Northern Arizona Family Trip
Our trip this year was closer to home than others, just up to the north of the state. There are some interesting things to do up there and the kids had fun.
Bearizona
Near Williams, AZ is Bearizona, a neat little park & zoo with a bit of a twist: you can drive through a section right next to the animals. No fences, or walls. When going through the wolf and bear sections, you need to keep the windows rolled up and not stop… they’ve been known to try to get into open windows. There’s also a walk-around area more like a traditional zoo.











Route 66
Williams is right along Route 66 and has a bunch of kitschy tourist shops and restaurants. There are a lot of awesome looking neon signs dotting it.



The Grand Canyon
This was the first time visiting the Grand Canyon with my kids. One of them was a little overwhelmed at the grandeur of it all, but got used to it enough to go down the Bright Angel trail a little bit.
I rented a special wide angle lens for this trip, the Nikon 14–24mm zoom lens, and it proved its usefulness here. The wide-angle, sharpness, and lack of distortion is impressive.







Horseshoe Bend
Similar to the Grand Canyon, seeing this in person for the first time is a little disarming. It’s hard to take it all in on one go.
It’s also a big tourist destination, and there were hundreds of people all looking out and taking pictures. It wasn’t difficult to get into position for a good shot since it was so big. I would recommend a tripod or some way to get a little extra height. The wide angle of the lens flattened the top a bit and I didn’t get quite as dramatic of a shot as I would’ve liked.

Antelope Canyon
This was another on my bucket list to do… and a hundred other peoples’ too. Like Horseshoe Bend, there were a lot of people, but in a much more tightly packed group, making it hard to get good shots without other people in the frame.
Additionally, the tour I was on did not allow tripods… that was a different tour that cost three times as much. My camera does do really well in low light, but a tripod would’ve been better. Still, I’m pleased by what I got.





Horseshoe Bend would be better at sunset, and with a stepladder. Antelope Canyon would be best with a tripod and longer exposures.
Snowbowl
In the summer, one of the ski lodges in Flagstaff keeps a chairlift open to the top of a mountain, providing some scenic views. We weren’t able to spend a lot of time at the top because thunderstorms were impending, but it was still a nice way to spend some time.





It was nice to escape the heat and see some parts of Arizona that I hadn’t before. Coming back to 100+ degrees of heat [and humidity] was not terribly fun.
