thanks everybody for following, watching, commenting, its been a great trip
Monday, July 20, 2009
home at last
were home now, trips over for at least me and mom. the whites still have one more stretch to carry out. here's some lasst zoo videos that i couldn't post before
Saturday, July 18, 2009
st. louis and the end of our trip
the trip is finally comming to and end and we made our last monumental stop in St. Louis
we saw the great city in two great ways: the zoo and the ballpark.
heres three videos from the zoo which was truly spectacular and also quite crowded on a perfect friday afternoon.
that evening we went to a cards game where the home crowd got a great show from none other than leading MVP contender Albert Pujols who wacked not one but two homers to give him number 33 and 34 on the year. despite having to stand most of the game, it was still fun to watch and it was Greg's first major leauge game.
today we left St. Louis and kept driving home
we made one last stop at the Hofbruhausse
Thursday, July 16, 2009
four corners and into salida CO. and rafting
so after we left the canyon village we went to four corners monument. here's a video from this:
out side tuba city, AZ we saw some dinosaur tracks which were on the Navajo reservation. we were given a personal tour of a gold mine of tracks and bones and eggs almost perfectly preserved from the Dino age. that night we stayed in Durango CO. this is three days ago.
we drove up through wolf creek pass, our highest elevation of the trip at 10,800ft. and stopped at treasure falls which is a spectacular cataract. here's a picture:
we drove into Salida CO that night were we stayed with fellow outdoor enthusiast, Rob White and family. they were excellent hosts and we had a great time staying with them for two nights. Rob set us up with a rafting trip the next day where we had a blast. we went with Noah's Ark rafting company and we got a great guide named Cody. rafting was very fun and we got our picture taken as we tumbled through the rapid called Zoom flume which i will try to post soon. Overall, Staying in Salida, CO was a highlight of the trip with great hosts and a exhilarating rafting adventure down the Arkansas.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Rattlesnake!
check out the pink canyon rattle snake we saw in Indian Gardens on our hike up the canyon.
the missing week
so what did we do from July 2 to July 7th when we arrived at the grand canyon?
here's a summary:
Thursday July 2
We woke up this morning and instantly started packing up. After breakfast we drove NW up to Utah. Our big stop of the day was at Natural Bridges National Monument. First we ate lunch, then hiked down below the biggest one of the bridges. It was a steep climb with ladders, cliffs, and a great view of the bridge at the bottom. After this we hopped in the car, saw the other 2 bridges and drove through a canyon to Utah. Along the way we saw the spectacular views of the Colorado and Dirty Devil rivers. We ended the day by finding a motel in the small town of Hanksville UT.
Friday July 3
This morning we ate a great breakfast at Blondies, where I had an excellent joe’s special breakfast sandwich. We left Hanksville and made our first stop at Capitol Reef National Monument. First we saw some petroglyphs in the rocks. Then we went on a scenic drive where some enjoyed the geological formations. Then we went on a shot hike through a canyon river bed. While rocky cliffs towered above us, we fed ants to the many ant lions nestled in the sand. We then got back on the road and drove on route 12 across hogs-back which is this stretch of road across a narrow ridge with gaping cliffs at both sides. We arrived in a suite that night in Grand Staircase Escalante.
Saturday July 4
We got up this morning and walked through a small petrified forest in Escalante. The different colored minerals that made up the petrified wood were magnificent. We then drove into Bryce Canyon and set up our camp site in the afternoon. That evening we went for a Bryce canyon classic hike on the Queens garden trail. We made our way through the many hoodoos which is the name for the rock formations that look like hundreds of pegs sticking out of the ground. We continued our hike on the Navajo loop and hiked a steep climb up Wall Street which is where you switchback strait up the cliff with towering rock walls hoodoos at both sides. We also got great views of the canyon from sunrise and sunset point which are located along the Rim trail. That night we desperately searched for a place to eat after having one too many ham and cheese sandwiches. We found a buffet which I thought was pretty awful and then we saw some fireworks which were not nearly as good as the Hockessin fireworks show.
on july 5th was a chill day, we made some sausages and pancakes at camp, argued with the Bryce camp "host" and did laundry. we also drove down to the bottom of Bryce and walked the bristle cone pine trail and saw rainbow point. that night we grilled some delicious jumbo beef dogs over the camp fire
on july 6th we went for our big preparation hike for the grand canyon. this was our test to see if we could survive a long hike. it was an 8 mile loop hike through the bowels of Bryce canyon, the fairyland loop. it was hot and the sun was beating down but we were well equipped with snacks and water. while Greg, James and i powered through the hike in just over 3 hours, the Amy and Diane lagged behind arriving back at camp in around 6 hours. either way we decided we were all ready for the grand canyon hike. so we rested our tired legs that night and gobbled up some mac&cheese.
on july 7th we packed up our Bryce camp site and drove south to the grand canyon. on the way we stopped at the Glen canyon Dam and got a tour where we went on top of the dam and over 500 feet down to the bottom. it was blisteringly hot in Page, Arizona where stopped to get some much needed ice cream. we then kept driving all the way to desert view in the grand canyon where we got our first view of the canyon at dusk.
on july 8th we prepared for our hike down, got our mule bag packed, and saw a couple visitors centers. grand canyon village can be quite a zoo of people even on a Wednesday.
july 9th see last post
here's a summary:
Thursday July 2
We woke up this morning and instantly started packing up. After breakfast we drove NW up to Utah. Our big stop of the day was at Natural Bridges National Monument. First we ate lunch, then hiked down below the biggest one of the bridges. It was a steep climb with ladders, cliffs, and a great view of the bridge at the bottom. After this we hopped in the car, saw the other 2 bridges and drove through a canyon to Utah. Along the way we saw the spectacular views of the Colorado and Dirty Devil rivers. We ended the day by finding a motel in the small town of Hanksville UT.
Friday July 3
This morning we ate a great breakfast at Blondies, where I had an excellent joe’s special breakfast sandwich. We left Hanksville and made our first stop at Capitol Reef National Monument. First we saw some petroglyphs in the rocks. Then we went on a scenic drive where some enjoyed the geological formations. Then we went on a shot hike through a canyon river bed. While rocky cliffs towered above us, we fed ants to the many ant lions nestled in the sand. We then got back on the road and drove on route 12 across hogs-back which is this stretch of road across a narrow ridge with gaping cliffs at both sides. We arrived in a suite that night in Grand Staircase Escalante.
Saturday July 4
We got up this morning and walked through a small petrified forest in Escalante. The different colored minerals that made up the petrified wood were magnificent. We then drove into Bryce Canyon and set up our camp site in the afternoon. That evening we went for a Bryce canyon classic hike on the Queens garden trail. We made our way through the many hoodoos which is the name for the rock formations that look like hundreds of pegs sticking out of the ground. We continued our hike on the Navajo loop and hiked a steep climb up Wall Street which is where you switchback strait up the cliff with towering rock walls hoodoos at both sides. We also got great views of the canyon from sunrise and sunset point which are located along the Rim trail. That night we desperately searched for a place to eat after having one too many ham and cheese sandwiches. We found a buffet which I thought was pretty awful and then we saw some fireworks which were not nearly as good as the Hockessin fireworks show.
on july 5th was a chill day, we made some sausages and pancakes at camp, argued with the Bryce camp "host" and did laundry. we also drove down to the bottom of Bryce and walked the bristle cone pine trail and saw rainbow point. that night we grilled some delicious jumbo beef dogs over the camp fire
on july 6th we went for our big preparation hike for the grand canyon. this was our test to see if we could survive a long hike. it was an 8 mile loop hike through the bowels of Bryce canyon, the fairyland loop. it was hot and the sun was beating down but we were well equipped with snacks and water. while Greg, James and i powered through the hike in just over 3 hours, the Amy and Diane lagged behind arriving back at camp in around 6 hours. either way we decided we were all ready for the grand canyon hike. so we rested our tired legs that night and gobbled up some mac&cheese.
on july 7th we packed up our Bryce camp site and drove south to the grand canyon. on the way we stopped at the Glen canyon Dam and got a tour where we went on top of the dam and over 500 feet down to the bottom. it was blisteringly hot in Page, Arizona where stopped to get some much needed ice cream. we then kept driving all the way to desert view in the grand canyon where we got our first view of the canyon at dusk.
on july 8th we prepared for our hike down, got our mule bag packed, and saw a couple visitors centers. grand canyon village can be quite a zoo of people even on a Wednesday.
july 9th see last post
Saturday, July 11, 2009
in and out of the canyon
this post is fully up to date July 11 we just hiked out of the grand canyon after hiking down two days ago and staying at the phantom ranch for two nights its was a long hot hike down with little shade and hotter temperatures the farther we got down the canyon. the ranch was tucked in an oasis at the bottom of the canyon where the cold refreshing bright angel creek flowed through the rock. The pictures are of a view down the canyon on our hike down, a view up from the ranch and of a mule which some people use to go up and down the canyon, the mules also transfer every thing down to the ranch. the ranch was great and you were excellently fed Delicious steak stew and salad, and also great bacon and pancakes which fueled us a 5:00 this morning to start hiking up. we hiked up the first 5 miles of the canyon easily and got to rest at Indian garden campground which is in a small lush forest halfway down the canyon. for the next five miles the sun came out and the fatigue set in. we pushed our way up to the top and our legs were aching. I'm now sitting in the lodge blogging and waiting for the moms to finish the hike. I'm very tiered and about to fall asleep
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