Blog Break

We are in Mesquite visiting Larry's Aunt and Uncle for the next week. They have dial-up and we probably won't be able to set up the satellite so you'll have to find something else to read with your coffee for the next week! Sorry! Plus I figure the only pictures you would see would be of my feet resting on the ottoman out on the sunny patio. That is about all we have planned! Smile!

Zion National Park, UT 10-27

Today was Zion National Park day for us. I ended up taking 192 pictures. The colors of the rock walls and the fall foliage were stunning. There was no wind and it warmed up so we had to shed a layer. The tram system up the canyon was very efficient; we didn’t hike any of the trails, but just walked along the canyon road and enjoyed the sunshine. Going through the tunnel on the main road was interesting. Fascinating how they could make those big, long, twisting, on an incline, tunnels. They were doing road work at one end of the tunnel so we had to sit and wait…not hard to do in such a scenic place. The earth is such an amazing place!

Leaving the Grand Canyon 10-26

This mornings low was 31. Hard to believe, but we were actually happy about that, because it wasn’t 16 like had been predicted! It was still darn cold. We headed out before 8:30. We headed east on out of Grand Canyon Natl. Park. It took us about an hour and a half because we had to keep stopping at the overlooks. Today was cloudless, but cold and windy. A couple of times I think we were close to frost-bite! So today you get to see the sunny Grand Canyon.

We headed north on highway 89 and then headed westerly on alternate 89. The scenery was stunning. The Vermillion cliffs were gorgeous and all the different striated colors. By the time we landed today we were on scenery overload and my camera hand was getting tired! I took another 165 pictures today, thank God for digital is all I can say! We went from desert to pine forested mountains. There was a dusting of snow on the ground up there. Then back to sage and grass covered desert with lovely red mesas and cliffs off in the distance. We landed around 2:30 after going 203 miles. We are in Fredonia, AZ. We’ll be here two nights. Tomorrow is Zion National Park, gotta get our mileage out of our park pass! Lots more pictures!

Grand Canyon Walk 10-25

I have to make this quick. We are supposed to get into the teens tonight so Larry will be putting the satellite dish away tonight so he won’t have to freeze his hiney off doing it in the morning.

We just got back from our day on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Glad we had our winter coats! We waited until the fog lifted. It was still pretty cloudy but it made the pictures so interesting. As we kept walking west the clouds got more and more threatening. We saw some lightning and heard rumbling, we were hoping it would just keep moving past us, but the wind came up and it got colder and we hopped onto the tram just in time. It poured, hailed and then snowed. By the time we got back to the west village it had stopped, but was extremely cold!

We decided to walk back home instead of hopping the village tram. We are soooo glad we did. The clouds had moved out and the air clarity of the canyon was the best we had ever seen! Everything looked very sharp and crisp! Then we ran across a herd of elk. This bull was keeping a very watchful eye on his harem. We moved on when he started trumpeting. We had dinner at the cafeteria and welcomed the rest. After we got home Larry figured we had walked 7 miles. Thank goodness for ibuprofen is all I can say!

So I ran through my 179 pics really quick and here are a few. I have quite a few stunning ones! We have to get showered and tanks drained before it gets to dark so Larry can see what he is doing and he doesn’t freeze anything essential off!

Grand Canyon day 1 10-24

Today we traveled a whole 61 miles to the Grand Canyon National Park, we are in the Trailer Village in the park. It is $24.50 with tax for full hook-ups and cable. We can walk into the Village and walk to the rim from here. There is a wonderful tram service in the park and there is a stop right here at the Trailer Village.

Sadly the weather has changed on us and it is cloudy and raining. We got in and set up by 1:00. It was just a soft rain so we decided to go check out the big GC so we walked over, its about a mile maybe. The visibility is not good when it is raining, but we are hoping for a better today tomorrow. We stayed just long enough to snap a few pictures and then headed back to the Village. The rain was getting a little heavier. We warmed up and dried out a little in the gift shop and grocery store and then walked back home. It poured off and on all afternoon after we got back in. The rain is really needed here, but we wish it could have waited a few more days.

The rv park here isn’t too bad space wise the way the sites are angled and they are all pull through. The trees are pruned so they aren’t a problem in most cases. The grocery store has a little of most everything and the prices aren’t too bad for a resort area.

Williams, AZ 10-23

Today was another easy travel day. We left around 9:30 and traveled highway 40 to Williams. We landed at 12:15. We traveled 133 miles. Not much else to say for today. The first picture is of San Francisco Peaks which are near Flagstaff and we could see them yesterday from the Petrified Forest. They were very teeny from there. The next two are of Flagstaff and the last two are where we are tonight. Another PA park but with way too many restrictions and reservations requirements, Canyon Gateway RV Park. It came to $15.54 for the night for full hook-ups and they said cable but we only have 7 channels.

Petrified Forest, AZ 10-22

Here are pictures of some of the petrified wood. This was a painful park for me to be in because you can’t pick up any rocks or petrified wood and take them home with you! So many pretty rocks! During the Triassic Period this area was covered in forests. Hard to imagine.

Some of these trees looked like they had been bucked up and were waiting for the splitter! They had gorgeous colors and at one time many had amethyst and quartz crystals in them, but have been vandalized over the years. Back at the turn of the 20th century before it was a park and sometimes even after, people would come here with wagons and trucks and haul out tons of petrified wood. It is wonderful that it has been preserved.

There are private lands all around where people collect the petrified wood and there are places that sell it all over the place here.

We are heading for the Grand Canyon so expect another overdose of pictures!

Painted Desert 10-22

Today we went to Petrified Forest National Park. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and I took over 150 pictures. Needless to say I am going to have to split this up into two entries. I whittled my best down to under twenty and I am trying to get it down even more but I know that lately when I have tried to get more than 6 pictures in my entry it hasn’t been working. So first I will show you the Painted Desert, looked a lot like the Badlands in South Dakota. The colors, the erosion and formations were stunning! I threw in a picture of some of the petroglyphs.