El Malpais

When I told Arthur that we were coming with him to see him start and finish the race, he said, "Well what are you going to do for all the hours in between?"  I said, "I'm sure we can find something to do."  He said, "I don't think there IS anything to do in Grants."  Well as it turns out, you can find something to do even in a little town like Grants.

First on the agenda, a stop at Walmart, (yes, there is a Walmart in Grants) to pick up an umbrella stroller for Sydney since I'd forgotten to bring hers, and also, with Arthur's bike in the back, I don't think we had room for it even if I had remembered.

 Since I wasn't sure what we'd find to do  in Grants, I printed off a list of photo scavenger hunt ideas as a last resort.   A team could earn 250 pts for a picture of the whole team under a picnic table.  Since Jewels and Eric are missing, and Lilly wasn't 100% cooperative,  we'll call it 200 pts.

To kill some time while Arthur was doing his Quadrathalon, we went out to check out El Malpais, just a few miles outside of Grants. El Malpais means "The Badlands" in Spanish.  People tried to settle here back in the 30's during the Depression.  But as the name indicates, not many people stuck it out.  There are some cool things to see there, including a natural arch, great views from the sandstone bluffs, and some ice caves and lava tubes you can explore.  Most of those take some hiking and since we weren't prepared for lots of hiking, and because it was SUPER WINDY!!!  We spent some time exploring the easiest spot to get to, which is the Sandstone Bluffs.

 On the way there, we stopped on the side of the road where we saw the remains of an old stone house.  Since there wasn't anything preventing us from exploring, or signs that told us not to touch, we made ourselves at home.

Poor Hayden fell into a cactus on the way out to the house.

I picked a prickle out of his leg, and it was really hard to get out!

Poor little guy!

What's left of a fireplace--perfect for climbing in.

Here we are at the bluffs:  

It was really quite beautiful up there and we could have stayed much longer were it not for that blasted wind!

A View of Mt. Taylor from El Malpais.  That is what Arthur was climbing while we were hanging out taking pictures.  Mt. Taylor is a 3.5 million year-old dormant volcano, and there is a lot of black lava rock in this area.

  

Emma, Daphne and Jewels looking over the cliff.

We found this little pool of water up on the sandstone.  Here's Dallin jumping over it.

And here is everyone else jumping over.  
Sean fell in the first time.  I knew someone would.
That's half the fun, I guess.

Sydney enjoying the view and some keys.

With my sister and my children in mortal peril, what could I do, but grab the camera?

Sean thought he'd found some snipe tracks, until Daphne burst his bubble by informing him that there is no such thing as a snipe.

Back in Grants, we stayed out of the wind and killed some time letting the kids watch a movie.  

Their current favorite is Despicable Me.

Some of the Grants Scenery.

The boys waited and cheered other racers as they came into the finish line.

Daphne entertained herself by taking portraits of her siblings.

Still waiting.

and waiting.

and waiting.

We were so happy when Arthur finally crossed that finish line!
I'm so proud of him for finishing that race.  It was such a hard thing to do, and I love that he worked so hard to accomplish that goal!  Way to go, Arthur.  
You. Are.  A. Mazing. 

p.s. I don't know what is going on with the formatting in this post. 
It's like one giant caption.
whatever.