A Grand Post

Hello!!

We are in Barstow, California and we finally have good WiFi! 

As the title suggests, this will be a grand post and will include our adventures in and around the Grand Canyon over the past three days and our travels to Barstow today.

Grand Canyon Day 1

This was the day we left Holbrook, Arizona and traveled to our hotel in Valle, Arizona. In the morning we passed a "tourist trap" (as Granny calls them) called Geronimo. Granny and Brenda said they were there during a previous trip and said it wasn't worth stopping. We did take some pictures and it looked pretty cool with the teepees and petrified wood. If we weren't on a schedule, I would have loved it if we stopped just so I could see everything for myself.

When we got to Valle and secured our hotel room we went over to the Grand Canyon Airport to see Granny's nephew Ronnie who works for Grand Canyon Helicopters. Before we even left home Emily and Brenda knew they were going to fly in a helicopter. I am afraid of heights so I opted out as soon as I heard about it. When we got in Emily and Brenda were checked in and we met Ronnie and his grandson Cody. They assured them that the ride is safe and much smoother than an airplane and that they would love the view. When Emily and Brenda got in the helicopter I got kind of jealous; It looked like it was really cool! When they came back I started wishing I went with them. Emily and Brenda were both speechless and to get a glimpse of what they experienced I looked at their pictures. After looking through the pictures I could see why they were speechless. 


That night we had dinner with Ronnie, Cody, and Ronnie's wife, Andy. We had a great time eating and talking. We probably stayed in the restaurant for two or three hours! While we were eating Ronnie asked me from across the table if I would like to go on a helicopter ride. I knew that this might be my only chance to try something like this and fear of heights or not, I was gonna try it! I said yes, as long as someone went with me. Emily and Brenda gladly volunteered to come with me. 

After dinner, we said good-bye to our family and went straight to our room and fell asleep. We had a really long, eventful day!

Grand Canyon Day 2

This was the day I got my turn to ride in a helicopter over the Grand Canyon. We woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel and went to the gift shop close to the hotel since we had extra time to kill before our 1:00 flight. There were some really interesting things in the store including Native American pottery and crafts, petrified wood, and other Grand Canyon themed gifts. 

When it was time to go to the Airport for our flight I was really nervous and excited. Brenda and Emily were just excited to be going on again and were telling me during the car ride and our wait in the building that it was amazing and I wouldn't regret it. They were right!

When we walked out to the helicopter, got in and strapped ourselves in I was smiling like I've never smiled before, giddy with excitement. Waiting for take off was excruciatingly long but when Ronnie gave the OK and we finally took to the air I was swept off my feet and the air was taken from my lungs. I never thought I'd ride in a helicopter but this was just amazing. 

The pilot had to turn the helicopter around to get us going in the right direction. After we were going the right way, the pilot flew us over the Kaibab National Forest which is one of the largest in the country at 1.6 million acres and surrounds the Grand Canyon. 

As soon as the forest ends, you are swept into the Canyon itself. An immense chasm stretches before you and it's hard to believe that you're awake and not in some wonderful dream. When I got my first glimpse of the Grand Canyon I was on the verge of tears; never before in my life had I seen anything so compelling and awe-inspiring. 

As we flew over the formations carved by the Colorado River there was a narrator telling us more about this amazing wonder of the world. The narrator shared a quote from President Theodore Roosevelt which I whole-heartedly agree with. He said, 

"In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is...You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it."

I can only agree with his statement after seeing the Grand Canyon with my own eyes from the air. The next logical step for us was to see the Canyon on the ground!

But alas, twas not to be. 

After our helicopter ride we were all hungry chicks and went to McDonald's. During lunch we talked and discovered Emily wasn't feeling all that great. We decided that the best thing to do was to get back to the hotel and have a restful evening since all of us were still very tired from traveling and needed to decompress. 

We all had a very peaceful night whether we stayed in the room or relaxed outside after the rainstorm that passed through the area. That was when I was able to post to the blog and tell all of you we were OK!

Grand Canyon Day 3

This was the day we actually saw the Grand Canyon!

We woke up early and ate our breakfast so we could spend as much time as possible at the Canyon. In the car we were all excited and itching to see what Emily, Brenda, and I saw from above. When we finally got in the park and parked at the visitor's center we saw the free movie they had on a continuous loop. It was very informative and got us ready to see the Grand Canyon up close! After the visitor's center, we walked over to the bookstore to check out what they had. There were some great books and postcards, and I saw a brochure for Adopt-a-Lion that I was very interested in. We didn't buy anything yet since we didn't want to carry it with us as we walked around.

We walked over to the bus terminal area and figured out where we wanted to go. We decided we wanted to go to Hermit's Rest and found that we needed to take two buses in order to get there. The first bus ride was relatively short and it wasn't long until we were at our transfer. And the view from the stop was amazing! We really got our first look at the Grand Canyon from this stop. It was beautiful!

When we got on the bus to Hermit's Rest we decided that we wanted to stop at a look out called the Abyss on our way. As we approached the Abyss it started to drizzle. Brenda, Emily and I still wanted to get off but Granny elected to stay on the bus and ride the rest of the way to Hermit's and would meet us there. When we got out at the Abyss it was raining much harder than it was before but the view was stunning! We could see why it was called the Abyss; it dropped straight down and definitely looked like it was bottomless. 

The rain did let up for a while but when the three of us got back on a bus to take us to Hermit's Rest the light drizzle had become a torrential downpour! As soon as we got on the bus we were informed that it was highly recommended that we not get off the bus. When we got to Hermit's Rest we could see Granny from the windows and started to move towards the doors. Again, we were told that it was highly recommended that we stay on the bus as lightning was spotted in the area. But being who we are we insisted that we get off and catch the next bus with Granny. They finally let us off and the next bus wasn't too far behind. We just couldn't leave Granny alone at the Grand Canyon!

On the way back to the visitor's center the rain got harder, we could see lightning, and we could hear loud rumbles of thunder. But the little baby boy sitting with his parents in front of me and Emily wasn't deterred in the least. He was giggling and smiling the whole ride back. We knew he didn't speak English (if he could speak at all), but he could certainly understand the universal language of funny faces! On the ride back we also saw a lot of elk out and about next to the roads. It was shocking how many small herds we saw on the way back. We tried to take pictures of them every time but we were either slow with the draw or the pictures came out blurry. Those elk are elusive animals!

Safely back at the visitor's center, we went back to the bookstore to make the purchases we didn't feel like carrying with us. Granny and Brenda both got some great stuff and I, after thinking about it for a bit, adopted a mountain lion! It was a one time donation and I can go online and see what's up with the ones they tagged. The woman at the counter told me that there were five new cubs born this year. For a bit more information on tagging mountain lion cubs you can click here. Did I mention that I got an adorable plush mountain lion for my donation?

By the time we got in the car it was still raining and all of us were hungry since we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. On the way back our eyes were peeled for anything that looked good. One of the first things we saw was Yippie-ei-O Steakhouse and we thought that would be one of the best choices since our other options were either too expensive or McDonald's. The food was very good; it was probably the best food we had eaten in a while.

As we were walking towards the car after our meal in the light rain we saw a double rainbow which Emily was very excited about. We took lots of pictures of it since it was a beautiful rainbow that stretched all the way across the sky. 

After our rainbow photo op we piled into the car and went back to our hotel. We were tired from trekking in the rain and standing in the buses but there was one thing we had to do before we could go back to our room: laundry. We asked the woman at the front desk where we could accomplish our task and we were told to go across the street to the Flintstones Bedrock Campground. Long story short: it was not a great experience and we would recommend it as much as a bus driver would recommend getting off the bus during a thunder storm at the Grand Canyon. 

After our laundry was "done" we hightailed it over to our hotel room where we fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

Today - To Barstow!

This morning we woke up after a grand night's sleep and packed up the car. It was nice to stay in one place for a while but it was even better to be on the move again. Before leaving we stopped in at the gift shop/convenience store for some souvenirs and shampoo (Emily and I were running dangerously low). Then, instead of having breakfast at the hotel for the third morning in a row, we stopped at a Denny's in Williams. After our meal our ride to Barstow, California was relatively uneventful. But I will say that the clouds in Arizona are absolutely beautiful! Since you are still about 5000-6000 feet above sea level the clouds were so close you can see every minute detail. And with the vivid blue of the sky, vibrant green of the scrub, and the stunning red of the soil it made for the perfect scene. 

We crossed into California around lunch time and drove through the Mojave Desert where rest stops and gas stations are far and few between. When we finally did find something and got out of the car we tried to make it to the building without melting. The temperature was well above 100 degrees. Barstow isn't much better; at 8:00 at night while the sun was going down it was still about 102! 

We traveled about 350 miles today from Valle, Arizona to Barstow California. Emily and I have also counted how many states we have been in: 23 (and that's not just this trip). We are realizing that we are so lucky to be able to travel as much as we do and to see as much as we have seen. 

If you would like to see more pictures from our Grand Canyon adventure, you can go to our new tab titled "Grand Canyon." For more pictures from today's journey, you can go to the tab titled "More Pictures."

Before we head off to bed we wanted to thank everyone who is following us on our gallivanting and praying for us as we travel. We love you all and wish you were here!

Galloping with love to the West Coast

Kim