October 26th and 27th Grand Canyon, AZ and NM

We had a great day at the Grand Canyon. The mules were just setting out on the trail to the bottom of the Canyon -- something to do next trip although reservations many months in advance are the norm.
We went to the ranger talk on the geological history of the Canyon and hiked the rim trail back -easy 3 mile walk along the ridge of the Canyon -- we admired some of the hikers coming up from the depths of the canyon - around 9 miles each way.
We left the Grand Canyon mid afternoon and headed for Flagstaff and Albuquerque.
Enroute to Albuquerque we stopped at the National Meteor Monument -- off of rt 40 by 5 miles. Worth the hour of time we spent but this is a one time visit to this giant crater.

We were glad we had made reservations in Albuquerque - the International Arabian Horse Show was taking place. From comments from our hotel clerk, this is a much higher maintenance crowd than the usual business types who visit the Hampton Inn but he managed to check us in to the very last room. We checked into tickets - none available so decided to spend Saturday AM in Santa Fe with Albu. as our backup plan for the afternoon.

October 25, 2007 Utah and Arizona

Last night, I found out that the North Rim of the Grand Canyon was definitely closed, although I had been assured by AAA that it was open until the end of October. We regrouped and decided that we would go to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon – October is a great time to go – we were able to get a room on short notice and a dinner reservation with no problems at the famous El Tovar restaurant when I called this AM.

Amy and I stopped at Bryce Canyon National Park this morning --fantastic! Absolutely beautiful and not far off of our route. We walked around, definitely noticing the altitude difference at 8000 ft.

From there we drove through a beautiful but desolate area. Our afternoon stop was at Glen Canyon dam – quite a project, with lots of information for visitors, built from 1956 to 1964. We then drove through the Navajo reservation The Navajo reservation was very, very poor from our observations by the side of the road.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon just before sunset with a full moon rising. Gorgeous!
Trivia: the Grand Canyon hotel has upgraded TV services. In 2002, only option was the Sundance Channel and not be able to watch the Academy awards. In 2007, the TV offers a full complement of channels, equivalent to DC.

Many visitors here from all over the world are here at the Grand Canyon, especially from Europe and Aulstralia.

Dinner was great. We are looking forward to tomorrow!

Utah 10-23-07

We headed to Salt Lake City today, arriving in the early afternoon. First stop - Audi dealer to get a brake light repaired. Great service, no charge and a great recommendation to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant -- a nice break from the all american cuisine of the west. We then headed to the Utah State house, under major renovations and then to the nearby area of the Morman Church. The Visitor Center, Brigam Young Park, Tabernacle, grounds were all extremely impressive. We did tour Brigam Young's home -- the Bee Hive house. He had 19 wives and more than 50 children while at the same time served as both Governor and the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. His personal life was certainly attention getting. Beautiful, large home with young missionaries as tour guides who completed our tour with a song for our small group - beautiful voices. All very interesting.
Downtown seemed very well maintained, with an updated light rail/trolley car system. Lots of traffice on I 15 in rush hour -- long thin city, with mountains on all sides. Provo seems like an extension of Salt Lake. Lots of big box stores in the suburbs - could be anywhere. Still no 93 octane gas [none in Portland that I found]

We then headed south to Beaver UT where we are spending the night, enroute to the Grand Canyon tomorrow. This is the birthplace of both Butch Cassidy and the inventor of television, Philo Farnsworth.

Portland, OR 10-19, 10-20, 10-21, 10-22

Friday: Allan has a spacious apartment complete with catherdral ceilings. Paul and I decided to make some donations from Target to Allan's apartment while he worked in the morning. I think he will keep about 1/2 of our purchases. For sure the clock that ticks too loud and the laundry hamper with a cover were instant rejects. The TV stand/future coffee table and the coffee pot will stay. Other items are debatable. In the afternoon we headed out to a local corn maze, complete with a farm animal exhibit and haystacks for climbing. Dinner in downtown Portland at a great local cajun place.
Paul and I headed to the Pacific with Allan and Annie on Saturday AM. Annie arrived after her 12 mile run to 3 sleeping persons. It was a great morning for sleeping in with steady drizzle combined with intermittent downpours. When we arrived at the beach we were greeted by blue skies, a nearly empty beach and big surf. Paul's test of his new gortex hiking boots waterproofing was overwhelmed by an unexpected wave. We hiked a trail -- Allan and Annie went all the way to the mountain top, Paul & I went up a little more than 1/2 way up. Beautiful views of the Pacific from the mountain. Rain returned for the trip back. We stopped by Allan's office and air field enroute to Portland. Allan went out to see friends while Paul and I stayed in on Sat evening. Paul continues to battle a cold and it is nice to have a place to hang out at, a home.
Sunday, we dropped Paul at the airport. Allan and I met his real estate agent in downtown Portland. He is looking at 2 and 3 bedroom homes -- ranging in age from 75 to 100 years old. We saw an interesting variety -- all close to areas he'd like to consider. Some were clear rejects including the garage roof that is leaking and caving in. Then off to Allan's pickup ultimate frisbee game. I took a hike through the neighborhood [Dennis Kucinich stickers], met players and went with all to the local sports bar. We met Amy Walsh at the air port Sunday evening.
Monday, Amy and I considered going to the Pacific via Washington state but enroute we were greeted by Mt St. Helen's in the distance. We had absolutely perfect weather and decided to head there first and maybe go to the Pacific later. Well, Mt St. Helen's is further away than it looks so it was our only stop of the day - about 90 minutes from Portland. We were both incredibly impressed -- great visitor centers, hikes near the Mountain, interesting terrain. A recommended stop. We met Allan and Annie in Portland for dinner and walk along the waterfront.
Tuesday, we headed east, stopping in Pendleton, OR for lunch and a stroll around town. We did some shopping and continued on to Idaho.

Onward to Portland via the Oregon Trail 10-18-07

We left Mountain Home and headed on to Portland. We have been following the Oregon Trail. Even the Craters of the Moon was part of the path although must have been tough on wagon trains, willing to travel over harsh volcanic rock to avoid Indian attacks.
We stopped in Boise -- toured the Idaho Museum of history [only $2 entry fee, $1 for students including college]. Great story of Lewis & Clark and update through 1900 of Idaho. We had lunch in Baker City -- stained glass ceiling in an old hotel from the 1880's [probably a wild place back then in a town full of gold miners].
We stopped at one of the dams along the Columbia River, between OR & WA - big civil engineering projects with lots of hydro power for the entire area.











Last stop before Portland was at Multnomah Falls -- easily accessed from I-84 and really spectacular. We didn't climb the mile high hike to the top because the park was ready to close and found out later from Allan, totally not worth it, but the view is spectacular off the bridge between the upper and lower falls.


















Dinner for an early celebration of Paul's birthday from the 30th floor of Portland's tallest office building with Allan and Annie. With window side seats, we had a terrific meal. Then off to the suburbs and Allan's current apartment.

Craters of the Moon and Mountain Home 10-17-07

Paul and I woke up to falling snow in West Yellowstone. Sunrise is after 7:30. We headed west on US 20 through Eastern Idaho to Craters of the Moon – a national park with Volcanoes in the middle of a lonely place [sign: fuel in 52 miles]. Not even cattle live in this area of volcanic rock. We got to see inside a Volcano. It is a long way across this desert with high mountains – over 11,000 ft- encircling the entire area.

Then onward to Mountain City, ID to see Tom and Heather Laffey. As we left I-84 to head to the air force base, with a mile marker 10 miles to Mt Home AFB, Paul asked: why do we need an afb here? Tom filled us in that this entire area with several air bases is used for pilot training with Mt Home being a base sending pilots directly to Iraq and Afghanistan. So far, these are places,Tom has been able to pass up.

Tom met us at the gate [all of the security guys are report to him so we were treated like honored guests.] Quinn, [4 ½] and She [2 ½ ] have grown tremendously in the 16 months they have been in ID. Paul and I were first family visitors since Uncle Joe so got a terrific welcome. We ate at the restaurant on base and a chance to visit at their home. They will be only be here another 7 months, finding out by early 2008 where they are headed next May. They were in Yellowstone in August [DOD has places for military and government employees to stay in between Yellowstone and Grand Teton Park – per Tom, Marg should be eligible if she want to go.].

Yellowstone 10-16

Paul arrived along with a very well healed crowd uneventfully yesterday. Early start for him [2:30 am MT time], painful PHL security process which evidently is not atypical to the point he was worried about missing his plane. Jackson Hole is a free parking airport - my first ever.
We had time to see a few of the sites in Jackson, shop at the local outdoor store where serious climbing ropes are standard fare. Both Paul and I selected new hiking style footgear and he found a noteworthy pair of sheepskin style lined flip flops, all on sale.
We had a great drive through the Grand Teton Park, stopping at several places I had passed by on the way down on Sunday.














We went on to Yellowstone, stopping at the West Thumb area

before it got dark and checked in to the Yellowstone Old Faithful Snow Lodge. Beautiful facility but no TV's in the rooms and more surprising to Paul, no internet. Dinner was quite mediocre but great location. Paul went to sleep by 8:30 MT so no need for TV and internet. We were right next to Old Faithful which we stopped and saw this AM, went off 7 minutes early. Quite spectacular. We made a number of stops, did a 5 mile hike to Fairy Falls, took lots of pictures. Saw numerous buffalo, elk,
deer but no bears. The park is very empty - our lodge, the last one open, closes on Sunday. It was nice having no traffic, lots of wild life and beautiful park.
Ended up this evening at West Yellowstone, complete with TV [baseball game] and internet along with washer and dryer[Paul needs] and indoor pool and hot tub. Best Western is very clued in to the desires of the typical American traveler.
Picture posting is a challenge due to so, so internet wireless service so they are in process. We are a long way from anything but trees.