Friends and Canyons

Way back then. A long time ago when a little family known as the Chinchens lost their jobs and decided to sell all their belongings and move into a motorhome and wander about the Southwest....we found a website called Families on the Road. I've mentioned it before and I have a link on the sidebar to the website. Through this website we have gotten hints on how to make life on the road easier and made friends to last a lifetime.
I've been creating a friendship with Bryce from the FOTR site since we left Bend last Aug. I've followed her blog and emailed her during our travels. We met face to face in Feb. at the FOTR rally and our families have laughed many times since. We found out while in Zion that they would be in Bryce for the summer working. We weren't far away and had hoped our paths would cross again so it was off to the canyons we went. The drive took us through tiny mountian towns that had Jason stopping at every curve to admire the hundreds of old classic cars sitting on the lands.
At first it looked like we might be able to score jobs near the park as well. That fell through but we still enjoyed our time with friends.

We went into Bryce Canyon National Park and did some of the Peek-A-Boo hike. Unlike Zion where you are in the canyon and all hikes lead up, Bryce is the opposite and down you go into the hoo-doos Bryce is famous for. Hoodoos are pillars of rock left by erosion. They look like they came out of a Dr. Seuss book. Snow was still left on the side of the trails which led to some fun snowball fights between the switchbacks of the trail.




The Sloan family is working at Ruby's Inn, just outside the entrance of the park. This meant that we had access to the laundromat, restaurants and most importantly... THE POOL!
After enjoying 90 degree weather just days before we were now at 7000 ft and bundled up in warm jackets and hats and watching the snow fly. Brrrr......
We explored more at Bryce the next day, completed our 11th Junior Ranger Program and headed out to Escalate/Grande Staircase area where we would meet up again with Sean and Emily.
Hiking the Escalate River

Who know there were so many high mountain passes in Utah!


A bit of alone time in the desert with my coffee

Oh Zion!!!

Zion National Park. Can you even put it into words? Massive canyon walls, sandstone cliffs brown, pink, white and red. Rushing river, pools to swim in, waterfalls and frogs. Desert and meadows mixed in one. If i could be a bird perched atop a cliff in Zion I would be in heaven.

Zion has a bus system that runs on propane that will shuttle you for FREE throughout the canyon of the park with stops at all trail heads. You can also take it into the town of Springdale, just outside of Zion. I'm a huge fan and believe that all National Parks should find the funding for this transportation. The shuttle system eliminates traffic and parking problems, protect vegetation, and restore tranquility to Zion Canyon. For us it meant setting up camp and not having to move/drive anywhere for a week.
What do you do in Zion? Hike, bike, hike, read, hike, climb, hike, swim, hike, eat ice cream, hike, laugh with new friends and hike some more.


Our first night we took the shuttle to the top of the canyon and did The River Hike. We watched the walls change color with the setting sun, spyed on deer eating, played in small waterfalls and loved on where we we were.



Then came Angels Landing........


When you first start exploring options within the park you hear over and over again about the hike Angels Landing. Chains? Cliff drop offs? Sounds scary???!!! YES! Of course we had to do it! We decided it best to leave wild Avery at home. That meant that Jay and I would take turns with the kids. Jason and Ani went up one morning. We received a call from them that they were at Scouts Landing, almost at the top, but starring at the chains and cliffs and would have to chicken out on going to the "very top". That put the pressure on Kaleb and I. We would have to finish this.


Kaleb and I made it to the same spot as Jason and Ani and had to stop and stare for awhile. Goosebumps rose from our toes. It was indeed SCARY!! We decided to sit and watch others scramble up the cliff sides. After 10 minutes we put our brave faces on and slowly made our way. I won't lie, I was a nervous wreck. Kaleb remained calm and did Awesome. At the top we made our bragging phone calls, enjoyed the few and hid our snacks from the unashamed chipmunks. We then triumphantly made our way down!
A friend of ours we met in Joshua Tree, Leon, had written that he would be in Zion during the same week. Leon is a mountain guide at places like Mt. Rainer and Denali. He is also an avid sport climber. (rope). This would allow us to have the opportunity to go up some routes on famous walls known in the climbing world. Zion is just behind Yosemite when it comes to "big wall climbing". If you get the chance to go make sure and look UP while riding the shuttle. You will be sure to see climbers setting up camp high on these walls. Headlamps glow above at night.

We also celebrated Earth Day and Ani's 8th birthday in Zion. Springdale held a great little Earth Day festival with lots of booths, local produce and live music. Here we met Sean and Emily who are traveling in a vegi-oil fueled bus. We've learned lots from them and become good friends. We are still traveling with them today, 3 weeks later. Ani requested pizza for her birthday. We found a great little pizza parlor that served her favorite, Hawaiian. She was smile from ear to ear while opening her presents. Books, crafts and earrings. And all she wanted was dye to color eggs since we skipped that on Easter. Chocolate from Leon completed the celebration.
We also met Henk and Denise from Amsterdam. They camped next to us and sang and told stories with us around the fire every night. Henk has story after story after story and you laugh at sometime during everyone.
(Henk)

Hoover Dam and Valley of Fire

We woke up early Easter morning and headed over to tour the Hoover Dam. Avery called us out when entering. We told the women she was 3. She is NOT 3, she is 4 and proud!!! Lucky for us she's so dang cute she still got in free.
Hoover Dam is amazing! I'm in awe and impressed with the men who built it. They worked 10 hours a day, every day, with only 1 day off a year. For not much money. A job is a job right? We're learning that first hand with our poor economy now.
We went on the generator tour and were able to go 500 feet into the belly of the damn dam to see for our selves these ginormous machines in action. We also learned that no one actually fell and died in the cement. Jason still doesn't believe this.
After the tour we went into the museum and exhibit hall. It has great interactive games for the kids to play with. They got to create their own generators and control the water intake for a city.




The large pipe behind Kaleb in the picture above is one of the 9 feeding the generators. Water flows through these pipes at 60 MPH at a rate of 80, 000 gallons per second! We could feel the whole room shaking and the noise from the water in our ears was LOUD!
Afterward we headed north along the banks of Lake Mead. On one side of the road is this huge man made lake and the other is nothing but barren desert. We stopped to smell the blooming cacti and kept our eyes open for bighorn sheep. The next day we entered Valley of Fire State Park. The rock here is amazing. I felt like I was back in Moab, UT area. Red rock surrounds the park and we found a wonderful campsite in the canyon. There is a lot of Native American history in the park. We hiked canyons full of petroglyphs. After 8 months of exploring pictographs and petroglyphs I'm still in awe at every one I see. I love sitting on a rock and looking at the land and the artwork and feeling the spirits of the people that once called these lands home.

Where's the meat? That's what Kaleb was wondering. He was bites away from finishing his meal when he realized that he forgot to put the actual burger in his bun. Guess he was hungry.

Viva Las Vegas

How can you spend 3 days outside Las Vegas and not cruise the strip? We said we wouldn't, but curiosity got the best of us. Our first adventure was just trying to find the strip. We parked at The Rio and walked over. We entered from a parking garage belonging to Caesars Palace and had to ask how to even get out. When we finally did.......WHOA!!!
To make a not so long story shorter we walked up one side of the strip and down the other. Certain blocks required hands over Kaleb's eyes. Mouths wide open staring up. Free shows. Lions and M&M's. Water shows. Pirates. Volcano's. PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. We spent 3 hours total in the city before rushing out. Now we can check that off on the been there, done that. Although not even a penny spent in the slots. Hmmmm...