Arizona Adventure day 1

We arrived late last night due to stormy weather in Texas . . . both flights were delayed 2 hours each but we made it! So it was nice to sleep in a little late before getting our rental car and hitting the road! We started in Phoenix which is about 1,000 ft elevation (this will make sense at the end) and headed north. It is the centennial celebration of Arizona, and we were reminded from time to time as we zipped around the state.
On our drive we saw lots of cactus . . .
but it quickly turned to mountains (San Francisco Peaks) . . .
We made a stop at Montezuma Castle National Monument . . .
. . . so Colin could earn a Junior Ranger badge. I thought this Junior Ranger program had the best activity . . . it was called Beaver Creek Bingo. When you crossed off an item then you had to answer a question about it . . . really had us both watching and learning. The bark on this Arizona Sycamore was really cool . . .
We ended our day in Flagstaff at around 7,000 ft elevation; big change from the start of the day. There was some snow and ice on the grassy areas and it was cold! It was a fun day that was completely laid back which I plan on being the theme this trip! The hotel had an indoor pool so we made a quick trip to get some goggles and then enjoyed some time swimming!