Lily and I didn’t sleep a ton because of the wind and the rain at night, but our amazing $100 Walmart tent kept us bone dry inside. In the morning, we had the most amazing avocado toast. Lily really pulled all the stops food-wise on this trip. She was inspired by a recent camping cooking book she bought at the bookstore we explored on her birthday.
We then got our stamps at the visitor’s center and we got junior ranger books for the kids. They worked on their books while waiting for the dancing.
We then saw a rain dance by some incredible Hopi dancers.
We then drove on the Mesa Top loop and listened to an audio tour that Lily downloaded in advance: https://www.nps.gov/podcasts/podcasts-mtl-audiotour.htm. Partway through the tour we had a wonderful picnic with food Lily had prepared:
After the amazing Mesa Top Loop, we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Cortez.
After dinner, we hiked about 30 minutes on the Knife Edge trail near our campground. It was soooo windy, but still such an incredible and scenic hike. The kids had spent a lot of time in the car, so it was great for them to exercise as well.
At night, Lily and I both woke up at 3:45 AM didn’t sleep great after that (Lily maybe didn’t sleep at all), and our air-mat lost a bunch of air. But the tent and camping experience charmed us all. Before bed, all the kids either red books (older girls) or colored (younger kids) for a solid half hour, before getting tired and falling asleep. It was a very sweet tent scene and I love our children sooo much.