Day 13, Thursday, July 2nd: Glen Canyon raft trip

Glen Canyon, carved out by the Colorado River, is located in Page, AZ.  In 1966 the Glen Canyon Dam was completed and created Lake Powell, which is the second largest artificial lake in the country.  It quite a magnificent site to take in from the overlook at the Glen Canyon Visitor's Center.  The dam is a huge ark separating Lake Powell from the Colorado River.  The drive in to Page took two hours and this was not a ride we had anticipated.  Although it was so far away, it was worth it since this was our last adventure before beginning the journey to home.

The day was spent rafting down the Colorado River through the canyon, stopping off at a beach, and checking out some petroglyphs.

Our two hour drive consisted of leaving Arizona, driving through Utah, and arriving in Arizona again.  My iPhone could barely keep up with the hour changing back and forth!

This was the view of Lake Powell and the dam from the look-off at the Visitor's Center.


This is the view to the right of the dam.  The bridge crosses over the Colorado River.




We all had to wear hard hats from our walk from the buses to the river.






















Some examples of the petroglyphs we saw.

Day 12, Wednesday, July 1: The Grand Canyon

When we began planning our trip, we originally thought we'd begin at the Grand Canyon, but after some thought we decided to go the opposite direction towards Mt. Rushmore.  That decision meant that we could visit the North Rim of the Canyon which provides a more desirable view and drastically less people.  They say visiting the South Rim is like Orlando because of it's crowds.  It's the easier to access so it only makes sense, but we were very lucky to have the opportunity to visit the North Rim.

The drive from our camp ground was only 45 minutes to the entrance to the park and what a beautiful drive it was.  We drove through such a peaceful area of trees and greenery.  We drove past a heard of bison hanging out with their calves.  After entering the park we decided to head to Point Imperial, which is the highest viewpoint of the canyon that you can access at 8,803 feet in elevation.  In the short ride to the top we glimpsed the canyon for just a second and it drew every one's breath.  We've seen some amazing sights on our trip, so far, but for me, this was the most highly-anticipated.  I guess you hear about something so much your entire life that when you finally get to see it in person it is sort of a dream come true.  

Point Imperial did not disappoint and the views of the canyon were just beyond.   Even though it was a sunny day and the distant canyon was a bit hazy, the view before us was filled with color and contrast.   My second observation after seeing it with my eyes, was the complete quiet that surrounds you.  It is just kid of numbing, in a way, to stand before something so magnificent and realizes something so vast can be so quiet.  It gives new meaning "be still and know."  After snapping a few dozen shots we loaded back up and headed down to the Visitor's Center and the other North Rim look-out.  We found out the schedule at the Visitor's Center for the Junior Ranger program and headed off to hear about lightning from one of the Park Rangers.  She did a great presentation and took the kids around to see some of the lightening strikes in the surrounding area.
Next, we headed back to the look-out and ate a quick lunch before hiking around to take in all that we could see.
There are several trails around the North Rim and they really provide some amazing views and lots of exercise!  We just spent time wandering around, snapping photos, and enjoying the view.  At one point, we found a rock look-off that was off the trail and took time to rest.  Jay and Georgia laid down while Katie Jo and I just sat and took it all in.
We eventually made our way back up to the lodge and while the girls listened in on a talk by the ranger on Condors, Jay and I sat with a beverage to recover from our day!  The porch at the lodge is lovely and provides multiple Adirondack chairs to lounge in while you take in the view of the canyon.  Again, this is where the North Rim proves to be more desirable because instead of fighting for a chair, there are multiple available due to the lesser number of people.
Finally, we decided it was time to go and made our way to the gift shop and then headed back to the camp ground.  On the way, we stopped by one more store to find Katie Jo a snow globe and I was surprised to see a pay phone so I had to get Jay to snap a quick photo of me with the relic!
It was a memorable day and I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to see it again.  The Grand Canyon did not disappoint and we couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable experience.
Later on, at the campground, the girls headed off to find some friends.  This has been their favorite past time in the few opportunities we've had on this trip to just hang out at our camp site.  They always took the walkie-talkies to check in and let us know their findings.  On this night, the walkie-talkie lit up and they let us know that they found a gaggle of children, but they were from Switzerland and spoke mainly German!  Jay immediately started feeding Katie Jo some German words to use, much to the delight of their new friends.  Eventually, Jay made it over to their camp and then they summoned me and we all hung out until the very late hours of the night.  They two families had traveled over to the US of A for a five week American adventure.  It was so interesting to hear where they'd been so far on their trip and where they were headed.  They all spoke English since it is a required course in school beginning in fourth grade.  At one point we could hear the kids singing around the campfire and realized they were singing, "Let it Go" in German!  It was such a fun evening and now we have new friends to visit one day in Switzerland!

These are some of our first views from Point Imperial

Georgia helped assist the Park Ranger in making "thunder."

These photos of the canyon are from the North Rim.

Obviously, by this point, Georgia was OVER it!

This is the lodge at the North Rim.

Ha ha!  

A little snack when we returned of Elk salami, grapes and cheese.

Day 11, Tuesday, June 30th: Zion National Park

Miles traveled so far: 3490

        Miles traveled this day: 150

Two words describe Zion National Park: Beautiful and Hot!

We decided the day before to do a horseback ride in Zion, but after a long scavenger hunt to find the horse corral, we arrived 20 minutes after they left.  Like other hiccup on this trip, it worked out for the best because we secured a 4:30 time instead and that ended up being perfect!  Just an FYI for anyone traveling to Zion, you actually can't park in the Park unless you are lodging there, so you either have to  park in the Visitor Center Lot or along the street in a local town, Springdale, and take the shuttle.  The shuttle system they have is great and since the temp climbed to 100 that day, it also provided much needed breeze through the open windows.  After the first failed attempt at the horse ride we decided to eat lunch and make our way to the top to hike a section called the Zion Narrows.  The Zion Narrows is a gorge as narrow as 20 feet wide and up to 2,000 feet tall.  Zion is really beautiful and though you spend most of your time looking up, its worth it.

The hiking here is no joke and at 4,000 " above sea level our legs got a work out.  The Narrows was a refreshing spot, as we spent most of our time here walking through the cool water.  Although the rocks made for an unbalanced walk we all managed to navigate it without falling down.

Afterwards, we made our way back down via shuttle and walked over to the horse corral.  At this time, it had become very cloudy and much to our relief, a lot cooler.  After checking in at the desk, we met with the cowboys and got our horse assignments.  Georgia rode Ubi (You-be), Katie Jo rode Miss Kitty, Jay rode Pockets (the mule), and I rode Charlie (a racehorse ;)).  It was an incredible ride and the horse/mule provided a terrific spot to sit and take in the landscape.

When we finished we made our way down to the gift shop to make our usual location souvenir purchases.

In an amazing turn of events I had earlier in the day been applying sunscreen on the shuttle ride to the park.  In the process, I removed my favorite elephant necklace so I wouldn't get cream all over it.  We arrived at the Visitor's Center and in my haste I stood up and walked off the bus letting the necklace fall from my lap.  I realized it later and it was too late to do anything about it.  At the end of our day I decided to do some checking while the others shopped.  I checked in at the desk with Lost and Found and it was not there.  My last resort was to go down to the shuttle stop and hope that one of the buses letting people on/off would have it on the floor where I dropped it or turned it.  I sat through one bus stop and after standing in line, left empty-handed.  When the next bus pulled up I hopped on after waiting in line again, and lo and behold, there it was sitting on the dash in the front of the bus.  I exclaimed to the driver, "This is mine and I can't believe I found it!!"  He was just as excited as me and said he had hoped that it would make it back to his owner.  Some one had turned it in earlier and I was so completely overjoyed that I found it, and that an honest person was kind enough to turn it in.  So, to that person, whoever you are, THANK YOU!

After loading up on the shuttle bus heading back in to town I realized the Annual National Park pass we'd bought at Yellowstone had fallen out of my zipper pocket.  You win some and you lose some.  I felt terrible. Thankfully the park ranger let us back in to park for free since we had to drive through it to get to our next location in Arizona.

Our ride through the remaining part of Utah was without incident and Jay found us a spot to eat which ended up being an incredibly delicious meal so the day ended on a high note.  We reached Arizona and rolled into our camp ground about 9:50.  Earlier I had called the office to see what to do about checking in after hours and the desk clerk said she'd be there until 9 just in case we got there in time.  When I walked in, she said, "Are you Amber?"  I said yes and then asked, "What are you still doing here?"  Then I looked at the clock over her head to see it was 8:50 and she reminded me we were on Arizona time!  Yay, another win-win!  BTW, this site was full hook-up and after being without that for several days I'm not even going to lie about how happy I was.  We were also very lucky to secure this space because it's located outside of the Grand Canyon National Park and is usually booked.  

One last tidbit for the folks at home, this camp site housed a coin-operated shower and for $2.25 you got a 5 minute shower.  I won't go into details, but it was an experience I would not like to soon repeat!

Tomorrow is the Grand Canyon!!