Bryce and the Grand Canyon

It has been a crazy couple of days. We woke up yesterday morning all set for another national park after a quick stop by a rock store. The rock store turned out to be one of our favorite highlights of the trip. All five us toured the store in awe of the amazing collection of rocks, fossils, and gems. We planned on staying about a half hour but it turned out to be more like an hour and a half. After that we went to Bryce National Park and it was fantastic. It is Sherrill’s favorite national park of all and after seeing it I can see why. Pictures will not be able to do it justice, but I’ll put some on. After Bryce we drove to the Grand Canyon Lodge where we stayed for the night. We were in a log cabin with four beds and two bathrooms. It was really two units with a connecting door which worked out very well for our family. Like most log cabins there was no internet access so I could not post anything yesterday. I woke up at 5:00 AM to watch the sunrise at the Grand Canyon. I hiked a quarter mile out the Angel Point Trail and waited until the sun rose at 5:30. I had never seen the Grand Canyon before and seeing it this way was great. I took quite a few photos. I hope that they can convey the scene. Later in the morning we hiked the best trails at the Grand Canyon and had a fantastic lunch at the Grand Canyon Lodge. After the Grand Canyon we drove to Page, Arizona where we are as I write this. We are at the Budget Inn which is quite a bargain, but yet again has no wireless internet. I am typing this in our room and then I am going to drive to a nicer hotel and see if I can access their internet from their parking lot. If this was posted on Monday night you will know that my plan worked. If not you will know that I am still driving around Page, AZ looking for free internet.

Tomorrow we are driving to Four Corners, Mesa Verde, and the Petrified Forest. Based on the travel time between stops it may be a nighttime stroll through the forest, but we have made good time the whole trip so we are hopeful for another great day. Tomorrow night we land in Gallup (or is it Gallop?...if only I had internet) New Mexico. I can’t wait!!

The sunrise picture is the start of the Grand canyon pictures. The ones before it are of Bryce.

Trip Statistics: Total distance travelled: 5,259 miles

Radar traps: 14

Tickets: 0

Wildlife yesterday and today: a herd of deer, a psycho jackrabbit, and a mole who zigged when he should have zagged.

Arches National Park

I have Internet at last. There was supposed to be internet access at camp but it was not working. We had a great week and the boys earned lots of merit badges. I put a smatterring of pictures since it is late and I am tired. I will try and get some of Conner and Nathan from camp when I have more time which will probably never happen since we are proceeding on our non-stop tour early tomorrow morning. The pictures require a bit of explanation. The first is Old Faithful that we were fortunate enough to see erupt four times. This picture is the third time as we were on our way to a worship service on Sunday morning. The pizza picture is Chris and seven friends eating a 28 inch pizza named Old Ephraim ( it is named after a massive bear who terrorized the local area many years ago) The rest of the pictures were taken today at Arches National Park. We packed up and left camp this morning at the stroke of 9:00 and drove a few hundred miles to Moab, Utah where Arches is located. The picture near the bottom with Chris was taken at Delicate Arch. We hiked a mile and a half with a 450 foot vertical rise to get to the arch. It was quite a hike since daylight was fading. One of us is extremely out of shape and kept asking for water breaks, picture breaks, and stop the impending heart atack breaks. The last picture is petroglyphs that were carved by the Utes sometime between 1650 and 1850.

Tomorrow we are going to Bryce National Park and then to the Grand Canyon. The trip is flying by. It is difficult to believe that it is already the end of July. We continue to have a great time but we are all excited that we have started our trek home to sleep in our own beds and see our cats. We will be in Somerset by the night of August 1st and we will be back in Kingsville by the night of August 4th.

Trip Statistics:

Total distance travelled: 4,640 miles

Total radar traps: 13

Tickets: Still 0

Wildlife sighted today: kamikaze prairie dogs who showed no fear that I had to dodge while driving

A Quick Post from Cody, Wyoming

I'm standing at a kiosk in the Buffalo Bill Museum and there is no USB port so I can't add any photos, but I can give a lightning fast update. The day after the white water rafting and horseback riding we took a gondola ride to the top of the Tetons and visited Teton Village. The view from the top was amazing. It snowed two weeks ago so we had a bit of a snowball fight.

After that we took a boat ride on Jenny Lake and hiked to the Hidden Falls. I thought we'd never find them!! The falls were amazing, and I can't wait to post some photos. On the way to Jenny Falls we drove through a herd of buffalo that were crossing the road. There were hundreds of them. It was awesome.

Yesterday we drove to Yellowstone National Park. We saw Old Faithful and some hot springs. I took a video of a mini-geyser that was spouting steam and water about ten feet high. When we asked the ranger she was incredulous that we had seen it going off. She has worked there for two years and although it erupts sporadically she has never seen it. I'll post the video (and a video of Old Faithful) when I get to a hotel closer to the end of the month.

We're going to the Cody Rodeo for dinner and to see the cowboys. It sounds like fun and the kids can't wait. Tomorrow we're spending the day travelling around Yellowstone and the next day we head to the Boy Scout camp at Bear Lake in Utah. The irony is there are bears near where we are camping in Yellowstone but there are none at Bear Lake. I have two more nights to worry about a night time visit from a bear but the rangers say if we follow the rules we'll be fine. That's it for now....more later....with pictures.

PS I was having a little difficulty with a kidney stone, but I think the problem has passed

Amazing Days!!!

I am sitting in downtown Jackson Hole, Wyoming and I was able to find an unsecured internet access point. The others are shopping but I thought I'd take a chance at a quick post. We have been having an absolute blast since joining up with the Scouts. We have toured Flaming Gorge Dam, seen tons of wildlife...moose this morning right near our campsite, longhorn desert sheep at lunch yesterday, another buffalo but further away, a bald eagle on today's rafting trip. We have seen so much. The car got a flat tire a few days ago. It was the same tire that had trouble before but this time there was a four inch nail in it. The great thing is that the trouble was noticed at camp and we were able to find an open garage at 8:30 PM on a Sunday to get the tire fixed. Let me explain the pictures. The first is a picture of the Flaming Gorge Dam while it was under construction. The second is the sheep.The third is Nathan just before being attacked. That was the most scared face he could make. The next photo is a group shot overlooking the Red River Canyon. The one right before the horses is the view from my tent Near Jackson Hole The horse pictures are from a ride we took this morning. The ride lasted two hours and took us to a beatiful scenic overlook. Nathan had a scare when his saddle slipped to the side and he had to jump off of the horse. He was a real trooper and handled it without concern. I would have been completely freaked out but he is very brave. After the horse ride, we had a great lunch and then went white water rafting on the Snake River. The trip down the river was the best rafting I have ever experienced. Our guide was excellent and made it a lot of fun for those in my boat. The water temp was 52 degrees and a few of the boys jumped in for a quick dip. It is proving difficult to find the time or the access to blog since we stay on the move all day long and then after a good night's sleep are off o the next adventure. Tomorrow morning we are taking a cable car to the top of a mountain and then in the afternoon going out on a boat on Lake Jenny. Sorry is this so scattered but I am happy to finally be able to post something. I'll post again when I can.

First Snake Sighting

Our string of near perfect weather continued today and the forecast looks great for the next seven days. We will be paying a lot closer attention to the weather since Phase 2 of our trip starts tomorrow at 4:00 PM. That is the time we meet up with the group of Scouts from our troop back home and start our Scout Touring Week. There will be about thirty of us travelling during the day and camping in tents at night. The week after that we start our Scout Camp Week when we will be staying in tents at Bear Lake Aquatics Base in Utah. At teh conclusion of our week at Bear Lake, the troop flies home and we start our southern swing on our drive home. I may not have access to the internet for the next two weeks, but I am going to try to post as much as possible. Some pictures will be available on the Troop website at http://www.troop746.com/ so you can check that out if you'd like.

Anyway, today was another great day with a highlight right at the beginning. As we were driving into Ayres Natural Bridge Park we saw a sign which lived up to its name. Within 100 feet of the sign we saw a snake slithering across the street. Christopher was driving, and he stopped just in the nick of time. He backed up a bit, and I extricated myself from the back of the minivan with my camera in hand and started clicking away. I got about ten feet away and that was close enough for me. The snake never reacted to my presence which I took as a good sign. From a distance I was thinking it was a rattlesnake but up close I noticed that it didn't have a rattle. I showed my pictures to a family in the park and the father identified the snake as a bull snake which he decribed as a constrictor with a non-venomous bite. He said it was too early in the day for rattlesnakes, but if we waited around we could see some. I assured him that my wife would not be in favor of that. It was a nice park with picnic benches and a playground. The park makes the lofty claim of having the only natural stone arch with water flowing under it.

After that we visited Fort Caspar and I learned that I share the same birthday with Caspar Collins for whom the fort and the city of Casper are named. There was a great museum inside and many period buildings that we got to tour. Right now Sherrill and the boys are at the movies. I dropped them off and came back to relax and
blog at the hotel. We are enjoying our time together as a family, but we also look forward to all of the activities that await us in the next week.

Trip Statistics:

Total Distance Travelled: 2514 miles

Radar Traps: 10

Tickets: 0

Wildlife seen today: The bull snake and a bunny

Into the Depths

Today was a fairly laid back day. We did make it to breakfast which was an improvement over yesterday. After all five of us enjoyed pancakes at a local cafe we headed off to Jewel Cave a stone's throw (70 miles) down the road from Mount Rushmore. We got there with relative ease to discover that there would be a wait before we could head into the caves. We got our tickets and used the extra time to get lunch. We headed to Pizza Hut and tried out the P'zones which were delicious. If you haven't tried them yet consider this your call to arms. After lunch we headed back to Jewel Cave.

Fortunately our National Park Pass which has already paid for itself allowed us to go on a cave tour for free. Sherrill has had a bit of difficulty with stairs and the free tour had very few stairs involved. The tour was not long but it had lots of information and an elevator ride that took us down 238 feet in under thirty seconds with no fear of any pizza hitting the floor.

The second cave tour was a lot more strenuous and Sherrill correctly decided to sit it out. It was called the Lantern Tour because the only illumination was from lanterns that we carried. There were tight passages with interesting names like Fat Man's Misery and Tall Man's Misery. There was one section in which we went straight down about ten feet called Trap Door. We all had to work together to shed light on the footholds and handholds. After travelling through many passages and rooms we got to the halfway point of the tour where we blew all of the lanterns out. I have never seen pitch black before today. We relit the lanterns and since the relighting is a bit involved I volunteered to lead the group back to a pre-arranged location. When I volunteered the group kidded me in good nature since I had previously taken a wrong turn when we had gotten strung out earlier in the tour. I went about fifity feet down the wrong path before realizing that the group must have gone a different way since the path diminished to the size of a 17 inch computer monitor. I was not unhappy about the detour since there were many crystals on the wall that we never would have seen otherwise. The tour lasted two hours and it is my current favorite thing that we have done. The boys also indicated that it is at or near the top of their lists. (The waterpark is definitely still very high on all of our lists)

The photo in which Nathan is crawling through a rectangle is the test to see if a person is qualified to go on the spelunking tour. Nathan and Conner slipped through easily. Chrisopher and Sherrill did not try. I proved that I am not a candidate for spelunking. With my claustaphobia I would never have really attempted spelunking but the rectangular box was a temptation I could not resist.

Tomorrow we are off to Casper, Wyoming with no clue of what activity we will do there. After I post this I'm going to do a little looking and see what I can come up with.

Trip Statistics:
Total Distance Travelled: 2,263 miles
Police Traps: 9
Tickets: 0
Wildlife Sightings: None

Four Presidents and a Buffalo

We had another amazing day. After a late start due to a few boys who needed to catch up on some rest we headed out for breakfast. You know you're getting a late start when the restaurant you walk to a hundred feet from your hotel is no longer serving food from the breakfast menu. After a hearty late morning meal we set off for Mount Rushmore, a mere three miles from our hotel. We walked the Presidents' Trail which offered great views from a variety of perspectives. Helpful plaques along the way gave great insight into the original concept, the design phase and the construction. After about an hour there we left for Custer State Park to search for wildlife. We stopped along the way beause some boulders forming an arch had fallen and we decided the Scout thing to do would be to put them back up

From the title of this post you can already guess the highlight of the day. We had seen a deer or two, and a donkey that had its head in a car eating snacks from children's hands, but the real attraction was just around the bend. One car length ahead of us walking down the road the same direction we were travelling was a huge buffalo. We got some great pictures from behind and as we passed the buffalo but apparently he did not appreciate having his photo taken. After we passed he took off after our car (or should I say the Stanton's bird attracting, buffalo inciting minivan) I sped up a bit and he kept coming. I got well out of range and stopped the car and got out and took a few more pictures. There were cries from inside the car for me to get back in which I promptly did. The only woman I heed more than Rebecca is Sherrill. I put a little more distance between us and the still sauntering buffalo and decided to take a few more pictures. I grabbed the camera and held it out the window aiming it behind the car. It was difficult to get the correct angle while steering so I asked Sherrill to take the wheel. I got the shock of my life when she did. She later indicated that she knew I was going to take the pictures with or without her help and helping to steer while I aimed the camera seemed the prudent thing to do. The second picture of the buffalo was taken this way. With the camera safely back in the car we zoomed ahead and on our way.

Our next stop was a visit to Crazy Horse, but the boys were wanting to keep the visit short and the admission price was 27 dollars. Now I know why they called him Crazy Horse. Sherrill clicked a few pictures as we joined a few other cars making a U-turn to head out of the park. We're off to dinner and Black Light Mini Golf in a bit.

Total distance traveled: 2157 miles

Total police radar traps: Still stuck on 7

Tickets: Still 0 but I am parked illegally because we went out to a Black Light miniature golf course and when we returned there was no parking left at our hotel. The front desk says we're in the clear but the sign in the adjoining shopping center says we'll be towed. There is no alternative so I'm hoping for the best. My streak of never having a parking ticket is in jeopardy. My lifetime speeding ticket count is 1. (Martha's Vineyard during the summer of 1985)

Wildlife sightings today: all mentioned in blog

From the Badlands to Mount Rushmore

Today was another great day. It looked like it was going to rain when we first got up this morning and it did sprinkle on us a bit during a ranger-led geology walk. One of the boys was not too thrilled with the lecture aspect of the walk and was predicting torrential downpours and tornadoes if we did not seek the comfort of the car immediately. The rain clouds went away from the sky and the child within a few minutes and all was well.

I was struck by the fact that we were encouraged to climb all over the rock formations. I was especially glad when the ranger himself said that it was fine to climb on the formations because Sherrill was skeptical in spite of printed literature I showed her. If the Badlands were in Maryland they would be roped off with "No Trespassing" signs. The fact that a gentle slope up to the top of a hill can lead to a precipitous drop on the other side led me to believe I should approve all ventures before they were undertaken. The boys proved to be extremely adventurous with a healthy dose of caution when they climbed. There were very few times when I had to decline the request to climb higher. The daredevil of the group is Conner. Nathan is a very protective big brother and there were many times last night and today that he would yell out "No!!" when Conner asked to scale a hill. The times when I overruled Nathan, he turned his back and told me that he refused to watch.

We hiked a trail last night after dinner and the first three pictures were taken on that hike. If you click on the first picture and look closely you can see people up in the hills. That is the top of the Notch Trail which we hiked today. I got some great pictures from that same spot. The second picture is of a deer that was about twenty feet away from us having dinner in a thicket. Conner is holding the moon in the next picture. The picture further down that has what look to be bird's nests made out of made are in fact bird's nests made out of mud.

The Notch Trail was rated as strenuous but we were ready for it. It was just difficult enough that the boys exerted themselves scrambling up and down over hills and boulders but was short enough that we didn't overdo it. The frequent signs to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes gave Sherrill some pause but we didn't see any as it turned out.

After the hikes were over we bade farewell to the Badlands and headed west. A few miles up the road was one of the sites for a Minuteman Missile. There was a guided tour given by cell phone. We called a number and put it on speaker and hit keys for different spots along the way. It was very effective and informative. The man narrating the tour did not sound like the kind of guy you would want with the launch codes but he did seem well informed.

From there we were off to Wall, South Dakota for some lunch. There are over 300 signs for Wall on Interstate 90 (I asked at the counter when we were ordering) but it seemed like we saw more than that. Our lunch was delicious and afterwards we explored the myriad of shops adjoining the drug store. Christopher bought a really neat looking pocketknife, and Nathan and I went mining for gemstones.

After that we headed to our hotel for the night a few miles away from Mount Rushmore. We got checked in and watched National Treasure 2 since part of it takes place here. Tomorrow we are going to visit Mount Rushmore and a nearby state park.

Trip Statistics:

Total distance travelled: 2080 miles

Radar traps seen today:0

Tickets so far on trip: 0

Wildlife sightings last night after dinner and today: one deer, three rabbits, and one desert squirrel (at least that's what it looked like)

Most disturbing billboard message: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for pork loin"