Zion and Bryce Canyon Nat'l Parks

June 27

Glen Canyon Dam

Arrive Zion, drive in, play in creek

Lillian - The dam was very, very big.  while we were there Mom started talking to some kids who were from Kenston.  It was weird that they knew Mariel.  I got really excited that Spain won the semi-finals (we listened to the end in the McDonald’s parking lot).  Zion looked real compared to the Grand Canyon.  We played in the creek which was pretty fun.  i pretended I was Chuckie and scared of the sand so I had to avoid the sand when I got in the creek.

Elliot - It was weird that we met Mariel’s friends.  The dam was pretty big and cool.  Playing in the creek was pretty fun.  My favorite part was when I tripped and went floating down the river until Lillian caught me.

Adrian - We were deciding whether to go to Glen Canyon or on a scenic drive.  We decided to go to the dam and ran in to Mariel’s friends.  They happened to be the Precious Cargo bus we had seen at 2 other of the parks.  We went to McDonald’s so we could listen to the Spain vs Portugal game in the Euro Cup.  Spain won 5 - 3 in PKs and Cest Fabregas scored the final pk off the post.  Then we drove to Zion.  We played in the creek and played a game blood in the water and had a cold walk back to the campsite.

June 28

Hike Weeping Garden, Narrows - Zion NP

Arrive Bryce, set up, ranger program

Lillian - At weeping rock it was very cool and exciting because you don’t see water coming out of rocks everyday.  The plants there were cool as well.  We ran in to the Kenston group again!  From there we went to the Narrows where we hiked through the river, sometimes it was ankle deep and sometimes it was waist deep and higher.  I made a cairn.  It was really cool to see a waterfall part way where the rocks were red and there were pine trees.  It was fun watching Adrian, Elliot and Dad jump off a rock into the river.  I would have gone but I had just gotten in to dry clothes. 

Elliot - the Narrows was fun and scary.  The scary part was when I was in a place where I couldn’t stand and there were rapids and I had to swim to the closest place I could get and I went under water and Adrian and Lillian thought I sank and Adrian thought about all the Disney movies where there are hats floating on the water with arrows in them like in Robin Hood.  But I had made it to the side and Dad ran in and grabbed my sock and shoe which had come off.  The fun part was when we got to play in the creek and there was a little waterfall there that we could see and I named it the rat waterslide.  There was a rock that we got to jump off in to the water.  Zion was really fun!

Adrian - we rode on the tram to the weeping garden wherer we saw the droplets falling from the gardens.  The river walk was really fun and started off with some excitement with Elliot’s plunge in to the creek.  Then we creek walked through water up to our chest.  We saw cool alcoves in the walls of the canyon and we could look up and see the formations of the rock.  We walked through rapids, jumped off the giant rock, swam in some parts.  We were very tired!  We saw the Kenston group multiple times that day.  We drove to Bryce.  We went by campgrounds with pools and teepees but unfortunately didn’t stop.  We went to a ranger program about alien life which was a little goofy.

June 29

Showers

Hike Bryce Canyon, drive through park

Lillian - The hike was cool with the rocks all in different shapes, sizes and balancing on each other.  There was one that looked like a chicken with a giant egg.  It was cool to see Thor’s hammer and to see all the different viewpoints with arches and bridges.  We met Rex Kwan Do and he looked and acted exactly like the character in Napolean Dynamite!  Now  I’m swinging in the hammock at our campsite drawing in my journal.  We were going to have a campfire tonight but they just put a ban on them today!  I’m so disappointed!  We haven’t had one since the Great Sand Dunes.

Elliot - Today was fun when we went on a couple of hikes and we saw Thor’s Hammer, which is a hoodoo which is pretty famous!  I made Adrian’s vacation when I climbed up a 15 foot tree to get the frisbee!

Adrian - Today was fun hiking through Bryce canyon.  We got to see many cool hoodoos  formations such as the Indian Woman and Thor’s Hammer.  We got to make cairns.  Meet Rex Kwan Do from Napolean Dynamite who was pushing his kids to the limit just like in the movie.  After the hike we got ice cream and went on a driving tour of the park.  After that Elliot and I played frisbee.  Our catch record was 87.  We got the frisbee stuck in a tree.  Elliot climbed the tree to the applause of campers nearby.

The Grand Canyon is Exactly That...Grand!!!

(Below are the kids' journal entries...Fran cut out a few of the inside family reflections, but all the material is theirs!)

June 25: Mesa Verde to Grand Canyon

Adrian: The drive today was boring.  Four Corners was pretty awesome being in all 4 states at once.  Lillian lay down with an appendage in each state, Elliot did the funkadilly, and I did push ups on all 4 states.  Elliot and I had fun playing Ninja Warriors on a picnic site and altering park signs and taking funny pictures with the camera.  Meanwhile, Lillian shopped for a necklace from the Navajo vendors.  She chose a turquoise turtle.  Elliot and I also got hematite necklaces.

(Fran note: while we decided not to stop in Monument Valley, the buttes and mesas along the way were pretty cool to see.  It was fun to watch the different colors in the formations as we changed elevation (reds, oranges, whites, tans).

When we saw the canyon for the first time it was astounding to see how truly large it is.  Mom and Dad had Lillian and Elliot close their eyes until they got to the railing at the edge of the canyon.  They opened their eyes to an amazing view!  We all thought it would be just two canyon walls and a river!

26 June 2012: Grand Canyon

Lillian:  Today we hiked down half of the Grand Canyon and hiked back up. It was very, very, very, very tiring. It took 3 hours. We saw fossilized footprints and shells (spongebob squarepants).  On the way a mule train passed us and pooped lots and lots of times on the trail.  After we all took a long nap. Before the hike, I was the mule deer whisperer. I talked in a voice that was mixed between Lord Umbra (from "Peter and the Starcatchers")and the Impressive Clergyman (from "The Princess Bride").  I said for it to “Go away!” and it did.  I then tried talking to the mules in the paddock, but it didn’t work.

Adrian:  This morning we woke up at 4:30.  I for once, was one of the first ones up.  ... We got to the trailhead where we saw a mother and baby elk that had the presence of mind to drink from the water spigot.  She pushed the handle back with her nose and licked it as it came out.  Then she sucked up the remaining water on the drain with her lips and a load sucking noise!  We saw a Preventative Search and Rescue ranger (PSaR) getting pumped up for his hike by listening to loud music and banging on his pick-up.  When he was at the head of the trail he said “Buenos Dias”, and then crossed himself, picked up dirt, clapped it, pointed to the canyon, thumped his chest and started down!  We had to wait around another hour for the hike because Dad’s phone was ahead of time!  We hiked 1/2 way down the canyon and saw different fossils and rock formations.  We got to Cedar Ridge, took some fun pictures and headed back up, passing many families because we were going to fast!  We went to eat lunch at the restaurant because of our accomplishment!  ...

Elliot:  I went 1/2 way in to the Grand Canyon and I did a great job getting back up.  I ran the last switchback.  We saw a condor and that was really cool because there aren’t that many in the wild!  We saw fossilized shells on the hike too.  One of the rangers slipped/fell while on the hike and everyone went “whoa!”  Before we went on the hike we saw a mother elk and baby and the baby seemed to show off and the mom pushed it’s nose against the top of the spigot handle then drank some water out of the spigot.  And it slurped some from the little drain at the bottom of the spigot place making a slurping sound.  It was pretty funny!

Great Sand Dunes to Mesa Verde

Adrian drove for about 45 minutes to start off our trip.  He did a great job!

After transitioning into mountains at the Rio Grande, we stopped at a cool overlook at the San Juan Valley.  The kids had a good time playing with chipmunks at the Treasure Falls overlook.

We could see smoke from some of the fires and as we drew close to Durango, CO the smoke was getting closer, and we realized that it was in the direction we were heading.  When we arrived at Mancos, CO (just 10 miles east of Mesa Verde), we saw the location of the fire.  Celinda was able to see some of the flames.  As our kids said, "It was intense, scary."  We wondered if it would affect our stay at Mesa Verde.  Fortunately for us, it did not.

Elliot described the area as fun but too dead - most of the park is in various stages of return from many years of forest fires.  Everyone thought that the  cave dwellings are amazing:

Elliot liked the Balcony House hike because he got to be Assistant Ranger, leading the way to each of the stops.

We learned alot about when they were first built and why.  Learned that there was a progression of building that started on top of the mesas and moved down into the alvcoves.  The Mesa Verde area was populated from ~400-1300 CE.  They sat unknown by European-Americans until the late 1800s.  They were always part of the memory of the descendants of the Puebloans who migrated south to AZ and NM.  

It’s fun to locate the villages in the natural alcoves when you are looking at the canyon.  It was great to walk into them and see a lot of the details up close.  We had terrific rangers who were really helpful, informative, and nice.

We saw a young black bear, two feral horses, and a bunch of mule deer.  

The fire was still burning around Mancos when we left.  Our thought are with the people who live around there - some who work in Mesa Verde.

Tomorrow (Mon, 25 June), Four Corners, maybe Monument Valley, and the Grand Canyon!

Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park, CO

Adrian remarked about how quiet it was when we arrived at Great Sand Dunes.  Indeed, it was a nice respite from the noise of everyday life.  

The Park itself is, as Elliot described it, "random."  A long plain, leads up to mountains.  But, in from of the mountains are sand dunes!  Enormous dunes - so much bigger than the ones we're used to at Nag's Head, NC.  When we saw the Dunes, it was pretty awesome.  The realization that the tallest dune is higher than the St. Louis Arch was amazing.  Had a great time watching the kids running around and jumping off the dunes.

The stars were amazing and everybody saw a shooting star (some for the first time!).

We had two great experiences: hiking to Zapata Falls (outside of the park) and climbing High Dune.  Everyone's reflections - 

Zapata Falls:

A - Awesome being able to go through the cave and climb up on the falls.

E - Climbed up by the falls and there was a guy taking pictures of us.

C - Rock-hopping in the creek up to the falls was fun.  Adrian drove us back from the hike.

L - The hike to the creek was hot and buggy.  Then it was really refreshing when we got to the falls; the water was cold, which made the air cool.

Ascent of High Dune:

A - Excruciatingly difficult, but we made it to the top.  The way down was so much fun because we got to run down the way high hills, and it was a wee bit easier.

E - It was so helpful to have a guy coming down give us courage by saying it wasn’t as hard as it looked.  It definitely helped us make it to the top.

C - It was brutal.

L - Was extraordinarily hard, especially .  But when we got to the top, it was sooo fun.  After a couple of tries, Lillian let out a beautiful scream of accomplishment.

It was a great kick-off to the National Parks.  Next, Mesa Verde, CO.

Missouri to Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park, CO

OK - so no internet availability until the Campground General Store area at Mesa Verde.

Here's the Catsup bottle from Collinsville, IL (just outside St. Louis)!


Kansas is a really long state!!  However, before leaving St. Louis we looked at roadsideamerica.com and found a bunch of points of interest (aka "oddities") along the way.  It slowed us down a bit, but we had a lot of fun seeing some interesting things.

 In Kansas City we ate at Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant.  Burgers, dogs, and shakes delivered to the table by a model train!!  We then went to the art museum to look at some great outdoor sculptures.  We loved that Elliot knew the artist who sculpted giant badminton shuttlecocks: Claes Oldenburg (with Coosje van Bruggen).   A shoutout to the art program at Hopkins Elementary!

We also saw "The World's Largest Spur" and a large sculpture of a buffalo.  We arrived late to a hotel in Burlington, CO. 

The trip from Burlington to Colorado Springs was just as flat.  But we had a great time in Colorado Springs, the highlight being a your of the US Olympic Training Center.  Especially exciting in an Olympic year!  Lillian was the first of our family to answer Olympic trivia questions and win a bookmark about the Olympians.

We stocked up on groceries, checked out the Garden of the Gods, and then continued on our way to Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park and Preserve.




See next post :)

To Missouri!

19 June 2012:


We started our trip by going to visit the Vining-Donovan family in St. Louis.  We had a wonderful time catching up with them.

The highlight had to be our trip to the St. Louis Arch.  We took the 5-seater elevator pod to the top where we had a great view of the surrounding area.  We happened to be up there while the sun was setting.  

We were also in awe of the simple beauty of the structure.  


So far, so great!