July 18 Grand Canyon

Well, we walked down to the amphitheater last night to watch the ranger program, but a few minutes after we arrived, we saw lightening and then heard thunder not 30 seconds later.  The ranger was a great guy though and gave the girls the gist of his talk in 5 minutes, signed the books and we ran home just as it started to rain.  The wind was blowing a gale so we jumped into our tents to stay dry.  Eventually the rain stopped and Dave got out to open the back window so we could get some airflow in the tent.  

We got up early this morning and took down the tents and packed up the truck.  We decided to get breakfast on the road so there was little to do except to get the truck buttoned down with the net and bungees.  We got to the visitor center at 5 of 8 (it opened at 8), the girls got their badges and we were on our way out of the park.  We saw two mountain goats at the side of the road and not five minutes later, we came upon a herd in the road.  Some of them came across and scampered up the almost vertical wall right next to the car.  We stopped for pics and made our way past them as the road became clear again.  When we went through the 1.1 mile one-way tunnel, we were the only ones going out of the park so we got to carry the baton through to the other side.  The girls enjoyed that.  When we came to the first town, we stopped for gas and saw the Thunderbird Cafe across the street.  We all had hearty breakfasts and the girls found an Hawaii license plate on the wall.  I said they could count it temporarily to finish the states, but that they should keep looking for one on a car.

We drove another two hours to the Grand Canyon and on the way in we saw a herd of buffalo - certainly not as many as we saw in Custer, but it was cool to see them in this park.  We got checked into our cabin, signed up for mule rides, and made reservations for tonight and tomorrow night.  We then took a walk out to Angel’s Point.  The girls were amazed with the size of the canyon.  It is impressive.  We walked back to the truck and unloaded our duffles to take to the cabin.  The cabin in very nice with a bunk room for the girls and a queen size bed in another room for Dave and I and a bathroom between the two rooms.  We walked up to the cafe and had a small lunch as we were still fairly full from breakfast, but wanted something to eat before our mule ride at 1:30.  Zoe and I had yogurt parfaits, Ella had a cup of black beans and rice soup and Dave had a sandwich.  We went back to the cabin to change into long pants for the ride.  Dave stayed to take a nap as he is too heavy for the mules.  Zoe rode Pauline, Ella rode Leslie and I rode Bill.  We rode along the rim of the canyon (a little intimidating as the mules like to ride near the outside edge of the trail) and into the woods.  The girls had a good time, but Pauline had a bit of a gas problem.  The girls decided that she should be renamed - “Uncle Russell”.  They were full of giggles every time it happened.  We all took turns in the shower - it felt heavenly as we had no showers in Zion, but had to make do with a wash-up each day.  I had to wash my hair twice before it felt clean!  Tomorrow we will have to do laundry at some point as we are all running out of clean clothes.  We heard thunder (which, by the way, sounds awesome as it comes down this huge canyon) and then it started to rain.  We dug out our raincoats and went to dinner.  Ella had buffalo ribs, Zoe had pasta Alfredo, Dave had scallops and I had chicken breast from the kid’s menu as practically everything on the menu was cooked with wine.  After dinner, we checked out the menu at the buffet and saw that they had quite a selection so we cancelled our dinner reservations for tomorrow night and will go to the buffet.  We came back to the cabin, played a game of cards and the girls are now writing in their journals before we go to the ranger program tonight.  

July 17 Monday Zion

We let the girls sleep in a bit this morning and Dave and I made bacon and blueberry pancakes for breakfast since we ate out last night.  The smell of the bacon cooking woke the girls up and they were soon ready to eat.  After washing the dishes, we hopped on the shuttle to finish a few questions the girls had to complete their JR booklets.  We stopped at the Grotto to look at the first museum built in the park in 1924.  It is now a residence for an artist.  We walked to the Lodge for cold drinks and then had to identify the very large tree on the lawn in front of the Lodge (see pic).  It was a Freemont cottonwood tree.  I could tell by the leaves that it was a cottonwood, but we got the specific name from a ranger.  Our last stop was to the Human History Museum, where we cooled off by watching the introductory movie in a lovely air conditioned auditorium and then found the plaque identifying one of the founders of the park (the last question in the booklet).  We headed back to camp and had lunch.  It was very hot again today (100 again) so I took the girls down to the river for a couple of hours of swim time.  They found a place on the bank where they could jump into a deeper hole in the river and had a grand time just playing in the water.  We came back to camp, but it was still really hot so I got on my swim suit and Dave came with us to cool off.  Dave didn't put his suit on so he just stood in the river to cool off, but I was so hot, I sat up to my neck while the girls swam and splashed.  We will be making dinner soon and then we will pack up the truck in preparation for leaving tomorrow.  We will go to the ranger program tonight and then have the girls get their badges tomorrow on our way out of the park.  Tomorrow we head to the Grand Canyon.

July 16 Sunday Bryce Canyon

After breakfast today, we drove over to Bryce Canyon.  What a beautiful, unearthly place.  Wind and water carved through the canyon leaving wonderful, colorful hoodoos.  They look like a giant was playing in the sand at the beach and dripped wet sand from his hands.  We had an early lunch as the girls were "starving" (they must be going through a huge growth spurt on this trip).  Dave opted to stay with the truck as it was really hot and heat aggravates his myasthenia.  We had a hard time finding a parking place, but finally found one at the lodge.  We walked a 1/2 mile to Sunrise Point and then down into the canyon for .8 of a mile ending at Queen's Garden.  There is a hoodoo there which looks remarkably like Queen Victoria.  We decided we had had enough of the heat so we started climbing back up.  We stopped frequently for shade (when there was any) and water breaks.  When we were getting close to the top, we heard thunder so we upped the pace and finally reached the top of the canyon.  The girls said they felt a few drops of rain as we walked back to the truck, but we made it before the skies opened up.  We drove back to Zion (almost 2 hours) and stopped at a rock shop in Orderville.  Unfortunately, most of the rocks were not local and the prices were high so we moved on.  Back at camp, the girls changed into their bathing suits and Dave and I went with them down to the creek not too far from our campsite (really the same Virgin River that flows through the Narrows further north in the park, but much narrower at this point).  We found a hole for them to swim in and there was a place they could drift with the current.  They had a blast, but we had to get them out before they were done playing as we heard thunder overhead and it started to rain.  We decided to walk across the pedestrian bridge for ice cream, but when we got there it was raining a bit harder and it was later than we thought so we opted for dinner instead of cooking back at camp in the rain.  The restaurant, however, wouldn't let the girls enter as they were in bathing suits.  The girls and I walked back to camp so they could change and we got back to the restaurant for dinner.  None of us minded walking in the rain as it felt cool after our hot day.  The girls wanted to play cards again after dinner and have an early bedtime (I think we finally wore them out) so we didn't get to the ranger program again.  We will try again tomorrow night.

 

July 15 Saturday Zion National Park

Dave and I both woke up early.  It had cooled down to 79 by this morning.  Still warm, but not as oppressive as last night.  We had breakfast and the girls and I walked over to the shuttle while Dave stayed here trying to catch up on his sleep.  Our first stop was the Grotto, which was a disappointment because it was just a picnic area so we took the 1/2 mile hike back to the Lodge and boarded the shuttle again.  This time we stopped at The Weeping Rocks and took the hike up.  The girls loved this area as they could stand under the overhang and have large, cold drops of water hit them on the head.  It actually felt good to get wet.  I took a before and after shot of them near the wall of rock.  They did get pretty wet.  We took the shuttle back to the Visitor Center and picked up their Junior Ranger books and then walked across the pedestrian bridge to get more ice for the cooler.  It doesn't last long in 100+ degree heat.  We walked back to the campground and made lunch.  After cleaning up, we all (Dave too) got back on the shuttle and went to the last stop.  The girls wanted to walk in the Narrows.  Actually you walk in the river through the Narrows.  The water felt great - quite cold - especially since the temp was 106 this afternoon.  I wimped out at one point as with my terrible depth perception, I couldn't tell if I was about to step on a rock or into a hole.  I sat on a rock at the side of the river while Dave and the girls walked/swam on.  They walked a ways into the Narrows through the river surrounded on both sides by steep cliffs.  Dave finally got out and walked along the bank while the girls floated down the river toward me.  I heard them coming long before I spotted them as I could hear the giggles and laughter from around the bend.  Ella must have caught a good current as her shorts were around her ankles by the time she got to me.  After more laughter, the girls were able to get to the opposite bank where Dave was and then they came back to help me across.  It felt good to walk back to the shuttle in sopping wet clothes!  We stopped at the Lodge for cold drinks and then headed on back to camp.  The girls were starving so we had an early dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce and sour dough bread.  The girls are writing in their journals and working on their JR books.  We'll probably play cards again tonight and may or may not go to the ranger talk tonight as the girls seem pretty tired with all of the exercise they had today - both hiking and swimming.  Unfortunately, I have no pics of the Narrows as we left the cameras locked in the truck rather than have them fall in the river.  The other two pics other than the before and after of the girls is a trumpet type flower in our campsite (seems to have some sort of green squash growing under the leaves) and the sunrise on the cliffs across from our tents.

July 14 Friday Zion National Park

We got up fairly early this morning and packed up the truck.  After breakfast, we were on our way to Zion.  We passed through some beautiful country.  Lots of colorful canyons and peaks - we stopped at Black Dragon Canyon for a stretch and a family of Native Americans was set up at the overlook, selling native jewelry.  We didn't buy anything, but thanked them and continued on our way.  We got onto a less traveled road and stopped at a small place called Hoovers (not Hooters) for lunch.  We got to the east Zion entrance and arrived at Watchman Campground about an hour later.  It was too hot to set up the tents (110 degrees) so we explored the area a bit and I took the girls down to the creek to cool off their feet.  Zoe and I drove into Springdale for gas and groceries and when we returned, we set up the tents.  The girls made burgers for dinner with raw veggies.  No one was ravenously hungry, but we were all very thirsty as it was so hot.  We played a game of pinochle and went to bed.  It was really too hot to sleep - still about 100, but eventually we did all fall asleep.

July 13 Thursday Arches National Park

Dave and I showered before we woke the girls - we thought they might appreciate a little extra time sleeping.  We went to breakfast and then all hopped in the truck for another foray into Arches.  Dave was feeling much better today so he opted to go with us.  I was feeling badly that we couldn't sign up for a ranger-led tour into the Fiery Furnace, so we stopped at the Ranger Station and I signed up for a back-country permit so I could take them in.  When we got to the parking area, we left Dave with a book, while the girls and I loaded up with water and started our hike.  We had a hard time getting started as the trail was not obvious, but we finally saw an arrow painted on a rock and we were on our way.  There was quite a bit of rock scrambling, but the girls were great and either waited for me to catch up or stayed to help me with advice or a hand on the most difficult parts.  We saw a few lizards and hoof prints of big horned sheep.  We finally came to a series of very narrow fins and I allowed the girls to go through a few of them while I waited for them.  I love that they are so responsible and come back in the agreed upon time.  I did want them to experience the fins, but had no desire, myself, to scramble through.  We started back and stopped to take a picture of our own personal balanced rock, finally getting back to the parking lot - very hot, tired, thirsty, but happy with the accomplishment.  Fortunately, the temps were only in the low 80's, but there was no shade on the hike except in the fins where the towering rocks on both sides shade the path.  We went back to Sand Dune Arch as the girls wanted to revisit their favorite spot from yesterday.  I'm glad I took them to the park yesterday as there was a rainstorm last night and the road to Delicate Arch was closed due to flooding.  We drove back to town and had lunch at Denny's.  We were marveling at a Chinese family at the next table - mom, dad, 3 late teen or early 20's kids - all on their cell phones - no one talking to anyone - just completely mesmerized by their electronics.  We all agreed it was very sad.  We are now back at the motel and I am watching the girls in the pool while Dave is catching a nap.

Pics from July 13 - Arches

The last photo was taken in the area called the Courthouse.  I think this picture looks like judges conferring about a case.