The route had to fulfill several criteria: not too many kilometres of driving each leg, easy going and not too ambitious with the number of destinations, and good weather conditions. We had two weeks and decided to explore the National Parks of Arizona. The itinerary was to fly to Phoenix, Arizona, then continue to the Grand Canyon, next to Lake Powell, then Monument Valley, next to Canyon de Chelly, then to Sedona to complete the circle, and finally back to Phoenix. This is a nice loop, mostly in Arizona, mostly in the Navajo Indian Reservation, all in all about 1800km of driving.

We were lucky to get half-price flight tickets and half-price RV hire. Armed with a portable DVD player, lots of DVDs, colouring and activity books for the children, hiking gear including hiking boots and head lights, child backpack carrier for Lina and lots of excitement, we flew out with British Airways on Sunday 29 March 2009 and were due to return on 12 April from Phoenix arriving back to the UK on Easter Monday (13 April) 2009.

About two years ago an idea was hatched to go to the USA for a holiday due to the very favourable pound-dollar exchange rate. But Lina was only a baby, so the idea didn't develop further. Over time I talked with several friends about their road trips in America and we soon realized that we too wanted to go on a road trip in the US of A. Easter holidays were quickly identified as a good time for such a trip as the crowds are not too huge yet, and the temperatures are not too hot.

The Crocs Families

My friend Jo did a couple of RV (Recreational Vehicle aka motorhome) trips with her family whilst living in San Diego, so we asked her for advice when planning our trip. After a few evenings talking about their experience over dinner, Jo became very excited, so I invited her to join us. And they decided YES. Great! We were so looking forward to their company. We had our crew: the Tunmers - Jo, Luke, 10 year old Ciaran, 6 year old Hannah (whom we called HannahT), and the Biermans: Gavin, Mateja, 6 year old Hana (whom we called HanaB) and 3 year old Lina. Jo and Luke joining us also helped put to rest all of Gavin's reservations about lots of driving and hiking that on the surface don't mix so well with young children. We organized a few more lovely dinners to plan the route and make all the reservations. We were VERY excited by now.

DAY 1

The flight was about 10 hours long and we managed to get adjacent rows for the two families. The kids were excited about watching the kids cartoons and films on the personal entertainment system, reading, playing with their toys, doing their activity books, eating and sleeping, and the parents were happy sipping gin and tonic and catching up on all the latest films that we missed in the cinema. (I was identified by one of the stewards as In Severe Need of Gin, and was given four double gins over the course of the flight!) We arrived to a hot Phoenix without stress and a little tired.

We decided to indulge on the first (and the last) night of our trip in a nice hotel to help us get over the jet-lag, so after a bite to eat, we crashed in our comfortable beds. Lina woke up at 4am local time and couldn't sleep of course. She played with Hana for a little, then pottered around and finally fell asleep on a bed she made for herself on the floor by the entrance to the bathroom!

DAY 2

In the morning we all had the infamous American breakfast of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup. Yum! The men went off to pick up our RVs whilst Jo and I and the kids enjoyed some hot weather and swimming in the hotel pool outside.

After Luke and Gavin learnt all about hooking up RVs and dealing amongst other things with poo and wee water (The Black Tank), they picked up the rest of us from the hotel and we all went to a supermarket to buy our food supplies. Finally we were ready to hit the road in earnest. First destination: the Grand Canyon!

A little aside here about the RVs and safety of children is needed. We rented a 25ft RV for maximum 5 people for each family. It has a double bed over the cockpit which was a bed for Hana, it also served as a stage and as a cinema on a portable DVD player after dinner for all 4 kids. Another double bed was located at the back of the RV next to a shower bathroom. There was a captain's comfy chair with a lap belt, and a dinette table with 2 seats with lap belts on each side that converted into a single bed for Lina, and a perfectly functional kitchen. Oh, and surprisingly lots of storage space in the cupboards above everywhere. We had a 5-point belt car seat with us for Lina, and we weren't too sure about strapping Lina's chair at the dinette table with the lap belt which is against the manufacturer's recommendation, and Hana with a lap belt only. But there was no choice, and anyway, the RVs didn't go faster than around 90-100km/h on mostly empty roads.

The trip to the Grand Canyon took about 5 hours with stopping for toilet, coffee and snacks. We drove through some amazing cactus covered hills and were getting higher and higher and hence colder. There was even some snow in the shaded areas which is not surprising since Grand Canyon is 2438m above sea level on the South Rim where we visited. We arrived in the evening, picked up the note about our allocated campsite spots and hooked up. After a bite to eat, we all crashed in our beds for the first night in our RVs.

DAY 3

The morning was gloriously sunny and we decided to visit the visitor centre to learn about the Grand Canyon, and then went for a 4km walk on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon from Mather Point to the Bright Angel Lodge. The views were breathtaking. The pictures here just don't convey the scale of the place. I now understand why this is one of the natural wonders of the world. The kids did very well indeed and walked practically all of the way, we just had to remind them not to lean on the fence over the edge of the rim. At the Bright Angel Lodge, we injected some energy into ourselves in the form of cakes and hot chocolates and coffee, and then caught the Navajo Indian Dancers performing outside. The hoop dance was particularly attractive, as the dancer created images of animals, plants, the sun, etc.

The nights at the Grand Canyon were very cold, -10C. Luckily we were fully hooked up, so we could run the heating all night.

DAY 4

The next day we decided on a very ambitious but awe-inspiring plan: we were going to hike into the Grand Canyon. Not quite all the way down to the floor of the canyon to the river Colorado though; this is a 2 day hike, about 15km long, with almost a 1000m drop in elevation and about 20 degree C difference in temperature between the top (rim) and the bottom (floor) of the canyon. We took the Bright Angel Trail and it is a VERY steep and narrow trail with no protection at the edge of the trail, so the children have to hold hands at all times. We decided to go 2.5km into the canyon along this trail to the 1.5mile resthouse. So the entire hike was about 5km long with 345m difference in elevation. I took Lina in a backpack carrier. It was a hard and ambitious hike due to its steepness that took us about 3.5 hours. The children were wonderful, entertaining each other and hiking without complaining. Lots of hikers that passed us by couldn't believe that we did this with small kids and that I was not carrying just myself, but also Lina - apparently I deserved a medal. We were well armed with snacks and water, so that we could continuously inject energy into the kids and ourselves. Our efforts were very well repaid with the most unbelievable views and a totally different experience of the Canyon to the rim views. Again, the pictures do not convey the beauty and the scale of the place. For all of us, this hike was one of the highlights of our trip.

Once at the top, we treated everyone to a delicious ice cream, and following Ciaran's wish we went to listen to a Ranger's (one of the keepers of the Canyon) VERY interesting talk on Condors. Quite recently these birds were practically extinct (apart from 2), but humans managed to breed them and reintroduce them to northern Arizona, where there are around 80 flying over the Grand Canyon today. Condors have an amazing 3m wing span and are truly majestic.

DAY 5

The next day we leisurely did our Grey and dreaded Black Tank dumps (dealing with wee and poo was a doddle, you don't see or smell anything, just hook up the pipe to the hole in the floor), and after some breakfast drove to the next destination: Lake Powell. On the way we stopped at the Desert View of the Grand Canyon for some stunning last views of the canyon from the observation tower.

The drive was somewhat eerie as we drove through the desert with dotted dilapidated shacks which are a home for the Navajo Indians, and empty roads that seem to lead to nowhere. We stopped on the way at one of such places and made an American lunch of hotdogs. It was strange, there was nobody and nothing anywhere as far as the eye could reach, next to an empty road to nowhere (apart from occasional huge truck passing us by), at the disused layby.

We arrived to Page at Lake Powell in the late afternoon. The campsite was amazing: clean, flat, paved, full hookup, our own BBQ pit, full laundry and shower facilities, the use of next door swimming pool, and with breathtaking views over the Glen Canyon and Lake Powell. We promised the kids that we would take them for a swim, so we did. The storm was brewing in the air, but the atmosphere was warm and the views were dramatic.

The main pool was still closed (clean but unheated) but the whirlpool was extremely warm. Ciaran and Hana dared each other to jump into the unheated pool and even persuaded me to join them!  We spent the evening doing some laundry and lighting the BBQ for baked potatoes. The kids watched DVDs and the adults drank wine and beer and chatted till late.

DAY 6

The next day we took the Navajo Indian guided tour of the nearby Antelope Canyon, also known as the Slot Canyon. The sandstone bedrock has been intricately carved by the infrequent but often violent flow of water. It has been sculpted into beautiful curves and hollows that vary from 1 to 3 metres wide by up to 50 metres deep. The sunlight filtering down from above produces a myriad of soft colours and shadows. The effect is exquisitely beautiful. Have a look at some unbelievable photos.

In the afternoon, due to cold weather and another storm brewing in the air, we went to the visitor centre of the Glen Canyon Dam that created Lake Powell, the second largest man-made lake in the world that is about 300km long. The centre was very informative (apart from being strangely quiet about the effect of 200 golf courses in Phoenix on the water levels!) and a great hit with the kids: they answered the questions on the Junior Ranger kids questionnaire and were hence awarded Junior Ranger badges for their effort and knowledge. The awarding of the badges is actually a ceremony under the Ranger shield, where the children have to pledge themselves to the Ranger cause of protecting the environment!

DAY 7

Our next destination was Monument Valley. Before hitting the roads again we visited the supermarket to stock up on food and DVDs. About half way to Monument Valley, we stopped for lunch and visited the Navajo National Monument that is known for its Ancestral Pueblan ruins. A pretty 1.6km hike took us to the overlook of the beautiful ruin known as Betatakin which is tucked in a huge curved niche in the canyon rock. The kids again answered the questions on the Junior Rangers questionnaire and were duly awarded with another badge.

We arrived to Monument Valley in a snow blizzard in the late afternoon. After some drama between 3 adorable puppies and hysterical Hana and Lina, we took the kids for a swim (despite the kids' assurances that the water was hot, the adults didn't muster the courage to undress in the cold air of the room) and dinner at the Gouldings Lodge. Dinner was an interesting affair that will stay in our memories for ever - for all the wrong reasons. The first surprise to hit us was when we ordered some beer with our dinner and the waitress informed us that they do not sell alcohol and that they only have non-alcoholic beer. My jaw dropped in disbelief, it was actually incomprehension, so she politely reassured me that it tastes the same as the alcoholic variety. All I could utter was: "This is not the point..." We later found out that Utah (Monument Valley is just across the state border from Arizona) is a dry state. But to top it all, the food was unbelievably bad; in fact, I have never eaten anything this disgusting, and hope that I never will again. And this was the case for all of our meals... Needless to say, we decided that the next night we were going to cook for ourselves.

DAY 8

The morning awoke us with cold air, but glorious sun and amazing views. We decided to take the Navajo Indian guided jeep tour of Monument Valley. This is a striking place and seems weirdly familiar. Most Western cowboy films were shot here thanks to its dramatic scenery and eerie gigantic rock formations resembling various animals and objects erecting from the desert red sand. Probably the most famous ones are the mitts (Left Mitt and Right Mitt), but there are lots of others, such as the Three Sisters. We were glad to have taken the longer tour which took us to some more unknown places and corners which had no tourists around. The kids particularly enjoyed rolling down the sand hills under gigantic rock alcoves.

In the hot afternoon we went for what was supposed to be a short hike to the Hidden Arch, but we never found it (it was obviously well hidden). Instead we were accompanied by our now befriended three adorable puppies that the children named Bitty, Fred and Trixy to the Box Canyon next to our campsite. The expedition was an unexpected delight, especially for the kids who loved to climb the rocks, and culminated in a puppy rescue by Ciaran and me. We finished the day with a BBQ of some mouthwatering steak and chicken (to help us forget the dinner debacle from the previous night) and toasted marshmallows, admiring an unforgettable sunset over the Monument Valley.

DAY 9

After dumping the tanks and filling up with water, we headed off for our next destination: Canyon de Chelly (pronounced "de Shay"). This was our most adventurous RV-ing experience: as far as we could tell the only RV park around was a very make-shift and basic campsite with no hook-up called Spider Rock and run by a local Native American Howard. Ordinarily, no hook-up is not a problem if the temperatures are not too hot or not too cold. But the night was forecast to be very cold, -6C... Brrr... We arrived to Spider Rock at lunchtime, but in what seemed like a few half rotten chip boards surrounding a few square metres of dust ground that claimed to be Howard's office, we found no-one and no note of our designated camping spot. A lone Navajo Indian at the back of the "office" informed us that Howard will be "back soooooooon". But since Howard still didn't turn up after our lunch, we decided to inspect the campsite, which was almost empty, shuddered at the look of the "toilets" which were essentially 4 tin plates surrounding a hole in the ground, and picked our preferred spot and parked our RVs there. Next, we decided to take a 3.5km hike to and along the rim of Canyon de Chelly.

Canyon de Chelly is not a designated National Park which takes it a little off the tourist map. Hence, there are no modern campsites, but also no hoards of tourists. It is the cultural and geographical centre of the Navajo Indians and has one of the longest and most eventful histories in America. It is described to be as breathtaking as the Grand Canyon, but on a slightly smaller scale. Our hike on the rim of the canyon certainly confirmed this: there were no other hikers, there were no fences on the rim, so we had to watch the children very carefully, as the cliff drops were dramatic and some 300m deep, and the views were stunning. Unfortunately, Lina objected vigourously to wearing a sun hat and I didn't insist on arguing with her. The sun was deceptively strong, so we think she suffered with a mild sun stroke the next day. It was a lesson for me to always insist about matters of health with the children. Otherwise, the children had fun collecting shimmering stones, looking over the edge of the cliffs and spotting the prickly pear cactuses whose fruit we had learnt that the Native Americans eat.

In the evening we lit the campfire to warm us up and to toast marshmallows. We also ran the generator as long as we were allowed (9pm) to heat the RVs as much as possible. But we decided to stay here only for one night rather than the two as planned because of the low temperatures at night and the lack of hookup. Rather incredibly, Howard offered wifi access for an honesty fee of $2 (when he was running his PC) so we used Luke's laptop to surf the web and reserve another campsite halfway towards our next destination. This is the beauty of RV-ing: you have the flexibility to stay as long or short as you like, or go whenever you like, wherever you like.

DAY 10

We woke up very cold and turned the generators on to heat the RVs. Today was going to be exciting, as we were going for a jeep tour inside the Canyon de Chelly floor. Howard had offered to take us in his jeep if it could be fixed, but that didn't work our so he arranged for his nephew who runs jeep tours to take us. We had two wonderful drivers and two 4x4 jeeps. Only the Navajo Indians with a special permit can drive into the canyon which is still a place where several families live, breed their stock and grow their fruit and vegetables. The canyon is dotted with Navajo hogans which are the centre of Navajo family life: they are made of horizontal logs covered with mud with a central smoke hole on the top to connect with the sky and the dirt floor to connect with the earth. In the middle of the floor of the canyon there is a shallow river that breaths life to the canyon. In the alcoves of the gigantic rock formations on the sides of the canyon rest many beautifully preserved Ancient Indian ruins, the most famous of which is the Antelope House Ruin.

Our jeep adventure started by driving across the river at the mouth of the canyon. It was very exciting for the kids to drive through the water and rocks. We entered a magical world where we very quickly felt a humble sense of privilege to be able to experience a place so beautiful, so breathtaking, so imposing, so alive, so full of history, so special. The words or indeed the pictures can only begin to convey the beauty of the place.

We stopped on the way at a spot where our driver's wife was selling Navajo Indian jewellery and the children chose some necklaces with pendants cut out of the local stone. We also unexpectedly got stuck in an unplanned adventure, quite literally, in the middle of the river in the mud! In a memorable drama another jeep with a huge winch helped tow us out of the river.

After three and a half hour tour of one of the most awe inspiring places we have ever been to, we left the canyon full of impressions and thankful for the experience. I think we all agree that this was THE highlight of our entire trip.

DAY 11

After the usual morning routine (by now dealing with poo and wee became non-threatening), we set off towards our last destination, Sedona. But on the way, we wanted to visit another intriguing place, the Meteor Crater. The drive there became a real adventure, as we ended up driving through a huge sand storm. We knew that the forecast was windy, but we didn't imagine it would be so windy as to start a sand storm. The red desert sand was lifted off the ground and created a gigantic yellow sand cloud hovering over the desert. The wind was so strong we could feel our RV being thrown around and it was a scary experience to keep it on the road. We could barely see Jo and Luke's RV in front of us. In fact, the police closed down the road, as it was too dangerous to drive, but we had a lucky escape and were two of the last vehicles let through.

We picked up our RVs, drove to the visitors centre, had some lunch, and then the children again filled in the Junior Ranger's questionnaire and were of course awarded their badges. Now we were ready to drive to our unplanned destination, Holbrook.

We arrived in the early evening to the Holbrook RV park, which was located in a very unenviable location next to a freeway. But the upside was that it was halfway towards our last destination, it had full hookup, the air was warm, it had a children's playground, and it was close to another interesting place, the Meteor Crater. Oh, and Holbrook also sported the Wigwam hotel! After some play in the playground, Luke, Gavin and the kids went to the supermarket to buy some supplies, and Jo and I cooked dinner, drank lots of wine and reflected on the amazing day in Canyon de Chelly.

While it was hard to view the crater from the outside observation platform due to the severe wind, we all loved the visitors centre. The kids (and Luke and myself) particularly liked the simulation machine where you could change the parameters for the body, the size, the velocity etc and run a simulation of what it would look like for this body to hit the Earth. Ciaran liked to set them so as to shatter the Earth!

Finally, we were on our way to Sedona where we arrived after driving down a beautiful Oak Creek Canyon and admiring the view of the sun reflecting off the red rocks of Sedona mountains - this is deemed to be one the most beautiful sunsets in the world.

After dinner Jo and I needed to do some laundry. It was really late, but we had to wait for the wash cycles to finish so that we could put the laundry into the dryers. While waiting, we met a woman who was travelling with her 4 kids, catholic husband, mother-in-law, and a friend with her own family. It turns out that this lady is a yoga teacher, and thanks to a bit too much alcohol all round, she was persuaded by her friend to teach Jo and me some yoga. Now, imagine 4 women, in a launderette, after midnight, under some influence of alcohol, trying to strike a tree pose... Surreal! And hilarious!

DAY 12

Arriving to Sedona from the Navajo Reservation we felt that we travelled from the land of the poorest to the land of the richest. Sedona is a pretty picturebox place that is a funny mixture of affluence and hippy new ageness. Somebody famous purported that there are "spiritual vortexes" in and around Sedona, and this started a specialized New Age tourist industry. The place is dotted with fortune telling joints and trendy boutique galleries where you can buy all matter of art. It is also a place for alternative health therapy, so Gavin was suggesting that we all treat ourselves to colonic irrigation - we declined. But primarily, and most importantly, Sedona and the surrounding areas are best known for breathtaking sandstone formations, the Red Rocks of Sedona.

We arrived at the meteor crater and battled to get through the wind to the visitors centre. In fact, we had to hold the kids' hands for the wind not to blow them away. The meteor crater is the first proven and the best preserved meteor crater on Earth. It is like this gigantic big hole in the ground in the middle of the desert. It measures 1200m in diameter and is 170m deep. It was created by a meteorite that measured 50m across. The explosion on impact was huge, 150 times larger than a nuclear bomb. The meteor crater is really an odd place, it almost seems like out of this world. Indeed, due to the conditions in the crater during the 1960s, NASA astronauts trained there for missions to the moon.

We started off the day in a very American way. Luke treated us to lots of absolutely delicious American pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. It was a very very yum yum brunch. For the rest of the day, we decided to go to Slide Rock State Park, which takes its name from a natural water slide, formed by the slippery bed of Oak Creek. This was great fun for all of us, but mostly the kids. The day was very warm and sunny, but the water was melted snow from the mountains, so very cold. Some people were even brave enough to swim in it and slide down these naturally formed stone slides. But not us, or rather only Hana amongst us. We embarked on an adventure and explored, creeped, climbed and dodged big rocks, narrow passages, flowing water up the creek, away from other tourists. The kids were wonderfully adventurous in finding the best path across the water over the rocks. The scenery was sooo picturesque and perfect. We got quite hot, and Hana decided that she needed to cool down, much to all of our disbelief, and went for a quick dip in the cold water. Brave Hana! The rest of us enjoyed playing around and taking in the magnificent scenery.

When we got back, we were too tired to think about cooking, so we went out for dinner. We were tipped to go to the "Cowboy Club" restaurant, as it is famous for steak, rattlesnake and cactus fries, but its popularity proved too much and we couldn't get a table, so we went across the road to another nice looking one and had a big steak and chips for dinner.

DAY 13

The real way to experience the Sedona Red Rocks mountains is to take one of the many jeep tours to parts of the mountains where there are no roads, not even dirt roads, just steep huge rocks that only a 4x4 jeep stands a chance of tackling. The most famous such jeep tour is the Pink Jeep Tour that we named the "Barbie tour" due to the colour of the jeeps used. But affluence is evident in the astronomical prices that they charge for a 2 hour trip, which put us off.

Instead, we decided to rent our own jeeps and attempt to drive ourselves over places with rocks and no dirt roads to experience the full beauty of Sedona Red Rock mountains. We drove not only the track of one tour, but two, the Soldiers Pass Trail and the infamous Broken Arrow Trail. All I can say is: it was the most exhilarating, adrenaline pumping and pants-wetting experience ever. This is my sort of thing, so I definitely had to drive the jeep for a bit too! What an adventure! We drove 100% off road, over huge rocks formations such as Submarine Rock, Chicken Point, and descended down the infamous "Road of No Return" - a rock formation also known as the "staircase" due to its natural stairs shape and its 60% incline!  We even drove to one of the vortex centres, and Jo and I felt that we were "refuelled with energy" from the "medicine ground" of the vortex. :-) The views of the Red Rock mountains of Sedona were truly breathtaking, imposing, mesmerizing, majestic,... The pictures again do not convey the scale and the beauty of the place.  This was definitely another highlight of our trip.

Pumped with adrenalin we returned our jeeps to the all-women run rental place and went for a late lunch and margaritas to calm down from the adrenaline high at one of the chic restaurants dotted between trendy galleries. This was our last night in the RV and we had to pack. We were sad that our amazing trip was coming to an end.

DAY 14

After some final packing and cleaning and emptying the grey and black tanks, we were ready to set off and return to Phoenix. Emptying the black tank before returning the RVs was very important, because the rental company would charge us a fortune if anything came out of the black tank upon returning the RVs. Fair enough, who wants to deal with other people's poo?

On our way back to Phoenix we were astonished by hitting a snow storm: this is 1 hour north of Phoenix, a hot place in the middle of Arizona desert. Wow, we really had all manner of weather on this trip.

Returning the RVs was simple, apart from when Luke opened the cap off the black tank, and a huge thick splodge came out and almost fell on him. Needless to say, we quickly got left-over water bottles and washed off the poo that got unstuck in the tank whilst driving to Phoenix, in the hope that the RV rental people won't notice. And they didn't, luckily.

Next, we took taxis to our posh hotel for the last night of our trip. The kids were very quick to hit the swimming pool, and we all enjoyed the shower to wash off the red Arizonian desert sand. After a delicious dinner with lots of margaritas at one of the local restaurants, and after marvelling at teenagers extravagantly and eccentrically tarted up for the high school prom at our hotel, we crashed in the hotel's clean, fluffy and huge beds.

DAY 15

We spent the last day at the hotel's pool relaxing, sunbathing - it was 28 degrees Celsius - and swimming. It was pure bliss, a wonderful way to finish our holiday. The flight back was easy: the kids as well as the adults managed to see only one film and slept the rest of the flight.

We arrived home full of fantastic impressions, incredible experiences and so thankful that we could take part together in such a wonderful trip. We were also richer for a few new names: "Long Walk Luke", "Two Drinks Jo", "Mountain Goat Mateja" and "Cherry Gavin"... Let your imagination run riot to find reasons for these. The trip was unforgettable, and we hope it will not be the only one...in fact, Jo and I are already looking at potential destinations for the next trip. The company was fantastic! The kids were wonderful and had such a good time, hiking a lot more that we would ordinarily expect them to. I think part of the success of this trip was also due to good planning (mostly thanks to Jo): choosing the route, the easy tempo, reserving of campgrounds with hookups, and due to flexibility to change the plan by need and desire. All I can finish off with is - it was brilliant!