Dis pt 4

9/6

Now the real fun starts! Up early, breakfast in the room. Turns out my old hot pot from college does still work so that plus instant Quinoa is breakfast for Pete. I load up my travel bag with rain ponchos, trail mix, camera and my itinerary and RideMax plans. Plus all the other stuff I normally carry around. This time, I did remember my hat. Pete was responsible for the spray bottle and Katie and Zack each had water bottles.

Off to Hollywood Studios. It was my least favorite park last trip but this time I wanted to give it a better chance by doing more research and having a good touring plan. I did all our RideMax plans on the slow paced setting so that we would not have to crisscross the parks too much and would have plenty of time for pin trading, browsing and hidden Mickey searches. I also enjoyed knowing about a few surprises to show everyone else, like pulling on the rope in the well next to Indiana Jones.

Sadly, we never got to the Singing in the Rain umbrella.


Waiting for the ferry from the hotel to DHS. Really liked travelling by ferry rather than always using buses. More relaxing and they seemed faster but I'm sure that had a lot to do with proximity as well. (this picture might be from the night before tho...)

We arrived just before rope drop and cut through the stores to get a bit ahead of the crowd, yes, but mostly to avoid the stroller brigade. They are very difficult to dodge. I went ahead of Pete and the kids to get in line with the masses waiting for the Toy Story Midway Mania fast passes. It went much faster than I expected and everyone was well behaved and friendly.

Met up with the fam just as they finished taking pictures with Winnie the Pooh. I was really interested in using the photopass this trip so whenever I saw a photographer, I tried to get everyone to jump in line. Not always successful but we did get a lot of nice shots. Don't have them yet though, so none to post here. I think I drove everyone a bit nuts trying to hunt down and get photos with the photopass, but they all humored me :-)


Zack was fairly photo shy this trip, but Katie and Pete posed.

Here's one from later that same day when I was able to get us all together



So, I don't really remember what order we hit everything, but all were a walk on--I love travel in September!

I think we hit Star Tours first. Had to do it today, it was shutting down on the 8th for a two year (I think) renovation. Fun, but definitely needs the update. I think this was the first ride we left something behind on, so some time later, I circled back to it gather Zack's water bottle from under his seat. There were many "lost" items to follow.


Zack on a Star Wars vehicle

Here's other rides we hit, in no particular order.

The one with the Muppets--loved it! Loved the line, the preshow and the movie.

Tower of Terror--Katie was planning to ride ToT, I planned to leave via the chicken exit, but wanted to see the line theming and stay with the family. Turned out that Katie and I both ducked out like chickens.

We waited for the guys to get done in the area where they post the ride photo. There were benches and I kept sitting down and getting up, etc. I had taken Zack's water bottle and the spray bottle from Pete. After we met up with them we walked out a good ways and when I went to return the bottles to them, lo and behold, I was missing the sprayer--another circle back for me to retrieve it from the bench inside.

Back Lot Tour--Fun, I enjoyed the line theming, the ride is fine and a bit interesting and the AFI display at the end is nice and reminded me of my dad and the things he would have enjoyed about it.

Toy Story Mania--fun, and Pete and I rode this together, which was also fun, since I'd been on this ride at Disneyland last year. Wish the crowd levels-- being new, this one was NOT a walk on and has 90 min waits all day--had allowed us to ride more than once.


Katie and a Toy soldier.


Pete always takes pictures of us in 3D glasses at Disney. I have to remember to take a picture of him in them some time.

Narnia--we had enjoyed the original Narnia show the last time, this one was no big deal.

I had been told that the quick service restaurants we atrocious, so made plans to have lunch back at the hotel. Also to be sure that we did leave and take a break. We NEED these breaks. Otherwise we all get overstimulated, hot and cranky.

However, I did need to stop to see Pluto.


Got a nice shot of Katie with him.

Back for another nice ferry ride and straight to the Yacht Club for lunch at the Captain's Grill.


Zack steering us into the restaurant

Nice relaxing lunch, go before the long trek back to our room. Naps! I think we all napped, but really don't remember if anyone went to the pool.

Back to DHS for more rides! Again, I really don't remember what rides we did when, but here's some of what we did.

The Beauty and the Beast show--Beastly! A long display of bad acting and uninspired costumes and sets. Waste of time, wish we had skipped it and watched more of the street shows instead.

Pete and Zack hit the Rockin' Roller Coaster and that may have been when Katie and I hit the Little Mermaid show. Liked that show much much better and I wished the Beast show hadn't turned the guys off so much that they didn't want to do another. This one was much more interesting technically.

I think the guys also did ToT again, which Katie and I were again not sorry to miss.

We got caught in the rain and the ponchos came in handy. This was pretty much the only downpour we had all week, despite what the weather reports predicted, so we were pretty lucky.

On the way to dinner, we hit the Great Movie Ride. I was hoping for the cowboy version, but it was the gangster version again. Still I had forgotten most of it and I think they may have changed some of the movies and it was enjoyable.

Dinner at the SciFi Drive in was very fun, but a long wait beforehand. Zack got a little pixie dust thrown his way. The waiter thought Zack was a girl all through the meal, although we did try to correct him several times. Once we ordered dessert, Zack finally got through to him and he was so embarrassed that he brought Zack and extra dessert--nice! Zack thought he'd be willing to be mistaken for a girl more often if it always came with dessert.


Kate and Zack got to sit in the driver's seat at the Sci Fi.

Up front, is a large screen that plays clips from old Sci Fi flicks. It was like being part of MST3K and we all made fun of the films as they came on. I don't know if the people behind us (there was one more row in our car), enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed ourselves. Oh well.

Zack wanted to see the Pizza Planet restaurant which was freezing, so I stayed outside to wait. They enjoyed it, but I thought it was a lost opportunity and that Disney could have made it a lot more like the one in Toy Story. It looked thrown together and I'm glad we didn't go there for lunch.

We were ready to call it a night, but I didn't miss getting a picture of us in front of the sorcerer's hat on the way out. I'll add it once I get the photopass disk.

Next--The Happiest Place on Earth

##

Dis pt 3

I had a very detailed schedule but was going to try to be mellow about it--not easy for this control-freak uber-planner, plus Disney heightens all of that for me. To make this a bit easier, I set aside the first and last days of the trip as "beach days" although I did have a nagging feeling that one of them should come in the middle instead. More about that when we get to Animal Kingdom...

So, 9/5--Beach Day

I didn't even make lunch plans since we were so close to Epcot, I figured we breeze over and eat there.

We were up pretty early and had breakfast in the room. I called to the front desk to see when Stormalong Bay opened up and was told 7am. Great! We dressed in bathing suits and headed down around 8:30am. CLOSED! It is the quiet pool that opens at 7am. SAB opens at 10am.

BUM-MER

We settled the kids into the pool, gave them a serious talking to about why it is called the quiet pool and Pete and I went for a walk around the lake to see the Boardwalk.

We got back around 9:30am and took a dip then walked over to the big pool. That's when we learned that we were not allowed to use the float rings we brought with us (and had gone dizzy blowing up the day before). They were frosted on the bottom and, despite the email I got from Disney, were not allowed. Apparently they need to be clear all through. So, $20 later we had two humongous inner tubes rented for the day.

We headed over to Epcot around 11:30am to see about lunch. I envisioned this as a brief visit just to eat. So much for my plan :-)

Just at the International Entrance there was a sign for the Kim Possible missions and I figured we should grab a pass for it in case we wanted to do one, then we wouldn't have to worry about when to fit it in another day.

We went over to the world showcase to figure out what to eat. It wasn't very long before I started to feel the heat pound on my head but I thought I'd snap out of it.

Still, I couldn't resist stopping when Brer Fox and Brer Bear (in Epcot, really?) showed up with no lines! Our first character meet and greets of the trip!



Pete liked the menu at Morocco, but the kids and I were less thrilled. We shopped around a bit while Pete ordered his food and then we sat down to figure out what to do next. Italy seemed like a good idea but as we roamed in that direction I saw on the map that there is no walk up restaurant there. Then I saw Turkey legs and suggested that. The kids were game and we ordered three at the whopping price of $7 each. Then we got them--what kind of turkeys were these?! Each leg was about as big as Katie's. Two would have been more than enough, but we were stuck with them and dug in.


Zack reluctantly posing in a Fez


and Katie being a total goofball in a beaded headdress

Since we had walking food we tried Kim Possible. Some technical glitches later we were on our first mission. The heat was now killing me and I now knew why I spent so much on a sun hat--which I had left in the room. Lesson learned--I had it with me for the rest of the trip. Lesson not learned (again, more about that at Animal Kingdom) don't be in a park from noon-3pm.

The mission was fun. Zack and I did a second one but Pete and Katie shopped around instead. Smart--shops are air conditioned. Pete had bought chocolate in Germany which was very melty by the time we got to share it. Yummy though. We all met up in Japan and enjoyed that shop quite a bit.

I was melting and requested we head back to the hotel but Pete was longing for a trip to Norway to check out bags he'd seen on our last trip and I couldn't pass up Maelstrom in Norway as the wait was a mere 5 minutes! The Boat ride was as campy as ever and I loved it. We wandered the shop, but were getting tired and moved slowly. I also realized that extra time would need to be allotted to Katie for trading pins throughout the rest of the trip.


Zack as a Viking


and apparently you can pick a troll's nose.

We headed back, stopping for a show in Paris, which I swore we took pictures of, but can't now find. Then, as we dragged ourselves toward the exit,...there....was.....Mary Poppins!!!!!! Katie and I were ecstatic to see her but even more so when she stopped for a photo opps right next to us!


A jolly holiday with Mary.

I hit the pool's lazy river for a while, Zack did the slide and swam around and Katie and Pete napped in the room.

Hollywood Studio had Fantasmic that night and I figured it was a good time to catch it. We ran a bit late, but our seats were fine. We had brought lots of extra glow sticks so had our own glow and were also able to give them out to the children sitting around us. Rain drizzled a bit, but then was lost in the mist from the show and gone by the end.

The show was great and would have been a nice end to the day, but I just couldn't resist the thought that the Magic Kingdom had extra magic hours. We jumped on a bus to the Contemporary, then onto the monorail and over to the MK. We saw some of the fireworks from the train.



I was stunned at the crowd for extra hours. We spent a very long time getting dinner at Cosmic Rays and were disappointed that the waits at Space Mountain and Buzz were upwards of an hour at 11pm! The kids hit Stitch, which Pete and I took a pass on--nice K&Z are old enough to do things on their own. Then the kids hit the teacups and we were done in for the night.



Next, we're goin' Hollywood.

##

Disney pt 2

9/4
Zack and I woke up first and quietly got dressed, but soon enough our friends were all up and Robyn made us chocolate chip pancakes--I love these accommodations, we'll have to return :-D.

Got on the road later than I planned, but still with plenty of time to get to Orlando, stop at Whole Foods and get to the hotel to meet Pete. He was flying in and would take Disney tranport to the hotel.

Whole Foods was great. We picked up some lunch for the day and then snacks and breakfast items for the rest of the trip. We would be eating breakfast in the room before heading out for the day and I got supplies for trail mix to snack on at the parks and other snacks. That way, we can still get special treats at the parks but can plan them instead of grabbing something over priced and sugary just because we're starving before dinner.

Excitement started to build when we passed through the arch that signals the entry to Disney property. We soon saw signs for our hotel-the Beach Club. We drove up the drive, handed our bags over to the bell staff and went to park the car--bonus-a parking space in the first row of self park. Just the first of our "pixie dust" moments.

I left the kids on a bench out front to finish their lunches and went to check in. At 11am, I didn't expect they would have a room ready for us, but Antonio upgraded us to a water view, while still getting us the day bed we needed and we were ready to go. I stopped at the bell desk to give them our room number, texted Pete with the same and collected the kids to go check out our room.

Here's the view that greeted us:


Despite the free upgrade there was one price to pay for this view--we were a good 10 minute walk from the lobby! No biggie, we were at the very end of the building, which means just down the stairs at the end of our hall was the path to EPCOT, a 5 minute walk. Nice!

A knock at the door was Pete! He beat the luggage, but it soon came and the food with it.

I had picked up some Sushi for Pete to eat for lunch and while he ate, I started to put things away, especially the perishables. I love my Trader Joe's insulated bag, but didn't have an ice pack for it. The fridge was good sized and I was able to fit milk, yogurts, fruit, etc in with no problems.

At 1:10pm we were scheduled for a DVC pickup to look at the properties. We went over to Saratoga Springs to meet with the sales guy, Jason. Although a bit old for it, the kids voted to hang in the kid club rather than take the tour and they definitely made the right decision. The pitch went on far longer than I expected (esp since I had already done a phone pitch with him months before--but not Pete). The DVC rooms are to die for, but our feeling is that if you don't plan to be at Disney every 2 years, it isn't worth buying in. By the end of the week, it was clear to me, that Pete would not enjoy a week at Disney, possibly ever again let alone every 2-3 years! Still the icecream sundaes at the end were very nice and we skipped the hottest time of day in the FL weather.

Off to Animal Kingdom to dine at Boma. We loved Boma the last time and were not disappointed on this visit. I submitted our food allergies through Disney dining and the chef came right out to walk us through the buffet. We did have some time before our reservation and took the opportunity to explore the hotel a bit, which we hadn't had much time to do last visit.


We could get really close to the animals at the hotel's Savannah lookout.


But the air conditioning was welcome, we were not quite used to the heat/humidity yet.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to finish unpacking and head over to Stormalong Bay, the sand-bottomed pool. Kate and Zack hit the slide and loved it. I think this was the day that Pete and I went up to the room first and let the kids stay on their own at the pool. We quizzed them on the room number but somehow they ended up in the adjacent Yacht Club lobby and after looking around for our room number there, they finally asked for help at the front desk. They placed a call to our room and also sent someone over to deliver them to the Beach Club lobby for me to pick up. They were a bit shaken up, but all was well and we laughed about it back in the room.

Off to bed before 10pm in preparation for the next day.

Next--oh that's why I bought that hat...

##

Disney Trip part one

I started planning this trip just under a year ago. Knew Sept would be tough, and thought "why not go to the happiest place on earth?" The planning also kept me from having idle hands and that's always a good thing.

The trip actually started at mom's in NC. Pete was going to fly in and meet us in FL, saving him vacation days. The kids and I were driving down, saving us money. So, I figured, why not see mom and also split up the driving a bit?

We also had a very generous invitation to spend the night with friends in Jacksonville (thanks Robyn!) and it was great to see them and again, not have a big day of driving before getting to Orlando.

Stayed with mom from 8/29-9/3. Hit the beach, relaxed and helped with a few chores. Also picked up a few last-minute items like a hat for Katie and goggles for the pool--thanks Grandma! Hard to believe that these are the last beach days of the season. We went twice. the first day, the kids could only go in knee deep due to rip tide warnings. The next day was the only day without rip tides, a little respite between off-shore hurricanes, so we hit the beach for some real swim time while we could (well, when I say we I really mean Katie and Zack).




Whose thumb is that?

Rain the last day or at least a hurricane too closeby to bother with the beach. We rented some movies and hung out.

Off to Jacksonville! Great to reconnect with friends who moved there a couple of years ago. Katie and their daughter were becoming good friends and have missed each other. I hope we get to see more of them now. Sadly, no pictures!

Next, daddy and Disney!

##

Year 1

Last weekend was the anniversary of my father's death. It was a hard year, but I realized on Saturday just how fast the year had actually gone by.

Remember those long days of summer? Not this year hot as it was. Is summer only long for kids?

In any case, I spent a lot of time thinking about the past year last weekend. No big answers, but memories of lots of little moments of good throughout the year. Family was especially a focus and it was good to remember how important it is to keep that up front. Friends were appreciated and some reached out in unexpected and very nice ways.

Some things were put on hold, my career for example (although the economy also gets some credit for that). Decisions about moves, Pete's work and other changes were left for a while. Time rushed by just fine, decisions could wait.

All in all, a hard, fast, and not all bad year. And that's ok too, good times are nothing to feel guilty about--had to learn that in the first few months.

I miss you dad. Things are different but I'm trying to pull all the good I can out of life and have a few laughs along the way. Just like you taught me.

More to come.

##

New Adventures

After our unexpected trip to SLC, we got home and wanted to catch the last of the Cherry Blossoms around DC. We brought the kids National Parks passports and they were able to collect quite a few stamps around the Mall. Not many blossoms left, but we did find this pretty tree. Some day I hope to get there during the peak. Somehow we always seem to miss it.


Here's Katie's progress with her braces. This was mid-April. She now has springs and screws and things are looking great! I can't believe how fast her teeth have moved.


Some time, we went with Katie's GS troop to see a landfill and recycling center. This is the top of one of the capped piles. It apparently is the highest point in the area and has a really lovely view--as long as the wind off the open pile is blowing away from it.

We went on a field trip to ride a horse trail another day (sketchy on the dates here).

Zack had a good time after working out nerves for his first time on a horse but wasn't interested in the discount riding lessons they offered us.


Katie, however, was thrilled to be able to ride again. She took lessons for about a month, I think. I didn't want to continue into the summer, since we are gone so much of it, plus, this particular stable is not clean at all and is pretty stinky even on the coolest of days. I can't imagine how it is in July!


On a whim, we went to the Crime and Punishment Museum on a Groupon. At first it didn't look like much, but we actually had a great time and stayed over two hours looking at everything. the kids were much more interested in it than I thought they would be.


May brought the brick-laying for Dad. It's in a nice spot near the Chapel on the Green. Some tears and some laughs which is, I think, how he would have wanted it. Mom and I picked out a couple of tunes from movies to play on the carillon at the beginning and the end and that seemed to fit dad as well. It was a nice ceremony and reception, which mom held at the house and it gave me, at least, some closure on everything. It was also just before the kids' birthday, so the whole family (except Jonathan) was there to celebrate that as well, which was nice.


We stayed for a few days after and took our first trip of the season to the beach. It was a great day to be there, since school wasn't out yet. Bittersweet, especially when the kids started in on a sand castle. Dad would have been right down there with them and mom and I missed him a lot. Still, it was a nice day and a good stay with mom.



Katie even found a collection of critters.



Katie's GS troop went camping at long last. The leaders arranged for a group called Ancestral Knowledge to come in a take the girls on a hike and set up a fire. They are a great group and I'd love to do something with them again. The next day we stopped by Port Tobacco to take a tour of their archaeological dig. The girls got to wash off some artifacts.

It was a nice ending to the GS year. Katie has decided to try a troop that has many more older girls and was also attending their meetings by invitation and was invited to go on their camp out as well. So off she went Kayaking with that troop!



In a stroke of master-planning I scheduled a camping trip for Katie and me for the very day after we got back from the GS trip. Pete and Zack were attending the BS Camporee. Katie and I took off for Jamestown and Williamsburg. We spent our first day setting up our campsite and then went to stroll the streets of Williamsburg. Since it was so late in the day, we opted to stroll around without tickets, which you only need to enter the historic buildings.


The next day we went to Jamestown, where Katie was enamored with one of the settlers who showed her how to carve bone into tools. She helped out for quite a while-he was pretty cute ;-)

Katie met a nice couple of girls at the campsite and ran around with them in the evenings. There was also a giant slide that she enjoyed--see the video below.

I also snapped an early morning shot of Katie sleeping. Just thought she looked so lovely.


~~~
Somewhere in the following weeks, I came down with vertigo so now have a relationship with an ENT practice. Still haven't figured out exactly what's going on, but we're working on it. We have discovered that I have a chronic sinus infection which might be contributing to the dizziness. But maybe not. In any case, it looks like surgery some time in Sept/Oct. What fun!
~~~


Here's Katie accepting a gift from a Neanderthal at the origins exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History. A great new exhibit. Pete's parents and my mom were in town for Zack's Black Belt Ceremony, so we all hit the museum together.

Here's Zack checking out his bone structure against Australopithecus.


And the big ceremony! We were all bursting with pride as Zack received his Black Belt.


They even spelled his name right!

The very next day, Zack left for BS sleep away camp for a week. Katie started art day camp that Monday, which she did for two weeks. I'll need to post photos of her work in a future post. She did some really nice pieces.

So, I had a week to myself! Tried to hook up with friends but most couldn't get the time free, so I spent a good deal of time loafing around. Ahhhhh!

I don't seems to have pictures from the day, but we also spent a lovely 4th of July at Chez Mart. We had a terrific time with them and the Ebbins, chowing, swimming, playing kick ball (!) and watching the fireworks. It had been quite a while since the families had gotten together and it was a very fun time.

And it wouldn't be summer without a trip to grandma's and hitting the beach! Can't believe how much more crowded the beach becomes each year. We are not used to sharing it!

The rain this morning helped thin the crowds, but when the thunder struck, we also cleared off. Nice background for photos though.


Katie's latest castle.


Zack hanging out on the shore.


And now it's August--already?!--and we are having a few weeks of our typical schedule of TKD/Piano/Art (when the teacher gets back from vaycay) and some extra girl outings for Katie, so she can meet a few more girls now that her best friend is spending more time in VT than in VA these days.

Hope you are enjoying the waning days of summer wherever you are.

Next up for us: Disney World!

K & Z turned 12!

How did this happen!

#

The SW Trip

This tour of the southwest was sort of a continuation of our trip in September but also included some different stops and we had Pete with us this time, which was terrific.

I am prone to over-scheduling, so we only spent a day in each place, except for the Grand Canyon. Turned out Google was our friend by over-estimating the travel time by at least a half hour for every drive and as a result, we ended up with some extra time.

It was a great trip. Chilly but in general the weather cooperated with mostly sunny or only partly cloudy days--a treat compared to the snow and rain forecast the week before we left.

The recap:

Day 1
Got up at 4am and the car service arrived at 4:30am to get us to our 7am flight.

It was in the 30s at home but the 80s in Tucson, so we layered up and stripped down to shorts and tees before we left the plane.

We arrived in Tucson and picked up our little Prius to head out to Saguaro National Park. I had bought the kids NP Passports, so they got their first stamps of the trip at the visitor's center and we purchased our America the Beautiful pass which gets us into all the National Parks, Memorials, Forests and Shorelines for a year.

The Saguaro cactus are truly amazing. Some look like people in various positions, some like many-armed sea creatures. The are overwhelmingly tall and there are thousands of them.


A Saguaro (Sa-wa-ro) cactus


another kind of cactus

I found it interesting that at all the parks we went to, and a lot of other places there were signs announcing that you could not bring a loaded weapon. Big problem out west still?

We found dinner and headed to the hotel for the night, very tired from the 3-hour time change.

Day 2
Off to the Grand Canyon via Sedona's Slide Rock State Park. But first a stop at the airport to switch to a 4 wheel drive car and a grocery store to fill our cooler with snacks and lunch stuff. What's a vacation without cheese balls, I ask you?


Red Rock! After all the brown desert, these suddenly rise up red.

At first I was disappointed that a cold front had blown in from the west bringing temps down to the 50s from the 70s of the previous week. I thought it was the weather keeping us from swimming and sliding at the park. THEN I put my foot in the water! Brrrrr. No way would I have gotten in that water no matter how hot out!

We had a great time anyway climbing around on the rocks and I was stunned that no one fell in.

The land was owned by a farmer who routed the river water up to his apple orchard and you can still see the century old irrigation system he ran up the canyon.


Climbing


Hiking back

We got to the Grand Canyon while it was still light out and while we drove around trying to find our lodge (the signage at the park is terrible) we came across a family of deer. I could swear we all took pictures of them, but don't seem to have any now. Very cute and very unconcerned about us. Something more to love about National Parks.

Day 3
Pete and I rose early to watch the sunrise at the rim. Kate and Zack had risen early the last time to see it and decided to take a pass on it this time.

It was lovely but the wind was crazy cold. After the sun came up, we headed back to the room to wake the kids and layer up in everything we had. I was game to try hiking down into the canyon, a big deal for someone as afraid of heights as I am. We wanted to be warm.

Zack got dressed before the rest of us (the one and only time during the trip) and went outside to come across a large elk! He came to get the rest of us and we followed him around the side of our bldg. Again, we kept our distance and he paid us no mind at all.


Elk browsing in the trees.

We tried the Bright Angel trail, reportedly the easiest hike, but the melt off was freezing on the trail and my nerves could only take going down past the second switchback. Aside from the heights, the ice just worked my last bit of courage. Still, it was more than I had ever planned to do before and the rest of the family was disappointed but wanted to stay together.

We also got to see another family of deer heading straight down the side of the canyon. One seemed to look after a woman turning around on one of the trail switchbacks and seemed to wonder why she was going to all that trouble instead of walking right down.

We hiked the rim trail for the rest of the day. The expected snow turned out to be just a flurry and we were definitely over-dressed. We shed our layers as the day progressed.


A short way into the canyon.


Too close to the edge! (Pete tells me it really wasn't)

In the evening, Zack wasn't feeling very well and the kids and Pete watch Space Balls. I had never seen it before and wish I hadn't that night but they loved it. I would have preferred to watch the sunset but I lost track of time.

Day 4
Drove along the Desert Rim of the canyon and climbed the watchtower. It is the nicest view of the canyon in my opinion and much more rugged than the South Rim trail. No place to stay except a seasonal campsite and it is not on the shuttle. Keeps it quiet and it's a nice way to leave the area.

Next stop--Wupatki National Monument. There are many Indian ruins. We stopped to see the main ruins and also a smaller group within the park. Sadly, Zack was not feeling very well and didn't enjoy the hike as much as he would have.


Wupatki

The road from Wupatki leads around to Sunset Crater a volcano that blew up a recent 1000 years ago spreading ash and boulders all over the Wupatki area, 30 miles away. It was a huge event in the lives of the native people and they told stories about it. The ash also helped agriculture in Wupatki.

We didn't realize that the ranger station closed at 5pm, rather than sundown, so we didn't get to walk all of the lava trail--big bummer--but we did get to see a good amount from the smaller trail and the road. The black ash sand is very cool looking. Zack was surprised at how grainy and rough it is. He expected it to be finer.


Sunset Crater


The warning sign at Lenox after our hike

Zack was feeling better and joined us for the climb up Lenox Crater, a much older volcano that gives a good view of Sunset Crater. It was a steep climb but we needed the training (see Carlsbad).

We stayed overnight in Flagstaff. Skipped the observatory program there. Too tired!

Day 5
The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.

A little petrified wood went a long way for Pete and me, but the kids loved it and wanted to see a lot. We did the trail at the visitor center and then the Long Tree trail. Petrified wood--or maybe just all that fresh air--made us giddy and we joked and laughed all afternoon.


Petrified Forest

The drive out of the park was long and pretty brown and dull. I was thinking to myself "this is the Painted Desert?" but then you go over a hill and there it is. Really lovely after all the dry desert.

I wished we'd had more time to hike the rim trail there, but we were hungry and tired so just looked for a bit and headed on to Albuquerque.


Painted Desert

Day 6
The l o n g b o r i n g road to Roswell. My advice? Skip the "museum" which looks like someones basement collection of clippings and dioramas and just go to the gift shop. The kids were underwhelmed but it's on the way to Carlsbad, so wasn't out of our way and a good place to stop for lunch in the car before we left.


Roswell Museum

On to Carlsbad Caverns through a lot more dusty desert.

We got to the park entrance at 1:58pm and read the sign telling us the natural entrance to the cave closed at 2pm! Up the long winding road that takes you to the visitors center. I gave the ticket guy my best sad brown eyes and he allowed us to try to get into the entrance at 2:10pm. Never hurts to ask!

We were instructed to keep moving at a pace as the clearing ranger was 3 minutes behind us. We clipped along until we passed a family with an audio tour and knew we were no longer the last family on the path.

If you go--DEFINITELY go in the natural entrance if your knees can take the downward grade. Well worth the extra hour heading into the cavern.

When we reached the bottom, we toured the Big Room.

Not sure what's up with Katie in this one.


On the way out of the park, we noticed these palmy looking plants that had big blooms on top. Found out at this exhibit they are a kind of yucca.

Day 7
Up over and through the Lincoln National Forest to White Sands National Monument. Warm but WINDY! We could see the sand spinning up in the wind from the distance.

At White Sands you buy sleds (that you can then sell back for a 3rd of the price you paid) to slide down the dunes. Too fun! Pete finally got his relaxing beach vacation less the water. We all took turns sliding down. The trip back up the dune was difficult, the sand is very fine and your feet sink right down into it.

Unnerving to read the sign showing us what unspent munitions look like and instructing us not to touch them. The park is right next to the White Sands missile testing range.


Katie and Pete sledding

We spent the night in Las Cruces.

Day 8
We had planned this as a travel day back to Albuquerque for our flights home the next day but it turned out to be pretty fun.

It's only 3 hours from Las Cruces to Alb. so we took it easy, sleeping in and heading through Hatch, NM the "Chile Capital of the World!"

Pete enjoyed perusing all the different chile powders, while I was cracking up over the giant at the RV store next door.

The Chile Capital


Am I in Texas? Check out the hat at his feet!

Got to the Explora! Museum in Albuquerque and stopped in before dinner at an adorable Taqueria with great food. Then went to El Patio for the best sopapias with honey.


Making giant bubbles


working on a Rube Goldberg contraption

Day 8
Home.....?

Pete's band was playing in Atlanta this night, so he left us early in the morning to catch a flight there. Our flight had a layover in Salt Lake City. It turned out to be a much longer layover than we expected.

I had some heart palpitations (a minor recurring problem) getting onto the flight. They usually subside within 2 minutes. This time they went on well beyond the planned pull back from the gate. Much to Delta's relief I thought it would be a good idea to disembark.

I have to say that Delta was great. They booked us on a flight for the next morning, got us a room for the night, insisted on having me see the EMS people and gave us toiletries and tees. Naturally, everything was fine with me by the time EMS arrived and as I saw our flight take to the skies along with our luggage.

We took a shuttle to our hotel and were lucky enough to be within walking distance of the Mormon Temple, which we had never seen before. We toured the genealogy building and walked through a museum explaining the history of Temple Square. I had no idea that the temple we see today was built by pioneers who brought the granite down from the surrounding mountains via ox cart. Kate and I both noted that all that granite could have made some nice houses for the settlers but, obviously they had other priorities.


At the Temple

Extra Day 9
Home again! An easy flight (until the bumps on the approach) and the longest ride of my life on Super Shuttle, which decided it would be a good idea to go to from BWI to the National Harbor, then Crystal City via Old Town, then back down the hwy to our house during rush hour. :-P

Good to be home.

Time to plan the next adventure!