The Canyon After Hours

The Canyon is a beautiful, amazing place by day, but like most other places, darkness changes the feel of it. Now, let me start by saying that I totally scored Doug a great Father's Day gift on accident. While most of you know he is a huge space, star, all things celestial fan. The Grand Canyon Park Service was hosting a Star Party, the week we were there complete with tons of amateur astronomers with telescopes set up and Constellation Tours, etc.

I am not a huge fan of all this, but as a good sport I agreed to go with Doug and the boys, well that and Doug can't drive the car. The Constellation Tour was really interesting; our guide was a retired teacher from Florida who was amazing. On our way back to the parking lot we were surprised by a loud rustling in the bushes. They don't allow white light in the star gazing area because it ruins your night vision, so we had very little light to see anything. As it turns out, an elk walked right out of the shrubs and into the star party. The funniest thing was that no one even noticed him except us because it was so dark they couldn't see it.
 

Early shot of the moon, Venus,  Jupiter and Arcturus

On the way out I decided to ask a park ranger where Doug could do some celestial photography since he has been practicing with my camera. As it turns out, she was the Star Party organizer, and while we were talking, the International Space Station flew overhead. I don't know if she was just really touched by that or if she was having a good day or what, but she offered to give us a special access pass to parts of the park that are not normally accessible to private transportation so that Doug could get shots without light pollution. Holy Cow what a SCORE!

A couple of nights later we drove up to Pima Point which is about 7,000 feet above sea level and started to set up there for night photography because it was the furthest point from civilization basically. Let me just say this, the Grand Canyon at night, with absolutely NO light, when not another soul is around, and you cannot hear anything except the wind HOWLING is the creepiest feeling ever.

We ended up moving because of the wind to a less creepy area, but still, it was unsettling. I know Doug would say it was worth it, and I would probably agree. It was the first time I had ever seen the Milky Way with my naked eyes. It is so dark and clear it is really very easily visible. 

Hiking the Rim

Day two of hiking in the Canyon meant a rim hike. We decided after a more strenuous hike the day before that we would stay on the rim. Still with temps in the 90's it's not necessarily an easy day. We took the shuttle to the furthest point, Hermit's Rest, and then hiked part of the way back.

A little light reading for sale at the Hermits Rest Gift Shop. I am kind of curious about this. I think when I get home I will order it from Amazon.

This is a location called the abyss. It is the steepest drop and a ridiculous depth to the canyon floor. 

One of the sheer cliffs at the abyss.

If you look in the very center of the picture in the hole, there is a lizard poking its head out. 

Who knew that the plague actually still exists? This is why you don't feed the squirrels people.

This is the stone building of Hermits Rest designed by Mary Colter. 

Inside the Hermits Rest. Huge fireplace area.

This is the Colorado River. 

Peyton and Eli at Hermits Rest.

I had to add this photo to prove that we did indeed make the boys stay hydrated. The next picture is going to be important.

At the end of the rim hike we had to catch a shuttle back to the Visitors Center. By this time it was about 1:00 PM and the shuttles were all very crowded, so we had to stand. This picture doesn't even do the situation justice. If you've ever ridden the Disney shuttles and there are a million people on them, you know the feeling. About five minutes into the trip I hear people yelling, "Someone's passed out!"

I turned around to see that Eli was in the floor. The bus driver is asking what's going on and if everything is okay. People are panicking. Doug gets down in the floor with Eli and gets his head and starts talking to him. He puts Eli's camelback hose into his mouth and tells him to drink. Eli is only out for a short time, then he comes right around.

Eli's first words after regaining consciousness were "Did I bust any teeth out?" It was really pretty lucky that the bus was so crowded, because when he passed out, he didn't have room to fall. He just kind of slid down to the floor. Not like a few years ago when he fell straight back and hit his head. (That's another vacation story)

With the temperature at 95 degrees and after a long hike, and at the altitude (the heat added to the altitude makes the effects that of being at about 10,000 feet above sea level) Eli just blacked out. He (and I) are more sensitive to these things than Peyton or Doug. I blacked out in line at Disney one year. It's kind of out thing.

We are all good though. No harm, no foul and we live to hike another day. 

The Grand Canyon Part Deux

Our first stop after flying in to Arizona was the Grand Canyon. That's a Native American name for "Watch your step; that first one is a doozy."

On the first day in we decided to hike down into the Canyon. We had hiked as far as Ohh Ahh Point on our last trip, so we wanted to go further this time. We made it to Cedar Ridge which is the furthest the park service advises hiking on a summer day hike. The trip is 3 miles, but if feels like its about 10 on the way up.

Things we learned. Take all your pictures on the way down, because on the way up you won't want to have video evidence of your appearance, and you won't be able to appreciate the views because of the lack of oxygen in your body. It is a tough hike. We met some young guys on our way down (at 9:30 A.M.) who had hiked down the day before and were on their way up,  They looked like they were going to die. These were young, healthy, athletic looking people and they looked really bad, so a rim to rim or down and back hike is NOT recommended for the faint of heart.

Having said that, Peyton is determined that we will hike to the floor on our next trip. Lord help us.

See, this is me on the way down when I could still act cute,

Eli was pretty much born to be an explorer.

 This is from an early part of the downhill trial. you can see some people on it to give you perspective,

Again, me thinking I am funny.

This is Peyton and Eli at Ohh Ahh Point, about half way to Cedar Ridge.

Proof that we did indeed make it as far as Cedar Ridge.

This was one of the best views because it was almost at the top on the way back up. We had made it!

On the Road Again, and in the Air, etc. etc.

And we're off like a herd of turtles. So a vacation wouldn't be a vacation unless we had some unexpected occurrences, right? The first was an unexpected upgrade on the rental car, unfortunately, in AZ if you rent a car the spouse is not allowed to drive it unless they pay extra. Alas, I will be the chauffeur for the excursion.

Second unexpected bonus was the upgrade at the hotel, or rather the resort. Holiday Inn Express overbooked and, lucky for us, they moved us to the Arizona Grande Resort and Spa. Cool.

It had a golf course....

And a fountain with probably all the water in Phoenix.....

And a water park......

Which was great since Phoenix decided to play Hades for the week. 

San Diego, California

San Diego

The first full day in San Diego we spent at the beach which was right across from our hotel. Instead of looking for pretty shells, we looked for rocks. There are millions of beautiful, smooth rocks on the shore. They don't feel great when the surf crashes them into your shins, but they are awesome to look at on the beach.

Eli playing in the surf. The water is really cold compared to East Coast beaches. I didn't go any further out than my knees, but it was cold. In fact, the weather was the coolest of anyplace we had been all vacation. It was between 68-72 the whole time. Compared to the 111 degrees we saw in South Dakota, that was downright chilly.

As you can see, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves, just the way I like it.

Doug has really made a name for himself in San Diego.

This was the only day spent at the beach. Sadly, both Peyton and Doug have little to no melanin in their skin which means that even with sunscreen, they go from pasty white to fire engine red in no time at all. It is a really viscous cycle of white, red, peel, white. Luckily, our hotel had bottles of aloe gel for sale. It actually caused the cycle to be reduced to white, red, white!

The World Famous San Diego Zoo

HUGE CAVEAT - I know the San Diego Zoo is world famous. It's a wonderful facility that has awesome programs for endangered animals and plants. But honestly, once you have seen bear, bison, elk, deer, condors, etc. in the wild, it's a bit of a let down to see them in small cages. So I ended up taking most of my pictures of the boys and the statues of animals in the park. Way more interesting I think.

Here is Doug getting a bear hug.

And here is Peyton with his favorite pose.

        And Eli being mauled by the bear.

Peyton being weird with a prehistoric bird.

Eli riding a prehistoric cat of some sort and Peyton trying to look smexy.

Here is Doug, Eli and Peyton with some sort of Fred Flintstone looking early elephant.

Eli, don't panic, but I think there is a spider behind you..................

Now for the crazy looking plants from the zoo. 

In some parts of the zoo, I felt like I was in the movie Land of the Lost. The plants were so strange; even the ones that weren't strange were freakishly large, like this aloe. For perspective, look to the bottom right of the photo. That's a person's head. This plant was probably 7 feet tall. I can't get an aloe plant to live long enough to have to re pot it. 

Another very weird looking plant. I think it ate the plant in the middle.

Just another interesting type of cactus.

 

And now for the animals...

I don't think this alpaca is dead...but it made for a funny picture.

 

Padres Game

Since the Padres stadium (Petco) and the zoo were minutes away, we left the zoo and went to see a Padres (that's FATHER or FAJA) game. Doug got seats in the "all you can eat" section of the park.

Here is a view from the park. I wish I had gotten a picture when Yonder Alonzo was on the jumbo tron. He is our favorite Padres player. We didn't even know who he was but decided he was our favorite because he, like Peyton and Eli, probably never found anything personalized with his name when he was a kid either. He also hit a home run that night to help the Padres win.

I'm sure something is going on here, but I don't remember what it was.

 

Here is Eli looking very ZZ Topish. Don't you think so? I mean start humming Sharp Dressed Man and see what you think.

Another Petco Park shot.

And another. We had a great time at the game even though we are not really Padres fans. Eli bought a foam finger and tried to get on TV between innings, but unfortunately, they opted for scantily clad women, drunk men acting like idiots, or the Mexican baseball team from Tijuana. They were there; yes they were.

 

LEGOLAND

I know this is what everyone has been waiting for. We did indeed go to Legoland, California. It is a theme park based on Legos. It is geared toward younger kids, maybe 3-13, but Peyton liked it too. It does have rides and games as well as shows, and Lego displays. I was pleasantly surprised.

Here are the boys and I with Doug getting ready to go in to Legoland. No, actually, two of us are real and two of us are Lego. Can you spot which is which?

 

And wouldn't you know it, one of the first displays is of Las Vegas. Yay.

They even had miniature versions of the Excaliber. It would have been better to stay in the Lego version, I'm sure.

 

Here is the Lego version of New York, New York.

And the Luxor.

There was also a model of the real New York, complete with Times Square which is such a misnomer because clearly it should be called Times Triangle.

The Chrystler Building

 

And Rockafeller Plaza complete with ice skating rink.

And what Lego display would be complete without a model of New Orleans, and a Mardi Gras Parade. Kids love that stuff, right?

Oh and the above ground cemetery and funeral. Not creepy at all. Oh I think I see Angelina Jolie and Brad Pit in there Bazillion Dollar home in New Orleans.


And just when you thought it couldn't get any nerdier.....

 I will let the photos speak for themselves, mostly because I don't know what any of this stuff is and if I call Boba Fett, Jango Fett or something crazy like that I'll never hear the end of it.

I do know a Sasquatch when I see one....and this place looked really Squatchy to me.

Poor Eli, getting choked by Darth Maul and his dad doing nothing but videotaping it. Clearly I would have been no help because I don't even know who Darth Maul is. I first spelled it Darth Mall then Darth Mal before looking it up to see it was Darth Maul.

Again, here is Peyton being attacked by Darth Maul in a very Matrix kind of way and Doug is video taping the whole thing.

The Walk of Fame

I was surprised to see that Shakespeare was shorter than I thought.

Eli is going through a "finger in the ear or nose" of statues phase. I hope he grows out of it. But it could be worse I guess.

Yeah

Here are a couple of the rides; there were many more but I got tired of taking my camera out of the bag. I am such an awesome mom.

 I will leave you with this photo of Doug and Eli, and I dare you to try and get this image out of your head.

There are no words.