Last days at Capitol Reef

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Roger here.... I promise this post will be shorter than the last one.  After our day-long Jeep trip, we decided to rest for a day, maybe even eat at a couple of the local restaurants.  We lazed around during the morning, made a quick trip back to Fruita to buy a gift, then stopped at Slackers in the town of Torrey for lunch.  We were intrigued by the sign that advertised it to be one of the top 10 drive-ins in Utah.  


For my friends in Pendleton, IN, Slackers reminded me of a very upscale Jimmie's Dairy Bar.  The outdoor seating area was pleasant.  It even had a backyard-style playground.  Dianne had a fish sandwich.  I had an Outlaw Burger (in honor of former area resident, Butch Cassidy).  We both had milk shakes.  It was yummy.




After lunch we bought a few groceries at the local general store and spent the afternoon lounging under the tree at our campsite with our dogs.


Suppertime!  There are several dining options in Torrey.  At least one of them is very expensive.  We were more in the mood for a local, family run place.  Thanks to a recommendation from Chuck and Geri (work campers who we met at the Zion River Resort), we opted to dine at the Capitol Reef Inn and Cafe.  Recommendations from friends seldom disappoint.  This was a very comfortable place with excellent food.  Dianne and I both had the rainbow trout that others have recommended.  What a delicious meal.




Earlier in the day, Dianne hinted that she wouldn't mind driving into the park at sunset to stroll a couple of very short trails.  Both trails (the Sunset Trail and the Goosenecks trail) left from the same parking area and were nearby.  So off we went.


Unfortunately, we lingered a little too much over dinner and missed some of the lighting we had hoped for, but the scenery was spectacular, nonetheless.  The leisurely stroll turned out to be a scramble up the trails to get to the viewpoints before sunset was completely over.  The opening photo for this post was taken during our stroll on the Sunset Trail, as were the photos to the right and below.




The Goosenecks trail led us up a short sand and slickrock pathway to the edge of a gorge overlooking the Fremont River.


As you can see, the river winds around like a slithering snake (or a gooseneck), far below our vantage point.






Darkness was falling and we needed to negotiate the trail while we could still see.  Back at the parking area, I noticed that one of our tires looked a little low.  It was 10 psi lower than it should have been.  I had been adding air to this particular tire for a while, about once a week.  I should have checked it before leaving the campground.  I usually do.  So, in the early darkness we made a mad dash back to Torrey.  I remembered a sign at a gas station in town and decided to fill up the tire at the station rather than driving the few extra miles to the campground.  It has been two days now, and the pressure is still where it should be.  Must be a very slow leak.


Yesterday, we packed up the dogs and drove to the Lower Calf Creek Falls Trailhead, a little more than an hour south of here.  It was a beautiful drive back over Boulder Mountain. 
All the loose cattle were still there.  We picked this hike because there is a pool underneath a 128 foot water fall that the dogs could swim in.  It was 79 degrees at the top of the mountain.  By the time we arrived at the trailhead, it was 86 degrees - not too bad, we thought.


We scrambled up some slickrock, and soon we were overlooking the green growth surrounding Calf Creek.  A little further down the path, we hiked through all those plants.




The innocuous-looking walking surface was soon to be a problem, but not yet.


The first of many water stops.



As we trudged through the sand, Bandido was the first of us demanding to turn back.  He trotted to every shady spot, dug in the sand, and laid down.  Tequila soon joined in the protest.  She was holding up her front paws --- first one, then the other, then plopping over in the sand.  We thought she had a thorn, then it dawned on us.  The sand.  The sand was too hot.  It was burning their paws.  Despite the fact that we had walked 2.25 miles of the three-mile (one-way) trek, we turned back.


We took long stops in the shady spots to give the dogs water and get them off their feet.  You can tell that they were miserable.  This was meant to be playtime in the cool water.  We felt so badly.  (Dianne here:  You'll be glad to know that their paws were not burned; we evidently turned back just in time).


We found access to the creek on an offshoot of the main trail.  The dogs spent about fifteen minutes in the water.  It really did help to rejuvenate them for the final stretch back to the shady trailhead.  The water probably felt good on their feet.




One more stop in the shade.


Whew! We made it back to the shady picnic area, had lunch, drank more water, and piled in the air-conditioned car.  (By the way, the car thermometer registered 98 degrees.  The temperature rises quickly here.)


We are heading to Moab in the morning where it is even hotter.  We have some serious thinking to do before embarking on any of the dog-friendly hiking trails in that area.  We may be getting up at the crack of dawn before there is any heat.  I may forgo getting cleaned up until after the hike.  Dianne may delay putting on makeup until after the hike (when hell freezes over).  We may buy some doggie boots in one of the outfitter stores.  We have already found three places that carry them.  We may just stay in the air conditioned motor home :-).  We'll see.


The Pet Picture of the Day shows Bandido getting a well-deserved drink of water.

Dead Simple Suppers: Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

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I love the combination of beans and tomatoes. I especially love recipes like this one, where I can have all the ingredients I need just waiting in the cupboard (and freezer) for a day when I’ve forgotten to plan dinner. You can use this as the main dish by adding a bun or some rice to the side – it would also be nice on top of some pasta or couscous. Or you can make it a nutritious side dish instead and serve it with sausage or chicken.

Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

(adapted from Rachel Ray Magazine)

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes (28 oz)
• 3 tsp ground coriander
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 tsp tumeric
• 1 can of beans rinsed and drained (the original recipe called for chickpeas, I used navy beans)
• salt
• 1 package of chopped frozen spinach

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
2. Add chopped onion and cook for a few until slightly browned on the edges.
3. Add the spices, and tomatoes and frozen spinach. Cook until spinach is almost completely thawed. (If using chickpeas you can add them now too as they are more robust than navy beans).
4. Add beans and cook until heated through.

Road Trip Day 2: Chicago Traffic and Wisconsin Dells

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The second day of our journey from New Hampshire to Montana was spent entirely on traveling. We ended up in Mauston, Wisconsin. We had originally intended to stop in a place called Wisconsin Dells, but when we got off the exit, we discovered that Wisconsin Dells is apparently the Las Vegas of Wisconsin. There were waterparks, an amusement park, themed resort hotels, and more people than we had seen since we left Chicago behind earlier in the day.
We stopped in to a couple of hotels, but the only one that had a double room left for the night was about twice the price we had planned to pay-- although it was a suite with a jacuzzi in the room and offered a free shuttle to the nearby casino. We decided to get back on the highway and look for a room in the next town. Mauston had a hotel right off the exit for the price we wanted.
In all we covered 617 miles on Saturday. We would have gotten further, but traffic in Chicago slowed us down considerably. It was stop and go for about an hour. We also got a late start, getting on the road about 9:00 am and stopping at a grocery store for supplies. By the way, sandwich meats and cheese cost about twice the price we are used to at the Giant Eagle grocery store in Ashtabula... On the other hand, in much of Pennsylvania and Ohio, gasoline was only about $3.43 per gallon, about 25 cents less than we are used to. In Illinois, it was back up in the $3.65 range and it dropped to $3.45 in Wisconsin. Be warned though, the very first gas station off I-90 in Wisconsin, Love's, was priced 10 cents/ gallon higher than the next one just a few miles down the highway.

Chicago as seen from I-90
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2011. Do not copy.

We stopped for dinner at "The World's Largest Culver's," home of the famous Butter Burger. Well, the butter burger consists of an ordinary hamburger on a bun that has been lightly buttered before it was dropped on the grill for a light toasting. The hamburger patties themselves were even thinner than those found on a regular McDonald's hamburger. My son, despite our warnings, ordered the cod. Being from New England, he was disappointed. Culver's does not get a recommendation despite its prolific signage along I-90.
I'll also mention that as we waited out the traffic in Chicago, there was an air-show going on. We were able to watch the jets flying in formation and performing high-speed acrobatic maneuvers over the city, which helped to pass the time.
Our goal for day three of the trip is to reach Wall, South Dakota which will be about 645 miles and leave us only 8-9 hours away from Bozeman, Montana. With an earlier start and no major cities in the way, that should be no problem.

Road Trip Day 3 - Wall, South Dakota

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My wife and I by Dam #7 on the Mississippi River
Photo by Barbara Gammon, Copyright 2011. Do not copy.

We drove through hundreds of miles of corn fields on day three of our cross country road trip. We crossed the Mississippi River which was bigger than I expected it to be this far north. We stopped and took a few pictures at the crossing in Minnesota near Lock and Dam #7. I hadn't realized that the Mississippi had locks installed to make it navigable as far north as St. Paul. It makes sense though, as the information sign at the rest stop points out that the from source to mouth, the Mississippi has a vertical drop of 1488 feet, of that, 857 feet of drop occurs between the Mississippi's source at Lake Itasca and the northern border of Iowa.
After the Mississippi, I-90 climbs up onto the plains. More corn fields. Interestingly, though, the corn fields here are doing double duty as wind farms. Rows of modern windmills stretch as far as the eye can see. I couldn't tell which manufacturer produced these windmills, but the website Wind Energy, The Facts says that the most popular models produce 1500-3000 kW of power.The U.S. Energy Information website says that the average U.S. home consumes just under 11,000 kW hours per year. For comparison, the average coal-fired power plant in the U.S. produces roughly 220,000 kW of power though this type of plants vary widely in size and output.
Windmills ended abruptly once we reached South Dakota, despite the fact that there were just as many corn fields along the highway. They seemed to be replaced with billboards which lined the highway. As a native Vermonter, where billboards are prohibited by law, I ordinarily prefer landscapes uncluttered by advertising. In South Dakota, however, they only serve to break up the endless corn fields.
I'm beginning to suspect, however, that the quality of the attraction is inversely proportional to the number of billboards on the route to it. Wall, South Dakota and, specifically, Wall Drug have the highest billboard count along I-90. We did not expect much from Wall and our expectations were met. We arrived in the early evening and checked into the first place we saw, the Sunshine Inn. We asked for a non-smoking room and got one that smelled of smoke. Continental breakfast consisted of prepackaged cinnamon rolls, coffee and orange juice. It was cheap in every possible meaning of the word.
Wall Drug itself is essentially a small mall full of tourist shops. Several gift stores, a cowboy boot shop, leather goods, camping equipment, knives, books, jewelry, and similar offerings are peddled from individual stores inside the Wall Drug complex. There is  T-Rex robot that comes to life every 12 minutes or so and a small outdoor area with some static displays. For me the most interesting thing was the photo wall in the very back building. While it mostly chronicles frontier life, there is one photo that more accurately reveals "how the west was won." It shows a number of U.S. Cavalry Soldiers posing proudly on horseback in and around a mass pit grave filled with native American bodies at Wounded Knee. Read Lorie Liggett's introduction to Wounded Knee here.
Don't feel compelled to make a stop at Wall Drug, its reputation and billboards notwithstanding, there's not much to see here. The best thing about Wall, South Dakota, is that it is located at the entrance to the Badlands National Park. We ate dinner across the street from Wall Drug at the Cactus Cafe & Lounge. Not recommended. They offered an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet for $10.95 which featured a soup and salad bar, spaghetti, fried chicken, baked beans, and pizza. It was not particularly good, but it was close and easy after a long day of driving.

Me posing with the Green Giant.
Photo by Linda Sylvester, copyright 2011.
Do not copy.

I should also mention that we had a celebrity encounter in Blue Earth, Minnesota. We actually had the opportunity to get our pictures taken with the famous Green Giant. There's a sign next to him which gives some statistics such as the fact that it cost $43,000 to build him out of fiberglass and that he stands 55 feet six inches tall. You'll have to go to Blue Earth and read the sign for yourself to see which of the Green Giant's body parts measures 48 inches...

Road Trip Day 4: Badlands National Park

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View from an overlook along the Sage Creek Rim Road in
Badlands National Park, South Dakota

The fourth day of our road trip across the country was really the first day where we didn't need to worry about putting lots of miles behind us. This was a planned day of "rest" sightseeing at Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Badlands is a big place and I'm going to break it up into several parts. One of the things we hoped to do when we came out west was to see wildlife that simply isn't present back east.

One of the smaller of these is the prairie dog. Although small, prairie dogs serve a vital role in the prairie eco-system as a food source for a variety of mid-sized predators, like foxes, badgers, raptors, bobcats, and the endangered black-footed ferret. They also help churn and aerate the soil with their prolific burrowing. But, this is a blog about sightseeing and not about wildlife management, so I'll skip the details about prairie dogs (which, in Badlands National Park, by the way, are of the black-tailed variety,  specifically of the species Cynomys ludovicianus).

• See my prairie dog pictures here 

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Prairie dogs are visible in several spots around the Badlands Loop Road, but the best place to view them is near the Pinnacles Entrance along the Sage Creek Rim Road. Shortly after entering the park, there will be a right hand turn-off marked Sage Creek Rim Road. It's a dirt road, but it is well-groomed and easily passable by any car during the dry season at least. There are several scenic overlooks in the first few miles along this road, and you should definitely take the time to stop and look out over the landscape here. At the five mile mark, however, is Roberts Prairie Dog Town.
Here, on flat level ground, far enough away from any ledges to let the kids walk around without worrying, there is a parking area and a little walkway into the prairie dog town. The town consists of many, many prairie dog burrows. You'll see prairie dogs sitting as sentinels near one of the two entrances to each burrow around the field and others grazing on the grasses seemingly without a care in the world.

At this location within Badlands National Park, the prairie dogs seem accustomed to people and didn't startle as easily as those in other locations I visited. Even so, never feed wild animals even when they seem tame. Prairie dogs don't drink water at all, so they need to get the right mixture of water and food through the grasses they eat. Adding dry crackers or other artificial foods to their diets can throw off their balance, especially if they contain salt. Additionally, once they start to expect food from humans they seek out people and may spend more time in and around the road near the parking area exposing them to additional risk.

A Prairie Dog crouching in the entrance to its burrow at
Roberts Prairie Dog Town in Badlands National Park, SD

Feel free to wander into the prairie dog town, watch them go about their activities, and take all the pictures you want, just watch out for the holes in the ground and the occasional wandering bison. While we were there, one lone bull bison was grazing a couple hundred yards away from the parking area. We kept a wary eye on his position lest it approached closer than the 100 yard minimum distance recommended by the park rangers. It never did.

Money-saving Tip

If anyone in your group is 62 years of age or older, they can buy a lifetime senior pass for just $10. This pass let's them and anyone else in the car into any National Park for FREE-- just another reason to travel with the in-laws.  At some national monuments and other sites, it offers a discount on admission as well. (Mount Rushmore is the exception - no discount for senior passes there.) Otherwise, Badlands National Park admission is $15 per car load, but that admission is good for seven days.

Badlands National Park

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While it is interesting to see the wildlife of Badlands National Park, the real star here is the geology. The soils that can be seen in the exposed cliffs were laid down for tens of millions of years or more. Both the colors and shapes of the badlands are evidence of the geological history of this part of South Dakota.

At the bottom of the deep ravines, a dark grey material is the oldest of the visible strata. This rock, says signs in the park, is known as Pierre Shale (described by the U.S. Geological Survey as "dark-gray clay shale with calcareous and ferruginous concretions and sandy members") and is the result of sedimentary mud that once lay at the bottom of a sea that covered what is now Badlands National Park. Because of its origin, this layer contains fossils of sea life such as ammonites, early clams, and baculites.

The Pierre Shale was deposited over the Upper Cretaceous period, also known as the Late Cretaceous period which lasted from about 98 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. At the end of that time, the vast sea that covered this part of North America receded mainly due to the rising elevation of the area caused by tectonic activity (the shifting of the Earth's plates). The sea floor mud formed fertile ground and not long after the waters retreated, geologically speaking, it was covered by a thick jungle.

Yellow Mounds Paleosol and Interior Paleosol

Decaying plant material mixed with the top layers of the Pierre Shale over the next 28 million years or so, resulting in a layer of yellowish soil. This layer is called the Yellow Mounds Paleosol. At some point around 37 million years ago, the jungle was covered by new sediments carried from the west. The minerals contained in this layer of soil were different than those of the Pierre Shale, so when the jungle grew up again in this new layer, the action of the plants and the organic material they mixed with it resulted in a soil with a strong reddish tint. This layer is called the Interior Paleosol.

The Colors of the Yellow Mounds Paleosol and the
reddish purple Interior Paleosol are visible on the steep sides
of deep ravines in Badlands National Park.
Photo by Brad Sylvester. Copyright 2011, all rights reserved.

Both the Yellow Mounds and Interior Paleosols were later covered again, becoming packed and fossilized by the weight of later sediments. Their distinctive coloration, however, can be seen in the cliff-sides exposed by erosion over the millenia.

Popcorn Rock or Bentonite Clay

More hints about the geologic history of Badlands National Park can be found in the make-up of much of the top layers of soil within the park. Although the area gets little rainfall for most of the year, the soil through much of the roughest areas of the park looks like dried mud. Indeed, it is, but mud of a very interesting nature.

It is a clay called Bentonite by geologists, but known as ball clay or popcorn rock in the local vernacular because of its unique properties. When it does rain in this arid part of South Dakota, The South Dakota Badlands Bentonite, because it contains sodium instead of calcium as it does in some other regions, says John P. Bluemle, absorbs the water and expands to many times its original size. The repeated expansion and contraction as it dries again causes it to break up so instead of a smooth surface, you end up with rough balls of hard packed clay that are an inch or two in diameter.

Bentonite or Popcorn Rock covers many of the steep hillsides
in Badlands National Park.
Photo by Brad Sylvester. Copyright 2011. Do not copy.

These clay balls will often break away from the hillside and roll down the into the ravine when they get wet. When this happens, their soft outer surface will often pick up pebbles as it rolls. If you look carefully at the bottoms of the gullies, you might find some of these clay balls that look like someone took hours to stud them with a variety of small rocks.

Bentonite is formed from the breakdown of volcanic rock and ash. With the super-sized volcanic caldera of Yellowstone National Park lying not too far to the northwest of Badlands National Park, it's pretty easy to determine the origin of the badlands bentonite.

Clastic Dikes

Clastic dikes run down the center of many of the clay hills
of Badlands National Park.
Photo by Brad Sylvester. Copyright 2011. Do not copy.

Another interesting geologic feature helps to give the badlands its rugged appearance. Clastic dikes are vertical wall-like structures of harder rock that erodes more slowly than the surrounding bentonite and paleosols. The result is that it often looks like the spine of the mountains, sticking up with vertical sides from the surrounding rock and soil. Clastic dikes are interesting formations that also tell us something about the history of this land.

According to Harman D. Maher Jr. of the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Department of Geology and Geography, it is believed that clastic dikes are formed when tectonic activity causes the ground to move in such as way as to open up deep crevices. These open crevices are quickly filled in either from above or possibly from liquefied material being forced up from below. This filling material solidifies almost like cement leaving a vertical wall of harder rock encased in softer surrounding soils.

Because of the way it is formed, the material of the clastic dikes may be of a different geological age than much of the material surrounding it. Furthermore, sometimes these crevices open and fill more than once. So if a clastic dike already existed and the same crevice opens again, but wider, the original clastic dike may be encased in a another layer of material, showing several vertical layers of different types of rock when the clastic dike is eventually exposed by erosion.

Source note: Much of the geologic history of the Badlands is told by signage within the park itself or was related to me by park rangers, and it is these that serve as the primary resource for the geological history that I relate here. Where other sources are used, they are referenced within the text.

Garrett's Log Entry

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Today is the 24th of May, and i had a long day. We started the day by leaving a little earlier then noon to go to the aquarium. An institute that has problems with its mission prerogative. To save animals is important, to enclose and monitor nature is not within that goal. But, it was cool, i saw an octopus! Then we went to Virginia Beach, where the water is suprisingly welcome after getting used to it. Swimming is fun! Sand, clinging to every part of your body, is not. Following that, we had our dinner at a really good pizza place, i had a pitcher of tea! The last activity of my day was a walk along the beach, which was very relaxing, and helped me with my zen, sorta. The moon is behind clouds right now, which makes me a little bit sad, but i am going to bed! Hi mom! This was a blog post by Garrett VanHecke.

If it's May... you chase!

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Hey everyone... I have so much work to do after the last week. I have been planning to make quite a few website updates but have been chasing storms for the past week. May 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th were all chase days. I also went out locally around sunset to timelapse some distant storms on May 3rd. After all of that time in the car I've been recovering and getting some work done the last few days and am finally getting around to work on things. On May 1st... I chased in Southwestern Minnesota and Northwest Iowa and got a brief tornado warned supercell! There was also a decent light show after dark! Then on May 2nd, I chased in Southern Nebraska where the cap finally broke just before dark. A supercell tried to wrap up above my head! Then I captured the best cloud to ground strike I had ever gotten on the way home! On May 3rd... I went out around sunset to timelapse some local convection, I also included a timelapse of the supercell developing near Fullerton the previous day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDiZ1RAS0TIMay 4th was a very frustrating day, where supercells tried to get going and constantly weakened right as we would get to them. Here is a quick shot of some mammatus from a dying storm and then a stack of lightning images after dark near Norfolk.May 5th was the worst day of the bunch... a strong cap stopped storms from developing and we basically got a tan with 1000 other chasers. That being said it was great to chat with friends and put some facebook faces to names in the real world. Ill keep you updated here as I get these accounts done! Thanks,Chris

Sunset at Ding Darling Refuge

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We went back for late day activities in the refuge hoping for the Roseate Spoonbills to fly in for some nice flight shots.  They did come but because of a lack of wind they didn't circle around before landing in the pond.  They just came straight in from left to right in front of the sun so we couldn't get any images of them approaching us to land with their wings out
The sky was clear to the horizon so as the sun set the water picked up some great sunset reflection color.  This gives you the chance to get some nice silloutte images of some of the birds.

Aurora Addiction

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I never thought standing out in the dark in sub-zero temperatures would be so memorable. With the proper clothing and some occasional trips back inside the lodge or the car, it isn’t too bad. It got down to 15 below last night as we drove back to the lodge from a nearby mountain summit at 3am. I still have all my fingers to type this blog entry!
This is turning out to be an addictive activity of sorts. I’m already wondering where else I could go to experience this that might even be better. Of course, what I have found so far is that it would be some place more remote and even colder. I doubt I would get the wife to sign up for that. I’ll have to keep working on it but then again it would probably be well worth it.
I have photographed wildlife and landscapes in many locations and met quite a few people in the process. I don’t recall ever seeing people so excited in the morning to talk about what they saw or photographed the night before. We’re all up at 9am for breakfast in the lodge regardless of being out till 3am. It’s been many, many years since I have seen those wee hours of the morning.
The slideshow below contains seven more images. One includes the lodge we are staying in which makes for a nice object in the photo. A couple of them were almost straight overhead but some cool stuff takes place up there.

World Ice Championship

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Artistic talent, in any form, can be impressive.  Every year teams from around the world compete in Fairbanks at the World Ice Championship where they have 6 days to complete an elaborate ice carving.  Multiple blocks of ice weighing tons are melted together and then carved into amazing figures.  The winning team for the large multiple items was from Japan and theirs is the one with the leopard and the porcupine.
The displays light up at night very nicely and I thought I would share a few photos of the best pieces.  I had heard about this before but had no idea of how detailed they were.  I normally wouldn't photograph something of a tourist nature but I was so impressed by their work I thought it would be worth sharing.

Bryce Canyon, Utah

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Jason and I arrived in Phoenix Wednesday night and made ourway up to Utah and Bryce Canyon National Park on Thursday.  We spent two nights there, which was enough timeto allow us to photograph the best locations. We were here in November and got some beautiful images with snow but I wantedto photograph the formations without the snow, which can make some of theimages look a little busy.
They call them hoodoos, these sandstone formations remainingafter erosion.  Bryce Canyon is all aboutthe hoodoos.  It can be so strange theway the early light can react with the sandstone.  Some of them almost appear to be lit from theinside like giant light bulbs.  The parkis at 8,000 feet elevation and is far cooler than the Arizona deserts.  It was over 90 degrees in Phoenix but it wasless than 30 degrees in the morning at Bryce. We were fortunate to have clear skies to give us the first rays of sunon the hoodoos.
Below are six images from Bryce.  Next stop are the canyons around Page,Arizona.  I’ll have more on this in thenext post.

Family Time!!

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Hi all, Dianne here.  Our long-awaited family vacation finally arrived on May 31 as we picked up our girls from the Las Vegas airport:  Robyn (left above) flew in from Los Angeles, and our younger daughter, Amanda (middle) and granddaughter, Kaia (right) flew in from Florida -- all arriving at the airport within an hour of each other.  Roger grilled T-bone steaks and we had a relaxing dinner at the camp site before Amanda and Robyn retired to the camping cabin we rented for them.  Kaia opted to stay in the motor home with "Mee-Maw" and "Pop-Pop", and of course we were happy about that!


Bandido and Tequila were glad that she opted to stay in the motor home, too, 'cause they weren't allowed in the camping cabin.  


There is no shortage of things to do here, so we made the most of our time together.  I cooked ahead to have some of their favorites on hand, like my Aunt Jan's chocolate chip cookies and the egg casserole we traditionally had on holidays and that I fixed for them on school mornings during exam week in high school.  It tasted even better outside at the picnic table!




The weather here at Zion has been beautiful the weeks that Roger and I have been here, but the forecast was HOT (100s) for the days the girls were to be here.  


DAY ONE:   We solved that problem on day one by getting an early start and doing the two relatively shady "cool" hikes at Zion National Park; first the Lower Emerald Pool, then the Riverside Walk and wading in the Narrows.  



If the photos look better than usual, it's because I let Amanda (who has a very artistic eye) be in charge of the camera.  


I also let her do the editing and special effects.  She took SO MANY photos that our hikes were slow-going, which her sister and daughter chided her about nonstop!  




With Amanda manning the camera, there are of course a disproportionate number of photos of her daughter, Kaia.  No problem as far as I'm concerned!!




Here's a cute photo of Kaia and her Aunt Robyn together at the shuttle bus stop:




We had water shoes and hiking sticks ready for the girls for the Narrows portion of our hike.


As you can see, we had plenty of company hiking in the cold water that day -- did I mention it was HOT??  The crowd in the water was not an issue, because most of our time was spent staring at our feet, trying to place each foot in the rocky bottom of the river and keep our balance.  


Here's Kaia modeling her water shoes, showing how rocky the bottom of the river is.  You really do have to concentrate on each step to keep your balance.


Roger, always the show-off, decided to continue around the bend, through the waist-deep cold water.  I snapped his photo as he waded back to us.    He had hoped we'd all follow him, but I could have told him that wasn't gonna happen.


I have to show you my favorite photo of the day, Kaia and her Mee-Maw.  This year she has grown so tall that she's officially taller than both Roger and I now!  She was my little buddy and constant companion from ages 2 - 10, when I was her daily babysitter.  We will always have a special bond.  


DAY TWO:  Another hot, hot day in the forecast at Zion, so on day two we packed a picnic lunch and drove 140 miles to show the girls the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  


First, though, we made a quick stop to get a photo of the "shoe tree" that Roger and I have smiled at every time we drove from our camp site to Zion.  It looks even better with our three models posed in front of it.


The drive to the Grand Canyon wasn't as bad as you might expect, because the first portion of it was through Zion Canyon, through the tunnel, and through the east side of Zion National Park.  We did a few stops along the way so the girls could climb around on the slickrock for a bit, as Roger and I had done the previous Sunday. 






 Of course, I had to hold Amanda's Diet Coke so she could take the photos.


The higher elevation at the north rim made for a perfect day for a picnic and a hike.  We found a picnic spot right on the rim of a side canyon.


Amanda, the artistic one, noticed this aspen tree at our picnic site with an "eye".  She calls it the "all-seeing tree."






Amanda had us all pose with the tree, so here are some of my favorite photos:




After our picnic lunch, we walked through the lodge and gawked over the edge of the canyon. 


 We were glad to be able to give Kaia the chance to see it.  Then we set off on the 3-mile Transept Trail that leads from the lodge to the north rim campground.  The trail afforded great views of the canyon at nearly every turn: 




If you're more interested in the scenery than our family photos, here's an album of the photos Amanda took at the Grand Canyon:


North Rim Grand Canyon Scenery


On the way home we ate at an excellent restaurant, the Rocking V Cafe, in Kanab.  This put our drive back through Zion and the tunnel at sunset, so we made several photo stops at Amanda's urging.  




As we drove through, gawking at the sunset, I spied what could only have been a California Condor, swooping down and catching his supper.   We watched him for a while through my binoculars (too far away for a photo, but NO other bird is THAT big -- up to 9-foot wing span!)  California Condors are known to inhabit the tall cliffs at Zion, and I was thrilled to actually see one.


That night Amanda took some sunset photos at the river behind our camp site.  I couldn't decide which one to use in the blog, so here is a slide show of all 15, if you're interested:






DAY THREE:  Unfortunately, Robyn (a very busy gal) had to fly back to L.A. on Sunday.  Her flight was late in the day, so we took the opportunity to spend the day in Las Vegas, to show Kaia some of the big hotels.  Robyn was our tour guide, since she lived in Las Vegas for a year when she performed with Second City at the Flamingo Hotel.


We didn't escape the heat in Las Vegas, of course, but as they say, "it's a dry heat."  We were indoors most of the time anyway, and the girls did a little shopping.  


We were glad to show Kaia the canal shops in the Venetian.  While we did that, Mandy and Robyn played a few slots.  Then it was time to head for the airport to drop off our firstborn.




DAY FOUR:  Another hot, hot day in Zion was a perfect time to drive 95 miles to Bryce Canyon, which at 7800 feet is always cool.  I've always thought Bryce Canyon is the most beautiful place on earth.  Roger and I will spend a week there when we leave Zion next Sunday, so I won't show all 112 photos Amanda took.  They are amazing, though, so I've uploaded those without family in them to a Photobucket album.  Here's the link:


Amanda's Bryce Canyon Scenic Photos


We hiked from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point via the Navajo Loop and Queen's Garden.








A beautiful day in a beautiful place!  Amanda got really close to a small ground squirrel/chipmunk and got a good photo of it:




We interrupt this blog for an important announcement:  As I was writing this, who should walk by but RV Sue and Her Canine Crew!  (Link to her blog).  Sue was visiting her friends Geri and Chuck here at Zion River Resort this evening.  Roger and I rushed out to meet Bridget and Spike, the canine crew.  I've followed her blog since before she retired, getting ready to hit the road.  She has quite a following, many more than read our humble little blog.  The RV world is truly a small one!  Back to the blog....


Fourteen years ago, before we had a trailer or a motor home, Roger and I dipped our toes back into camping by taking a three-week road trip with a mini van and a tent.  That trip took us to Arches, Bryce, and Zion and we vowed to return.  While at Bryce we took the Sunrise Point-to-Sunset Point hike, and after huffing and puffing our way up the switchbacks to the top, a ranger offered to take our photo.  It has been one of our favorite photos together.  


Amanda helped us try to recreate the photo at Sunset Point before we started down the switchbacks.  We're obviously older and grayer, but 14 years ago we were both still working (Roger at his school and I at Charles Schwab) and I think we're both actually in better shape now than we were back then.  At least the trails seem easier!  




As we drove from Bryce Canyon back to Zion River Resort, we again needed to drive through Zion National Park and the tunnel (not exactly a hardship).  Just before we reached the first tunnel, Roger saw a big-horned sheep right next to the road.  He is the only one who noticed it, and immediately turned the car around and we parked.
Amanda took off down the road with her iPhone to get a closer look.  I took off after her with the camera to get a few shots of my own:




As soon as I got there, just like with the mother deer during our Watchman Trail hike, the sheep decided to take a whiz!  Looks like he's also sticking his tongue out at me, saying "Take that, you tourist!"  






One last trip down memory lane:  When we first bought our motor home, before Roger retired, we took Kaia on a road trip to Florida to swim with dolphins and then up through the Carolinas.  On that trip we let her add the state stickers to our map.  


Since this was our motor home's first trip into Utah, we waited for her to arrive to help us put the Utah sticker on the map.  Looks like we've visited a few states since 2007!




The pet photo of the day is a shot of Bandido the morning after the girls arrived.  He was more than happy to stand guard over Kaia all night!  Both dogs spent most of the week at Doggie Dude Ranch, since we were gone way too long each day to leave them alone.  I know we missed them more than they missed us.


Tuesday morning it was back to Las Vegas to take Amanda and Kaia for their flight back to Florida, then straight to Doggie Dude Ranch to pick up our furry "kids."  Tomorrow our adventure will be Roger and I attempting the Angel's Landing hike.  I already know I won't be joining him at the very top!