Category: Cross Country Trip 2016

Day 30 (7/28) Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, and Monument Valley. (Lin) Today might have been one of our favorites yet. On the road by 7 am, with Monument valley as our final destination and several planned stops along the way. The pine forests and confined meadows of the north rim area soon gave way to sprawling, hugely open stretches of typical northern Arizona desert/tundra, almost always with large mesas and canyons looming in the distance. Our drive took us straight towards and around Vermillion Cliffs, and especially Marble Canyon on the east side. I have vivid memories of driving this section with my parents and my sister Lisa when I was 10 or so, and it did not disappoint with the early sun on it.

We stopped briefly at the Navajo interpretive center at the bridge across the Colorado River. There is a pedestrian bridge that parallels the main road bridge, which is fun. The bridge is 450 feet or so above the river.

Another 40 minutes of driving around and through mesas and canyons brought us to Horseshoe Bend, a famous lookout where the Colorado River makes a huge hairpin turn. We hiked ¾ mile up and then down a blisteringly hot, desert trail to the lookout 1,000 feet above the river, where we were rewarded with breathtaking views. It was yet another heartstopping situation where there were no fences or guardrails—just s sheer drop. And yet, to get the full view, you needed to be at the edge! So we took turns crawling on our bellies to the very edge and looking over. Amazing.

After a hot hike back again (looking for lizards, as we had seen going in), we drove 10 minutes to Antelope Canyon, just outside of Page (AZ), where we were scheduled for a 1 pm tour of the famous orange slot canyon. Somehow we (I!) got mixed up on our time zones, so we were there one hour early, but they were able to slip us into the 12 noon tour. (The time zone thing is funny – Arizona generally doesn’t observe DST, so it is on Pacific time in the summer, even though it is Mountain time. The Navajo nation does observe DST, so it is usually the same as Utah during the summer, or so I thought. Anyway, confusing.) The 3.5 mile ride to the canyon was a blast – half a dozen trucks racing across a low canyon floor. Antelope Canyon itself was astonishing. I had seen pictures of it, but to experience it in real life and get decent pics (below) was really cool. Our Navajo guide was fun, funny, and a great photographer. Amazingly, the entire slot canyon can fill up (up to 120 feet) with water from a flash flood. Thankfully, no such flood today.

From Antelope Canyon, we had a scenic two hour drive to Monument Valley, on the border of Arizona and Utah, and also within the Navajo nation. As we approached the hotel, we could begin to see giant monuments and mesas jutting up out of the ground. Our hotel—The View Hotel—is perched on the top of an overlook down into Monument Valley. Each hotel room faces the monuments, and it is just wonderful. We made last minute arrangements to take a 1.5 hour 4×4 jeep tour of the 17 mile loop around the monuments, and it was well worthwhile. Our Navajo guide gave us lots of info, gave us ample time for photos, sang for us, and even gave Jo some snakeweed for her sore throat (she and I have both had wicked sore throats over the past half week or more, and I a chesty cough, perhaps due to the dry, hot air and the higher elevation?).

After the tour (really more like 2 hours), we ate at the in-house restaurant to sample some Navajo cuisine and watch the setting sun cast gentle light on the monuments.

The next few days are just as busy, but then we hit the final leg of our trip with lots of driving, city-touring, and no national parks. It’s been one full month since we left RI! We are all looking forward to crashing for a week on the beach at the Outer Banks, starting Aug. 6.

(Note: click on pictures to see larger versions of them or to view a slideshow.)

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Day 29 (7/26) Grand Canyon, North Rim. (Everyone—joint entry) Today was a bit of a lazier day, even though we started off with a hike. We got up later than usual and hiked to Bright Angel Point, even though it was hot and generally not shaded. At the end there was an awesome view of the Grand Canyon, and at a couple of points there were drop offs on both sides of the trail (but compared to Angel’s Landing trail in Zion, this was so easy, since the path was paved and it wasn’t as scary). Dad made us take pictures again, and we took a family selfie with the GoPro again – we know exactly how to line up by now!

After Bright Angel Point, we hiked along the rim of the Roaring Spring Canyon, which is more wooded and green, even though it is still a large Canyon. The green contrasted nicely against the red rock (some of us thought the green made the rocks look moldy!). The North Rim is 1,000 feet higher than the South Rim, so it gets more rain and snow—even more snow than Anchorage, Alaska! That trail joined the Nature trail that took us away from the canyon and through a nice wooded area. It was the least populated trail we’ve been on this whole trip. We saw a few birds (Elliot is totally into birding right now – bought a binoculars, two birding books, and a little birding journal) and the Kaibab squirrel, which has a huge bushy tail with a black body, almost like a small skunk without the white stripes.

The Nature trail led to Transept Trail, where we stopped for a while at a gorgeous overlook, where we were cooled by a strong breeze. It was hot today – in the high 90s at least.

The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing around, first at the visitor’s center, then at the camp store for wireless internet, and then at the lodge to attend a ranger’s talk on condors. Condors are scavenger birds with a wingspan of 9.5 feet. They feed their babies until they are 5 or 6 years old. We learned they can store up to 4 pounds of rotting flesh in a special throat area called the crop (we think) for up to two weeks. Yum! We had seen a few of them in Zion as well, and up close. They aren’t pretty birds – featherless heads.

Harrison and Helena completed the junior ranger program here, earning them their sixth badge on this trip. We all learn a lot in the process.

In the evening, we tried to drive out to a different lookout to watch the sunset, but somehow we couldn’t find the right road, so we gave up and went back to the main North Rim lodge to watch the sunset and have dinner on the Veranda, which was nice.

(Click on the pictures for larger versions.)

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Day 28 (7/26) Bryce Canyon National Park. (Lin) Woke up to a cool morning in the Utah highlands. The view outside our hotel room reminded us of parts of Wyoming – large sweeping valleys with mountainous terrain looming in the background. Definitely not the desert here – much cooler and not as dry. We slept in a little bit, packed up, and drove the five minutes to Bryce Canyon National Park. It’s so fascinating to think about the ways in which the different parks are experienced in terms of approaches (driving). Zion we could see for half an hour away, and it was impressive from the outside. For Bryce, we drove into the park in a pine forest, and it wasn’t until we parked and walked to the overlooks that we could see the brilliantly colored amphitheaters of the hoodoos (as the bright orange and white rock formations are called).

But once we were there, the sight was stunning. A whole field of brightly colored hoodoos – mostly orange, but with some white mixed in, all against a beautiful blue sky. We decided to do the most popular combo trail – the Queen Anne’s Garden Trail and the Navajo Loop (ending with the Wall Street). The trail is amazing – takes you down into the canyon among the hoodoos and rock formations. The middle section of the trail was less exciting – slightly more wooded. Coming up the last part of the trail (Wall Street) was stunning – a narrow slot canyon that opened up to steep switchbacks up the side of the canyon. The sunlight was bright, bathing everything in brilliant orange from the reflection off of the hoodoos.

After the hike, we had a packed lunch and drove the length of the main road in Bryce (18 miles one way). A storm moved in as we drove to the very end (Rainbow Point), and the temperature dropped to 47 F – combo of the storm and the 9,000 foot elevation. And that’s when all hail broke loose. Literally – for the second time on this trip, it began to hail! (It hailed and snowed, separately, in early July in Yellowstone when we were there.) The clouds and rain made the lookout points slightly less amazing, of course.

After a stop at the visitor center, we headed south towards the Grand Canyon (North Rim). We decided that Utah might be the most topographically diverse state we’ve been in. California is a close second, in our opinion. Salt Lake City, the Great Salt Lake, the Salt Flats (all in the north), and then all the really distinct national parks in the central and south, plus highlands, desert, etc. Amazing.

Crossing into Arizona, we had to turn our clocks back yet again, since Arizona (outside of the Navajo reservation) doesn’t observe daylight saving. We stopped for dinner an hour away from the GC and arrived at the North Rim just in time for a gorgeous sunset. The North Rim is high – 8200 ft. I was here as a 10 year old, perhaps, but I totally forgot how wooded it is as you drive in. Not what you think of Arizona at all. Beautiful woods and sprawling narrow fertile valleys. And then: the Grand Canyon. We are staying in a cute little two-room cabin a stone’s throw away from the canyon edge. Looking forward to hiking and exploring tomorrow.

(You can click on individual pictures to see larger versions.)

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Day 27 (7/25). (Lin)

Today was a parents’ nightmare! Well, potentially, at least. We had a our most exciting and yet terrifying hiking day yet. We got another early start to the day (the kids are such amazing troopers about constantly getting less sleep than they want and getting up relatively early) – this time to ensure a parking spot at the Zion Visitor Center. The line for the canyon floor shuttle was fairly long, but we were on a shuttle in 20 minutes or so. Our destination was the Angel’s Landing trail – so intense and well-known that it is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a 5 mile round trip hike that has an elevation increase of 1,700 feet. The hike features amazing views and several series of steep switchbacks, the most famous and steep of 15 or so is called Walter’s Wiggles (after the guy that designed them).

What makes the Angel’s Landing trail famous is the last half mile – out a treacherous spine of rock with sharp dropoffs on either side 1600 feet down to the canyon floor that leads up to the highest point of the hike, Angel’s Landing (which juts out into the valley in a way that gives amazing views). There is a chain on posts installed almost the whole length of that last section since the footing is not secure and the dropoffs so sharp. We all did a short first section of that last half mile, and then Eden, Harrison, Helena, and I continued on while Jo and Elliot went back. But even we decided to stop after getting about one quarter of the way there. It is so treacherous, with such steep dropoffs, that I didn’t feel comfortable taking the younger two—and only being able to really look after one (pics below). But still, we stopped at a nice point and saw some hawks up close swooping overhead and had some amazing views down the valley floor from 1600 feet up. The hike down was hot, but was so incredibly beautiful.

We were hot and exhausted, so we took some time to wade in the Virgin River, which felt great. We took the shuttle to the Zion Lodge, where we got a late lunch and even snuck in a short nap under a huge Cottonwood tree. It was hot – 103 F or so. We decided to tackle one last hike to the Weeping Rock, where we also cooled off a bit with the water dripping down out of the rock.

Harrison and Helena needed a ranger talk to complete their Junior Ranger Program, so they headed to the Zion Museum with Jo while Eden, Elliot, and I got in a few last views at the Big Bend.

The drive out of Zion (to the northeast) was stunning. A series of long switchbacks took us through brilliantly red and granite formations, and a long tunnel took us to the eastern highlands of Zion, which were also amazing. We all found it interesting and curious that, suddenly, after exiting the park, the landscape returned to boring normal – vast grasslands with—eventually—a few beautiful mesas and canyons in the distance. The temperature dropped precipitously as we drove northeast from Zion to Bryce Canyon National Park (1.5 hrs) – from 105 to 67 F. Our hotel is just outside Bryce Canyon, which we will explore tomorrow.

I think Zion might be our favorite park so far, collectively speaking. It really is an amazing place, and I can totally see us returning when the kids are a bit older for some of the harder hikes (and to complete Angel’s Landing!). The towering canyon walls remind me a bit of Yosemite, but the colors are entirely different — far more reds, greens, whites, etc. So lovely.

(As always, click on the photos below for larger versions.)

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Day 26 (7/24). (Lin) We were out by 8 am from our hotel in Las Vegas – it is amazing how quiet the city is at that time. And yet, there were still hundreds of people in the huge hotel lobby gambling. Such a strange and crazy place. Harrison loved it (the strip, the look-alike buildings and monuments from around the world); Elliot hated it; the other kids seemed indifferent.

From Vegas we headed southeast to the Hoover Dam, which was definitely impressive. One stat the kids liked was that there is enough concrete in the Hoover Dam to pave a sidewalk the entire way around the earth at the equator. And, yes, we all had some dam fun with words – we’ve never fake/pun cursed so much in our lives. After browsing the visitor center, taking lots of photos outside, and crossing from Nevada into Arizona and back again, we hit the road and headed to Zion National Park.

No pun intended, my religious studies friends, but the road to Zion was unexpectedly gorgeous. At one point someone remarked that we basically had already arrived at the Grand Canyon! Soaring red and multi-colored canyons jutted out of the ground all around us for at least the hour prior to arriving at Zion. We felt at times that we had entered the Cars movie set – so much so that we blared the soundtrack. There might have been singing (it’s a blur, sir).

Zion itself is amazing, but in a different way than Yellowstone or Yosemite, two other family favorites. There are the soaring canyon walls, but they are beautifully red and multicolored with white peaks, compared to the relative uniformity of Yosemite granite. No sweeping Lamar Valleys here, but there is vegetation and wildlife – we saw several deer on our hike tonight, plus squirrels that think they own the place, lizards, and birds (something Elliot has suddenly become passionate about).

Since we arrived at Zion at approximately 4:30 pm (having lost an hour entering the mountain time zone), we decided to head straight for one of two really anticipated hikes: the Narrows canyon. Put simply, the Narrows is a long slot canyon that runs for 15-16 miles, has steep canyon walls on either side that go up 1,000 feet and more, and has a shallow river that runs through the entire width of the bottom. The only way to hike it is to walk through the water almost all the time. It was—wait for it—gorgeous. Seriously, though, the sun starting to go down a bit and was shining so prettily on the upper levels of the canyon walls. It had been such a hot day (111 F), so the cool water and canyon felt so great. The only thing that dampened the experience was the slight chance of a flashflood, which, while rare, would have been catastrophic. Overall, a really fun hike, even though we probably only did one-half to three-quarters of a mile in.

Since the 1990s, Zion has not allowed visitors to drive the canyon road. Instead, everyone takes a shuttle that has 9 stops at important and scenic places. We enjoyed the shuttle drive in and out again (the Narrows is at the north/far end of the canyon), with super high and beautifully colored canyon walls and peaks on both sides of us the entire time. It was hard to capture the beauty and grandeur.

Our hotel is just outside the park, but has a magnificent view of the southern end of Zion’s canyon. After a brief swim and a late dinner, we all admired the bazillions of stars and—much to our delight—the Milky Way, which was a first for most of us.

(Click on the pictures below to see a larger version of them or slideshow.)

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Day 25 (7/23). (Lin) Today was full of highs and lows. Specifically, the highest point in the contiguous 48 states (Mt. Whitney, 14,505 ft.), which we saw from a distance, and the lowest point in North America (Death Valley, 282 ft. below sea level), where we walked in 125 F blistering heat. It is ironic that these two spots are 150 miles or so apart from each other.

To get there, we opted to take the slightly more scenic drive to Death Valley instead of the main highway from LA to Las Vegas. The scenic route was diverse, and included tight turns along the river through the mountains as well as wide open straight roads once we crossed through southern section of the Sierras. We really wanted to catch a glimpse of Mt. Whitney, even if from afar, and sure enough, we were able to just as we were turning southeast to head towards Death Valley National Park (it was just jutting up from behind several other mountains).

Death Valley National Park is just huge (yuuuge?). It is the largest national park in the 48 contiguous states, and boy, did it feel like it. We drove and drove and drove once inside the park, with endless roads that just stretched on and on forever. But to get to Death Valley, you have to first climb over several mountain ranges. Poor Pickles (our van) was put to the test, with the air temps outside ranging from 105 – 125 F, and steep hills to climb, all with our AC cranking full blast. But our van performed flawlessly, much to our relief!

It’s hard to say exactly why Death Valley is so impressive. It is such a barren, windswept, super dray, incredibly hot place. It feels like nothing could survive there, but of course a few animals and plants do, as Helena and Harrison found out when they completed the Junior Ranger program (their third park to do so on this trip). We stopped at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes (huge and lovely sand dunes), the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, Badwater Basin (ginormous salt flats, and where Death Valley reaches 282 feet below sea level), Artists’ Drive, and Zabriskie Point.

We all got out a few times, but the heat was so intense that not everyone did every time. It was odd – we found that when we were outside in the 125 F heat, we didn’t really sweat, even if we were walking around. But as soon as we got into the air conditioned van, we started sweating profusely for 5 minutes or so, since the intense dry heat no longer was there to evaporate our sweat, and yet our bodies still needed to sweat to cool down. We all drank a ton to compensate for the heat and water loss.

We were somewhat relieved to climb back out of Death Valley and hightail it towards Vegas. The road to Las Vegas was also long, straight, and beautiful. We stopped to finally get a few pictures with a Joshua Tree (especially important since we didn’t make it to Joshua Tree National Park).

We rolled into Las Vegas at 7 pm, and the kids were all agog. This place is just crazy and so over the top. We opted for delicious tacos off the strip, at Beer and Tacos (a place I had been to while at a conference here last year). Afterwards, we drove down the strip to our hotel, the Excalibur (the castle-looking one). Again, the kids couldn’t believe the humongous lobby that is entirely slots machines, blackjack and poker tables, etc. It is a bit of sensory overload, to be sure. We grabbed smoothies, went outside to look down the strip at night, and headed to bed. (Well, most of us!).

I’m really excited about this next leg of the trip: Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, etc. It will be hot, but really fun.

(Click on the pictures for larger versions or to see them all in a slideshow.)

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Day 24 (7/22) (Lin) This morning we filled our bellies with the healthiest breakfast known to humankind: Nutella buns. Indescribably gooey and unhealthy. (Thanks, Kristina!) After saying our goodbyes, we headed north through the Central Valley of California and then up into the Sierra Nevada mountain range to Sequoia National Park (which is right beside King’s Canyon National Park, but we didn’t have time to see it). This was our second time driving through the Central Valley on this trip, and we enjoyed seeing (and tasting!) first hand the fruit basket of the U.S. Miles and miles of fruit, almond, and olive trees, the rich greenness standing out in stark relief with the bleached yellow grasses that naturally grow in the valley.

At the lowest point in the valley we were at 450 feet above sea level; Sequoia is 7,000 feet above sea level, so we had quite a climb into the Sierras. After entering the park, we climbed steadily and steeply for an hour on what was likely the curviest road with the sharpest hairpin turns we’ve seen yet (which is saying something, given everywhere we’ve been so far). Jo was driving, as usual, which was good, because I inexplicably was virtually incapacitated with nausea and vertigo. Very unusual for me (Nutella for breakfast, perhaps? Or altitude illness, but I’ve never had it before..), but thankfully it got better once we were walking around the big trees. The temps dropped 10-15 degrees with the higher altitude.

As we reached the highlands, we started seeing huge sequoia trees all over. Our first stop was the General Sherman Tree, which is the largest tree by volume in the world: 275 feet high and 109 feet in circumference (~36 feet wide). We quickly learned the difference between sequoias and redwoods: the former are found inland and are fatter; redwoods are found on the coast and are slightly taller and skinnier.

Although the Sherman Tree was huge and amazing, our favorite section was the Tall Trees Trail, a .6 mile trail around a large meadow. It is really hard to capture the hugeness and grandeur of these trees, and how small you feel standing at the gigantic bases of them. We all felt like we were under their spell: so tall and silent, and yet living witnesses to between 2,000 and 3,000 years of history. Totally cool. We also enjoyed seeing the huge root systems of fallen sequoia trees — some of them 20-30 feet high. One of them on the Tall Trees Trail was hollowed out enough that we all could crawl through the trunk a ways.

Our final stop in the park was a tunnel carved out of a fallen sequoia tree that we could drive through. (Apparently parks stopped allowing people to drive through living trees a while back, so this is the next best option.) After that, it was a repeat of the harrowing one hour drive back down into the valley – super beautiful in the late afternoon light, but still a little nuts. Signs suggested using lower gears to save the brakes (which we have been doing in other locations, too — a bit funny for a minivan somehow!).

We drove two hours south of Sequoia to Bakersfield, CA, to put us in a better position to reach Death Valley and Las Vegas in good time tomorrow. Bring on the heat!

(You can click on individual photos to see them larger or as a slide show.)

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Day 23 (7/21) (Lin) Today is easy to summarize: Waterpark! It was 100 degrees today, so the timing was good. We’ve been debating whether or not to go to Disneyland (2 hours away) or Six Flags (10 mins away). The kids aren’t that into Disney (or the idea of Disney), or the long drive, and only Eden would truly enjoy the rides at Six Flags, so we opted for Hurricane Harbor instead (thereby saving some money and time on the road). We all had a blast.

This evening after a scrumptious Kristina dinner we all sat around and watched the end of the RNC and Trump’s speech. I’d really like that hour back.

Tomorrow we leave this lovely paradise and continue the second half of our National Parks speed dating tour! Off to Sequoia National Park in the morning.

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Day 22 (7/20). (Jo) Today we got off to another slow start, as we wanted to, in order to allow the traffic to clear up a bit heading into Los Angeles. We packed a lot into our day and I got to show the rest of the family a number of places I’ve been on my solo trips to LA. Our first stop was Griffith Park, where we hiked a mile trail (one way) up a steep dirt path to the observatory. It was a little longer and a lot hotter than some of us were bargaining for! But the observatory itself is a beautiful building, and it was nice and cool on the inside on a hot day. It was especially neat to be visiting on the anniversary of when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon on July 20, 1969.

After learning some spacey facts and grabbing a bite to eat, we headed back down the trail and were off to Hollywood Boulevard to see the stars. A few favorite stars (in the sidewalk) included Julie Andrews, Harrison Ford, Daniel Radcliffe, and Matt Damon. Our least favorite was Donald Trump’s star, and unfortunately the little wall that someone had built around it was no longer there. We still have our fingers crossed that someday one of these stars will have Kristina’s name on it!

Afterward, we headed toward the Getty with a few detours along the way, including Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive to see the swanky shops and the hotel that was featured in the movie Pretty Woman. We also took a quick drive through the UCLA campus, which was very nice.

At the Getty, the kids enjoyed the tram ride, and then we soaked in the amazing architecture, the views of the city and the Pacific, the gardens, and the artwork. The Impressionists are always a family favorite.

From the Getty, we headed to Santa Monica and enjoyed time on the sand and swimming in the Pacific. It was the fourth significant body of water we’ve been in on this trip (Lake Michigan, Great Salt Lake, Lake Tahoe, and the Pacific). After sunset, we headed up onto the pier for dinner and a couple of rides for the kids. The last time we were on the Santa Monica Pier as a family was in 2006, when Eden was four and Elliot was two. The pier is still the same (except for all the people now clogging the walkways by playing Pokemon Go), but our family has grown and changed a lot since then.

We realized today that the kids have been in the three largest cities in the US in the past month: NYC (before the trip), Chicago, and now Los Angeles.

We’ve also been trying to spot all 50 state license plates on vehicles as we’ve been traveling, but we are still missing that elusive Hawaii plate…

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Day 21 (7/19). (Lin) A much-welcomed chill day here in the greater Los Angeles area. After almost three weeks of rushing from one site to the next, it was great to sleep in, run some errands, lounge in the swimming pool, and eat fantastic food prepared by Kristina Kuzmic (including Nutella crepes for breakfast and crazy good skirt steak for dinner, plus Nutella creme brûlée for dessert — which we all had fun caramelizing). Kids especially enjoyed a day just to relax and be goofy.

I calculated that we have put 5,368 miles on our Odyssey since leaving home, which called for an oil and fluids change and check. Van looks great, the technician said. Fingers crossed. I’m sure we will put on almost that number of miles heading back.

It’s fascinating to essentially be in the northern suburbs of LA — some of the neighborhoods are only a decade old and go right up the sides of the hills. Everything is so neat, orderly, but super spread out. By Rhode Island standards, I had to drive a long way for my various errands (I’m talking 15 whole minutes, RI peeps!). Weather wise, it has been hot, dry, and sunny.

Huge dilemma: to Disney or not to Disney? Only time will tell.