My Summer with my boys

Grand Tetons

2008-08-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hey folks.

Back again huh? Even after I told you the end of the story? (the "we made it home part")

Cool. I'm glad you are back. I'd hate to think no one was reading this stuff *grin*

Let's see... Where were we?

Oh yeah, we were headed to the Grand Tetons.

The drive to the park from Nevada was rather uneventful. We cruised over to Salt Lake City and then headed north. This took us into territory we didn't realize we had been missing for a few weeks now.

We found GREEN! Up until this point, probably the last time we saw large areas of that felt like home containing beautiful fields of green grass and trees that weren't stunted scrubs or monster alien skyscrapers was somewhere in southeastern Texas. The green made things feel soo much more inviting. While I think the browns, reds and tans of the midwest are pretty, give me green anyday. *chuckle*

By the time we arrived at the gates of the park, it was again getting late in the day. I'd say it was probably 7:00 p.m. local time. And of course the park ranger at the gate said the first campsite inside the park was something like 2 hours away.

Geez! Who planned these things? Don't they know to put the campsite next to the front door? What do they think? I may see some things on the way in that I had forgotten to bring along? It ain't like this is the grocery store and I'm just after a gallon of milk and should be forced to walk through the entire store to find it. *Sigh*

She did say "inside the park" when I asked though. Turns out that after I paid my $18 to get into the park, I had failed to ask the right question. "What is the nearest campsite?". When I asked this before driving off, she pointed behind me and said, "a couple miles that way, turn left and it will be on your right in about a mile."

I almost asked for my money back but then realized it wasn't worth the hassle. The park entrance fee at the Grand Tetons is good for three days and will also get you into Yellowstone National Park which is north of the Grand Tetons.

We proceeded on into the park and to the nearby gas station. I had planned on cooking dinner, but the smell of food coming from the open air resturaunt across the parking lot was hard to resist. So, after filling up, we headed over and had ourselves a big ole hamburger. Dang it was good.

Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway

2008-08-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, for those who read my last blog and were curious about my comment on the racing on the salt flats, this blog post is for you *grin*.

When we left Reno, we headed toward the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway.

According to our trusty GPS (her name is Ethyl by the way), the Bonneville Salt Flats was a park. It even showed up on the GPS with a cute little tent symbol next to its name.

Recall the Reno KOA? Well, we had similar luck here.

First off, when we got to the exit, the signs pointed us off into the middle of nowhere. The only thing at the exit was a gas station and once we passed that, nothing. No lights, no signs, no nothing. After a left turn a mile or so, we found ourselves on a very straight road that seemed to continue off into nothingness.

(a picture in the daylight of the same area)

The pale glow of the salt was on both sides of us fading off into the darkness. After a mile or so, I pulled over and we wandered out onto the salt.

It wasn't quite what I expected. Picture white sand but packed hard to an almost concrete-like consistency. It was nothing like what we found in New Mexico at the White Sands. After goofing around a bit, we continued forward on our quest for the elusive tent on Ethyl's screen. I shoulda known better. A campsite in the middle of the Salt Flats? Uh huh.

Soon we found ourselves a the end of the road. And what was salt a mile or so back had turned into water. The only dry spot was the road we were parked on. There were a couple of RV's parked at the end of the road and a lone pavillion with a couple of people in sleeping bags, who had settled in for the evening.

Again, not quite what I had hoped for and at 9 p.m., really not what I was in the mood to find.

So, once again we back-tracked a bit to what appeared to be the last set of casinos before crossing the state line of Nevada. There we did find a KOA campground, situated just behind one of the casinos. Basically it was a gravel parking lot, divided into tent and RV sites, with an office building containing the laundry and a pool.

The big cowboy was just off the entrance to the campsite and should give you an idea of just where we were trying to camp for the night.

Nothing like sleeping in what was the equivelant of the back alley of a casino in a tent with neon lights humming maybe 150 yards away.

Anyways, we survived the night, washed some clothes the next morning and headed off to the Salt Flats.

Again, another wow moment. The sheer size of the Salt Flats leaves you feeling rather small. It is a pretty cool place that seems to go on forever.

As you guessed from the comment about the water, we were too late into the season to get to see any racing events. The majority of the area used for racing was covered in about two inches of water for miles and miles.

While we visited the flats, I was able to catch these pictures of Ethan and Zachary racing each other on the flats.

Here is a shot of Ethan headed down the track.
(click for da big picture)

And here comes Zachary out of nowhere to challenge for the lead.

Impressive huh? *grin*

This picture should give you an idea of the size of this place. You can see the mountains off in the distance miles away. And between us and there was nothing but salt water.

After we left, we headed off toward Mount Rushmore. On the way out of Nevada, we passed this odd looking creation. Turns out it is some kind of artist rendition of the Utah tree and it is called "The Tree of Utah".

Huh?

Yeah, that's what I said as well.

It was about this time that Zachary mentioned that friends of ours would be arriving the next day just north of us in Jackson Hole Wyoming to particpate in the ArrowCorp 5 program in the Grand Tetons. "I still wish I had been able to join them" he said. I hadn't let him sign up because of the trip. He had wanted to do summer camp, the road trip, and work on the ArrowCorp 5 project. I told him he had to pick two. Summer camp and the roadtrip won out.

Go visit the Grand Tetons? *Shrug* At this point, what's 8 hours of driving? "I guess we could go meet them getting off the plane. They land tomorrow at 9 a.m. correct? Why not?", I said. And off we went, with the trip to Mount Rushmore pushed down the list. We still had a few days left on our trip and I figured we could make a side trip.

I'll post some pics on our time at the Grand Tetons and in Yellowstone National Park next time around.

Until then!

P.S.: Thanks for reading my posts. I can't tell how many of you are visiting, but have had a few people tell me they've been following us along. It sure was a fun trip!

Yosemite and Reno

2008-07-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

(found on top of a building in Reno)

Hey folks, time to bug you! (get it?)

Just in case you were wonder, yes, we have made it back home. With a couple of days to spare in the month actually.

Sorry about not keeping the posts up and current. The last week of travel I just didn't have the time or connectivity to post. There just was no reliable signal in Yosemite, Grand Tetons, or Yellowstone I could use to connect to the net.

So, I've saved everything up and figure I'll continue posting each segment until I get to the end of our trip.

If I've given away the ending for ya, I'm sorry about that. I should have said "Spoiler Alert!!! Spoiler Alert!!!" before the post started.

That way you could skip this part and keep wondering if we make it home or not.

I know my wife was beginning to wonder *grin*.

So, where was I? Oh yeah, Yosemite. The picture above might have given it away if you've ever been there.

First off, I know what you are thinking. "Could the tarantula-killing, squirrel-bashing redneck have started that fire I heard about on tv?"

Nope. Wasn't me. Luckily we were out of the area long before it started approaching Yosemite.

Seems we kept dodging disasters as we went.

For those of you who have not been to Yosemite National Park, the views rival that of the Grand Canyon on any day. As a matter a fact, I found the park to be much more visually interesting than that big ole hole in the ground with the rabid squirrels. Ever see a 2900+ feet tall waterfall?

Now you have *smile*

I can proudly say I harmed no animals in the visiting of this park.

One did seem to be looking at me funny at Glacier Point though...

Talk about a large park, geez! When we finally made it to the park entrance on our ride from San Francisco, the park range (a transplanted Georgia girl by the way) smiled as she pointed out that our campsite was still a 2 hour ride away.

If they would have let us, I'd have setup camp right then and there. But there was a line of cars behind me and it was getting late. No need to upset the nice park ranger from Cleveland Georgia I decided. So, I did the honorable thing and smiled right back, took my booklet on the park, along with the map to the middle of nowhere, and headed out.

The ride to the campsite took us down to the valley floor of the park and back up the other side of the valley. We went through multiple tunnels during our ride. These tunnels had been carved out of the cliffsides and connected a rather windy road back to the various campsites and sites within the park.

By the time we got to our campsite it was almost dark and the ranger assigned to the site had long since packed up shop and gone home. By this time we were camping experts and knew the drill. "Proceed to your campsite, setup, eat, go to bed". We did however have to make one slight adjustment. Since bears have such a presence in the park, they provide steel boxes at each campsite and you are required by law to place all of your food in these boxes. Or you face fines and even worse yet, a midnight meeting with Yogi or his cousin Boo Boo.

Now the box and the directions for placing our food in the box didn't bother me much. What did bother me was the fact that we were camping under the equivelent of a mosquito net. "Put food in box" you say? What about me? Where am I going to sleep? I'm quite certain bears also eat meat. I'm thinking that most bears would also consider me meat. But then I had a moment of inspiration.

When animals hunt they always go for the animals on the fringes of the herd correct? Simple enough. I just made sure I slept in the middle of the pavilion or aka mosquito net. Problem solved. They would go for the small tender kid burrito in the $100 sleeping bag on the edges of the area first. With such an arrangement I was sure to be in good shape the next morning.

I just gotta make sure that the wife doesn't find out I made such sleeping arrangements. She'll never know I'm sure. The boys didn't even realize my clever move. They just thought I was being nice by sleeping on the area with the rocks. I'm such a good daddy huh? *grin*

Anyways, we survived. The next morning, we broke down the campsite and had our nutritional breakfast of Captain Crunch and Pop tarts. Throughout the trip we kept a cooler in the rear seat with the milk, O.J. and squeeze butter. I made sure to give Ethan the first cup....errr I mean I made sure to have Ethan test the milk each morning of course. What's up with the squeeze butter you ask? You can't have pancakes without butter now! Come on. And yes we did on occasion have pancakes.

Well something that resembled pancakes anyways. We did use pancake mix but they didn't look much like pancakes most mornings. *shrug* What ya gonna do?

After breakfast we headed off to the sights. If you do nothing else in Yosemite, you have to go to Glacier Point. From this vantage point you can see the entire valley floor, the waterfalls, and the path carved through the mountain range by the glacier a bazzillion years ago.

It is quite the sight. If you look closely in the picture above you can see two very large waterfalls, both over 300 feet if I remember correctly.

While at Glacier Point we were able to get signal on our cell phone. So, the boys hastily texted friends and I called the wife. "Hi Honey! We are on the top of a big big hill." For some reason she wasn't as excited about it as we were. *shrug* It probably had something to do with the fact that she had returned home from San Francisco and was no longer on vacation. Sorry dear! Zachary made me call.

Anyways, we oooo'd and ahhh'd for a bit and headed for the road out of the park toward Reno Nevada.

It was on this road out the back side of the park that we hit almost 10,000 feet in altitude for the first time during our trip. We even saw snow on the mountain peaks around us. I can only imagine what winter is like out there. None for me thank you very much. The boys of course fell asleep on the ride out. I had to wake them up when we passed this beautiful mountain lake just before exiting the park. I convinced them they wanted to go swimming. *chuckle*

They thought it was a great idea... until they got in the lake and realized that the water was from the snow caps still on the mountains towering nearby. Can you say "realllly cold" boys and girls?

If you look closely at the next picture (really really close and squint at the black dots near the edges of the mountain), you might see something that made me just shake my head. There are people in this picture free-climbing this mountain! It was directly across from the lake and I wouldn't have spotted the climbers if we hadn't stopped. Simply amazing. The dots are people. Crazy people, but people all the same.

It took a few hours to exit the park and make our way to Reno. We had plugged into our trusty GPS to take us to the KOA campground there in Reno.

If anyone ever tells you, "Oh sure, there is a KOA in Reno. A nice one in fact", you should not believe them.

The GPS took us to a location just off the interstate in almost downtown Reno which just happened to be a casino. Go figure.

Apparently the campground property had more value as a casino than a campground and they sold out. Zachary and Ethan tried to convince me that staying at the hotel there at the casino would technically count as camping since it had in fact once been a campground. But I didn't buy it.

So, we backtracked a few miles to a state park I had spotted before entering town. Once again the ranger had long since gone so we paid at the "Self pay" station and picked our spot.

The next day we spent some time being a tourist in Reno. Not much to be a tourist about in Reno in my opinion.

The one shining spot was the National Auto Museum downtown.

The museum as an incredible collection of vehicles from the dawn of automotive history into the 40's. They even have THE 1907 THOMAS FLYER!!!

They do have cars from other time periods, including cars designed and built by the creator of Rat Fink (I'll let you look that one up if you don't know it)

If you are ever in Reno and can pry yourself out of the KOA errr Casino, I highly recommend the visit. You really should look at the rest of the car pictures we took (sorry for the blurry ones...was the light). You folks do know I'm a car nut right? Ok then. Nuff said.

From Reno we headed on to the Bonneville Salt Flats (car nut remember?) where both Zachary and Ethan got to race on the salt. It was pretty cool to watch.

I'll post more on that later.

You can see all the pictures of Yosemite and the cars here.
Until next time!

Link to more pictures

2008-07-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures

San Francisco

2008-07-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm behind again.

It happens *grin* I'm blaming it on arriving late at the campsites and hotels each night. Being worn out each day just doesn't promote consistent on time posting. Next trip I'll be sure to bring along an independent recorder to document our activities. I'll be sure to post the job on Monster *wink*.

From Hearst Castle, we went on to San Francisco via the Pacific Coast Highway. A windy twisty road overlooking the Pacific Ocean that runs for over 80 miles from the castle to Monterey California. We got lucky and missed the major portion of the fires. The fire crews seemed to have the fire in Big Sur under control or at least the part that was threatening the coastline. It looks like we dodged another disaster... first the hurricane in South Texas that landed AFTER we drove through and now the wild fires in California.

Before we had left on the trip, I arranged for Donna to arrive on the same day we hit San Francisco. A good friend of mine, Larry, used his Marriott rewards points to reserve a room at the Courtyard in Novato California, just north of the Golden Gate bridge.

She arrived early enough in the day to go to dinner with Larry and his family. It was pretty much a blind date for Donna. She had only met Larry a few times and had never met the rest of his family. Dinner went well and she had a great time with them. We of course arrived too late to join the group. Figures, I get an opportunity to eat a nice dinner on someone elses tab and end up going to McDonalds. *sigh*. Maybe next time. I'll have to plan better huh?

On our first day, Larry's daughter played tour guide and took us to the city for the day. We took the ferry across the bay over to the city. It definitely beat driving over to town.

It was the first time I had ever been into San Francisco without having to visit a customer and the first time Donna, Zachary and Ethan had been as well. It was fun seeing the town through someone elses eyes. Karen (our tour guide) took us to her favorite spots in town which as you can see involve some rather beautiful art work.

We had dinner at the top of a hotel which provides a great view of the city.

Overall a great visit to a beautiful city full of art I would have overlooked if it weren't for Karen. You know, there might be something to taking a guided tour when it is available huh? Maybe a business opportunity. I bet nobody has thought of doing such a thing. I'll have to file that away under my "Future Sure Fire Money Making Business Ideas to Try" file cabinet.

The picture above is from the area just outside of the pier where we docked. The art work / fountain in front of us is the Justin Herman Plaza Fountain which has been the center of controversy since its creation. Some say you either love it or hate it. I guess I'd have to say I'm on the "don't hate it side". It is pretty cool in my opinion. Bono thought it needed a bit of color...

The next day, Larry played tour guide and took us to Sausalito for some shopping and over to Muir Woods to see the giant redwoods. Wow. Talk about some big ole trees. And these were not the largest ones. There was a cross section of one of the trees at the entrance which demonstrated how old the trees really were. The oldest of them was around during the birth of Christ. That is just impossible for me to wrap my head around. That's older than Ron! (inside joke)

That's not a homeless man in the picture with the family. That's Larry *smile* What you are seeing to the side of them is a tree, yes a tree. Its easy to see why they were so sought after for their lumber. Cut down one and build SEVERAL houses.

The next picture is what is known as a Banana Slug which we found clinging to the side of a tree in the park. I think if we had these in Georgia, walking around barefoot at night would be out of the question. Larry said they can get up to 11-12 inches long...

The next day we were left to our own devices. My plan was to visit Alcatraz, a destination both boys wanted to visit. How was I to know that this was such a popular destination that tickets to visit the prison were sold out for over a week. so we had to settle for touring Pier 39 and Fisherman's Warf. I'm sure a few of you have heard the quote that was supposed to have been made by Mark Twain, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco". I can vouch for the weather. It was windy, overcast and in the 50's. And this is mid July!

We had lunch overlooking the floating docks the sea lions had taken over.

After we left the piers, we figured we would try to find a movie theater to watch the new Batman movie. My GPS wasn't much help when we tried to find a theater. Maybe I should have asked the desk clerk at the hotel for directions... Nah.

The first one we visited was closed. *Shrug* No big deal. There have got to be more right? It is a major city right? The next one we picked was probably 20 miles away. When we got there, we found a very old movie theater that was only large enough for two screens. Neither of course were showing the Dark Knight. Ok, on to the next which was of course 18 miles away.

By the time we got to this one, the shows were sold out. Maybe asking for directions might not have been such a bad idea. Who woulda thunk it? (yes, maybe Donna did suggest it).

Since Donna had to get up very early the next day to catch her flight back to Atlanta, we decided to just eat dinner and head back to the hotel.

The next morning, I took Donna to the airport. Later in the morning, the boys and I headed over to Yosemite, probably one of the most beautiful places in the world.

I'll post some stuff on Yosemite a bit later.

Until next time!

Hearst Castle Visit

2008-07-24T00:55:00.001-07:00

Anyone want to know what old money looks like?

Go visit Hearst Castle on the Pacific Coast Highway in California.

Imagine having enough money to purchase ancient Egyptian statues and 1800 year old Roman columns to decorate around one of the two pools you have in your yard.

Now imagine having your own zoo with lions, tigers, bears, antelope, zebras, kangaroos, etc. running around on that property and friends such as Charlie Chaplin, Sir Winston Churchill, and the like stopping in for extended visits.

This was the last stop on our way up to San Francisco. At first Zachary and Ethan were a bit bored. But once the tour started they were hooked.

I think we all liked the pool beneath the tennis courts the best.

Or maybe it was the private home theater in the main house... Tough call *smile*

Anyone else been there?

Universal Studios

2008-07-21T06:53:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time Donna and I visited Universal Studios in Hollywood California. It was 20 years ago and during our honeymoon trip. At that time there were no other movie studio "theme parks" and Universal was somewhat unique. It didn't have all the rides and stuff you'll find in Universal nowadays. The main portion of the visit back then was through the backlot of the studios.

When the boys and I arrived at the park, it was quickly apparent that it had been updated to match much of Universal Studios Florida. The backlot tour was still there though. Even with the damage done by the fire a few weeks ago, most of the backlot was available to us. A few more sets had been added, but it still looked like what I remembered. One of the coolest new additions was the plane crash site from the War of the Worlds set that Stephen Spielberg did a few years ago. They left the set up and put a road through it for the tours.

After the backlot tour, the boys tried to drown me by taking me on the Jurasic Park ride. If anyone thinks they can ride this ride without getting wet, they are sadly mistaken. You will get wet. *chuckle*

After our fun at Universal we cut through downtown Hollywood and headed up the Pacific Coast Highway. Of course we had to drive by Hollywood Blvd and take a ride down Sunset Blvd before heading out. Here is a picture of the Chinese Theater on Hollywood.

It may surprise you but there are campgrounds on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu California. This is where we ended up pitching our tent for the evening before heading on up to San Francisco. It was full moon so we spent an hour or so on the beach that night playing in the surf and watching the waves come in. The temperature dropped down to the 70's once we got across the mountains into L.A., so it was very pleasant out on the beach at night.

It was a tough way to spend the night, but we somehow suffered through it *grin*.

Oh well, gotta go.

Until next time!

Route 66

2008-07-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

We left the Grand Canyon and headed toward Lake Mead with the intent of renting some jet skies and tooling around the lake.

On the way we decided to spend some time on Route 66 instead of sticking to I-40. After passing a few of the famous BurmaShave signs, we started looking for them around each turn. These were "re-plants" and not the orignals, but still fun to look for.

It wasn't long before we hit Seligman Arizona which is supposedly featured on the "Cars" animated movie. It took just one pass down the street to see why. The town has all the elements of the town in the movie. There is even an old "tin lizzie" sitting inside one of the garages (now a store) and several cars from the 40's, 50's and 60's are sitting around the town. I spotted a 1957 Ford Ranchero sitting behind a shop. If I had a trailer or even a trailer hitch on the wife's car, I would have been doing some negotiating to drag it home. I wonder if maybe this is why the wife suggested I leave the truck at home?

We decided due to the time of day to spend the night in the Aztec Motel there in town. A combination of nice clean rooms and a cheap price made it as easy choice.

A few hours sleep and we were on our way once again. We decided to stay on Route 66 as far as we could. One of the guys in Seligman said this was the longest section of the old highway still in existence, something just under 100 miles.

Once we got to the dam it was very clear that the water level at Boulder Dam was wayyy down as you can see from the pictures.

And once when we made it across and over to Lake Mead, it was even more apparent at the marina. We parked our car where water would normally be 20-30 feet deep.

When we got to the marina, the temperature was about 102 degrees, the hottest we'd seen so far. I went in to rent the jet skis and found out that you had to be 18 to rent and drive one. This left both Ethan and Zachary a bit depressed. And they weren't interested in riding on a three seat water ski. Well, Zachary didn't want to. Ethan still wanted to go out and play on the lake.

I decided our options were to wait until the next morning and rent a ski boat for a couple of hours @ $80 per hour. Or we could head on to Los Angeles and go visit Universal Studios for the entire day for about the same price.

With the temps as high as they were and the fact that we would only get a couple of hours in the boat on the lake, the boys decide to do Universal Studios.

I dodged a bullet there *grin*. I wasn't excited about camping in 100+ degree heat.

So, we loaded up and headed to L.A. It was even hotter in the Mohave Desert as we drove across. The top temp we saw on our dashboard was 109 degrees as we drove across.

We searched for a campground as we approached L.A. but couldn't find one. We even took a 30-40 minute ride out into the countryside following signs to a state park. It turned out to be a day use only park once we found it. By this time it was pitch black outside and we were tired of looking. So, we spent the night in a hotel there on the highway. This was the hotel where Ethan locked the keys in the trunk of the car (see previous post). This made our third night in a hotel in 15 days of travel. Not too bad I must say.

It was a good thing we had setup Zachary's phone with a AAA roadside assistance plan. We were able to call them and have someone come over and unlock the car. It took the guy about 15 seconds to open the door and let us in. Once we got that straightened out, we checked out and headed to the theme park.

I'll post some stuff on that later this evening.

We are getting ready to go see the new Batman movie and it's almost showtime.

Until next time!

Squirrel Abuse

2008-07-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

Thought you would find this of interest.

Apparently the squirrel spoke with a park ranger and got my email address.

I was sent this picture this morning with a request to never visit the Grand Canyon again. *sigh*

I didn't mean to... Really I didn't!

The Grand Canyon

2008-07-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm abit behind again. *grin*

We've been in San Francisco a day now and I've yet to post about the Grand Canyon.

Sorry about that. Finding time AND decent speed connectivity has been more of a challenge than I expected. But then again, the fact that in almost every town I've stopped, there was some sort of place I could get connectivity via WiFi (not always fast of course) is pretty cool.

To get to the Grand Canyon, I used the GPS again for directions to the "Grand Canyon Railway". The problem is that the location it directed us to was the main administrative offices for the company, not the train depot.

Once we figured that part out, we headed to Williams Arizona and bought 3 round trip tickets to the canyon. Since the temperatures were down due it being the rainy season, I picked the cheap seats on a restored 1930's Pullman car for us. It came complete with reversible seats, windows which could be opened, and complimentary beverages.

If you ever go to the Grand Canyon, this the ONLY way to do it. I've driven to the canyon and have taken the train. By car, you have to sit in traffic for quite some time to just get into the park. Then you have to deal with parking, etc. By taking the train, all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride.

The train company provides entertainment and the price of the tickets includes the park entrance fee. Overall, not a bad deal.

Since we are "car camping", we've been living out of the trunk of the car. And believe me when I say it is full. Anyways, this meant that before getting on the train, we had to figure out what we needed to carry with us for a couple of days at the park. Since each of us brought backpacking gear, we only had to load up the packs. We did drag the cooler with us though. I had bought a watermellon and cantelope from a roadside stand on the way up and had them on ice. Nothing like an ice cold watermellon for dessert and fresh cantelope for breakfast. It was worth the hassel dragging the cooler onto the train.

Oh, did you know that the cantelope originated in Pecos Texas? One of the interesting tidbits we learned in Pecos during our visit to the Pecos museum... It is also where the first rodeo was held. See mom? I did learn something on this trip *wink*.

I told the boys they could go tour the various information centers, museums, and overlooks via the shuttle bus while I setup the tents. I gave them a couple of hours to be back at camp. While they were gone I spent all of...err some of my time putting up the tents and the rest I enjoyed by taking a nice relaxing nap.

The next day we hiked down to the first rest stop on the Bright Angel Trail which is 1.5 miles into the canyon. This first stop is just over 1,100 feet down below the rim and the trail is not for the faint of heart. It is only a few feet wide and has a nice long drop off the side.

Actually getting down into the canyon is not too bad. Getting back out was a whole 'nother thing. Those hiking down into the canyon were always smiling and talking away about the beautiful views, etc. Those we passed that we coming back up always had a similar expression, red in the face, breathing heavy and sweating profusely. This should have been a clue *chuckle*.

During the hike, I was constantly amazed by the various people we saw going down into the canyon on our way back out. There were SEVERAL I wanted to tell, "go back, you aren't ready for this." One fellow we passed had to be 55 years old and 295 lbs or so. No water bottle and no hiking partner. And that is just an example of one person... Oh well.

Have you ever heard the comment, "It's a small world"? I'm betting you have. Zachary and Ethan have first hand exeperience in this fact. About 1/2 mile into the decent into the Grand Canyon, we met two of their high school teachers. Now what are the odds of finding two people from Dawsonville Georgia 2,000 miles away and 1/2 mile down into the Grand Canyon on the same day we were there? Go figure.

Remember the incident with the tarantula I mentioned? I guess I'm just not the environmentalist I should be. Why you ask? Well...

All over the park you will find squirrels. And the park rangers tell you every chance they get "Don't approach the squirrels. Don't feed the squirrels". Yet everyone does, and this has made them somewhat agressive around people in search of handouts, etc.

During our hike into the canyon, I found myself with several of them on the trail in front of me. As I was walking, I took a step with the intent of stepping over these little furry rats with bushy tails. As I took the step, one of them decided to dart across the trail. Quite by accident (really it was, I promise), I caught the squirrel between the sole of my sandal and the trail. I'd estimate I rolled the squirrel between the ground and my foot a good 12 inches or so before I realized the problem...

Now everyone has seen cartoons, etc. Picture the most comical scene you can from something like Ren and Stimpy where one them gets electrocuted or something and they are lying on the ground twitching uncontrollably. That is what I saw when I looked back at the carnage I had wrecked. The people just behind me on the trail were standing there, looking down at this poor little squirrel and back up at me. I could just hear their thoughts... "You big meanie, look what you've done!" and "Murderer!". But at this point, what could I do? I wasn't about to give the little critter mouth to mouth and the rangers did say "Don't bother the squirrels" didn't they? So, in my most nonchalant manner, I turned to the guy nearest me and said "Ooops".

Since we happened to be near the very end of the section we had planned to hike, I continued a few yards up the trail to the bathroom park services had built for the rest stop. When I finished my business and headed back toward where I had left the boys, they had found the squirrel lying in the middle of the trail (yep, still twitching). They immediately yelled, "Hey dad, come look at this squirrel."

Now I had a decision to make. Do I admit to my second fatal encounter with the local wildlife or do I act as if I know nothing of the events which have led to this poor creatures untimely demise? Plunging forward, in good ol' bubba fashion, I told them, "Umm, I may have had something to do with that." Zachary and Ethan looked at the squirrel, then each other, and back to me. "You didn't!... Did you?" It didn't take them but a second to come up with "YOU STEPPED ON HIM??!! How could you!".

Luckily for me... and the squirrel of course, it had stopped twitching and sat up. In my defense, I hastily pointed this out to the boys. "I didn't kill him, see, he's going to be just fine" as I nudged him with my foot.

"He's got blood coming out of both ears dad. You've probably killed him! How could you?". Again with the how could you statement. It wasn't as if I intentionally decided to squish the little bugger...

As I continued to profess my innocence, the squirrel began to show more signs of life by first dragging itself in a circle and then shortly running around in a circle. "Aww, he'll be ok. He just got his bell rung is all boys." You can imagine my relief when he finally reached the edge of the trail during one of his loops and disappeared into the brush.

Of course at this point we had an audience. Did I mention that this trail is loaded down with other crazy people who think hiking down into the canyon is a fun way to spend a couple of hours? Now the boys are telling those closest about how this isn't my first deadly encounter with nature on this trip. Thanks guys *smile*.

You know, when I started this trip, I didn't set out to kill. It really wasn't on my list of things to do. Visit New Orleans, go into Carlsbad Caverns, hike the Grand Canyon, go to San Francisco, kill poor little critters... Nope not on the list. Oh well, what can a feller do?

All I can say is that anyone who might live on my route back home should probably be sure to keep their pets indoors as we drive by...

After we determined that the squirrel had apparently made a full recovery and had run off to join his friends (much to my relief), we headed back up the trail. About a half mile into the climb out, I hear someone yell "hey watch out!" from down below. I stop and turned around to see what the racket was about. Coming up behind me in a dead run are three mules with their packs and no rider. One of them even had a portion of his pack dragging on the trail behind him as it ran up the side of the canyon. And down below some 1/4 mile or so away someone yells "Stop those Mules!". Luckily for him, stop they did. Somehow or another he had lost control of them somewhere down the trail and they had decided to head back to the house. He was one of the park rangers who was involved in the mule rides down through the canyon. It was then that the boys started pointing out my wheezing behind them while hike up the trail sounded a lot like the mules they had just witnessed careening up the trail.

Between breaths I think I threatened to toss both of them off the cliff once I caught up to them. There may have been a few four letter words uttered on my part. I'm not sure. *shrug*

But of course they both laughed and danced up the trail out of my reach. Well maybe danced is a stretch. Ethan did jog a few feet down the trail while laughing. They basically continued up the hill while I tried (valiantly I must say) to continue my way up the hill. At times 50 and 60 plus year old people, small kids, and two people with walkers, passed by me on the trail, making sure to give me ample room due to odd noises I was making as I inched forward. Did I mention how steep this thing was? Geez! Whose bright idea was it to do this hike anyways! Ummm, ok, maybe I had something to do with that.

Much to my amazement, I did make it back up the trail to the top of the canyon. I was even breathing somewhat normally by the top. The grade lessend quite a bit the last few hundred feet, which allowed me to recover some of my dignity before leaving the trail. I was bound and determined not to top the hill sounding like an 80 year old emphasima patient. Plus I didn't want to give anyone else a warning as to what was to come. No one warned me, why should I warn them? *grin*

And as I stated before, I really did enjoy the hike. Really I did. But you probably won't get me back down in there again. Been there, done that, almost killed a squirrel. *smile*.

By the time we got out of the canyon it was about lunch time. I had reserved two nights for the campsite, but we had done everything we had planned on doing at the canyon. So, we packed up our campsite, changed our train tickets and headed back to the car on the 3:00 p.m. train back to Williams.

People always talk about spending time with the kids and making memories. I doubt the hike into the canyon is something we will ever forget.

I know that squirrel won't.

Until next time!

Zachary's Two Cents

2008-07-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well its been fun so far. We got a little wet at the Grand Canyon but that was ok. It was so hot that everything dried pretty fast. And I forgot to tell you the way we got to the big GC was by a train from the 20's. It was cool.=]

The worst bumner so far was that you have to be 18 to drive a jet ski at Lake Mead at the marina. Could you imagine me, my dad, and Ethan on one jet ski? =] No thank you.

So we decided to go to Universal Studios in California but as we are about to leave the hotel, we noticed that no one has the keys. Guess who had them last? Ethan and they are in the trunk. So I had to call Road Side Assistance on my phone. So now we wait.

Another Word From Ethan

2008-07-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks! Its been a while since the last post, sorry about that. Well since the last one we have been to many places. Some of them include the ancient cave dwellings, all of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and The Grand Canyon. Right now we are in L.A. and planning on going to Universal Studios...but i just locked the keys in the car and now we can't leave.... crap. Well I'll talk to you later. Have a nice day.

Road to the Grand Canyon

2008-07-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Our next campsite was supposed to be just outside of Tucson, but with the rain the road into the park was washed out. So, we ended up at a KOA outside of Mesa AZ.

On the way, we discovered the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, home of what is believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world. A hike down into the canyon provides a tremendous view of a beautiful waterfall and arch.

From there, we drove toward the Grand Canyon taking some of the backroads suggested by Ron. Thanks Ron!

Since it was getting late,we ended up camping in a small state park near Camp Verde.

Zachary and Ethan ended up in the creek to cool off and built a small dam. Of course they had to build it once they saw the signs telling them not to dam the creek *sigh*.

I made the boys get up at 5:30 a.m. the next morning so we could possibly ride the train to the Grand Canyon. This meant that we were on the road toward Williams AZ at 6:00 a.m. pacific time.

The early morning ride through Sedona was beautiful. And both of the boys slept through it of course. Sedona looks like a nice place to take Donna for a getaway. It reminded me a bit of San Jose California but with a bit less water *smile*. Since I was driving I didn't take any pictures. You'll just have to take my word for it.

We made it to the train with a couple of hours to spare. So, we repacked our gear (car camping can spoil you!) so that we could carry what we needed in our packs and got on the train headed to the Grand Canyon.

Here are a few more pictures from Zachary's camera

Until next time!

Tombstone Arizona

2008-07-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

By the time we got to Tombstone, it was probably 10 p.m. and I was beginning to wish I had picked a campsite quite some time before. There are plenty of RV parks in the area, but I couldn't find a place to put up a tent. So, I broke down and paid for a room at a hotel in lovely downtown Tombstone.

I was expecting a normal town of some size with a section that is setup for tourists. It is no where near the size I expected. If you are driving into town at night in the dark, and you blink, you will have missed it.

The main road through town has a few small hotels and such, but to find the old west everyone pictures, all you have to do is go one block west. There you will find the Tombstone of the old west. That one block takes you back in time over a hundred years. Disney it ain't, but it does have its charm. It would be hard to make it into something Walt would approve of, considering that in its prime silver mining days, Tombstone had over 160 saloons and over 8,000 prostitues or "soiled doves" as they were called.

Tombstone epitomized what I've always pictured the old west to be.

I highly recommend to anyone visiting "The town too tough to die" that your very first stop needs to be the OK Corral. Spend the money on the show and visit the actual location of the shoot out. It will give you the proper perspective on the town and its history. While you are there, be sure to catch one or two of the gun fights that are staged for the tourists. We watched the comedy show titled "Helldorado" that was pretty good.

Ethan found a replica of a .45 Colt that he couldn't live without. *smile*

And Zachary almost bought a hat. Looks good on him, don't ya think?

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

2008-07-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

Once we finished playing in the sand, we drove over to Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. 42 miles of twisty winding road through the mountains puts you at the cliff dwelling site. I let Zachary drive about half the way up the mountains to the park. Now I understand why Donna clutches the dashboard when I'm going up or down the mountain on the other side of Elijay. *grin*

It is an easy (unless you are 40 years old, 50 lbs overweight, and trying to keep up with a couple of teenagers) half mile hike up to the site from the parking lot and well worth the time and effort.

The Mogollon lived there over 700 years ago and moved on after only a generation. I wonder what drove them to move though? The valley floor had water and good places to grow crops, etc.

We were going to camp at one of the many different locations available there at the park, but the boys and I decided we had plenty of time left in the day to keep on traveling a bit. So, we loaded up and headed to our next destination, Tombstone Arizona.

White Sands NM

2008-07-12T07:14:00.000-07:00

It just goes to show you, never take someone's word for fact. White Sands turned out to be just fine. As a matter of fact, since it was wet, the sand packed down better and made the sledding down the hills that much more fun.

I even had a turn or two down the hill *smile*

A Wet Desert

2008-07-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been very wet for where we were. From talking to a couple of people, they normally get something like 5 to 6 inches of rain a year in lovely Southern New Mexico. I think we got that by mid afternoon day before yesterday and it hasn't stopped since then.

When it started, luckily our day was planned around going into Carlsbad Caverns and wandering around. Originally I was going to take the boys on one of the various guided tours of the cave system, but everything was booked up solid. So, we did the self-guided tour which turned out to be just fine. If you haven't been, I highly recommend visiting the cave. Don't let anyone talk you into just taking the elevator down though. Go ahead and walk down through the natural entrance. It is about an hour of walking. Yes, it is a bit rough on the knees if you are not used to hiking, but it is quite the trail. Here is a picture from my cell. Sorry about the quality of the picture, not much light down there for some reason.

Once you get to the "bottom" section, you will emerge at what used to be a full service cafeteria. They discountinued cooking years ago because the grease and smoke were building up on the cave ceilings and causing damage. Now you can get a box lunch and drinks, etc.

The rest of the tour is about an hour and takes you through the "Big Room";it is the largest open cavern area in the western hemisphere according to the signs. You could put over 13 football fields in this one section. It is HUGE!

Anyway after caving we drove over to Guadeloupe National Park and the rain letup for a bit. So we hiked a little over two miles to Smith Springs which is by Frijole Ranch. If you could get internet access at the ranch, I could live there. *smile* Very nice. A small oasis in the middle of the desert just below El Capitan.

After the hike, we were going to go watch the bats emerge from Carlsbad Caverns but the rain started back so intense the boys and I decided it wasn't worth drowning for.

When we got back to camp, our tents were of course flooded. Apparently the tent area at Carlsbad KOA is smack in the middle of the drainage area for their hundred year flood plan.

So, we spent the night sleeping in the laundry room on the floor.

We packed up first in the morning and headed over to Alamogordo with a brief stop in Roswell New Mexico. Of course we had to visit the local museum dedicated to the alien crash of 1947. Let's just say there are some odd folks visiting that place. It was interesting and I think something did crash, I just don't know what.

The boys found the local junk yard more interesting. We may have found a source for some fenders for Zachary's truck at one of them. Hopefully the owner calls me back with pricing that is reasonable once shipping has been added.

Once we finally made it to our next campsite, the fellow here at the Alamogordo Campgrounds (Casey) felt sorry for us and upgraded our tent reservation to one of the small cabins they have. He said he had "been there" and could appreciate the desire to dry out and sleep on a real bed. We spent the evening watching a movie at the local movie theater.

With the rain, visiting White Sands today will probably be a bust. Casey told me that the sand wasn't really sand but gypsum. And when you get gypsum wet it just turns to goo. Oh well, we'll go see and head on to our next stop, Gila National Park where the cliff dwellings are located. Even with the rain, we are having fun!

Time to pack up and head out. Until next time!

Carlsbad New Mexico

2008-07-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

Roughly 2100 miles down and several more to go! This vacation stuff could get addictive. *smile* We are enjoying the trip quite a bit. The boys are getting along well and I've almost stopped twitching (which I hear is a good sign that you are on your way to recovery from lack of email access). The picture is the view from our campsite in Panama City Beach. Not too bad of a way to start off the trip huh?

I'll try to catch you up in this post (ie - long post).

Last update had us looking for stuff to do in New Orleans. Seems like a week ago we were there. We visited the French Quarter and Buorbon Street mid morning and through lunch. Of course we stopped at one of the local spots and had some excellent Jambalaya and Crawfish Etoufee. How can a person skip such a crucial element of a visit to Louisiana?

I will say that much of the Eastern side of New Orleans looks abandoned compared to what I'm used to in Atlanta, or pretty much any other major US city. You get a couple miles out of the French Quarter and it is pretty rough looking. However, there are signs that things are picking up. We found an AMC movie theater just over the river from our campsite and that area looks like anywhere else. Lowes, Office Depot, Longhorn's, etc. on every corner.

The ride over to New Orleans from Panama City was an eye opener though... We drove through Biloxi and all I can say is "where did everything go?". About the only things around are new casino's and a couple of new shopping centers. Miles and Miles of beach front property is gone. And much of it for sale.

I will say this though, while other corporations have not rebuilt, you can find a Waffle House about every 2 miles. But of course you can!

Once we packed up from New Orleans we drove over to a state park just outside of Houston, Brazos Bend State Park. We checked in and reserved a spot to look at the stars at the George Observatory. Wow, what a view of the sky! while time on the big telescope was limited, we did get probably 45 minutes of uninterrupted time with one of the Astronomers on one of the smaller scopes (the one on the right).
I left wanting a telescope. I do see a problem though... I would always want to see more and better, which would of course require bigger and better equipment. And though getting started isn't that expensive, I can quickly see it getting to be a big big money pit.

From Brazos Bend we went to Balmorhea State Park in West Texas. One the way over we stopped at the Alamo in San Antonio. The boys were ready to leave shortly after arrival since there was no pool or rides.
It is hard to imagine what those that were there went through.

Once we got the park they were better. The campsite was a bit rustic but the reason I picked it as a destination was the pool. Based on what I had read, it was pretty cool. It lived up to expectations.

Imagine a 20-25 feet deep crytal clear lake fed by an underground stream flowing over 1 million gallons of water an hour. Now put a swimming pool around it. It was simply incredible. The pool was built in the mid to late 1930's and is quite the setup. I think Zachary and Ethan would have stayed for a couple more days just to swim in the pool.

It was complete with wildlife too. Nothing like sharing your shower with a 4 inch Tarantula, or waking up with an even larger one 8 inches from your head on the side of the mesh pavillion we are using when it is too hot for the small tents.

I did feel a bit of guilt when I flipped the Tarantula off the tent and he literally was skewered on the scrub brush next to the tent. A thorn pierced him dead center his abdomen. I was able to remove him from his predicament but i think the damage was done. He was still lying in the same spot when we left. Ooops.

Today we are in Carlsbad as the post indicates. The drive over was only a couple of hours and through some of the wide open Texas high desert. I even let Ethan have some time at the wheel (shhhh. Don't tell his Mother!). His first time at the wheel on a public highway. Think he was a bit excited? *grin*

We've taken the afternoon to wash cloths and just hang out. Tomorrow we will go to the caverns and maybe to see "El Capitan" which is just down the road a bit.

Here are a few pictures from Ethan's camera and more from Zachary's camera.
Until next time!

Dad's Day 2

2008-07-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

*Groan* Now I remember why I like Marriott: A/C, nice comfy beds, and no mosquitos.

So far so good. We've made it to Panama City Beach and now to New Orleans. i had some concerns when pulling into New Orleans. The campsite appeared to be smack in the middle of the hood. However, it has turned out to be a nice place. Tomorrow we go exploring a bit and see if we can find stuff to do.

Zachary's pictures can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/28238378@N03/?saved=1

Yes, I shaved *smile*

I figure it will grow back during the trip. It gave the boys something to pick on me about... for the last 3 days of course.

Until next time!

Ethan's First Post Day 2

2008-07-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

Oh no... You found my post. Well how's it going? Al is good here except for the continuously muggy heat. When you start to travel around a bit you start to realize that not evrywhere is like your perfectly addapted life style, and you aren't use to all the differant things. But traveling does have its up's too. One of them being the cool sights and new places that you have never been.
Some of the things that we have been doing so far include, visiting the U.S.S. Alabama, gambling in biloxi (curse you security lady for not letting me on the casino floor), swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, and fighting for the front seat... i usually lose. Next time you hear from me i should be in Texas. If i'm not then im out with the ladies. :)

Zachary's Update Day 2

2008-07-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

Howdy all hows it going? the earth is very hot thats all i have to say. Also the ocean is very big but you all knew that already. well here are some pics so far from Ga to LA.

We are off!

2008-07-01T18:52:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow morning we hit the road. I was beginning to think the day would never get here.

Today has been one long day indeed. Is is almost 10:00 p.m. and I'm still at work trying to wrap up all the loose ends so I can leave for a month without looking back.

Not much to do on the packing side. Basically throw the food and clothes in the car and head off.

I'll try to post when we arrive at our first destination tomorrow.

Wish us luck!

Equiping for the Trip

2008-05-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely we are putting the equipment we will need for our trip. At the moment space is limited (trunk of the family sedan).

Ethan and I picked up a new camp stove for our trip a few days ago. It is a Coleman Fold N Go stove.

A set of good Kelty backpacks, our trusty thermarests, sleeping bags, and single person tents, and food will make up the rest of the trunk space. Of course each of us will have the standard backpack stuff, along with clothes and such in our packs.

With temperatures being what they will be, I think it will be rare we use the sleeping bags for more than something to sleep on versus in.

I'm thinking of banning hand held game systems from the trip, such as the boy's Nintendo DS rigs. I'd like them to tune into the trip and not their toys. We'll see how that goes *smile*.

The current plan is to pack a week's worth of food only. And during the trip we resupply as we go.

Any suggestions on food to take? Favorite dutch oven recipies?

First Post

2008-04-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

Hey there!

Thanks for dropping in. You've somehow or another stumbled upon my attempt to document my upcoming summer trip with my two sons, Zachary and Ethan. Oh, and a friend of theirs, Chad, who will be 16 soon.

<--------- Zach at the Sushi bar sometime last year.

I will be 40 in May (ouch), while Zachary is 17 and Ethan will be 15 in June. It seems like the perfect time to do this. I have enough vacation time and a wife who says "go for it". Call me crazy but we are going to do just that.

<-------- Donna telling me don't post my picture (oops)

At the moment, we are in the planning stages. Trying to pin down where we are going to go and what we are going to do. Basically we are going to spend the entire month of July travelling across America. Well, not travelling the entire month. With the price of gas, that would be a bit prohibitive *smile*. I've got 4 weeks of vacation for the first time ever and I'm going to burn it all.

Ethan at Camp Mack Morris ------>

We plan on traveling a day and stopping for a day... or two. And then moving on to the next spot on the map that looks interesting.

Hoteling it the entire trip is out of the question. Trump I'm not. That leaves camping for the most part with a hotel room or two sprinkled into the mix.

I'm sure looking forward to almost 30 days of sleeping on the ground (it reads sincere doesn't it?). I can hear the body complaining already and it is only April...

Me on a 22 hour straight drive home from New Hampshire ---->

At the moment, we know that we will be headed to New Orleans on the 3rd of July. Beyond that, who knows.

I'm open to suggestions.

On our list of target destinations, we do know we want to make it to San Franscisco. The rest is open for debate.

Some places I think would be interesting to the boys:

The Grand Canyon
Yosemitee State Park
Carlsbad Caverns
Route 66
Mount Rushmore
The Redwood Forest
Pike's Peak
Alcatraz
The cruise-in at Reno
The cliff dwellings (can't remember where they are located)
Yellowstone

Since we are heavy into the Boy Scouts, we've had a chance to do things like caving, canoeing, white water rafting, backpacking, etc. And the boys want to do some of this on the trip given the chance.

We are also big into anything automotive. In future posts I'll put some info about the junk I've been able to convince the wife to let me drag home over the years.

Anyways, that's us, the purpose of the site and a request for suggestions on where we should go.

Thanks for stopping in. More to come!