was freezing, but the snow was awesome and (hopefully) provided some variation to repetitive shots of the canyon.