There She Goes Again

We had breakfast at the buffet which while expensive (what isn’t in this town?) was exceptional.  The corn beef hash was yummy, if I’d had a Ziploc I’d have filled it.  That would have been disgusting to look at though, wouldn’t it? 

Not wanting to break my no-gambling streak I headed back to the room where I watched my first ever episode of Boston Legal (William Shatner got married and had sex with some other woman during the reception, what a crazy show!) and then it was time to depart for the airport.  Our gates were in opposite directions so I said Goodbye to my wonderful travel companions, Charlotte and John, and headed for my gate.  The flight was delayed leaving Vegas by about 20 minutes because SF only has one active runway due to construction work but other than that things were uneventful.  We were only a few minutes late getting into San Francisco and coming off the plane I felt like I was still in Vegas – it was incredibly hot!  Took Lorries Shuttle (cheaper than Super Shuttle – good to know) into the city and after four stops I am home!

We had breakfast at the hotel and the dining room was PACKED.  Funny how if you’re up at 6:00 a.m. there’s nobody here.  We hit the road to Williams and then headed out on Route 66.  The first town we went through, Seligman, was the best as far as Americana and tackiness (including a Road Kill Café) but we blew through it.  John saw four tour buses and had no desire to stay.  If I ever go back to the Grand Canyon I’m at least going to stop there and take tacky photos.  Because I’m like that.  As we drove on we saw loads of tumbleweeds on the side of the road, stuck in the fence; as well as Burma Shave signs.  I kept meaning to take photos of those but by the time I spotted them we were past the first one.  I’m starting to think I need to get my eyes checked.  Wonder if you can get LASIK twice because I am not thrilled about the idea of glasses again.  I don’t think my eyesight is that bad but I don’t think it’s 20/20 anymore.

We stopped for lunch and to check out the Route 66 Visitor Center in Kingman.   The Museum in the Visitor Center was great.  I had no idea of what the pioneers really went through on their way out to the promised land.  I certainly didn’t realize that the people all walked NEXT TO their wagons.  I knew the wagons were jam packed but I thought the women and children rode in them.  Nope.  How difficult must that have been?  All that walking and the heat and all the clothes people wore back in those days.  When they set out they had everything they owned in the wagons but as they progressed they started ditching things to lighten the load.  Also learned that a huge percentage (70%?) of those who made it to California turned around and went back to where they’d come.  Amazing.  California must have been brutal. 

They also had a wall covered in letters from people who lived along Route 66 back in the day.  They were very interesting.  After leaving, we drove to Oatman to see the “Ghost Town” and the burros.  There are only 150 residents of Oatman and they’ve done their best to keep the buildings looking old.  Sometime in the way back people basically tossed their burros out into the wild and they’ve continued that way ever since.  They come into town every day to be fed by the tourists.  Every shop in town sells carrots and the baby burros have stickers on their foreheads with a carrot with the red “No” circle on it.  They can choke on carrots so the townspeople are trying to make sure that doesn’t happen.

I can’t imagine voluntarily living in a town this small and isolated so I asked one woman how she ended up there.  She had a son who she raised in Vegas.  When he graduated and moved out she came to visit a friend who lived near Oatman.  She said when she saw Oatman she fell in love with it and has been here ever since.  Another woman had moved there with her husband from somewhere near LA.  She’d been there for 20 years.  Talk about living somewhere where everyone knows your business.  Not to mention really being on your own.  No thank you.  I’m independent but not like that!

When we left Oatman we decided to go ahead and drive to Vegas for our final night.  We called Visitor Info to find somewhere to stay that was NOT on the strip and ended up at the Golden Nugget on Fremont Street.  We weren’t expecting much to be honest, I’ve always thought of downtown as old and run down.  The casino and hotel entrance looked like every other casino you go into in Vegas which didn’t tell us much.  However, when we walked into the room all three of us said “WOW!”  The room was huge and beautiful.  The only thing I can find fault with is you have to pay for internet access.  I’ve been spoiled in all the other places we’ve stayed.  I decided I can live without the internet for a night.

We walked around the hotel and the pool area, it’s all really gorgeous.  If I ever have to come back to Vegas (please, please no) I’ll definitely stay down here rather than the strip.  We walked around Fremont Street, had a giant margarita and saw part of the Helldorado Parade before heading back to the hotel.  John has been such a good sport, doing everything we’ve wanted, so we let him pick the final dinner spot.  He chose Lillie’s Noodle House, which is literally around the corner from the elevator to our room and again I was surprised.  It was fabulous.  Continuing our routine of wild, late nights we headed back to the room, watched Harry Potter 5 (Goblet of Fire) and then crashed.  I don’t even think I made it to the end of the movie.  No gambling and I haven’t overloaded on the ding-ding-ding noise of casinos – my best trip to Vegas by far. 

After a carbo-load breakfast (because evidently I think I’m riding a bike 100 miles) we drove over to the Canyon and began our hike down to Indian Garden.  About 45 minutes into the hike down (remember, I hate down - I’m constantly worried about wiping out and screwing my back up [more]) I asked Charlotte if she found stuff like this to be “fun.”  She does.  I told her I think it sucks.  She asked me why I do all the crazy things I do (Inca Trail, Tongariro Crossing, etc.) if I don’t enjoy it.  That got me thinking and what I’ve decided is I do these things because they are there and I want to.  I enjoy bitching so being miserable at the start works out well for me.  A big part of why I’m miserable is I’m so nervous that it will be way harder than it is and I won’t finish and I’ll perish by the side of the trail or something ridiculous like that.  Once I figure out that I’m going to survive I stop hating it and start having a good time.  Well except for the Tongariro Crossing, that sucked all the way through but I’m still glad I did it.  Once I realized there was water every 1-1/2 miles and I wasn’t going to dehydrate (even with John carrying six gallons of water for me  - OK, slight exaggeration but he was schlepping a lot) it got a little better.  Once we reached Indian Garden it got really good.  As much as I hate climbing I think I actually enjoy the up more than the down, I don’t worry about wiping out when I’m going up.

I think riding a mule into the Canyon shouldn’t count as getting to the bottom unless you’re disabled.  Being lazy doesn’t really earn it, you know?  Then again, if you’ve only got one day and you’re determined to get to the bottom it’s your only choice.  I’m not on a mission to reach the bottom and I’m definitely not in a hurry to ride a mule again.  I remember doing so at the Valley of the Kings and the damn things walking as close to the edge of the trail and a sheer drop off as it could – and their feet slipping here and there as they walked.  Not to mention if I pointed my toes down I could actually touch the ground.  No thanks, I’ll walk.  I’m so glad I borrowed Alan’s walking sticks, they seemed to be a help but then again I didn’t try to do much walking without them.  I like being able to push down against something as I’m going up.  Not to mention being able to brace something on the ground as I’m heading down.  At first I felt like an old fogey using them until I started to see real hikey people using them.  I’m only a recreational hiker.

Three hours after we started we arrived at Indian Garden and after eating lunch we reversed course and headed back from whence we came.  One thing about climbing out of anything (whether it be on a bike or a hike), you start talking to people.  We met a guy, probably in his 60’s, and a friend of his who had hiked down on another trail a week earlier, stayed at the bottom, hiked UP to the North Rim, hiked back down and were now hiking out.  That does not sound like a fun time to me but they loved it.  We also passed two guys in their 30’s who were with a little boy, they were heading up when we were heading down.  I pointed to the kid and said “I bet he thinks this is fun.”  He did.  Kids are stupid that way.  I remember being excited about riding a bike UP the hill across from the house I grew up in.  What the hell was I thinking?

Conventional thinking is that for every hour down it takes 1-1/2 hours to get out so our hike out should have taken about 4-1/2 hours.  NOT.  We headed down at 7:40 am and were back at the top at 3:20!  We left Indian Garden to hike out at 11:20 so it took us three hours to get down and about the same to get out (of actual walking time – lunch and stopping on the way out was about an hour).  I’m very proud of myself! 

Some random things I remember from the hike: 

·         Charlotte spotting a rattlesnake next to a rock on the way down and everyone standing on the opposite side of the trail to try to take a photo of him. 

·         Realizing halfway down that there’s no point in taking my fancy schmancy camera on treks like this.  It’s more of a pain to pull it out, take off the lens cap, snap a photo, replace the lens cap, swing it back around, repeat.  From here on out I need to remember to just take the little point and shoot, it’s fine. 

·         Squirrels are cool.  On our way out we had one who was hanging out with us, standing on his hind legs giving us a little show.  I’m easily amused. 

·         Lastly, the sunburn I got on the hike in Bryce Canyon is bad.  The back of my calves are both bubbly – little watery blisters.  They don’t hurt but they look gross.  Didn’t want to rub them off with all the dirt I was walking through but I’ll give them a good ‘scrubbling’ when I’m back at the hotel. 

We are all filthy, from the knees down we’re coated with red dirt.  Like our shoes?  My face and arms have definitely gotten a lot of sun.  I thought my legs were much tanner but that turned out to just be dirt.  After ice cream at the General Store we went back to hotel and scrubbled the grime away.  The tub was filled with so much red dirt it took a long time to drain.   I laid on the bed for an hour and a half then we headed back to the Canyon to watch the sunset.  We’re driving Route 66 tomorrow and then heading home.

Had a delightful breakfast of Greek Yogurt from Safeway before we began our drive to – oh my god, finally! – The Grand Canyon.  We were a few minutes out of Cortez when Charlotte realized she can’t find her wallet.  Back to the hotel, not there; call Mesa Verde to see if they have it, no luck; ransack the hotel room and all of our bags; turn the car inside out; ransack some more; turn car inside out again and there it is – in the glovebox where it has been all throughout the trip.  Never a dull moment with us.    Next up, The Four Corners. 

Definitely not what I expected.  Nothing ever is though, is it?  Unless you’ve gone out to Flickr to look at photos beforehand, that is.  Honestly, I was thinking it was going to be a plaque in the middle of a grass field.  Hello?  Where the hell have I been for the past week?  A grass field?  It’s an elevated large cement area with flags all around it and Indian merchandise stalls all around that.  Tacky and well worth the time and money; at least Charlotte and I thought so.  And guess what?  Indians don’t refer to themselves as Native Americans, they call themselves Indians.  Stupid political correctness.

Driving, driving, driving, driving.  Holy cow – what’s the big canyon over there?  That’s not even the Grand Canyon and it’s impressive.  Hey – there’s a Grand Canyon National park sign.  OMG, we’re here.  I’m really here.  I’m going to see the Grand Canyon!  We stopped at “First Viewpoint for Grand Canyon” (The Watchtower and yes, the sign really says ‘First Viewpoint…’) and I saw the Immense, Amazing, Incredible Grand Canyon for the first time.  Big and large and incredible but from a photography perspective it looks like crap right now because the light sucks.  That’s OK though, my eyes are working fine and it is just spectacular.  I feel embarrassed that I live in this country and it’s taken me so long to get here!

We drove along stopping at various viewpoints so I could take it all in.  John and Charlotte have been here several times so I’m very grateful they were willing to come back so I could finally see this.  We parked at the General Market which is just massive and has everything you could want or need to stay here for a quite a while.  We walked over to the Rim Trail via the Visitor Center.  The Park Service has really outdone themselves here.  The information they’ve got available answers every question you could think of and the facilities are stellar.  We walked for about an hour or two and at every turn I oohed and aahed, as is required.  Charlotte and John were kind enough to point out the Bright Angel Trail which they claim I’m hiking tomorrow.  We’ll see about that one.

We stayed just outside the Park and the dinner options were limited.  We ended up at We Cook Pizza and Pasta (yes, that’s really the name) and my pizza was surprisingly yummy.  If you’re there don’t be afraid to eat at We Cook – it’s much better than you’d expect.

Started the day with a HUGE breakfast at the El Grande Café.  Lots of green chilis, cheese and eggs.  YUM.  As we were sitting at our table we noticed a JCPenney catalog pick up sign on a store across the street.  I can’t believe those are still around.  Catalog pick up spots AND JC Penney catalog shopping.

After another hour or so in the car we arrived at Mesa Verde just as they opened.  We bought tickets for the guided tours of both the Cliff House and Balcony House.  First up, Cliff House.  All we had to do to get to it was go down a metal staircase and then there it was.  Carved right into the side of these cliffs.  Why in the world did people do this?  And how did they get up and down?  They certainly didn’t have the nice metal staircases we have now.  We were told there were so many people living on the flatland above that they had to start moving down the cliff face.  Okey doke.  The climb out was a bit scarier, straight up ladders wedged between rocks.  You can see the hand/foot holds the Anasazi (which just means Ancient – it’s not an actual tribe or race of people) used to go up and down.  They must have been a lot more surefooted than I am!

From here we went to the next tour and I must admit I was a little nervous about this one.  We had to go up a 30+ foot ladder then crawl through a tunnel (I was worried that I’d either get stuck or I’d be unable to stand up straight afterward) then climb out on more ladders.  I did just fine.  The first ladder is double-wide and I was going up next to a French guy (gee, imagine that, more French folks).  We were “neck and neck” for the first half and then all of a sudden I was at the top and he was still a third of the way down.  Turns out he is not too fond of heights.  I’m fine with them as long as I have something to grip on to.  I don’t even need to be touching it, just knowing it’s there works for me.  Just don’t ask me to walk down an incline.

We had several hiking options and had planned to do two, Spruce Canyon and the Petroglyph Point hiked.  We started with the Petroglyph Point trail.  It was a great hike, just the right amount of up and down and took about three hours.  Most of the up and down bit is before the Petroglyphs so the last hour or so is just a stroll through the woods.  We could see the other trail for most of this one and decided one hike today was enough.  We’re cruising along and we come across a few people standing to the side of the trail. I go by them and Charlotte (or was it John?) points out to me that I have just walked right past the Petroglyphs.  Somehow I thought there would be loads of them all along the hike but it’s just one spot.  Charlotte read to us from our little trail guide and we decided that the Whipping Kachina was the best petroglyph of all.  They “straighten out” people and give them direction.  When I have to retire my email address due to more spam than I can handle (in a month or two) I’m going to start using whipping kachina at….  

Dinner at the Main Street Brewery where I had one of the best burgers I’ve ever had, then back to the hotel.  Another wild, late night for the Tres Companeros.  I ended up sitting on the floor in the bathroom because I couldn’t sleep.  Read all of the magazines I’d brought before finally getting back in bed and falling asleep around 1:00 (bedtime has consistently been 10:00 – when we’re 70 will it be 8:00?).

I’m enjoying this trip but geez, the driving distances are huge!  We’re driving to Monument Valley when all of a sudden I see “The Wild West” off in the distance.  We’re still at least a half hour drive from MV but there it is.  And the sky isn’t even clear.  I’m not sure if that’s global warming or just schmutz blowing in from somewhere.  Someone told us it comes in from Los Angeles.  I’m not sure I buy that no matter how much cruddy air they have there.  We arrive at the Visitor Center and all around me I hear French.  Evidently the American SouthWest is the current French destination of choice.  In Page, Rick (the guy running the hotel) said the majority of their guests are from France.  Some travel writer wrote up his Dad’s hotel and they’ve been swamped ever since.

We did the self drive tour through Monument Valley.  One of the best things was seeing a man on a horse off to the side of one of the formations.  THAT was truly the quintessential Southwest image.  How did these things form?   I know they’re geological formations and all that but it’s just incredible.  There is so much nothing everywhere and then you’ve got these massive formations jutting out of the ground.  Really makes you feel insignificant when you realize that you will be long gone and they will still be here.  Thousands of years after I have looked at all of this they will still be standing.  Who knows if people will still be here but if the Earth hasn’t been destroyed I have no doubt all of this will remain and won’t look much different than it does now.

Next up, on our way to Cortez, we went to see the Mexican Hat.  It’s a rock formation that supposedly looks like a sombrero on a pile of rocks.  It was obvious which rock was supposed to be Mexican Hat but it didn’t really look like a sombrero.  What was even more amazing was how far we were from Monument Valley yet we could still make it out in the distance.  We had plenty of time left today so we decided to drive through the Valley of the Gods.  I thought it would look like Monument Valley but it doesn’t.  It is more rock formations and some of them are pretty interesting but they’re different.  Same, same, but different. 

My 10-year-old guide book said Muley Point is a must see so we headed that way.  Holy shit, what a drive.  We drove up one of the massive rock (are they rock?) formations on a twisty, curvy, tiny, scary road and then drove down a rutted dirt road to arrive at the end of the road overlooking more of the Colorado River (and more goosenecks).  It was beautiful and all that but I wouldn’t call it a must see.  A must drive if you’re into that crazy, unbelievable, could-die driving type stuff (it reminded me of that scary, dangerous, crazy road in New Zealand) but not all that stellar.  I think I’m quickly growing jaded after seeing so much natural beauty everywhere I look.  We’re not actually sure we ever found Muley Point but on the way out two cars passed us going the way we’d come so maybe that was it.  If it was, it wasn’t signposted.  Charlotte and I were a bit nervous about the drive down, after all it seemed like we came up really quickly and the road was skinny with no guardrails, but it turned out to not be a very big deal.   Thank goodness John is a confident driver!

Next up, Cortez and the wonderful Tomahawk Motel.  What a great place, it’s straight out of the 50’s and a real treat.  The woman who runs the place has two huge Great Danes and is from some Scandanavian country.  She sounds (and looks) exactly like one of my clients who is from Norway.  I wanted to ask her how she ever ended up in Cortez, Colorado but I know it’s going to be because she met some guy, blah blah blah.  After dropping our stuff we headed straight to Fiesta Mexicana for another round of yummy, yummy food.  I highly recommend Fiesta Mexicana if you’re ever near one.  The prairie dogs in the lawn outside the restaurant were really fun too.

Since John and Charlotte both naturally wake up at ungodly hours like 5:00 a.m. we were at Horseshoe Bend by 7:00.  It’s quite something to see.  Not only is it an incredible site (the Colorado River making a huge loop around a very large rock), it would be incredibly easy to plummet to your death from the edge.  It’s 1,100 feet down and there is no guard rail or barrier of any sort to prevent you from going right over.  I’m sure people have died, fortunately none while I was there.  Charlotte and I are quite the pair – I’m terrified of slipping when walking on a downward slope or off the edge of very narrow walkways with a drop on either side and Charlotte is terrified of walking on suspension bridges and getting near the edges of things that drop off – even if there is a barricade (for example, she said she wouldn’t walk across the dam for love or money and there’s a huge barrier that you couldn’t get through if you tried).  I was OK with getting pretty close to the edge of Horseshoe Bend and Charlotte got close by crawling on her hands and knees.  Yeah us!  John wanders around like it’s no big deal.  I had planned to take loads of photos and had my tripod with me.  That was a great plan except for leaving the tripod head back at the hotel!  Brilliant.  At least I did it here and not at Antelope Canyon.

Back at the hotel John took off for the Vermillion Cliffs to see condors while Charlotte and I hung out with Rick, the guy running the hotel.  He used to live in LA and was on Babylon 5 for five years and also was a Borg on a Next Generation episode.  I was very excited by that, of course.  Not to mention he’s single, one year younger than me, straight and cute.  Only problem, he moved from LA to Page to help his Dad run the two hotels they own and I am for damn sure not moving to Page (who cares if he’s interested or not, that’s irrelevant)!  So alas, I am still single.

Charlotte and I had a spectacular lunch at Fiesta Mexicana before heading out to Antelope Canyon for the photo tour.  The ride to the Canyon was crazy.  Once you get off the main road you drive in a sand filled wash, which when it rains fills with 4-5 feet of water (no wonder they have flash floods), before arriving at the entrance to the canyon.  It reminded me a lot of the entrance to the Siq in Petra.  Our tour left Page at 1:00 so we missed the sunbeams but we had loads of light coming down the sides of the Canyon.  I still can’t believe I’ve actually been there.  It was just spectacular and was even better than I imagined.  I had read a suggestion on photo.net to use a Ziploc bag to cover your camera to protect it from sand.  I cut a hole in one and taped the opening to the lens hood and am I ever glad I did.  I didn’t realize how much sand was blowing down from the top of the canyon until Charlotte took a photo of me with flash and it looked as if it was snowing.  When I looked up and got a face full of sand it made it pretty clear as well.  I’m quick on the uptake aren’t I? 

I don’t think I’ve ever taken so many photos in such a short time.  I was shooting RAW and JPEG and took over 145 photos in about 1 hour and 40 minutes.  The other guy in our group (our group of me, Charlotte and him) had been on the tour just before this one and had seen the light beams but also said there were over 100 people in the Canyon.  We had about 40 and that was a lot in my opinion.  Charlotte took almost 100 with my little  point and shoot.  A lot of those are blurry, it’s just impossible to hold a camera still for long without a tripod, but there are some good ones.  Soon it was time to leave and the only thing I’m wishing I’d done is walk through the Canyon and take a movie.  I’ll just have to come back. 

Back to town to meet up with John and hit the road to Kayenta.  Once we entered Navajo land the time changed AGAIN even though we’re still in Arizona.  Bizarre.  Kayenta is tiny but I give them credit, they have a two screen movie theatre and they’re showing Star Trek.  Tomorrow we’re heading to Monument Valley, I’m looking forward to seeing the quintessential Wild West live and in person.

Up around 7:00 and after a yummy  breakfast of Frosted Flakes (the hotel has a great store with prices cheaper than what I pay at home) we headed out.  Took a photo of all of us, including Mini-Ree, at the Bryce Canyon sign and then headed for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to see Kodachrome Basin State Park which is where we are now.  I can’t get a cell phone signal but they have wireless internet.  We started out on a three mile hike, which due to a wrong turn which took us up a ledge that scared the crap out of me, ended up being four miles.  It is beautiful here, as is just about everything I’ve seen so far.  We kept seeing a couple on mountain bikes on the trail so when they passed us toward the end we talked to them and found out they are from New Zealand and are traveling around the states for six months using ONLY their mountain bikes.  Whoa.  They’ve been to Yosemite and are now here in Utah so they’ve covered some territory.  They are going to go up to Canada via Colorado – what a massive undertaking.  Good for them, those Kiwi’s are hearty stock!  I am covered in dust and not raring to go do another hike and neither is Charlotte so we sent John off on a 1-1/2 mile birding trail.  There’s a nice patch of shade here at the Visitor Center so we decided to sit here and I thought it would be a good time to catch up (start) this journal.  Imagine my surprise when I turned little AspireOne (that’s what it says on him so that’s going to be his name now) and it found a network.  With high signal strength.  This is crazy.  But now I’m all caught up so it’s time to go update my Facebook status and send my Mom a Mother’s Day email since I CAN’T GET A CELL PHONE SIGNAL!  

Upon leaving the Visitor Center we headed down Cottonwood Canyon Road, a 40-mile unpaved mess of dirt, rocks and lots of bouncing around.  We stopped to check out Grosvenor Arch, which was, of course, beautiful and then continued on our merry way.  The Arch side trip took about 20 minutes and three hours after setting off on our 40-mile odyssey (yes, three hours) we returned to a lovely, modern, paved road.  We felt like we were driving 120 mph after the journey we’d just come from.  I have a new appreciation for pavement. 

As we crossed from Utah into Arizona we went back in time an hour so we’re back on California time, or as it’s known elsewhere, Pacific Standard Time.  Lake Powell is something to see – a huge, and I do mean HUGE, lake surrounded by buttes and massive rock formations.  I think it would be really amazing to spend a couple of days on a houseboat on this lake.  Maybe next time.  After crossing the Glen Canyon Dam we arrived in the town I have been waiting years to arrive in, Page, Arizona.  Years ago  I saw a commercial which used Antelope Canyon as the setting, I managed to find out where it was and I have been determined to see it for myself ever since. 

We checked into Debbie’s Hideaway Motel which was almost identical to the four-plex apartment building I lived in when I first moved out of my parents house.  Literally, it was practically the same layout.  We hit Safeway for food, since we have a kitchen, and settled in to watch the finale of The Amazing Race.  Poor Luke, dude I thought you had it all wrapped up.  I slept like crap even though I had the real bed in the bedroom (Charlotte and John were on an air mattress in the living room – if I’d slept on it my back would have been a mess the following day).  My sunburn is beyond ridiculous.  I keep expecting to look at my arm and see blood streaming down it or huge blisters about to explode.  No matter which way I laid some burned part of me (back of both legs, back of both arms and side of my neck) had pressure on it and nothing made it feel better.  I was awake for good at 5:00 am. 

After a huge buffet breakfast we headed into Bryce and after a quick stop at the Visitor Center we set off on an 8.8 mile hike on the Fairyland trail.  This scenery is just incredible.  I’ve seen pictures but they don’t do it justice.  Everything is so large and magnificent; it really makes you feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things, not only size-wise but time-wise.  We’re here for such a short period of time compared to these massive mountains, rocks, trees – everything. 

The hike was tough and I’m glad I had borrowed Alan’s walking sticks although in retrospect I should have brought both of them on this trail, not just one.  One was better than none though!  Every time I went to take a photo I had the walking stick dangling off my wrist.  I’m hoping the shutter speed was fast enough for it not to have mattered.  Eventually I started setting it down but then I had to bend down to pick it up and I’m lazy so that was more than I could possibly be expected to do, especially considering I took over 300 photos today.

Down and up and through and up and down and then up, up, up, down, down, down.  Thank goodness it was incredibly beautiful or I’d have been really crabby.  Or crabbier depending on who you ask.  The hoodoo’s remind me a little of the fairy chimneys in Cappadocia but they don’t really look anything alike.  The hoodoo’s are eroded by water, the fairy chimneys are eroded by wind and they must be different rock types because they don’t look anything alike.  They both have rocks at th e top though that are made of something that isn’t eroded by whatever is doing the number on the rest of the structure so all in all it’s same, same, but different.

I thought we saw a lot of hoodoo’s on our hike, then we drove to Inspiration Point and walked up a steep hill to the overlook.  Holy cow, there are so many of them here that if you could get down there I don’t think you could even walk among them!  This point is very appropriately named. 

We drove to almost all of the “scenic” viewpoints  including Agua Canyon which had a hoodoo that most definitely has a face on it, then we returned to the hotel.  I had a splitting headache and a matching scorching sunburn.  I took some ibuprofen and lay on the bed hoping the headache would go away.  Thank goodness it wasn’t a migraine, it was just a “my head has been baking in the sun all day and I didn’t drink enough water” headache.  Eventually I got up and took a shower.  I think washing a layer of scuzz (sweat tinged with sunscreen and dirt/dust) helped too but halfway through dinner I had to stop eating and go back and lie down again.  You know if I’m not eating, and it’s an all you can eat buffet, I’m feeling like crap.  I slept a little bit and thank goodness the headache finally went away.

Later that evening we headed back to Sunrise Point in Bryce for a Moon Tour.  We’d asked about it that morning and they only had two spots open but they bent the rules a little so all three of us could go.  We met at 9:00 and started down the Queen Anne Garden Trail.  The moon appeared, bright and brilliant, at 9:31, or so we thought.  At that point the moon actually hadn’t made it above the horizon, what we were seeing was refracted light of the moon as it curved around the earth.  The Ranger talked and I took pictures and whether it was above the horizon or not it was beautiful.  By the time we reached Queen Anne’s Garden it seemed like we were at the bottom of that section of canyon, not what my feet were wanting considering with todays hike we’ve probably already climbed out of this thing at least twice!  I did find that I’m not nearly as paranoid about wiping out when it’s dark and I can’t see so well.  One perk, I guess.

When we returned to the rim a Ranger had set up a telescope for us to have another gander at the moon.  It was so bright you couldn’t look through the telescope for more than a few seconds.  I had my Oggs so I set the camera, tripod and remote up; showed Charlotte how it worked and started spinning.  It was a lot of fun although I really need to work on transitions (or just bring some music). 

We returned to the hotel around 11:00 and all went straight to bed.  We’re an exciting bunch; I’m glad my friends run on the same speed as me – full tilt during daylight and no tilt once the sun goes down.  Or thereabouts.

I received an email last night from Virgin, letting me know I could check in via the web.  Fortunately I noticed they had pushed back my flight by 1-1/2 hours.  Cancelled my original 6:00 a.m. Super Shuttle pick up, rescheduled for 7:45 and changed the alarm clock from 5:00 to 6:45.  YEAH!  Charlotte and John are getting in at 10:15 and I’m getting in at 10:40, so I’m thinking we’re good to go.  Of course, nothing ever goes as planned.  As I was getting ready to leave the house the phone rang, it was Charlotte calling from Cleveland to say there was a problem with their plane and they were going to be delayed by 3-4 hours.  ARGH!  I checked into changing my flight but with a $50 change fee I figured I’d just sit in the airport in Vegas and listen to the ding-ding-ding of the slot machines.  The phone rang again and it was Charlotte letting me know their plane was fixed and now they were only going to get in 1-1/2 hours later than me.  Now we’re good to go.

I love flying Virgin America.  They have power outlets under the seat so when the battery on my netbook died (as I was trying to finish up my Turkey journal!) I was able to plug it in and keep going.  Then at McCarren (the Vegas airport) they had free wi-fi so between that and the 10+ magazines I had with me I had no problem amusing myself until the White-Hull’s arrived. 

 We picked up our little red RAV4 and headed out of Vegas.  The traffic was completely backed up and it took us an hour to go down the stretch of highway behind the strip.  After that it cleared up, other than a trailer fire which slowed drivers down for just a little bit (the trailer was hauling wood so at least it smelled good as we passed).  We made good time and were in Saint George having a fine dining experience at Olive Garden around 5:00.  I heart Olive Garden.  Portobello Ravioli, massive amounts of nutritionally deficient salad and yummy carbohydrate filled breadsticks.    From there we passed through Zion National Park, which was absolutely amazing, before arriving at Ruby’s Inn just outside Bryce Canyon National Park.  Why haven’t I traveled around the Southwest?  What was I thinking?!  When we were almost to Bryce the moon appeared low and full in the sky, shining so brightly you’d have thought the sun was still out.  Gorgeous.

We checked into the room and we were all in bed by 9:30 Utah time (8:30 San Francisco time).  I didn’t go to sleep until closer to 10:30 but even then I slept until 7:30 the following morning.  Safe to say I was a bit tired.  Sitting in the back seat of a car taking photos will really take it out of you.