Kamp KOA, Part I

in 2019, my wife and I took our son and his cousins to the Grand Canyon. Our basecamp was the KOA in Flagstaff, AZ. The trip ended up getting cut short by a day or so because of an unexpected snowstorm.

It has been on our return-to list for a few years. I think we booked, and then cancelled due to snow, about two trips with my sister-in-law's family. You'd think that Memorial Day weekend would be late enough in the season that you wouldn't have to worry about freaking snowstorms, but... Arizona. What a freak show, right?In 2026, we said that if this trip ended up getting cancelled due to weather we would give up for some time.

Thankfully, the weather was pristine! We couldn't have asked for better... except maybe a few degrees cooler when we ventured into Sedona.

After setting up the camp site, what better thing to do than wander around in the wilderness?

Our first day-trip was to the Petrified Forest National Park. I didn't know what I was expecting, but such a vast, "rocky" place kinda wasn't it.

Don't get me wrong, though. Even though it didn't fit the idea I had in my head of what it would be like, it was still pretty incredible to see these objects that are so old they are now quite literally frozen in time.

The variations in color, hue, and saturation to be found in this middle-of-nowhere desert landscape is pretty breathtaking. Limitless vistas, mounds of dirt jutting from the ground that visually tell the earth's story... It's all a reminder of just how truly brief and insignificant our time on this planet really is.

I love visiting places that make me feel like an alien visitor and yet I'm on my home planet.

And then afterwards, Google Maps took us on almost an hour's drive on unpaved dirt as some kind of shortcut back to camp?

But I do like to say: no one ever says, "Remember on our trip when everything when exactly as planned?"

All the detours and unplanned surprises are what makes adventures truly adventurous!

So, yeah... Nothing makes me happier while traveling than doing something I didn't plan on doing. That's why my itinerary is usually blank.

Next post: the Grand Canyon!