Day 4- Page, Arizona to Kingman, Arizona

 This morning as we were trying to rouse the troops, Thomas decided to revive his Perky Peacock Hotel Room Act of last night.  However, one of his "feathers" swept the bedside table and dumped an entire cup of Mama's coffee into Mr. Bullington's shoe, thusly ending the Peacock act and curbing any opportunity for future gigs. And then, as if the good Lord was trying to distract two mad parents from a  Daddy shoe full of mama's coffee, the room went black as we experienced a hotel wide power outage. Zoiks! We love for our kids to experience new things! And this morning, they were afforded the opportunity to pack up their things in the dark AND avoid using that pesky elevator! Building Character one crises at a time!

Our first stop today was Horseshoe Bend and we decided to go to the spa there. Actually, it wasn't a spa. But, the skin exfoliation that occurs when your skin cells are violently sloughed off by a gale force wind turned sandstorm is kinda like a spa.... My skin is going to be SOO soft and supple as soon as I can rinse off the caked on dust that adhered to my sweaty self. 

Horseshoe Bend sans Bullingtons

Bit gusty at Horseshoe Bend. I look like Buddy Pine.

In case you need a reference...

Our hiking game was not strong today. I had read about several cool things to see, but hadn't planned aptly. One required a Navajo Indian guide (and I couldn't find one on short notice) and our second choice required a permit that can only be acquired by lottery. So our third choice was Marble Canyon. We started by visiting the Historic Navajo Bridge and then hiked into Cathedral Wash. It was a fun kind of challenging (like, you had to eek along a rocky cliff to avoid falling in the muddy water, but it wasn't steep enough to kill me) No me gusta steep. Wee Bullington got to engage in many of his favorite activities like stomping on stuff, kicking rocks, throwing rocks into pools of mud, breaking sticks, hollering just to hear his head roar, and general demise and demolition. Mouth toot noises really reverberate off those canyon walls!  Fortunately, Marble Canyon lacked the crowds of hikes past, so at least we weren't disturbing anyone. 

Balancing Rock

My pretty girl on the banks of the Colorado

In we go! 

Part of this hike had us clinging to canyon walls! 

Mission Completion!

We stopped in the Navajo Nation for a Navajo Taco. This delicacy is not intended for on-the-go consumption. But, we gave it the old college try!  

He ended up wearing half of it, but it was delicious!

Perhaps my family has grown weary of my antics and affinity for weird stuff. But, I'm sorry, I cannot pass by the Road Kill Cafe on historic Route 66 and not go in for a little looky-loo! Mae made it as far as the door before she retreated, everyone else sat in the car. Eye roll emoji. Harrumph, may they never know what a stuffed badger cloaked in decades of dust looks like. 

You kill it, we grill it.

There is a whole lot happening in this vignette. Rattlesnake strikes badger while crawling over an antler whilst baby rattlesnake is hatching, while holding court with message in a bottle, painted rock with inspirational phrase, and an opossum jaw bone. #Captionthis #Iguessijustdid

Not you too, Pumba!!?!?!

Whole lotta food chain happening

We cruised into Kingman, Arizona, right about dinner time. My kids freaked when they spied an In and Out Burger because we don't have those in Georgia. Dinner on the cheap and everyone is happy! Well, Errybody except for mama. Tonight is laundry night and our hotel has ONE washer and ONE dryer. So I'm sitting on the floor of the hotel laundry room rotating laundry and drinking box wine, just like Beyonce. 

Next time, we are seeing the nation in the nude. 

My besties!