Postcards | Eric Jay Toll • Journalist · Writer

Her long dark hair drifting over her shoulder, petite Ming Adams strokes the feathers on a plump quietly clucking hen with one hand and reaches under with the other withdrawing a brown egg.

Gently placing it the basket resting on the fresh sawdust floor, she nestles the basket into the crook of one arms, smiles and holds up one of the larger eggs and says, "Breakfast up at the house."

The "house" is the adobe, sustainably-constructed rammed earth ranch home at Canyon of the Ancients Guest Ranch on 2,000 acres outside of Cortez, Colorado.

From "Fresh Eggs and Ancient Farms" published on TravelingDad.com.

The “Chocolate Waterfalls,” actually Grand Falls, Arizona, is located in the Leupp Chapter of the Navajo Nation, about 30 miles northeast of Flagstaff. While it is an adventure to get there, it’s well-worth the effort to see a unique, natural phenomena. It’s a 90-minute roundtrip from Interstate 40 at Winona. Grand Falls Arizona is not that far from Grand Canyon

National Park, and definitely within reach of Petrified Forest National Park. It’s about a four-hour drive from Phoenix. The nearly 200-foot tall Grand Falls, is often called “Chocolate Falls” because of the rich, brown color from Little Colorado River sediment. From the parking lot overlook, the river flows slowly down shallow terraces, picking up speed, until it powers down a trio of steep drops...

From "Flowing Chocolate Milk: A Side Trip to Grand Falls AZ" published on TravelingDad.com.

Image: Death Valley National Park Visitors flock to the sprawling Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells, California.

“There are so many weird sights, it really keeps the kids’ interest,” Randall was saying as he sat back in a camp chair at his Texas Spring campsite near Furnace Creek, California, U.S.

“The dunes, the zebra mountains, walking on salt, Death Valley National Park has something each one of our kids has liked the best.”

Gwen mopped her brow against the evening warmth and passed some instructions to the kids on their way to wash the dinner dishes at the outdoor sinks a few campsites down the road. She heaved a sigh,

From "Death Valley National Park: Colors, Flowers, Mountains, Mines & Salt" published by TravelingDad.com

The air is still while the billowing cumulus clouds contrast white against an azure sky over the Tucson Mountains.

The quiet is broken with the distant sound of children giggling and shouting, horses snorting, and

the readying clump of horses into the soft Sonoran Desert sand.

The music blares, the announcer roars enthusiastically, and a young rider heads into the arena to cut a cow from the herd and move it into a corral. It’s the last day of a family trip to White Stallion Ranch, northwest of Tucson, Arizona, where the fantasies of riding the range play out for families on the largest private horse herd in the state.

From "Mamas, Come West and Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys (and Cowgirls)" published by TravelingDad.com.