8:20PM 6/20/14

Hello!

We woke up this morning in the Grand Hotel and are chocolate covered doughnuts for breakfast. We hit the road at 6:45 and headed to the Seguaro National Park. Along the way, we observed the trees that had the bottoms burnt up by the fire. We enjoyed looking at the different types of fire damage, but the tree that got it the worst was the Birch. Finally, we made it to Seguaro NP and paid off our $80 park passes by $5. 

 

We stopped in the Visitor Center to observe the gift shop and gather information on the cacti. After pictures in front of a cactus, we headed over to the picnic area. We are our lunch (Ham and Cheese, again) and walked around a bit to look at the cacti. Here are some pictures I took. 

We made it to the resort we are staying at and took a swim in the pool. We headed to dinner at El Molinito and ate the best Mexican food this entire trip. 

Until tomorrow,

Sarah Jackson

Leaving the Grand Canyon and into Tucson

We left the Grand Canyon early this morning and made are way down to Tucson.  Outside of Flagstaff the altitude was over 8000 feet and temperature was around 40.  Arriving in Tucson around lunch the altitude was 2000 feet and temperature over 100.  This was in about 200 miles.   Who knew there was a place in Arizona called Snow Bowl?

We drove to Saguaro National Park and saw the amazing saguaro cactuses.    There wasn't much of a crowd since it was the off season and it was over 100, but it was worth visiting.   We then drove to our hotel which is the amazing Westward Look Wyndham Grand Resort.   Going to the pool and looking at the mountains was a great end to the trip.

Here are a few pictures from today.

9:10PM 6/19/14

Hello!
We woke up this morning and ate powdered sugar doughnuts and apples for breakfast. We got dressed and headed out to the Grand Canyon. After a long drive, we made it to the canyon. Yesterday we decided on doing Bright Angel Trail, so we set off immediately while it was still cool. We started the long, steep, hike down 1.5 miles and took pictures of the wildlife on the way. We saw multiple squirrels and chipmunks, and beautiful orange bellied birds. Finally, after about an hour, we made it down to the mile and a half rest point. We all drank some water and ate some granola bars to prepare for the long hike upwards. Well, it turns out, hiking up is a lot harder than hiking down. After about an hour and a half, we finished the upward hike with multiple rest breaks along the way. Exhausted and dirty, we hopped onto the red bus and started the shuttle through multiple viewpoints. We saw about 5 viewpoints and stopped at Hermit's rest to buy Cokes and Slim Jims. We took the shuttle back to the car and drove to a pretty spot for a picnic. After our picnic, we got on the yellow shuttle and rode it to the Kaibab trail and started going down it. We decided to walk to "Ooh Ahh point," or as my dad called it, "Ooh la la point." We finally made it down to enjoy an incredible view of the canyon. After we hiked back up, we stumbled over to the car and drove home. We spent the afternoon swimming and taking showers. We then ate a giant pizza in We Cook Pizza and Pasta. My mom suggested that I dunk my pizza in ranch dressing, and it was delicious. So, here I am now, laying on the hotel bed blogging.
Until tomorrow!
-Sarah Jackson

The Grand Canyon National Park

Another amazing day both in weather and natural wonder.  We started the day at 7:15 with a hike down the Bright Angel trail.   The going down was easy and we reached the first outpost after a mile and a half in about 45 minutes or so.  We were over 1100 feet below the rim.  Then we had to walk back up.  Oh my!  An hour and half back up.  We were well prepared with water, snacks, etc.  There were people probably still on the trail coming up.

After the first hike, we rode the shuttle bus to the different places along the rim to see different views of the canyon including seeing some of the Colorado River rapids.  The depth from the rim to the bottom is very hard to imagine unless you see it.  You can see why they have warnings everywhere about not going to the bottom and back up in one day.

We had a nice picnic lunch and saw a few elk along the road.  Then we took another hike down to the Ooh Aah point on the South Kaibab trail.  The total hike was only two miles and we knocked it out in about an hour but it was steep and very tough to come back up.  We only descended about 750 feet below the rim but the up was a killer.  

After a long day we came back to the hotel for some clean up and showers.  (The dust on the trails is intense.)  We had pizza at a restaurant called, "We Cook Pizza and Pasta".  Yes that was the name.  Back in the room and soon to sleep as we drive to Tucson tomorrow to see the cactus.  Here are a few pics from today.

9:24PM 6/18/14

Hello!
Sorry I didn't get to post earlier!
We woke up at 6:00 this morning and went downstairs for breakfast. I had Cap'n Crunch cereal because the muffins were some sort of nut flavor. Once we finished, we hit the road for the Grand Canyon. After a while, we made it to Colorado. We were in Colorado for a bit before we arrived at Four Corners National Monument. We took turns assuming the awkward pose where you put one limb in each state and take a picture. The four states were New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. All around the monument were the Native Americans of the Navajo Nation that were selling jewelry, pots, sand art, and more. I bought a pair of blue stone earrings.

 My mom got a Kokopelli necklace. In case you're not familiar with Kokopelli here he is. He is the general symbol of the American Southwest and he is known to be mischievous.

Right after, we arrived in Arizona. 

After some more boring driving through the middle of the desert, we arrived at the Grand Canyon. We decided that we would take a preview for what we were going to see tomorrow. Below are two pictures I took. The first one is of the canyon, and the second one is the traditional "Dead Tree" picture. 

Afterwards, we decided that we were going to do the "Bright Angel" hike tomorrow and went off to dinner at Plaza Bonita. It was much better than La Hacienda. Finally we ended up in the hotel, which is where I am now. 

Well, until tomorrow!

-Sarah Jackson

A Grand Canyon Type of Day

We left Moab early this morning and made our way to the Four Corners.  We actually drove from Utah through the corner of Colorado and entered the Four Corners from New Mexico.  The Navajo tribe runs the Four Corners and after a $5 per head donation (including the kids) you get to walk around the Four Corners and visit the many stalls of Navajo artists.

We then drove into Arizona and about four hours through the Navajo Nation.  It is very stark and I really don't know how the people survive out there.  Then we entered the Grand Canyon NP and it is amazing.  I really didn't grasp the scope of the park and how high we actually are.   The altitude of the first stop was almost 7,500 feet!  Anyway, Sarah will have the details.  Here are a few pics.

8:50PM 6/17/14

Hello!
Rappelling is not easy work! I woke up this morning to the same alarm as yesterday, but this time at 5:45AM. Breakfast, however, was much better. The apple juice actually tasted like real apple juice, and the tour group had left so they still had muffins. They weren't blueberry but some sort of cinnamon flavor. Once we finished, we went outside to find the Moab Adventure tour van was already waiting for us. 
We rode all the way to the Moab Adventure Center and checked in. 15 minutes later, we were set up on another van with 7 other people (including the tour guides) and were ready to go down to the cliff. After a 10 minute drive and a 30 minute hike we arrived at the first stop. The tour guides set up the ropes and told us about how to rappel and we were ready to go. The first rappel was into a cave. My adventurous sister went  first in the family and rappelled down quickly. A little bit later I went next.
I was hooked onto the ropes, and then I was asked to perform the hardest task of the day, trusting the ropes. I had to lean back and let the ropes hold me. I trusted the guide and all, but I was terrified. I slowly leaned back and started working with the brake. At first, the rappelling was extremely difficult. I cautiously released the rope and struggled downward. Slowly but surely, I worked my way down to the ledge with a little pond. I nimbly avoided the water and continued downward. By now, my sister had come from the other rappel station to watch me. She talked to me as I finished the rappel and unhooked. We then walked across the sandy canyon to the next rappel, which was behind an arch. It was a ledge rappel, so about 1/3 of the way through you had a free fall where you just sat in the harness and pulled the brakes. I started the rappel and carefully made it to the ledge, where I stopped with my feet and slid down with the brakes. At the bottom of the canyon, there was a natural spring that provided drinkable water. The water was sweet and very cold. After everyone was down, we took a 2 mile hike back to the parking lot, crossing the river a grand total of 10 times. We all drove back, sandy and wet, and returned to the hotel where we swam for 45 minutes and ate lunch. 
After lunch, we decided to go get some shave ice at a local stand. I got Blue Raspberry and Hawaiian Punch. The punch flavor was tart, and the raspberry sweet. We finished our shave ice and headed to Canyonlands. 
While we were driving in, Abby and I were so exhausted from before that we slept until we arrived at a little viewing area. We hopped out of the car and observed the beautiful canyon below. Next, we took a .5 mile hike and looked at a huge arch that stretched in front of the canyon. Finally we returned to the hotel. Afterwards, we went to dinner at Milt's Stop and Eat. Milt's is the oldest restaurant in the city. It was built in 1954. We ate delicious burgers, fries, and milkshakes. We were all fat and happy by the end of the meal. 
So now here I am, with my legs under the covers watching Law and Order on the hotel TV. 
-Sarah Jackson