2008JeffJourney

May 19, 2008: 10th State - Nevada

Location: AZ, Grand Canyon National Park, over the Hoover Dam and into Las Vegas

Weather:  sunny and warm (J says, “It’s boiling hot.  You could roast an egg…”, by 5:30 p.m. our car thermometer registered at 111 degrees!

Mileage: 3300 miles

Audio Books:  One More Valley, One More Hill, The Story of Aunt Clara Brown and Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris

***View at the Trail Head.

4 a.m.: J, D and C were stirring and getting ready for another trek on the Bright Angel Trail.  The goal of watching the sunset was thwarted by the delay in the bus system, but they made it down and back from the 3 mile rest house all before 10:00 a.m.

***Picture: D, C and J on the way up

K and I rode our bikes on the trail, to get exercise of course, but we didn’t resist doing a bit of souvenir shopping as well.  When we joined back up with the guys we were able to pack up and get off the site by 11:00 a.m.

Onward to Nevada! We were quickly back into the desert landscape that we had seen so much of in the past weeks. As we tackled school work we watched the temperature on the car thermometer shift from the 90’s to the 100’s.  Stopping at a gas station we asked if our reading was indeed correct.  It was.  The attendant said this high temperature was not usual this early in the year.  He laughingly said he expects 130’s to 140’s this summer.

At 5:30 p.m. after successfully passing the inspection of the camper, we were rolling over the Hoover Dam.  All the kids imagined the Hoover Dam much bigger than what they saw.  What fascinated us was the new bridge that is being built.  They have some of it done dangling over the river.  There are cables and braces everywhere.

The kids thought we were joking as we pulled into Circus, Circus RV Park on the Las Vegas Strip.  They said, “It’s a parking lot.”  Oh but never fear.  Dad paid an extra $12/night to have a strip of grass next to our parking space.  As I sit here typing by the flash of neon lights, most of the kids are in bed after a refreshing dip in the pool.  Our a/c is cooling our space down and we are happy to have a solid place to rest our camper – with full hook ups, no less.

May 19, 2008

Location: Grand Canyon National Park

Weather: Sunny and in the 80’s

Junior Ranger Badges #4: Grand Canyon National Park

Camper Challenge:  For the first time I ground wheat and baked muffins.  Warned that oven cooks hot, I brought my Pampered Chef Stoneware.  We use the pizza stone in the oven all the time and so far it has done a great job at distributing the heat.  In the muffin stoneware pan, the muffins baked well and were a hit. In the tiny oven I can only cook one batch at a time.  12 muffins don’t go very far! But the clean up was more of a challenge.  Thankfully E and K stepped up to the challenge washing mounds of dishes in the tiny sinks.

*** E shows you where we’ve been.

This morning we attended Grand Canyon Baptist Church and were amazed to find a whole community of Christians that work and minister here at the Canyon.  With our family and two visiting ministry teams we were filling the sanctuary area and the pastor keep surveying the congregation and saying, “Wow!”  We probably doubled the attendance.  The service was simple though encouraging.  It was lead mostly by 20 year old students that are living in the park.  The two ministry teams were made up mostly of college students.  One that had made a long trek from Friday night at 8 p.m. through till 11 p.m. on Saturday evening – without sleeping!  Their plans included doing ministry work in the park for the rest of their stay. Most could hardly walk as they stiffened during the service. The other group consisted of interns that will work, live and minister in the park this summer.  It is exciting to see the opportunities for worship and ministry in a place that we did not expect it.

After church we decided to split up.  C, J and D biked and hung out at the camper for the midday while the rest of us toured the park working on the Jr. Ranger Badges (we also stopped at a few gift shops while we had the chance.) We finally got the hang of using the public buses (just in time for our departure).  We joined back together at the Yavapai Observation Station.  There we were able to get a glimpse of the Colorado River through the spyglass.  The displays explained the formation of the canyon from a perspective of millions of years.  The kids answered in their Jr. Ranger books, “The world is not that old,” when asked to draw the Grand Canyon at 5 million years.  In a ranger talk, the ranger tried to explain how the canyon couldn’t have been formed in a flood.  C was not convinced by his words.  Despite our differing views the ranger awarded the kids their Jr. Ranger badges expressing amusement with their story book petroglyphs and their poetry.

***M enjoys his Jr. Ranger  Canyon Bingo.

On to another ranger program to learn about the condor program that the park has established to reintroduce the condor to the area after stated absence of 12,000 years.  At present they have 4 nesting pairs.  The ranger was very enthusiastic about the amazing qualities of this bird.  The most memorable being that the bird has a 9 ½ foot wing span and that he has white feet.  And why are his feet white?  He told my kids to go home and tell their classmates that the Condors’ feet are white because they pee on them to keep them cool.  Since they do not sweat, this is their method of cooling their bodies.  The white comes from the salts in their urine.  As they mature the feet have more build up and they appear to whiten further.  What interesting facts one can learn in a National Park.

To cap off our Grand Canyon experience we ordered ice cream and ate admiring the fantastic view.  E said, “It just doesn’t look real… It looks like a picture.”  It is an incredible hole. C had one of those embarrassing moments as he asked for a sample of ice cream.  After using his tasting spoon he threw it in what he thought was the waste basket, but soon learned from the expression on the servers face that it was the clean spoon basket. C and the kids laughed about it for a long time after.  Ooops!

Back at the camper we enjoyed an episode of Extreme Home Makeover while I took on the challenge of creating a meal from odds and ends that needed to be eaten.  The result was happy children (L says, “Oh! This is my most favorite show!”) and a meal of chicken and rice soup with banana muffins.  The boys headed to bed early in anticipation of a sunrise hike in the canyon. They decided to sleep outside under the awning tonight.  Since their plans to hike down into the canyon were nixed due to not being able to get a permit, this was the next best thing.

Anna update:  These are months of continual change. We still are awaiting her verbal to catch up with her intellect.  She has 3 words that she uses occasionally – “eee-ah” (Leah), mama (she called me this for the first time a few days ago!) and La-la (Elizabeth).  She has mastered the Barney song sung in La, La’s on this trip and is moving on to a few other tunes.  We have been playing games with her of singing part of the song and she has been able to finish off the rest of the tune.  For the past week she has formed an attachment to a blanket. It delights her. She’ll spend hours putting it over her head, wrapping it around her body and laying it out flat – singing as she arranges her friend and giggling when she is reunited with it after a separation. What joy she brings to our lives.

May 17, 2008: Down into the Canyon

Location:  Grand Canyon Trailer Village, A parking lot RV park with full hook-ups.  The nice thing is being so close to everything in the village. Full hook ups are appreciated since the showers are a drive away and cost $2 each.  There is a free shuttle that goes to many of the places on the South Rim.

Weather: warm and sunny

Camper Challenge:  We are learning the great art of showering in a teeny space with a small hot water tank.  It can be a trick with 9 showers to schedule.  The oddity is that the sewer hookups have to be hooked up as needed and monitored because the local ravens are very attracted to the tubing and will poke holes in it.

Pancakes are a necessity to camping every once in awhile according to D, so I have bent my whole wheat only ways and bought some Bisquick.  This morning we even threw in a few chocolate chips.  Afterwards E, L and I went out to explore by bikes while J&K took their Spanish finals and C&D did clean up.  C even got in some haircuts on some unhappy boys.  Those everyday life things cannot be ignored.

Bikes are a great way to get around the village.  L, E and I found another view of the Grand Canyon and explored a few gift shops without the “hurry up” pressures from the guys.  We checked into the Jr. Ranger Program and made some plans for the family hike.

I think it took us as long to get pack up as it did actually hiking.  We had read all the books, made our dinner, gathered snacks, bought wide brimmed hats and carried enough water to exceed recommendations.  Our destination was the one and half mile house on the Bright Angel Trail.  We started out at the recommended 4 p.m. – after the heat of the day.  The first few bends were the worst for me as I adjusted to looking over the edge and reminding the kids to stay near the wall – not the ledge. Fearless M was running and skipping in his own world, making my heart leap as he neared the edge. Besides that, our hike down was quite pleasant going through two natural stone bridges and watching the light change on the red stone buttes throughout the canyon.  We felt bad for all the red faced, sweating, panting hikers that were on their way up.

Adding to our wildlife spotting, a young male Desert Mountain Sheep was sitting on the path.  He was unaffected by the people walking a few feet from his head.  He watched them go by and eventually got up and wandered around.  The Rangers said that he was “feeling his oats” and chasing the hikers.  He didn’t show any aggressive behavior while we were there, but amazed us that we got so close.

***Picture: S and the young sheep

From many conversations we gathered that many did the not-recommended hike of rim to rim (23.9 miles) in one day.  By the time they reached us (their last mile and half) they were weary and just waiting to reach the top.  We saw one helicopter rescue from a rest house down further in the canyon and heard of another. At the mile and a half rest house we enjoyed our dinner, but grimly imagined the worse for the way up.  One man asked K, “Did you guys get back from going down to the bottom or go river rafting today.”  K replied, “No we just walked back from the bathroom.” The man laughed and said that we looked too happy to have walked up from the bottom.  Around the sign that said, “Don’t Feed the Squirrels,” a man was feeding a rock squirrel that was begging for a little to eat.

  

At M’s pace it took us an hour and ten minutes to get to the rest stop and we were told to double that for the way back up.  We were prepared to finish our hike in the dark.  Amazingly it took M an hour and a half to get up the trail. E had told him that all he needed was his Power Aid to give him power.  He was religious about taking sips when he was tiring. He happily jumped the rocks in the path and amused the weary rim to rim hikers that wondered where his energy came from.  The other kids set a faster pace to the top making it in one hour, fifteen.  Energized by this little taste of the trail, the girls were planning their rim-to-rim hike with a stop at Phantom Ranch the year that L turns 20 (o.k. girls, you have 12 years to train!).

***Picture: L says, “Let’s do it in 2020!)

 The evening ranger program began at 8 p.m. and we had made it to the top with enough time to get there to hear, “Don’t Feed the T-Rex!”  The ranger gave us an overview of all the animals that can be spotted in the park.  He gave us an insight to some of the special qualities of the different animals. E said she was surprised that there are so many animals in the park.  We also learned that this ranger viewed the rock squirrel as the most dangerous animal in the park.  Not because the fleas that inhabit the animals carry the bubonic plague, but because foolish people feed the squirrels and get bitten in the process. The first aid centers treat 2-3 people a day for bites.

Back in the camper once again we were all longing for warmth and sleep!

May 16, 2008: North through Arizonia

Location: AZ, Flagstaff, Route 66, Route 89 North, Sunset Crater, Wupatki and Grand Canyon

Weather: A frigid 42 degrees at 6:30 a.m., Sunny, 80’s

Junior Ranger Badge #3: Wupatki National Monument

Favorite Find:  A children’s book find at Wupatki was the book, The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell  (http://www.amazon.com/Three-Little-Javelinas-pequenos-jabalies/dp/0873585429).  This creative southwest version of the three little pigs had us all laughing.  The story is engaging and the illustrations are great – read it to your kids if you can find it.  You’ll learn about the southwest and have fun doing  it!

5:30 a.m. We were awoken by the clicking noise of our refrigerator trying to light the gas to keep running.  Our battery had worn down in the night. Once out of bed, Craig began to pack us up.  By 6:30 we were on the road toward Flagstaff to do laundry and shop.

Across the street from the Laundromat was a little deli/bakery, Malone’s.  We were reminded of the delis that we get great bagels in NY.  The kids feasted on bagels and cream cheese.  And since they ran out of plain bagels the owner gave us a half a dozen donuts for free.

With much moaning the boys took the laundry into the Laundromat. (C wants you to know that he did not moan at all.)  They were convinced that the laundry is the women’s work.  The women were off to gather the food supplies.  We were treated with views of the San Francisco Peaks covered with snow.  L wanted to go right up and play in it.  We also made our first journey on Route 66.  For all those Cars fans out there, L declared, “This doesn’t look like Radiator Springs at all.”  We were able to gather the food and make it back to rescue the boys from folding the mounds of laundry.

Sunset Crater was a fascinating stop.  The now inactive volcano erupted about 900 years ago and left a trail of lava flows.  Our first stop was the visitor center which had the main attraction of a few snow piles here and there.  It was hard to drag the boys (including C) from their snowball war to come in to see the displays.  The trail took us through the lava flows witnessing the destruction to the landscape that hasn’t changed much in the last 900 years.  There are a few trees, but little vegetation can grow in the lava rock with the desert conditions.

***Picture: To the right of the family is the lava flow and in the distance are the San Francisco Peaks.

 

Our third Jr. Ranger badge was done at Wupatki National Monument – ruins of a 100 room Sinagua pueblo. The pueblo is in an excavated state so you can see into many rooms. The most interesting thing is a blow hole that sucks air in when the air pressure is high and blows air out when the pressure is low.  The kids had fun feeling the air flow (sucking in today) and experimenting with it.  There also was a large round sports arena that had great acoustics.

***Picture: C, A and M phoon with the backdrop of the painted desert.

As we sighted the canyons of the Little Colorado River everyone got excited to get to the Grand Canyon.  Once at the gate we still had another 25 miles to go to get to Trailer Village.  Not able to wait anymore to see it, we stopped at the Grandview Overlook.  As Craig says, “That sure is a big hole in the ground.”  The sunset cast a reddish glow over the inner gorge.  It is incredible!

We pulled into the campsite as the sun was setting happy to have full hook ups and vying to be the first in the shower!

May 15, 2008: We are not disappointed!

Location: Cave Springs Campground in Oak Creek Canyon, AZ

Weather: Sunny, Windy at times

Camper Challenge: With no hook ups we are learning how far the battery will go and how fast the car will recharge it.

Up with the sun, C and I decided to take a walk.  The high altitude could be felt on our lungs as we climbed a nearby path up the canyon.  The sunlight lit up the canyon walls, the light bark of the birch trees and the red bark of the trees that look similar to our mountain laurel.  I wished I had brought my camera, yet it doesn’t seem to capture what I see!  We gave up on the heights and found a path that ran through a meadow along a creek.  In the creek we watched as a heron caught his breakfast and gobbled it down.  This is the scenery that I pictured when I thought of this trip.

When we got back the boys were already loading the bikes with the flat tires to be taken into Sedona for new inner tubes.  One of the drawbacks of riding in the desert is all the thorns.  Four of the bikes had flats!  Craig spent the morning with them in town, while the girls, M and I puttered around the camper and took a walk back down by the creek.  One of M’s highlights has been his time wading in the creek with L.

***Picture: A wading in the stream.  She loved it!

Slide Rock was the main attraction of the day. Warned that the temperature of the water stays a constant “very cold” we targeted the warmest part of the day.  Even still everyone could hear C’s hooting as with every dip he was submerged further under the cold rushing water.  Undaunted by his yells the kids still followed.  For an hour K, J, E, L and C slid down the natural rock formations and ran back up to do it again. C did his best to encourage others to take the plunge and even succeeded with a few.  M and D caught mosquito larva in the pools.  A slept and S photographed. (Those out of the water did not have regrets!) L was the first to succumb to the cold.  Teeth chattering she had to get dry and warm!  Soon the rest followed and we were off to our next adventure… trout fishing.

***Picture #1: C went first to make sure it was safe.

 

***Picture #2:  The rest quickly followed.

***Picture #3: J leaps from a rock ledge into the stone pool.  C lifeguards.

I had read about Rainbow Trout Farm near our campground.  They have a stocked pond sure to bring success to anyone’s line.  They even (for a small charge) clean the fish once you have caught them.  One after another the kids lined up to throw their line in and pull out a fish.  In no time we had 5 big trout for our dinner. M caught the first, L caught the biggest, D the smallest, J caught his without a pole (just a hook and bobber on a string) and E had the record for the most fish pulled out of the water and then dropped back in.  Though catching the fish was fun, the boys were unsatisfied.  They wanted to catch a “real” trout from the stream.

***Picture:  L’s catch.

Back at the campground we enjoyed a fish fry and a roaring campfire before retiring in anticipation of an early morning departure.

May 14, 2008: Bicker, Bicker, Complain, Complain, Complain!

Location: AZ: Tucson to Sedona

Weather: Colder than we thought it should be!

Audio Book: Finished The Bronze Bow

I have figured out that the best car ride is about an hour.  After that it all seems to go downhill.  The kids are bothered by another looking at them wrong, taking their stuff, poking, hitting and worst of all passing odoriferous gases.  Sigh!  Try as I may to come up with directed car activities, the human sin nature seems to get the best of us.

Today was one of those days.  We left Tucson a bit later than hoped and got stuck in a big traffic jam south of Phoenix. Our hopes to swim at Slide Rock State Park and trout fish were dimming with each hour that ticked by.  As the miles of Saguaros and sand whizzed by, one in the back seat was wailing, “How long do we have to stay in the desert?  I want to see trees!”  Another said, “Why do we have to go on such a long trip?”

Finally about 4 p.m. we got off the highway and soon approached Sedona.  “Trees!”  The green scenery was a beautiful sight.  As C skillfully weaved between the narrow lanes of construction cones the rest of us enjoyed the beauty of the red rocks that loomed above.  We made our way through Oak Creek Canyon to Cave Springs Campground hoping they had a site and that they’d take our 33 ½ foot camper.

Success!  Our moods lifted as we settled into the wooded site that was in view of the massive canyon walls that captured the light of the setting sun.  We put the question forth to the family.  Should we stay an extra night here – shortening the Grand Canyon stay?  The vote was unanimous.  Even though we were faced with no showers (they had $3 showers on site that we never used) and no hook ups (no water or electricity in the camper), everyone agreed that they wanted the opportunity to visit Slide Rock and trout fish tomorrow.

Instead of treading through uncharted waters of non-hook up RV camping, we opted to eat out.  We consulted the AAA guide once again and were not disappointed.  We enjoyed generous portions of Mexican food at Oaxaca Restaurant surrounded by a glass window overlooking one of Sedona’s massive buttes and a creative Mexican decor.  Since we were so full when we left we were able to talk C into a little walking and shopping in the little tourist shops on the main street in Sedona.

***Picture: Dinner at Oaxaca

Back at the campsite we didn’t need the battery long as we were all exhausted and fell into bed.

May 13, 2008: Tucson

Location: Beaudry RV Resort: The fanciest place we’ve stayed so far. It is big, clean, manicured and has cable TV. The kids are ready to go back to the woods where they feel comfortable. C and I enjoyed the exercise room this morning.

Weather: Windy, chilly, and rainy in the afternoon (very unusual AZ weather)

Lesson Learned: “Crocs are not good shoes to wear in the desert” – Micah who was often pulling the spines from his shoes and feet.

Lesson Relearned: Consult the map BEFORE you set out!

In anticipation of a visit with Aunt Peg (C’s Mom’s sister) and Uncle Duane we hung out at the campsite this a.m. What fun to see them after 10 or so years. Their daughter Nancy also stopped by on her lunch break. C hadn’t seen her for 30 years! Her comment was, “You’ve grown up!” It’s funny how that happens. We enjoyed eating lunch together, catching up and hearing about their travels in their camper. A threatening thunderstorm rolled in and ended our time together quickly.

For the afternoon we opted to head to the other Saguaro National Park on the west side. The wildlife did not disappoint us once again. We saw a coyote trotting on the side of the road on the way in. In the Red Hills Visitor Center the kids began their Junior Ranger Booklets which the ranger kindly said we could work on and mail back in. This directed our hikes as we were pushed to find the answers to the questions. M, E and I sat for a while watching as a Gila Woodpecker couple flew in and out of a hole high on a Saguaro feeding their young and as a White Winged Dove fed off the Saguaro’s blossoms. We also hiked to Signal Hill to see the petroglyphs. The scenery does not cease to capture my attention as it is different in every place we visit. One of the books we bought before the trip was a photo book of many different Saguaro with comic book style comments describing what the different shaped cactus were saying. We had fun doing the same. The kids found twins, moms hugging their little ones, girls holding flowers and many more. Perhaps the most memorable part of the afternoon was the kids’ delight as C sped out of the park on a straight country road with many deep dips. The giggles abounded. Even A was joining in. As we realized we were speeding away in the wrong direction, they were gleefully begging for us to turn around and go back the way we came.

***Phooning near Signal Hill

With being on the road for more than a week now we are coming up with lists of things that we need. There was an hour till the closing of the malls. We split up and tackled our lists. You'll be happy to know that Micah got a pair of shoes that fit (it seems he outgrew his sneakers and hiking shoes overnight!) so he’ll no longer need to hike in Crocs.

We feel we are leaving Tucson with so much more to be done. It is a place that we could stay a week or more and not run out of things to do. We would have loved to spend more time with extended family, see the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and visit Old Tucson. We’ll definitely have to come back for another visit!

May 12, 2008: The Great Saguaro

 Location: El Paso (Trivia: Our tour guide explained that the city got its name from the Spanish word passé – the pass. It is a natural pass between the mountains from the north that reach into the Rockies and the south that descend into South America.), NM, AZ

Audio Book: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

Mileage: 2500 miles

Lesson Learned: Survey the map before heading out. Driving extra miles in the dark with tired, hungry children is not fun. – S&C

The morning began early for C as he prepared for a business call on the east coast time. Despite the background noise of wind, traffic from the highway and RV’s pulling out, today’s technology has allowed him to keep in touch with his clients and coworkers. The rest of us were a bit sluggish about getting up and out on the road this morning. After shopping we finally departed about 11 a.m. The high winds made traveling slow. We were entertained by the wind spouts that churned up the red dust into tornado looking structures.  Scenery ranged from flat scrub with mountains in the distance, piles of rocks, abandoned towns, horse farms, "the thing" (o.k we were tempted but not sucked in to paying a $1 to see what it is) and lots of land. We passed over the Continental Divide and finally approached Tucson.

Our first stop was the Saguaro National Park – East to see the great Saguaro. We were thankful a ranger stopped us at the gate and said, “You don’t want to take that bad boy in there.” We unhooked, set out to explore and quickly saw the reason the camper wouldn’t make the quick turns and deep dips.   On a short hike into the Sonoran Desert we saw quail, hares, a kangaroo rat and many kinds of cacti. We made it back to the camper just in time to get out of the gates by sunset. In our haste we learned the “consult the map before you set out” wisdom. We took the scenic route by fields, caves and cows wandering in the street before we arrived at our new home – Beaudry RV Resort and Rally Park in Tucson, AZ.