travelingz

Today we had another pretty short drive back to Kent. We thought we might get into some rain, but just a few sprinkles. We did stop near Dayton to see some of Jeff's friends from high school. That was a nice diversion because the rest of the drive was pretty boring!

We got home and got some dinner, unloaded the van...

Tomorrow the van is going in for an oil change and to have the automatic slider looked at. It stopped working a couple of days ago. And we'll finish unpacking and get the laundry started!

Today we had a shorter drive so we stopped in St Louis at the Gateway Arch. We have driven by it on past trips, but we decided to go there today. Actually we decided to go last night so I bought our tickets online. That was good because the place was PACKED and the line to buy tickets was really long.



The ride to the top was kind of strange. There are these little tram cars, all white inside. The door is 4 feet tall and there are 5 seats inside in a semi-circle facing the door. With 5 adults inside, everybody's knees were touching. It felt like an escape pod from a space ship.



The top was a pretty small space but great views of the river and the city. The river walk was flooded but it was too hot and humid to walk much anyway!



After lunch, we got on I-70 and drove to our hotel in Indiana. We had a thunderstorm here during dinner but not too terrible. Tomorrow we'll be home!

A very short post today - and no pictures.

I planned to take us off the highway to see a cave in Missouri - chosen at random by looking at the atlas. Ozark Wonder Cave sounded WAY better than Cliff Dwellers Cave. So I navigated us to it and we couldn't find it. No signs, no nothin'. When we got to the hotel, I searched it and found that it is no longer an attraction. :-( Should have gone for Crystal Caverns...

So anyway, no side trips today.

Although after dinner, we did go to Bass Pro Shop to kill some time. It said it was the headquarters and it was crazy big. There was a boat dept, an ATV dept, clothes for men/women/children, hunting, fishing including a fly store, camping, shoes, food. There was a restaurant, a snack shop and a Starbucks. And they had large sections of the place closed down for remodeling. There were live turtles, ducks, fish, snakes and an alligator on display, as well as all species of stuffed animals. MHZ entered a contest to name the alligator - her choice is Fluffy.

Tomorrow we're driving to Indiana and stopping at Gateway Arch on the way!

Today we were on I-40 ALL DAY. It was Boring. And also Hot. But we did make 2 stops - one at Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, TX and one at another giant cross.





In case you haven't driven across north Texas, Cadillac Ranch is a bunch of old Cadillacs partially buried in a field. People can add to the graffiti on the cars, which we did with Sharpies. Other than that, we thought Amarillo smelled like cows since there was a huge feed lot.





Going on across TX, we were a little startled to see another enormous cross... just like the one back in Effingham. It really looked like it was made by the same place, but is apparently a few feet shorter. This one had bronze statues of the stations of the cross around the bottom instead of plaques about the 10 commandments. Also it had a replica of the shroud of Turin AND a bronze last supper AND an empty tomb. SO it was really much better than the one in Illinois, although it was hard to enjoy it when it was 102 degrees.

We got the cabin at LoLoMai Springs cleaned out and we were on the road by about 7:30 this morning. It was a hot day, usually around 90 degrees. Our big stop today was Petrified Forest National Park. We got off the highway in Holbrook and drove through the park from south to north. In Holbrook, there was a bunch of Route 66 stuff. My favorite was the WigWam Motel. We would totally have stayed there if I had known about it!

Petrified Forest was beautiful, but it was too hot to take a lots of hikes. We did do a couple of short walks to see trees and petroglyphs. And of course, we saw cactuses and that cool lizard. Did I mention that Jeff brushed up against a cactus the other day? We couldn't believe how many tiny, almost translucent spines were stuck in his shirt.



It was a long day of driving but we made it to Albuquerque. We walked around Old Town and had Mexican food for dinner. We also bought some spices, BBQ sauce and pistachios to take home. Tomorrow is another long drive, so we are turning in early!

Today has been the hottest day on our vacation. It's definitely a dry heat but still HOT. We went into Sedona this morning from the campground and took a free shuttle around to some different areas. One fun area was Tlaquepaque, which has lots of galleries. We ate some good mexican food for lunch there also. Here's MHZ with a new friend.



We also went out to see a chapel up in the rocks and spotted this amazing mansion from the porch. Jeff said he wants a house with its own observatory.



Jeff and I drove to Oak Creek Winery for some tasting. There are 3 wineries on the road that our campground is on! Now we are back at the camp, doing one LAST load of laundry so we can make it home. We start for Kent in earnest tomorrow.

Today we cleaned up camp and left the Grand Canyon. We stopped in Tusayan to get some Internet access and then kept going south toward Sedona. We could see some smoke from fires near Mt Humphreys but nothing too near our road. We also stopped in Flagstaff to get groceries and lunch.



After lunch we headed further down the road until we came to Slide Rock State Park. There was a line to get in but we eventually made it. It was REALLY gorgeous and fun. You can play in the creek and slide down natural water slides, jump off cliffs into deep pools, etc. Jeff and I both jumped and I thought it was scary! The water was pretty cold but we got used to it quickly. MHZ spent a lot more time that th
e adults in the slides and she is pretty scraped up because of it. The park was a total blast.


Then we drove to LoLoMai Springs Resort, which is south of Sedona. It’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere, with frontage on Oak Creek. It’s very shady and there are frogs and ducks in a little pond near our cabin. The cabin has a double bed and bunks, plus a sleeping loft, small kitchen and bathroom. Also a fire pit, grill, and picnic table outside. It’s a nice place. We cooked some chicken fajitas for dinner.
Tomorrow we plan to go into Sedona!

Well, we made it to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon pretty easily. We stopped at Navajo Bridge and were excited to spot a condor! It was a juvenile hanging out in the bridge girders.



We also stopped some along the eastern viewpoints to check out the canyon from the other side. There were a lot more people than we had at the North Rim. But still beautiful of course. We really liked the Watchtower.



Mather campground is nice, with big sites. It was full for both nights that we were here. But still pretty quiet, other than the people getting up before 4 am! Maybe they were going to check out the sunrise or something. We were a little apprehensive about using the tent since one of the poles broke at Mesa Verde and one or two others bent in the windstorm at Monument Valley. We used a some tent stakes, duct tape and hose clamps to "fix" it. The tent is all whopper-jawed, but it worked for a couple of nights. You can see a picture of the site and our "fix" in the gallery.

At the South Rim, there are shuttle buses that you can take instead of driving your vehicle to the viewpoints. Our first night, we made some camp burritos with the freeze-dried refried beans that we bought at the farm market in Colorado Springs. Then we decided to take the bus to check out the canyon. Jeff figured since it was 6 pm, most people would be at dinner. WRONG! They were all heading to Yavapai Point for sunset. With us. The bus was jam-packed and so were the trails. But still beautiful.



On Monday, after pancakes we headed out on the bus again. We took the bus to an over look, hiked to the next bus pick up, and then rode the bus again. On the trails, things were pretty deserted, but once again, the buses were crowded. We had a good time and when we got back to the Village we saw more condors! They were kind of far away but we could see them clearly through Jeff's binocs. We also stopped in Bright Angel Lodge for lunch. I had to check it out because Molly (American Girl) went there on her vacation. It still looked like it did in her book.



After lunch we all took showers - $2.00 for 8 minutes. We were amazed that MHZ finished hers in time. We cooked dinner again and drove out to Grandview point for sunset, which was spectacular. Today we are on the road to Sedona, watching out for wildfires that are in the area.

This morning after breakfast, we had to move out of our cabin. We had originaly planned to spend only 2 days here. By the time we decided to add one more, the cabins were all booked up BUT we could get a motel room. After I post here, we will be checking into the motel.

Today we went for a short hike on Widforss Trail. It was pretty scenery through the woods with some canyon views as well. We were excited (really!) to see a Kaibab squirrel. They only live on the North Rim and look like our black squirrels at home but with long tufted ears and a white tail. We watched this one for quite a while, but this was the best picture I could get.



We also saw some mule deer along the road and some pretty birds like this one:


We are doing laundry again today! And then planning on pizza for dinner and a couple of ranger talks this evening. There's one on condors that I want to see because I want to know if it's at all likely that we'll see a condor.

Today we got up and had some breakfast in the cabin. We didn’t wake up early enough to go see sunrise though! After breakfast, we went to the camp store to get online and then headed out to see more of the park and take some short hikes.
We checked out a small lake that had a tiny cabin next to it. . We also stopped to look out at Vista Encantada. Then we stopped at Roosevelt Point and took a short hike. The guide said it was through the forest, but it was actually through a burnt area. But the views were stunning as usual.




We kept going on the road and ended up at Cape Royal. We had a picnic lunch and stopped by the wedding site. I think it would be an extremely remote site for a wedding! We also hiked the trail at Cape Royal and saw Angel’s Window. Here is a picture of Jeff and MHZ on top of the window. There were railings so it was safe!



On the way back down the road, we stopped to see some ruins at Walhalla Glade and also a cliff spring. Both of those are short hikes.

Tonight was the Grand Canyon Cookout Experience. A tram picked us up near the lodge and brought us to the cookout pavilion near the campground. It was tasy barbecue including brisket, chicken, beans, mac & cheese, biscuits, etc. There was a guy who played guitar and sang during the meal. Our favorite song was his abriged version of "El Paso" by Marty Robbins which went "out in the West Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love, and got shot and I died"

After dinner, we went to a talk on geology and walked a little way out on Bright Angel point to see the stars. The moon was really bright even though it's only about 1st quarter.