Happy New Years!

We wish everyone a very happy and safe New Year! We hope 2009 is a great year. We are headed up to Ed's place to visit with his family and friends. It should be a great time!

A-Trekking We Will Go

We're very excited to report that we've booked a trip to Peru in April. We will be hiking to Machu Picchu during a four-day, three-night excursion with the company Peru Treks. We're very excited...better start getting in shape now as there are lots of steps to climb in a very high altitude.

Merry Christmas

We wish everyone a very merry Christmas. We hope that 2009 is your best year ever!

Update

We haven't been on the blog in a long time. We've moved back to Long Island and have secured jobs. We're getting used to living back on Long Island and are looking for a house. Hopefully we'll find a good one soon! Hope everyone is doing well. Happy Holidays!

Pacific Northwest

After Yosemite, we decided to drive up Highway 5 instead of driving up along the coast on Highway 1. It was a tough decision, but we didn't have much time. Although many people told us the drive on 5 was boring and ugly, we still found it very nice. We stayed in a little place in Yreka, California one night and had some of the best Mexican food we've had. Ed especially loved it because it was spicy. He had pork with guacamole. Jeanette had arroz con pollo. Oregon was beautiful...very mountainous and green. We stayed in Portland and loved it. It is a very walkable city. We walked through the Pearl District, where Ed was in heaven because there were tons of breweries. We then walked through the Nob District, which had lots of unique shops and restaurants. We then walked down by the water before walking back to the Pearl District to eat at Rogue Brewery. Ed was a little tipsy by the end of dinner, but loved the beer (especially the Smoke Ale) and his Kobe beef balls smothered in blue cheese and his beer cheese soup. We ate outside then headed back to the hotel. The next day we walked through a few more artsy districts before driving up to Vancouver.

Vancouver was beautiful, especially the areas surrounding the city. The city was under quite a bit of road and city construction as they are hosting the winter olympics in 2010. We walked over a long suspension bridge, climbed the Grouse Grind because it cost $35 to take the gondola to the top of the mountain, but climbing up it was free. We thought it was going to be an easy walk, but were in for a surprise when we realized how steep it was. We hiked up over 2000 feet in 2.5 kilometers. At the top of the mountain, we got free access to the shows and caught the end of a lumberjack show in which a guy climbed to the top of a pole with his two axes, then ziplined across a wire only holding on with the axes before finally getting down. We also saw two grizzly bears in the grizzly habitat and some birds for the wild bird show. We could have kept walking up other mountains, but didn't have much time in Vancouver, so headed down on the gondola, which only cost $5 to get to the bottom. We then drove to Horseshoe Bay, which is where the ferry leaves for Vancouver Island, which we unfortunately didn't get to. Horseshoe Bay was a really cute town with restaurants and a few shops overlooking the bay and mountains. We ate outside on the grass overlooking the water. We then headed into the city and walked around for a while before getting some pizza and cupcakes, watching the sunset at a beach, and then watching a magician who was pretty good. Ed's favorite line was when the guy started counting to three in all different languages and proceeded to state that in Alabama, they say, "Uh, one, uh one more, then another one more" and then to knock once, twice, then three times to simulate how Jehovah Witness' count. We then went back to the hotel. We headed to the city again the next day and walked around down there. We walked around Stanley Park, Robson Street, walked down by the water, went through gastown (really cute) and caught a BMX show while walking through China Town.

The next day we were interrogated by the US customs officer for several minutes before getting back into the US. We then headed into Seattle and went to Pike's Place Market, which was awesome. We saw the fish throwing, then walked around and looked at all the fruit, vegetables, flowers, and crafts. Soon after, we met up with our friend Chris from college. He showed us around a little more, taking us to the amusement park surrounding the Space Needle, then down to his brewery where we got a tour of Big Time brewery. We saw what Chris did on a regular basis, then went in search of dinner. After attempting to eat at a Mexican restaurant on the water (it was closed), we walked around the university district in search of food and wound up at a Thai restaurant. It was yummy. We then headed back to Chris' house and watched the Olympics. We headed out for breakfast with Chris the next morning at a German bar (it was quite good) before beginning our trek down to Bozeman, MT.

On the Road Again

We arrived in Los Angeles from Fiji on July 31st. With the international dateline, we had two July 31st, but that's okay as we completely lost June 15th on our way out to New Zealand. After we landed, we drove up Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) through Malibu. It was okay at the beginning, but it got much nicer and more scenic the further away from Los Angeles we got. Our first meal was IHOP, which was spectacular. Ed had a huge plate of pancakes for dinner while Jeanette opted for chicken strips. We then stopped in Santa Barbara, which was great. We really liked it there. It was very casual and really nice. There was some sort of Mexican festival going on where they were throwing eggs filled with confetti, so confetti was all over the streets, people were drinking and having fun, and there were bands playing all over. We then continued on to Hearst Castle, which was really nice. You'll have to check out the pictures once we have enough time to upload them. It was built around the same time as the Biltmore Estate that we visited in Ashville, NC. It was really nice, especially the outside...we only toured five rooms downstairs.

We headed up to San Francisco, where we walked the Golden Gate Bridge, went to Fishman's Wharf, went down the windiest street in the world (Lombardi's Street), and drove down Haight Street, where the hippie movement started. We then met up with our friend from college, Colin. We hadn't seen him in years...we had a great time and he showed us around some less touristy areas and he took us to a cool place for dinner, on a hike with views of the city, then up to Twin Peaks at night to look over the city. We really liked San Francisco.

From San Fransisco, we drove out to Yosemite Park. We camped out there two nights, saw a bear about 15-20 feet away from us (but walked by it without a problem after stomping our feet a little), and went on a little hike. The hike was 18 total miles that took us up 5000 feet from where we started. The end was so steep that you had to pull yourself up with cables, then use the cables to prevent yourself from going too fast down. It was called the Half Dome...look it up if you want.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/halfdome.htm


It was a harder hike than the Grand Canyon because it was twice as steep and our legs are still a bit sore. It's one of the the hardest day trips you can go on in the US National Parks. Jeanette said she wasn't going to climb anything after the Grand Canyon, but this was all her idea.

Happy Belated Birthday Casey

Happy Belated Birthday Casey. Sorry we didn't post earlier, but we haven't had access to the internet and/or computer in a while. We hope you had a great day!!!

Congratulations Sarah and Jason

Congratulations to our good friends Sarah and Jason on the birth of their beautiful, healthy 8.2 pound baby boy, Jackson Gregory. We can't wait to meet him and to see you guys!!!

Fiji

Hey everyone,
We've had an amazing time in Fiji. The people are so welcoming and nice. The islands are very relaxing and beautiful. It's like the caribbean without the huge amounts of people and pools and swim up bars (although that's pretty convenient). We did some scuba diving, snorkeling...Ed got hit by a dinghy, but he's fine, and lots of relaxing. We'll be home in negative one hour (we gain a day on the way back). We'll talk with everyone soon!

Airlie Beach

We took a twelve hour train ride from Cairns to Airlie Beach. On our first day here, we took a sailboat out to the famous White Haven Beach in the Whitsunday Islands. Although it was fun sailing, it was cloudy and White Haven Beach didn't look like anything special. In addition, we were only there for an hour and a half so we couldn't explore any of the cool parts of the island because sailing took so long. We did see a humpback whale on the way back which was pretty cool.

The following day we took another boat trip out to the Whitsundays. This time we got to scuba diving three times. The coral was bright and colorful, there were lots of fish, and we saw a shark! We also saw huge sea turtles and really big fish. On the boat ride out, we saw some dolphins. Our divemaster was really good this time and pointed out lots of things underwater.

We're off to Brisbane in a few hours and then on to Fiji in two days.

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy Birthday. I hope that you have a great day. You are the best dad ever!

Cairns

We arrived in Cairns and pulled up to our bed and breakfast at night. We stayed in the Cairns Rainforest Bed and Breakfast in a nearby suburb. This bed and breakfast has one of the nicest settings we have seen. The house is gorgeous. The backyard has waterfalls forming deep swimming holes in the middle of the rainforest. They also have a pool for our use. The house has several decks with outdoor dining options. It was nice with the windows open, with a nice temperature, listening to the waterfall and animals of the rainforest while sleeping...it was like listening to one of those nature cds live. Our room was really nice too with beautiful wood floors, a big jacuzzi lined with stone.

The first day, we went scuba diving. The boat ride out left early and was very rocky because it was windy and little rainy out in addition to being in a small boat. It took 90 minutes to get to the outer reef and about a quarter or more of the 100 people got sick, although not us. We went on our first dive. We got in no problem, but the one lady with us lost her flipper right away. We waited for her while looking around under the water. During the dive, we saw a lot of fish, but not as many as we were expecting. The coral was huge...50 feet straight up where we were diving. The colors were vivid and lots of fish were in the anemones (like Nemo). We wondered what the guides spoke about before Nemo came out because they loved to talk about this fish! The dive was forty minutes and there was a decent current we swam into when we were finishing, which made us feel a little sea sick. We were definitely spoiled in Texas because our guide there was awesome. This guide was fine, but didn't point anything out to us, except for Nemo. We then ate lunch, watched the marine biologist feed the fish, and then geared up for our second dive. This time we got on a smaller boat that took us further out and we dove again. The lady couldn't descend this time, so we swam around for about 5-10 minutes in the general area under the water looking at everything. She had actually gotten left behind on a different tour the day before...which is a definite no no in scuba, but more understandable after we saw her dive. During the second dive, we saw a small lagoon ray, many bright colored fish, more coral, and a turtle. Unfortunately, it's hard to describe things, especially since we can't tell a goldfish from a baracuda. We headed back to the boat after this. The boat ride back to Cairns was a little less rocky and less people got sick. We had ice cream and Thai food for dinner, in that order. We then headed back to the B n B and went to sleep.

The second day we woke up at 5 to go white water rafting in Tully, which is two hours away. It was a misty, overcast day, but still warm. On the way up, we passed lots of banana fields and sugar cane farms. There were rain forest covered mountains with mist on both sides of the valley when we arrived. We split into different groups for the rafting. There were 8 boats of 6 people. Our guide was pretty experienced and seemed to be in charge of the others. We went through the grade 4 rapids first, without flipping...even when we tried to flip on purpose. Although really fun, the first half of the trip consisted of us waiting for the other boats to go through. We went through 10 rapids in 2 hours. Right before lunch, he took us through a cold waterfall where we were hammered with water. We then ate lunch (hamburgers, sausage, veggie sandwiches) and started the next half of the trip, which was much nicer as we didn't have to wait as much. We went through many smaller rapids and kept moving. It was a fun trip.

On the bus ride home, we got to watch videos of crashes and flips from previous trips, which was pretty fun. We grabbed some pizza for dinner and came back to the BnB and lounged around.

This morning, we are exploring Cairns. We're taking a twelve hour train trip tomorrow to Airlie Beach. The rental cars didn't work out so off to the train we go. We only have one week left in Australia.

Funniest Story Ever

When we were by the campfire, a Spanish guy from up near Barcelona told us a story. He and his friends were at a bachelor party for their first friend who was getting married. He got hammered and they put his leg in a real cast (I guess they knew a doctor or something). They convinced the groom his leg was broken, he assumed he forgot all that. He got married with the cast on. After that, he went on the honeymoon with the cast on as well. Then when he got back from the trip, they told him he didn't really break his leg. The guy also had friends that got put on a 4 hour train ride naked, handcuffed to the seat. Another friend knew a cop and they put a guy in jail for 2 days, interrogating him about a night he couldn't remember. He is getting married soon and understandably worried.

Uluru (Ayers Rock)

We flew from Melbourne to Alice Springs in the Outback and stayed in a hostel called Annie's Place. Despite some recent reports saying there were bed bugs, we didn't have a problem besides Jeanette not being able to sleep all night as she was scared she would be bitten...apparently you can see them and we checked the entire day. Alice Springs was interesting...a town in the middle of nowhere that had KFC, Subway, K-Mart, etc. We probably don't need to return there, but it was interesting to see. There were some homeless Aborigines, which was sad to see...the most homeless people we had seen in Australia.

We left bright and early the next morning on a three day, two night tour to Uluru. We went on the Mulgas tour, which was lots of fun. The first day was mostly driving the six hours it took to get there, but we did stop for a hike in King's Canyon. We also were able to watch the sunset over Uluru. During the drive, we stopped along the side of the road and picked up some poisonous melons. We then proceeded (in teams of 4 or 5) to throw the melons out the bus window while driving at posts or signs. Jeanette hit a small white post worth two points and Ed didn't hit anything. One of the two Irish girls on our team hit a sign worth one point. We then set up our mugs in the back of the bus and bowled the remaining melons while the bus was driving. It was lots of fun. After watching the sunset, we spotted a couple in the road who was flagging us down. All the people on the bus (19 including our tour guide, Halley) got off and helped push their camper van back to the road as it was stuck in the dirt pretty far off the road. With all the people we had, it was relatively easy to push out. The couple wasn't the brightest to drive their non-four wheel drive camper that far off the road in the middle of nowhere. When we arrived at our campsite, Halley realized three of our swags had been stolen while we watched the sunset. That was a real bummer since there were only a few other cars where we watched the sunset. Luckily for all of us on the tour, she had packed a few extra swags and we all got one. Unfortunately for Halley, there wasn't enough for her. Once we arrived at the campsite, we tore down dead trees and started a huge bonfire. Halley cooked dinner, which consisted of pasta with vegetarian bolognese (more like chili) for Jeanette and added camel to the sauce for the non vegetarians...Ed. He thought it tasted just like beef. We slept under the stars, which were brilliant in the sky. It was quite cold...like 25 degrees outside. We were fairly warm with the fire, sleeping bag, and swag, but the wind could get cold on your face.

We woke up early the next morning and hiked two different hikes totaling 16 kilometers for the day. We first hiked the Olgas, which were mountains near the rock that were created in a similar way. We then had lunch at the cultural center and began our walk around the base of Uluru...the world's largest monolith. No one climbed it because it was too windy, but Ed and I weren't going to climb it anyway due to respect of the Aboriginal people who request that you don't climb their sacred site. We also watched the sunset, which turned the rock a bright red. We had dinner consisting green curry chicken. Jeanette had rice and cheese. While we were there, buses of people were brought in. They had paid $800 to watch the sunset and have dinner. We paid $250 for three days including meals, campsites, admission, etc. After the sunset, we returned to our campsite, tore down some more dead trees, and started our fire. We toasted marshmallows, which were flavored. Most people went to bed around 8, but we stayed up until about 11 talking to people.

The next morning was a little warmer, possibly 40 degrees, and we watched the sunrise over Uluru again. It was extremely windy, so we stayed inside the bus for most of it. One thing we noticed was the desert had lots of trees and some grass. Although it doesn't rain there frequently, the trees have roots reaching far underground where there is a huge supply of water.

Halley dropped Ed and I off at a really nice hostel/resort (YHA, but with a fancy name) while everyone else continued on to Alice Springs for their flight. We were able to shower, eat, relax, and do laundry in the time that it took them to drive back. We caught a free shuttle to the airport and flew to Cairns.

Happy Birthday July Edition

Happy birthday to all of our firends that have July birthdays. Luckily, we are on the computer today which is Jason's birthday. Also happy birthday to Steve and Chrissy. Hope you all (y'all for Jason) had great birthdays!

Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne after driving all day on the Great Ocean Road. Without much energy and noticing everything in our section was starting to close down for the evening, we decided to go to a movie...Hancock. Yay...popcorn for dinner.

The next day, we didn't have much of a plan. We walked around and looked at different buildings in different sections of town. The buildings are really nice, fairly European in style. We tried to get tickets to Wicked and a circus to no avail, and then headed to the dome to watch the rising stars under 18 play Aussie rules football. It was pretty nice out, and we enjoyed watching them play. They don't wear pads, either punch or kick the ball to each other, and tackle each other. It looks like fun. We then got lunch, then walked around the shopping districts.

The following day, we walked to the market. This market had both clothing, both touristy and not (definitely less touristy than Sydney), and food. We enjoyed the market...especially Ed's bratwurst. We also walked around a lot of gardens and around the Melbourne Museum. We figured we had enough museums, so we didn't go in this one. Melbourne seems to be more of a city to live in, rather than visit doing touristy stuff. There aren't a ton of museums, but has lots of nice buildings. We ate dinner at a local brewery where Ed had a couple of pints and kangaroo filet and Jeanette had a chicken and cheese sandwich. It was nice to have good beer for a change, since most of the beer Ed has had so far in Australia is about as good as a Budweiser.

Today, we walked around the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were really nice despite it being winter. It was still really green, just not too many flowers. There is also a drought going on in Australia so there are water restrictions, which means most of the fountains were turned off. We went back to the market for lunch and dessert. We both had baked potatoes and donuts while Ed also had another brat.

We fly out to Alice Springs tomorrow and will be sleeping outside in the desert...we heard it's really cold - below freezing at night. Fun!!!

Great Ocean Road

After our tour to Kangaroo Island, we picked up our rental car the next day to begin our two day journey driving along the Great Ocean Road. Ed drove the first day from Adelaide to Warrnambool and it poured pretty much the entire day. Luckily, this was the day that there wasn't anything to see. Ed pictured this as driving through Kansas, but way worse. We did stop in a cute town at the end, Warrnambool. We did, however, choose to eat the worst restaurant in town...but we guess that's what $10 steaks will get you.

Jeanette drove the second day, and despite a little rain early in the morning, it cleared up for the rest of the day. We drove close to the ocean, saw the many sites to see including the Twelve Apostles, the arches, and some shipwrecks. We stopped in a quaint coastal town and ate some lunch. We arrived in Melbourne by 4:00.

Adelaide and Kangaroo Island

We flew from Sydney to Adelaide, in South Australia, on July 5th. We arrived quite early in the morning as our flight left Sydney at 6 am. Once arriving in the airport, we noticed there was a half hour time change, so it was even earlier than expected. Luckily, once we went to our hotel to have them hold our luggage, they stated our room was ready. We put our stuff away and started exploring the city.

Although not large, Adelaide was quite charming. We went to the Adelaide market, which was probably the best market we've been to. It had tons of fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese, bread, pastries, etc. We then walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which are supposed to be the nicest in the country. It was huge. There were lots of eucalyptus trees, flowers, water gardens, desert gardens, etc. Because the market was so good, we walked back across town to eat lunch at the market and to pick up breakfast for the next morning. We walked through the outdoor mall, Rundle Mall, which had very few, if any, souvenir shops that we could find...which was nice. It did have a side street with lots of strip clubs and adult clubs, which Ed really enjoyed (just kidding).

The next morning, we woke up at 5:30 and got ready for our tour to Kangaroo Island, which was 6:15 am to 10:45 pm. We took a bus for two and a half hours to the ferry. No one told us that the ferry was going to be incredibly rocky. People and dogs were getting sick like crazy. The whole boat stunk of puke and there were countless numbers of vomit bags in the garbage when we disembarked. Luckily, we didn't get sick. Once we got off the ferry, we went straight onto another bus for the next half hour. Our first stop was a beach where there were sea lions everywhere. The colony consisted of approximately 600 sea lions. There were lots of pups too and they were very active...running, rolling, and whatnot. We then drove to grab a quick lunch and then saw a "birds of prey" show. There was a barn owl that ate a whole mouse, a spotted owl that ate an even bigger mouse, a wedged tail eagle that ate a huge rabbit leg, and a sea eagle that ate a fish. We drove on the bus for a while more and we saw the Remarkable Rocks. Unfortunately, we don't have time to upload the pictures right now as we are doing everything in internet cafes. We then headed to a lighthouse and an arch and saw a whole bunch of seals. And yes, we saw many kangaroos while driving around, dead and alive. In fact, our bus almost hit one. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we weren't able to see the koalas, although we saw one get run over the next day. The ferry ride back was a little less rocky, but people still got sick. If we were to go again, or if anyone plans on going there, definitely stay there more than one day. It was too rushed doing everything on the bus in one day, and there was a lot to see.

Sydney

We had a great time in Sydney. The harbor is great. We walked around a ton as there is so much to see and the weather was nice, except for the last day. We felt like we could have easily spent a full week there, if not more, and still had plenty to do. We walked around the royal botanical gardens, went to two shows at the Sydney Opera House (a magic show and the Mahler I symphony), went to the aquarium, walked around both Sydney and Darling Harbors, and visited the Blue Mountains.

The Blue Mountains are about a two hour train ride from Central Sydney. We took a cable car with a glass bottom over a 1200 foot or so gorge. Then, we took the steepest train ride in the world (or so they said) 53 degrees to the bottom. We then hiked around and saw some waterfalls and rainforests. This is where the Three Sisters were located. We then took a gondola straight up from the bottom to the top of the mountain. Once there, Ed had a buffet consisting of kangaroo stir fry, crocodile and seafood paella, lamb, and steak. He also ate lots of tiramisu and trife (a cake with raspberry in it) for dessert. Jeanette, who is not an adventerous eater in the least, opted for a chicken parmesan wrap.

On our last day in Sydney, it rained. We went to the Australia Museum, where they had a whole floor of rocks and gems and another floor dedicated to dinosaurs and extinct marsupials...Jason's dream. There was also some information on Aborogines, who were treated very badly through the 1970s...the government legally removed kids from the home and put them into foster care or institutions, where they were supposed to forget their culture. They also made them work and took all their money. Luckily, they've tried to reunite families recently and have started treating them with more respect...although New Zealand seemed to respect their Maori culture a lot more.

Happy Birthday Lolly

Sorry we couldn't be there for your birthday, but we hope you have a great day. Hopefully my Mom will show you this on the 9th. Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July everyone. We hope that everyone is enjoying their extended weekend. It's actually July 5th over here. We celebrated the fourth by attending a symphony, Mahler I, at the Sydney opera house. It was a great experience.

We left Syndey this morning and landed in Adelaide. Adelaide is nice...not as touristy as Sydney, which is nice for a change. We are headed to a place called Kangaroo Island tomorrow...there are supposed to be lots of animals there so hopefully we will see some kangaroos and koalas.

After that, we are off to Melbourne. We'll write more updates then.

Sydney

We made it to Sydney without any trouble. Sydney is a beautiful city and the weather has been great. It's probably in the mid 60s with lots of sunshine and lots of wind...perfect for walking around and exploring. We walked through Victoria Park yesterday, which had lots of parrots in the trees. We also walked over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was a bit scary for us being that we're both scared of heights, but not too bad. We didn't do the bridge climb because it was super windy and expensive. We ended our day by catching a show at the Sydney Opera House...nothing too exciting. We saw a magic show put on by two guys from the Netherlands. It was okay. We actually figured out one of their tricks. There are five performing arts venues in the opera house, and our show was in one of the smaller ones in the basement. However, we are going to see a symphony on Friday night in one of the main two concert halls...that should be fun.

Today, we walked around Darling Harbour, went to the aquarium, and walked some more. The aquarium was really good with tunnels under the seal and shark areas. Tomorrow, we are headed off to the nearby Blue Mountains to hike around. Friday, we might go to one of the nearby beaches. We leave for Adelaide very early Saturday morning.

Sydney is probably one of our favorite cities on the trip so far. Although it's big, the main area is very accessible and is beautiful.

Auckland

We've had a surprisingly good time in Auckland despite many local New Zealanders (from other parts of the country) saying that Auckland wasn't worth seeing and wasn't great. It seems as though the North Island people say the South Island isn't great, and the South Islanders say the same about the north. We've enjoyed both...the south for lots of beautiful scenery, small villages, and charm and the north for lots of culture, things to do, etc.

We left our hotel bright and early and things were actually open in Auckland when we set out (being that it's winter here, many of the places we've been haven't opened until 9 or 10 and have shut down by 5). We grabbed our breakfast and began our ascent up Mount Eden. Mount Eden is a volcano. Auckland is built around 26 volcanoes. When we set out, it was sunny and fairly warm. At the base of Mount Eden was a cute park with a great playground. Ed found a fun zip lining ride that basically looked like a toilet plunger attached to a wire above. He rode it down and crashed (supposed to happen) into the four rubber tires above...they stopped you from continuing down. It was lots of fun to ride ("sweet as" as the New Zealanders would say). We then started our walk up the volcano. About half way up, the sky started getting darker, we felt a few drops, but kept going. By the time we reached the top, it was hailing and we were cold and wet. The top offered some nice views, but we didn't stay too long as it was pouring/hailing. We descended the volcano on the other side and the rain stopped. About half an hour later, it started pouring and we took cover under some trees, where we stayed relatively dry. The locals say that because Auckland is on a peninsula, the rain blows in, rains for about a half hour, then stops. That's pretty much what happened. We then walked to the Auckland Museum to get out of the rain again.

The Auckland museum was similar to the Canterbury one in Christchuch, but much bigger. The main attraction was the volcano exhibit...which was quite interesting. Ironically, it didn't rain once while we were in the museum.

After the museum, we walked to a little town called Parnell to stroll around the shops and cafes. Most of the stores were closed because it was Sunday, so we continued our walk to our destination of Mission Bay. While we originally thought it was a fifteen minute walk away, we soon spoke to a local who informed us that it was over three miles (5 k) away. We thought...no problem...but, as usual, it started to pour on us as we were walking...and this time, there was no cover available. Luckily, the rain didn't last long...no more than 10 minutes. The walk out was really nice as we walked along the harbor the whole time.

As soon as we arrived in Mission Bay, we got some gelato. Ed ate tiramisu and Jeanette had chocolate. It was really good. We then walked around trying to find somewhere to eat. It was a cute town...seemed like a small village on Long Island (i.e. Port Jefferson). We ate dinner and it was terrible. Ed didn't even eat half his plate...which is saying something because he can eat almost anything. We caught a bus back since we were about 10 miles from our hotel, it was dark, and we didn't know if it would rain again. We then went to bed.

Today, we woke up early and walked around the city. There wasn't as much shopping as we thought there would be in the central business district. We ate lunch at The Orbit restaurant, which is in the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere...even taller than the Eiffel Tower. The elevator had a glass floor and wall, so you could see down and out...Jeanette was petrified on the way up and wanted to cancel lunch. We made it up safely and had great 360 degree views in the restaurant. The restaurant rotated slightly while eating...it finished one loop in an hour. We saw people walking the sky walk outside around the building...very scary. The people are harnessed to a platform above and the walk is not attached to the building. People were also making the largest jump off any building in New Zealand...a 630 foot drop. Lunch was excellent. Ed had steak with mashed sweet potatoes and spinach. Jeanette had a penne pasta dish with chicken, roasted garlic, eggplant, spinach, and parmesan cheese. The elevator ride down wasn't as bad.

We're now headed to the airport for Sydney. We'll post when we can.

Christchurch

After taking an hour ride in a bus to the hot air balloon site, the bus driver stopped when we were almost there, the pilot let out some test helium balloons to check the air, and then informed us that we would not be able to take the flight because the weather wasn't cooperating...the wind was over 40 mph. So, the bus turned around and we began our journey home. Instead of going back to the hotel that we had already checked out of, we decided to walk around Christchurch for the day. It started raining by 8 am and was pouring by 9. Fortunately, we took refuge in a great natural history museum. The museum had lots of Maori culture (native Polynesians who were in New Zealand first) in addition to dinosaurs, birds (stuffed penguins, albatrose, etc), history of New Zealand, a Da Vinci exhibition, and an Antartic expedition exhibit. The museum was quite interesting and we spent several hours inside.

After the museum, we walked around in the rain some more. Most of it was covered by awnings, but we had to walk seven blocks back to the motel uncovered and got soaked right before leaving for the airport. Ed picked up the Bill Bryson book on Australia. So far, it's pretty funny. Thanks Jason for the recommendation. We returned the rental car and headed for the airport. Our flight was a little delayed because of the rain, but luckily, we left before the forecasted snow began.

Almost finished with South Island

We've had a great time in the South Island. We're finishing our tour up in Christchurch. We are supposed to go on a hot air balloon ride tomorrow, but the weather isn't sounding too promising...we'll find out tomorrow morning at 5:30. From there, we will fly to Auckland on the North Island and then out to Sydney.

In Queenstown, we went on something called shot over river canyon jets...they went really fast and did 360s. All the ski areas were closed, so we didn't get to go skiing. The day we left Queenstown for a place called Te Anau, it snowed and the ski areas opened. We went on a cruise of Doubtful Sound, which is a fjord. It snowed while we were there...it was quite gorgeous. Apparently it normally doesn't snow on both sides of the mountain we had to drive over to get to the sound...but it did and it was gorgeous...although a little scary driving down unplowed roads in the snow...no one lives over there, so it was fun. The sound was beautiful. We saw dolphins and seals.

We then drove to Dunedin and to a great peninsula called Otago Peninsula. It was beautiful! We went to a beach at sunrise to watch penguins. We saw a few yellow eyed penguins and fur sea lions. We had to cross right in front of the sea lions and apparently they can be aggressive to humans. Luckily, we're alive and fine. It was amazing to see the animals in their natural habitat. There were only five other people on the beach when we saw the animals. It was great.

We then drove up to Christchurch as we are flying here to Auckland. We'll post more when we can.

More bad news

We've been having a fantastic time here on the South Island of New Zealand. The scenery is gorgeous...snow capped mountains reaching the sea or lakes. We walked on a glacier the other day, which was really fun, but freezing! At least we had a sunny day to do it. We then drove down to Queenstown, NZ, which is amazing. It's this great little city set at the bottom of a lake surrounded by mountains. Although many of the ski mountains were closed when we arrived, they've now opened due to a recent snow storm and more snow in the forecast. Yesterday we boarded a jet boat to view the Shot River Canyon. It was really fun. The guy drove really fast through this really narrow passageways surrounded by rocks on either side. He did 360s occassionally. It was really fun. We'll be in Queenstown until midday, then we're headed for a cruise on Doubtful Sound, which is supposed to be beautiful.

Well, the bad news is that the motherboard on our computer died. Therefore, we're unable to download/upload our pictures or update our blog frequently. So, although we've lost our camera, video recorder, and computer, we're having a terrific time! New Zealand is beautiful, although a little chilly and a bit expensive. We're hoping to take a hot air balloon ride in a few days in Christchurch, but that all depends on the river...if it's too windy, we don't get to go. Perhaps we'll do it elsewhere! Anyway, hope all is well with everyone.

Wai-o-tapu June 18, 2008

We woke up, ate some breakfast, and headed out to a geothermal wonderland called Wai-o-tapu. We arrived around 8:30 am. When we got there, we were the only car in the parking lot, making us wonder if it was open. Luckily, it was open…just seems like many people here don’t get a start until later in the day as we are often the only people at attractions early in the day…it is winter here, so the tourist season isn’t in full swing. The walk around was approximately 75 minutes long. That gave us just enough time to walk around as a geyser would be erupting at 10:15 am, and it was a short drive away, so we wanted to make sure we would be there in time.

As we began our walk, we saw huge craters in the ground with boiling mud and/or water inside. The mud was very soupy looking because it had rained a bit the day before. The most recent crater was formed in 1986 when some geothermal activity caused the ground to collapse. While walking, there were many danger signs warning us to stay on the path because our weight could cause a collapse. The smell emanating from the park was pretty wretched…just as we started getting used to it, the wind would bring a new smell of sulpher or something else pretty smelly. After seeing the craters, we walked over a bridge with the champagne pools on one side and a mud terrace on the other. The champagne pool side was very steamy and had an orange rim. We then walked through a wooded area with really cool trees to another section of the park. We saw an approximately 10 foot high waterfall colored fluorescent yellow by sulpher. We continued walking to another lake. Everywhere you looked there was bubbling water and you heard hissing sounds. While walking, we saw really cool rock walls that were wavy and had many different colors in them. Lastly, we walked down to a waterfall at the end of the park which cascaded into another lake. When looking over the lake, you could see mountains in the distance. It was very beautiful. As we were finishing our walk and heading back to the visitor center, we saw a place called “Devil’s Bathtub”. It consisted of fluorescent green water…crazy! We hurried back to the visitor center as it was nearing 10:00 and we didn’t want to miss the geyser. We actually had to drive there, so we got in the car and drove a short distance to the car.

We got to Lady Knox Geyser at 10:05 and took a seat in the mini amphitheater. Slightly after 10:15, a park ranger came and began a speech about the geyser. He also dumped soap into the geyser telling us that the soap helped mix the hot and cold water, which forced the explosion of water. Although the soap helped bring the eruption on, the geyser would naturally erupt everyday without the soap. The soap was added so that tourists could watch is at a specific time each day. While he was talking, water started bubbling and trickling out of the geyser. As time went on, the water force became more powerful, until it eventually shot approximately 20 meters in the air. It was pretty cool to watch.

After the geyser, we headed back up to town. There were two lakes near the airport which were supposed to be really cool…called the blue lake and the green lake. You were supposed to be able to walk between the two lakes to see the contrast in color. When we arrived, the walk was closed, so we were only able to view the blue lake…which looked like a pretty standard lake…no special blue hues. From there, we headed up to the airport in Rotorua to take our flight to Christchurch. It was a short and uneventful flight. After landing, we picked up the rental car and realized the camera bag was missing. All the videos of the Grand Canyon and North Island New Zealand in addition to some of our Los Angeles pictures and North Island New Zealand pictures are gone. Worse, our brand new camera and camcorder are gone. We were not happy, but what can you do?

We headed out towards Darfield. It was a pretty small town with not many accommodations, so we continued on to Springfield. On the drive out, we passed many wineries. As we got closer to Springfield, we were able to see the Southern Alps off in the distance as the sun was setting. The snow seemed to glisten as the sun set. We found lodging in a place called Springfield Motor Lodge. Although it provided a backpackers type of accommodation, it was quite nice. We were the only people staying there. We had a full kitchen, a living room, two and a half bathrooms, laundry, outdoor cooking and hot tubs, and four bedrooms available. The only bad thing was that the heating stunk and we were freezing until we went to bed…the comforter was quite warm! There was only one main restaurant in town, so we headed into town to grab some dinner before it closed at 7:00. At this restaurant, we realized what they called “pies” is closer to what we call “pot pies”. When speaking with the cook/owner/waitress/everything, she told us that New Zealand doesn’t really offer fruit pies. Ed had a venison pie and Jeanette had a chicken pie. They were quite tasty. The lady felt bad for us, so we wound up getting two pies, two salads, some potatoes, and a beer for $23…which is quite cheap for New Zealand. We’ve found eating out here to be really expensive…by US standards anyhow. Breakfast the next day consisted of bacon and eggs on toast for Ed and eggs on toast for Jeanette (they only offered eggs…nothing else!) cost $25. Luckily, almost every accommodation has a mini kitchen in it so we can cook food. We need to start doing that!

After dinner, we headed back, watched some television, and then fell asleep…we got under the covers in layers…Jeanette had on two sweatshirts and a long sleeved shirt and pants and Ed wore a sweatshirt and pants to bed because it was so cold. Luckily, we stayed warm during the night. From everywhere we’ve stayed, it appears that the places are heated with little space heaters and nothing else.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Hi Mom,

Just wanted to wish you a very happy birthday. Sorry that we couldn't be there for it, but we hope you have a terrific day!

Love you!

Lost

Unfortunately, we won't post pictures from the North Island as we've lost our brand new really nice camera (our Sony) and also our video camera with Ed's chief ceremony and everything. It's quite a bummer as we remember having it to a certain point and we're not sure if it is actually lost or stolen...we remember having it to a certain point after landing in Christchurch. Oh well. We still have our little camera left and will have pictures of the South Island.

Rotorua June 17-18

Once arriving in Rotorua, we proceeded towards the information center as weren’t quite sure what to do. We knew the city was a geothermal hotbed, since it was actually in a volcano, but we weren’t sure how to pass our time. We got a quick bite to eat and then ended up deciding to go to the Rotorua Museum. The museum was in the Government Gardens, which is an area known for its geothermal activity. The museum was originally built as a bathhouse. We walked in the rain around the gardens and then ended up going inside. The building is the most photographed building in New Zealand. The main lobby inside was very nice. We looked around and headed to the basement to kill time before a movie started. The basement had low ceilings so we had to wear helmets as we walked around. We saw the pipes that brought the water in from the springs and some of the rooms that people were treated in. Then we headed back upstairs to the movie. Although cheesy, it explained some of the legends of the area. It talked about the time when the New Zealanders first came to the area and the main priest fought an evil warrior. He locked the evil warrior in the ground which was their explanation for all of the steam. It also told the story of a warrior on an island that fell in love with a lady from the mainland. Since their tribes didn’t get along, they were not allowed to see each other. One night, she swam to visit him in the dark with only the sound of his flute to guide her. They also explained how there were many battles over this land since it was very useful to be near the hot springs for heating and cooking. Finally, the movie got into details of the British colonization. In the 1800’s, more and more British came to the area. The locals profited from showing the British around the springs. In the 1880’s, there was an increase in activity. The elders said the gods were mad that the New Zealanders were profiting. In 1886, the volcano erupted, killing 120 people. At this point in the movie, the benches were shaking around to simulate the earthquake that went along with the eruption. The movie ended with the explanation of the rebuilding and the construction of the building we were in during the early 1900s. We went to the roof to see the panoramic view of the city, but it was closed due to weather. Then we saw a few more rooms where treatment was given. We crossed back over to the other half of the museum to see 3 more exhibits. The first was about the volcano, with many more pictures and details. The second was an exhibit about the culture of the locals. They had totem pole like structures and canoes in the building. The final exhibit was about Kiwi soldiers from WW2. They were actually stationed in Egypt and Italy, not the South Pacific.

We headed back to the town to get a power adapter because the three we brought didn’t work here, only in Europe. After a decent walk in the rain, we headed to NB’s for a bit to eat. We were looking at the menu and the owner offered us free beer. We couldn’t turn that down so we headed inside. Ed had a dark local beer with lamb stew and it was very good. Jeanette had a chicken sandwich. Then, since the rain had subsided, we walked to the lakefront and a free geothermal park. They were really nice, but the park was nothing compared to the ones we would see later. We got soaked as it rained more and more. We headed to our hotel, which was a Best Western but not really. It was a local looking place with a nice hot tub, a bushwalk, and a putt putt course (too wet however). We had gotten passes to go on a gondola ride to the top of a hill and then do some luging. It had cleared up, so we got a good view on the way up. The luge was a little plastic cart with a brake that you ride down a fairly big hill. We strapped on our helmets and headed down the intermediate path. Ed flew down, with the cart almost tipping over on several occasions, while Jeanette went nice and slow. We took a chair lift back to the top. The second trip, Ed opted for the advanced track while Jeanette stuck with the easier one. The advance track had much steeper places where you could get some air and some fairly steep banks around turns. We got up to around 20 mph on the way down. We took the chair lift up and the gondola down. The way down was windy and the gondola rocked a bit. We jumped in the hot tub for a few seconds before getting ready for our dinner show at the Tamaki Village.

On the way to our Maori show at Tamaki Village, we were the first people picked up and talked to the bus driver, Darren. He was part of the tribe and was very friendly. We talked about Tiger Woods and all the famous New Zealanders around the world…the richest New Zealander sportsman is actually Tiger Woods caddy. He was very proud of his country. We picked up a guy from Maryland and we talked to him about scuba diving on the way there. After picking up some more people, we had to pick a chief from our bus. The driver picked Ed after no one volunteered. When we arrived, Ed had to learn the traditional greeting, which was shaking hands and then touching noses twice. It seemed very similar to a Wesley Willis head butt. Ed had to stand in the middle with six other chiefs for the peace offering. They instructed everyone that they could not laugh, move, or smile during this portion of the show. Ed stood up there while the four warriors danced with their weapons, stuck out their tongues, bulged their eyes, and made noises. They also danced with fire. After the ceremony, the chiefs led the people inside. We got to look around at a village that showed what the people would do over the course of the day. There was a tent for cooking, sewing, and giving tattoos as well as several others. Then the chiefs had to stand in the front for another ceremony before entering the sacred building. One of the Tamaki women sang as we walked into the building. The chiefs had to get on stage and greet the main singer. We were seated and then they put on a show of dancing that children would have to do to prepare them for weapons training. Then they did a traditional war dance. After that, they used a guitar to show how they are adapting to modern times, but keeping the same songs. They sang the song about the girl that swam to this island following the sounds of the flute. Then we headed into the dining room for dinner. It was a nice buffet with carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes (with a local name like Yamari), stuffing, fish in coconut sauce, chicken, lamb, gravy, mint sauce, salad, pasta salad, and bread. Everything was cooked like a clambake. It was delicious.

After dinner, Darren drove everyone back to their respective hotels. While Darren was driving us home, he had each nationality on the bus sing a song from their home country. All the countries sang a song. When it came to the United States, we all decided to sing, “The Wheels on the Bus”. After pretending to kick us all off the bus, Darren led us in a rousing rendition of “God Bless America”. He also had a lot of fun driving us home, leading us to believe that he may be a little intoxicated…but he wasn’t. He would honk when he got excited and drove around more than one traffic circle multiple times. He was hysterical! After finally reaching home, we fell fast asleep.

New Zealand Arrival June 16

We boarded Qantas airline Saturday evening, June 14th, at 8:00 pm. There was a slight delay, but we were soon in the air. We ended up sitting in the very last row, next to the bathroom. Although we were originally saddened by our seating prospects, things soon looked up when we realized there was an empty seat in our row and that the seats still reclined. We started the flight by reading, watching a movie, and eating (Ed had salmon, Jeanette had chicken). After about three hours, we decided to try to sleep. We took turns lying down across the seats and ended up sleeping on and off for the next seven hours. Therefore, they were fairly well-rested upon arrival. After waking up, we ate breakfast, read, and watched another movie to round out the last three hours. After a thirteen hour flight and a seventeen hour time difference between east coast time and New Zealand time, we arrived at Auckland International Airport. We went through a painless customs interrogation, collected our bags, and headed off to find a rental car.

Because we wanted a one-way rental between Auckland and Rotorua, a small airport, the charge was more than expected. However, by picking up a manual car, we were able to save over half the price of an automatic…in addition, the Avis representative gave us an “accidental” deal and couldn’t take it back once it was given (we didn’t even argue). We lugged our backpacks to our car for the next few days, a Mitsubishi Lancer, and began our journey of driving a manual car on the wrong side of the road. Quite our style (i.e. stupidly), we began driving without consulting a map. After realizing we didn’t know where we were going, we looked at a map, asked a pedestrian who had just moved to the area last week, and finally got to the main road that would take us to the day’s destination, Waitomo Caves. On the way down, we stopped a small rest area, hoping wireless internet would be available as we were unsure if our reservations for the cave tour and the bed and breakfast were confirmed. Fortunately, wireless internet was available with the purchase of a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, we had not received any confirmation e-mails. We continued along the way and hoped for the best.

We arrived at The Legendary Black Water Rafting Company after only one wrong turn and one incorrect stop at a different rafting company. Whoops! We were going to stop for lunch, but decided to stop into the rafting company first to get a reservation for the 2:00 tour, as advertised on their website. Luckily, when we got there, there were only available spots on the 11:00 tour. It was about 10:59. We skipped lunch, changed into our swimming trunks, and hopped on the tour. The water was expected to be 8 degrees Celsius – translation ~48 degrees Fahrenheit. We were told the water gets up to 68 degrees in the summer, but the water is much deeper in the winter, which makes for a much better trip. Because the water was so cold, we put a thermal lined sweater underneath our wetsuits to help keep us warm. We put on booties and rubber boots. We then put on our harnesses and helmets with lights as we would be abseiling (rappelling – going down a rope) first. After putting on our gear, we hopped into a van that would take us to the cave entrance.

Once arriving at the cave, we received a quick lesson in how to use the clip that would control the speed of our descent. We practiced on a hill twice each, which didn’t really do much to calm Jeanette’s nerves. We headed over to the hole in the ground which we would be descending. It was 37-40 meters deep (over 100 feet). Jeanette decided to let the other two couples go first to ensure that they made it down alive. The hole we descended was approximately 3 feet in diameter. When it was our turn to go, the guy hooked us up (individually as only one person abseiled at a time) and we rappelled down. Because the rope was fairly stiff at the top, we descended fairly slowly, even when not using the braking technique. Once getting through the hole, we continued our descent in a larger diameter, but still close to a wall. Ed didn’t have any trouble controlling his speed, but it was not a smooth ride (rather jerky) as he often slowed to look around. You weren’t able to see the bottom of the cave because it was pitch black. After what seemed a shorter than expected time, he reached the bottom, still expecting the worse part to be ahead. Jeanette descended after Ed. She also went down rather slowly and jerkily and reached the bottom sooner than expected…maybe it took a minute or a two. After walking a little bit ahead, we all had to turn off our headlamps as it was time to do zip lining in the dark. It reminded Ed of Space Mountain as you did not know what to expect in the dark. We went last again and heard the others scream in terror and/or delight as they went down. When some reached the end, the tour guide would make loud noises that echoed through the cavern to scare people. We all made it down alive. It was probably a 3 second trip for approximately 100 yards over the stream down below.

After zip lining, we all sat down on a cliff looking over the stream and had a snack. We got to choose coffee or tea and were each given a honey-oat-coconut sort of combination cookie. After eating our snack that helped warm our bodies for the cold water, we were shown how we would be entering the water below. Ed was first this time because the British guy asked Ed why we were always last. Ed took the rubber tube, placed it behind him, and jumped off the cliff into the dark water below. It was an approximately 12-15 foot drop. He landed with no problem. The others followed suit. Surprisingly, we all landed in the tubes. We paddled over to a rope and followed the rope for approximately ten minutes, looking around the cave with our headlights on. The tour guide then told us to turn off our headlamps so we could admire the glow worms inside the glow worm caves. He explained that glow worms were actually a fancy name given to the maggots that had fluorescent poop. It turned out that not many people came to the caves when they thought maggots were inside, so they call it glow worms instead. We then returned, with Ed as the leader, in the dark with our headlamps off so we could admire all the glow worms. Once getting back to the place where we jumped off the cliffs, we got off the floats and threw them up to the tour guide up above. We then started walking, or swimming when it got deeper, for a while. The water was quite cold, but not unbearable. We went down a slide over a little waterfall and continued our journey. Throughout the walk/swim, we had to crawl and squeeze through tiny passages. We saw a bluish/purple eel in the water. After a half an hour of walking around, we drank some warm liquid that tasted a bit like warm Tang and ate a few pieces of chocolate. We then headed to the Twin Falls, where there were actually three waterfalls. We shimmied up them one at a time with the tour guide telling us to where to place our feet. Each waterfall was an approximately ten foot climb up with water pouring down on our faces. The hole we ascended the cave through was smaller than the hole we descended to enter the cave. We caught a ride back to the rafting company, took our equipment off, took a warm shower, and then were given tomato soup and bagels.
While eating, we spoke with our new friends from the tour, one couple from Ireland and one from England. We found out that one couple was traveling for one year and the other was traveling for nine months. Here we thought we had a long vacation! One couple had spent four months in Asia (China, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, and a few others we can’t remember), three months in Australia, and would be spending three months in New Zealand with a little while longer in Fiji and the United States. The other couple had traveled to South America (Peru, Bolivia, Chile), a few months in Fiji, a few months in Australia, and would be spending a couple months in Asia. We were jealous! After chatting and eating, we drove towards where we thought our bed and breakfast was located. After several kilometers on the road and a few headed through their 1600 acre sheep and beef farm, we arrived. No one was there to greet us, but there was a note on the door telling us to head to our cabin. We carried our luggage in through the drizzle and settled in. At this point, we were both tired, and since it was dark and rainy, we decided not to drive back to town for dinner. We relaxed, read, and started eyeing the breakfast food for dinner. Around 6:00 or so, our host, Rachel stopped by. She said she had sent us a confirmation e-mail telling us to bring food up with us as there was a mini kitchen in our cabin, but we never received it. As she felt sorry for us, she returned with a few kiwis and ramen noodle packages. We ate our makeshift dinner and went to bed around 8:00.

We woke up the next morning at 6:45 because we wanted to get an early start on the day. It was pouring when we woke up. We decided to take a short walk on the property down to see some glow worms. After looking at them, we showered, ate, and packed up our stuff. We were on the road to Rotorua by 8:00, when the sun was just coming up. It rained the entire two and a half hour ride to Rotorua. We drove through many green rolling hills that were often filled with sheep and/or cows.

Los Angeles June 12-14

We checked into the hotel and got all set up. We decided to go to Santa Monica for the evening. We took a wrong turn out of the hotel and went a few miles the wrong way before we got straightened out. Since it was rush hour, we skipped the highway and went down the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) the whole way. It is not too scenic through the city. We found a pretty sweet parking lot and were off. We went to the 3rd Street Promenade and looked around for a place to eat. It was a very nice outdoor mall with dinosaur water statues in the center. No cars were allowed so there were people walking everywhere. Every little bit there were street performers. There were a lot of musicians, a guy that balanced plates and utensils on his head and threw more stuff (candelabras) up there from his foot, and the typical gold or silver painted “statue” people. Jeanette saw a little Greek place, but Ed thought it looked kind of shady. We decided to keep walking towards the beach to see what else was going on. It had been overcast and cool, about 65 degrees. All of a sudden, it got a little sunny, so there was hope of a nice sunset. We looked at the beach area; it was very nice with trees and flowers and bums everywhere. It was really nice, but there are a lot of homeless Americans on benches (Jeanette doesn’t like the word bum). We saw the pier off in the distance with a roller coaster and Ferris wheel. The sunset was nice for a few seconds, and then it got all cloudy again. The boardwalk was getting close to closing so we played two quick games of skeeball and headed back to the town. Ed wanted to try PF Changs so we headed over that way. We got in to the restaurant without a wait since it was pretty late. Jeanette had Chicken Lo Mein and Ed had Lemongrass Prawn with Garlic Noodles. The little sauce they mix for you was really good on the noodles, but much too spicy for poor Jeanette. Just to mention, this was the night of Game 4 of the NBA finals. Since the Lakers were playing the Celtics, we expected bars to be crowded with people watching the game. Most people seemed fairly indifferent. We saw as many Celtics fans as Lakers fans. We always heard LA wasn’t a sports town, but we were shocked. After dinner, tt was late, so we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, we did some laundry to avoid early rush hour traffic and because some of our clothes were caked in red clay dirt from our Grand Canyon trek. We left around 10 to go to the post office and car wash. Then we headed back out around 11. The freeway was still packed, so we got off and went on some side roads to Beverly Hills. The houses on the way were nice enough, but fairly small (there were a few larger ones) and very close together. Beverly Hills was nice, but only a small area. We walked around quickly and took a few pictures. Jeanette got a chocolate shake from Baskin Robbins and we headed out. We stopped at an In n Out burger for lunch. After eating lunch, we continued on to Sony Studios for a tour. We got there and they showed us a movie about the history of Columbia/Sony. It featured clips of all their famous movies like Spiderman and Men In Black. Then they showed a “sneak preview” of Hancock that was the same as the one we just saw in the theaters. We headed into the studio lot and saw Main Street. It was an old fashioned town they use for movies by changing a few things here and there (i.e. change signs in front of stores, etc). All of the buildings had offices behind the facades, which is different from many other sets that don’t have anything behind the facades. Our tour guide took us into the main building where the producers work and showed us the 9 Oscars the studio had won since its inception. They are called Oscars because a lady working in the artist’s office saw the picture of the original design and said that looks like my Uncle Oscar. The name stuck. Then we went to soundstage where they were striking a set from the new Beyonce thriller Obsessed. A sound stage is called a sound stage because the old silent movies used glass stage which couldn’t be made sound proof. They used the term to differentiate between the two types. Then we went past the Happy Madison building (Adam Sandler’s production studio). He was inside and filming a movie Bedtime Stories but we didn’t see him. We saw his Escalade golf cart and a picture of his bulldog. Then we went to another soundstage for Obsessed. This one was a house with props all around. Then we went into the Till Death soundstage. Most of the set was gone since the show is likely to be cancelled. We did walk up the stairs to see that there was no second floor because that would be a separate set. After that we walked past the Angels and Demons set which we couldn’t look at. They were recreating the Sistine Chapel. Then we headed to the building where they made the background scenery paintings. They cost about $40,000 to rent one. To make it, they take a picture of a real location and trace it onto a huge canvas then paint it. It takes 16 years to be a master that is allowed to paint them. Then we headed to Jeopardy! I guess neither off us has watched in a while because the set looked much different then we remembered. Every single show was on hiatus so nothing was being filmed. We learned that there is an online test to see if you are smart enough to get on the show. Only 10% are, and then they are whittled down based on personality at tryouts. So if you tryout, don’t forget to smile. That wrapped up the tour.
We then headed to Hollywood since the studio was in Culver City. People were saying how hot it was, but it was only 70 and sunny. We parked about a mile away and walked down to Hollywood Boulevard. Ed thought it would be a nice walk past Sunset and other famous places, but it wasn’t. It was kind of shady and mostly fast food places. Then you get to the main street which is about 4 blocks long. We saw the famous Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater, and the Walk of Fame. We went through all that quickly and tried to figure out if we should take a bus tour. While deciding, we saw some terrible street performers. A guy from the Jimmy Kimmel Show offered us free tickets so we took them instead of going on the tour. We ran up to California Pizza Kitchen (real California cooking) for some cheesy garlic bread, a Mediterranean salad, and a BBQ chicken salad. On the way out, we caught a glimpse of the Hollywood sign in the distance. We got in line at 6:15 instead of the suggested time of 6:45, but it worked out because when they let people in at 7:30, we were almost the last ones. We waited for the Friday night show to wrap up and then got in our seats. They were taping a show for Sunday before the NBA finals. David Cook, the guy that won American Idol was on, so we were going to a show that we had never seen to watch a guy from another show we had never seen. There was a fat bald guy that warmed the crowd up. The girl sitting next to Jeanette was going crazy and they gave here a free shirt. Jimmy Kimmel came out after a bit and introduced the band and the announcer (Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones). He made some jokes, mostly about one unemployed guy in the front row. Then he left and we had to clap for some taped clips. Then the show started and he came back out. They showed a satellite interview with Barack Obama. Jimmy and Barack didn’t seem to be on the same page answering questions, probably because they weren’t in the same place. During the taping, they had to have commercial breaks, not quite sure why. It seems like they could cut them since it isn’t a live show, but they didn’t. Then David Cook came out and answered a few questions. Jeanette wanted him to sing, but Ed was glad he didn’t. That was the end of the show. We had a long walk back to the car and headed home.

In the morning, we had to pack and gather all the information that we needed for New Zealand. We got out of the hotel at noon or so. That didn’t leave us enough time to go to Griffth’s Park, so we went to Venice Beach. Our first impression was some flea market like stores and dirty street performers. We walked for a bit and realized we were headed back to Santa Monica. We went up there for lunch at the Greek place we saw the other day. It wasn’t great, but better than the airplane food we will be enjoying soon. We stopped for a crepe with dark chocolate and strawberries. We walked back to Venice Beach and our second impression was the same as our first. It was cool and cloudy, but the sun came out. That was a nice change. Very cloudy and cool all weekend. We found the outdoor gym and watched kids climb on some gymnastics equipment. We also saw a weight lifting competition. That part was pretty entertaining. We headed back to the car and drove over the airport.

Grand Canyon - June 8-11 - Very Long Post!

We woke up, finished our last minute packing, ate breakfast, and grabbed a few last minute items from the grocery store for the trek (peanut butter, apples, Gatorade) before beginning the hour and a half drive to the Grand Canyon. In the beginning of our drive, we saw a deer close to the side of the road. While we were able to avoid the deer, the car behind us was not so lucky. While Ed was watching in his rearview mirror instead of paying attention to the windy road in front of us, he saw the car behind us hit the deer as it attempted to cross the road. The speed limit on the road was 55, and hitting the deer was unavoidable. The deer attempted jumping over a fence on the one side of the road, didn’t make it, freaked out, and darted across the road in front of the other car. The car hit the deer and it went tumbling three times, then got up, and ran straight into the woods…probably in rough shape.

From then on, the ride was less eventful. The car ride was beautiful. It very mountainous, with some of the mountain peaks still having snow on them. There were many evergreen trees as we drove through Kaibab National Forest. We could see the ski areas as we drove through. We arrived at the Grand Canyon around 10…a bit later than expected. Fortunately, the Grand Canyon wasn’t as crowded as we expected and we got a close spot to the visitor center. We spoke with a ranger there who gave us directions to the Backcountry Office to attempt obtaining overnight camping permits.

We drove to the Backcountry office with our fingers crossed. We spoke to the ranger who informed us that there was a last minute cancellation for that night and there was room for the following night to camp out at the Bright Angel campground. While we originally wanted to hike rim to rim, we were still happy to have received any campground at all, being that there are very few campsites available. There were 25 campsites at Bright Angel, 10 at Cottonwood (in the North Rim), and 15 at Indian Gardens. The ranger told us we should wait until about 3:30 to begin our hike down as the heat wouldn’t be as bad then. Therefore, we decided to walk around the top of the South Rim for a little while to kill time. We walked around, mesmerized by the ginormity of the canyon. We were surprised that there few guardrails preventing people from going over the side…especially at the top where all the tourists hang out. If you took one step too far, it was conceivable that you may fall over 1000 feet down. We walked two miles up to Yapi Point. We then walked back, getting some lunch at one of the restaurants. We were surprised that the food wasn’t incredibly overpriced…as there isn’t much else to eat in the area unless you bring your own lunch. Ed had beef stew in a bread bowl, while Jeanette opted for chicken fingers. We were sure to eat a hearty lunch as the Grand Canyon brochures warn you countless times that you need to be well hydrated and double your calories during hikes. Otherwise, you risk dehydration, heat stroke, and heat exhaustion. We probably took their advice too seriously, but hey, better safe than sorry. There was one story about a young woman who had completed the Boston Marathon and was in great shape who had died of heat exhaustion while hiking down the canyon with only one bottle of water. That scared us as neither of us has ever run a marathon. We then walked back to the car, made sure we had everything we needed, and began our journey to the start of the South Kaibab trail…that entailed taking two buses and picking up a hiking pole each at the camp rental sections.

While we rode the last bus to the start of the trail, Jeanette became nervous. But, once we got there, there were other people starting day hikes down. We started the trail down around 3:45 and took lots of pictures around every corner. It was amazing to see how much you are unable to see from the top of the canyon. After a few miles, there was another whole layer canyon we saw with different rock formations and colors, vegetation, etc. At the beginning of the hike, we took our time, talking to different people along the trails for ten minutes at a time, took pictures, etc, but towards the end, there were no people. We hiked the last two hours or so completely by ourselves. Jeanette got worried because we were still hiking and the sun was going down. She was scared of hiking in the dark. We found out later that many people hike in the dark and that the moon is extremely bright down there…many people don’t even hike with flashlights in the dark…they only use the moonlight. We finally saw the Colorado River and the bridge we had to cross in order to arrive at our campsite. Before crossing the bridge, there was a short, dark tunnel that we had to go through. We went over the Colorado River, then over a creek, and arrived at our campground after 6.9 miles around 7:30. The campsite was between a huge rock wall and a creek, so it was quite picturesque. There were approximately 25 (maybe 30) campsites. We started to set up our tent, which was on loan from Sarah and Jason. This was our first time setting up a tent by ourselves, and we encountered a couple problems. We were having a hard time getting the poles to hook into the spots that they were supposed to. We asked a guy to help us. We had everything set up pretty much correctly. The guy forced the pole into the hole too forcefully, and the pole wound up splitting a little bit. He realized that the pole was simply caught in the material at the top. Once we rearranged the fabric, the pole slid in easily. The ground was really hard, so we couldn’t get the stakes into the ground. We threw some clothes into the tent to get it to flat. We clipped the tent to the attached clips, but it was a little too tight and caused a little tear in the tent. Besides that, no problems at all. Since we had already hiked 11 miles that day, we went to bed after eating around 9:30. When we were getting ready for bed, we heard four hikers come in. They had come down the South Kaibab trail. Two hikers decided to camp out for the night, and two decided to continue along the trail. They were all wearing head lamps that had soft colored lights. We felt dumb for having a regular flashlight as everyone else had head lamps or soft colored lights. Our food for the entire hike consisted of: beef jerky, dried fruit, cheetos, nuts, pretzels, twizzlers, granola bars, and chocolate pudding. We forgot to make our sandwiches before we left, so we didn’t have any substantial food.

We had a tough time sleeping because it was warm out, the ground was extremely hard and rocky, and there were animals rustling around. We heard a story about a rattlesnake being killed by a couple because it was right outside there tent the night before. We’re not sure why they killed it instead of scaring it away, but they killed it with a rock. The guy’s wife yelled at him because you are technically not allowed to kill rattlesnakes. It seemed like most campers woke up around 5 and went to bed around 9. We woke up around 5 with many other people. We decided that our legs felt good enough to carry us to Ribbon Falls, which was allegedly 6 miles away. Since we didn’t carry around our 30-40 pound packs all day, we decided to pack our little backpack with water and food. We headed out early, which was good, because we had to walk through “the box”, which is a desert area with very little shade. We walked through Phantom Ranch, which is a lodge with air conditioning and a little restaurant down there. We saw where they kept the mules at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. After walking about half a mile, the trail to Ribbon Falls began (therefore .5 miles was added to the initial 6 mile hike each way). We followed a tributary (a creek that feeds into the larger river) towards the North Rim. It was a smaller canyon with walls several hundred feet tall. Most views were blocked by the canyon we were in. We didn’t see anyone for the first two hours as we went down the creek and crossed several bridges. We walked out of the canyon into “the box”, where it was definitely warmer, probably in the mid 90s. We later found out from a park ranger that the temperature in the shade was 107 degrees. We brought eight bottles of water with us and had finished more water than expected before midday. Therefore, when we got close to Ribbon Falls, which was an extra mile than expected as we didn’t take the unmarked short cut, we decided to continue hiking to Cottonwood campground (which is ¾ of the way to the North Rim and has nice views of the North Rim), an extra 1.4 miles each direction, to fill up our water. A passing hiker told us that the campground was only 25 minutes away, so we went. It took us longer to get there as the hike was vertical for part of it. After 45 minutes, we didn’t know how much further away it was, so we stopped, had a snack, and Jeanette put band aids on the blisters on her feet as they were hurting. We then kept walking until we arrived at the campground. We filled our water, ate a little more, and wound up speaking to a couple from Sacramento…the guy was the person who helped set up the tent. They told us that this was their 5th or 6th time hiking the entire canyon and that they’ve done many different trails/routes. We also met some people who had started hiking at 3:20 am to hike rim to rim in one day.

We headed to Ribbon Falls, which people had said were beautiful and a great place to swim for an afternoon. As we got close, there wasn’t a clear path to the falls, so we hiked through the water and brush. When we got to the falls, we though they were nice, but were expecting something much bigger. Ed went right up to the waterfall and found out that the water was cold. The water maybe came up to his knee, definitely not deep enough to go swimming. Ed went behind the falls and looked around. We then found a shady spot to hang out, eat, and relax. It was nice and cool in the shade, and sometimes even chilly when the mist from the waterfalls sprayed us. It was quite windy and the waterfall blew in many different directions. It also changed its’ pattern down the rocks several times. While we were there, a youth group from Mississippi came by. There were nine boys aged 10-13 who had hiked with the one youth group leader from the North Rim down. The other youth group leader and two other boys showed up about an hour later. The group was on vacation for a week and half visiting different national parks. They stayed for a little bit and then hiked back out the North Rim…definitely a long hike for one day, especially when leaving in the middle of the day when the heat was the worse. We walked up the side of the waterfall, took pictures mid way up behind the waterfall, and as we were hiking out, we wound up meeting a family that was camping right beside us at Bright Angel. All the campers were super friendly and very willing to share their hiking adventure stories/advice.

We headed back across the shortcut, which was walking through lots of water and rough, unmarked desert paths. As we headed back through the box, we dipped our hats in the water several times to keep us cool. After about 10-15 minutes, our completely soaked hats were dry. Fortunately for us, there was a breeze while we were hiking, which helped offset some of the heat. Because the breeze was very strong, we started to get worried that our tent had blown away as the ground was too hard to stake it down. We didn’t see anyone during the whole trip back. When we exited the desert section and entered the cavern section, Jeanette saw one deer up the canyon above the path. Ed saw several deer below the path. As we were walking, a buck started running towards us. Ed realized we were blocking their escape route, so we slowly backed up and let the deer pass before continuing on. It was a little scary since the path is very narrow and there were approximately 5 bucks with antlers, 2 babies, and a doe that appeared to be charging us. Luckily, they just wanted to get to the other side of the canyon to climb up with their friend. We arrived back at the campsite around 6:30 to finish our 17 mile hike on our “rest” day. Fortunately, our tent was still there.

We then ate dinner and cooled off in the creek, since our campsite seemed was one of the hottest places in the whole canyon. We headed over to the Phantom Ranch amphitheater to see the ranger show at 7:30, but no one showed up, including the ranger. We heard the canteen at Phantom Ranch had snacks, so we sat on benches outside there until it opened. It was nice and air conditioned inside. We shared a bagel and a snickers. We wound up speaking to two people from Fort Worth, Texas. The one guy had hiked the Grand Canyon many times. He had gone with 72 people on 30-40 trips. People asked him to go there and hike with him. While speaking with them, we found out that they were employees of Lockheed Martin. The experienced hiker told us about his uphill hiking technique, which is similar to the “Indian runs” we ran while playing soccer in high school. Essentially, one person would always be resting, while the others hiked. The lead hiker would rest while the others passed him, then he would start hiking when he got to the end of the line. He said that it worked and that if we saw him while we were hiking, we could definitely join him as the technique works better the more people you have. Around 9:00, we headed back to the campsite to go to bed. While getting ready for bed, Ed saw a rabbit and what he thought was a snake. He later realized it was the tail of a ring tailed fox. We tried to go to sleep, but it was incredibly hot, probably in the 90s, and even the occasional breeze had hot wind. We woke up at 4:00, after a restless night of very little sleep, started packing our things, ate breakfast, and headed out by 5:00. We were quite intimidated by the hike ahead of us as it was a 9.5 vertical hike. Jeanette’s foot was hurting quite badly as she had a blister that became infected on her heel right where it rubs against the shoe every time you take a step. Ed started the hike wearing his sandals to avoid hurting his blisters the entire hike.

We started the first 4.5 miles towards Indian Gardens campground. We had heard that this was the easiest part of the hike, except for Devil’s Corkscrew, which was very steep and windy. We started the hike along the Colorado River, going slightly up at an easy pace. After about a mile, we were very disappointed to find that we had to go down the same amount we had just gone up. As we started ascending again, we followed a creek, which was a different tributary to the Colorado River. We had to cross the creek several times during the trek. The first two and a half miles were fairly easy. Then we hiked Devil’s Corkscrew, which was as hard as the last 4.5 miles. We spoke with many people from Bright Angel campgrounds who were camping at Indian Gardens to break up the hike. Surprisingly, we finished the first half of the hike in 2 hours and fifteen minutes. We refilled our waters, ate some more breakfast, and rested for 45 minutes before heading out again. Although the rest of the hike was steep, there were rest houses every 1.5 miles. We made it to the next rest stop pretty quickly, in 50 minutes. We weren’t messing around with taking too many pictures. Instead, we hiked as fast as we could to avoid hiking the hardest part of the trail in the hottest part of the day. It seemed like this part of the trail was the easiest of the last 4.5 miles, but that may have been because we had the most energy. We refilled our water again and rested 10 minutes or so. We then proceeded to the next rest house. This part of the hike was much harder and we had to move over several times for mules to pass. The path smelled horrendous. It smelled like manure and the worst smell of urine ever! Maybe this is why people like to hike out the north rim…no mule smells!!! We spoke with a crazy, philosophical guy that we didn’t really understand everything he was saying. Pretty much the gist of his talk was to tell us that we would be profoundly changed by our hike in the Grand Canyon and that we should avoid gossip in real life. When Jeanette asked him how much longer to the next rest house, he did not give a straight answer. He just blabbered on about staying in the present moment and not worrying when the arrival would happen. Finally, he said we would be pleasantly surprised soon. We were…the rest house was only two more hills and curves up. We arrived at the next rest house in an hour. We stopped, ate, and drank water. We also spoke with a couple from Chicago who had attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison (they asked us about it as Ed was wearing a Wisconsin Hockey shirt). They had rafted in to Phantom Ranch and were walking the 9.5 miles out. After resting for a little bit, we continued on our journey up.

The last mile and a half was really hard for us. Our feet were aching, the backpacks seemed quite heavy, the trail was quite steep and windy, and it was getting warmer. A few other couples and we took turns passing each other as we took many rests along this part of the trip. Some of the couples were just day hikers while others were making the long hike up. We met two other families that were from Madison, WI along the way. At the campsite, we had met other people from Madison too. So, there were lots of Madison-ites present. We had to move over one more time for the mule pack to pass by. Finally, we saw the end. Once we got up there, we walked another .5 miles back to the car. So, despite a few pesky blisters, we made it out rather unscathed. It was a great feeling to finally take the backpacks off and change our shoes. We unloaded some stuff, got in the car, drove to Market Plaza to return our hiking poles, and headed back towards Flagstaff in search of food. We were starving and Pizza Hut lunch buffet sounded delicious. We looked for nearby restaurants in our handy Tom-Tom (affectionately called Ed-Ed, our GPS system – thank you Ed’s work friends) and found one halfway between the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff. The food tasted delicious! We had breadsticks and half pepperoni-half cheese stuffed crust pizza. After eating, we headed to a different Quality Inn in Flagstaff.

After checking in, we immediately took showers and took an hour long nap. We didn’t want to sleep too long because neither of us are nappers and we didn’t want to throw off our sleep schedule. After waking up, we decided to head to the movies. We went to see Sex and the City (lucky Ed). Although the movies were only .2 miles away, we got lost and it took us about fifteen minutes to find. We got there a little late, but it was okay because we missed most of the previews before the movie started. The movie was okay. Jeanette thought the show was better, but it was definitely watchable…probably better to rent. After the movies, we went to Target to find cleaning supplies for the camera and video camera, which had become quite dusty after the Grand Canyon excursion. We picked up the supplies, got a bite to eat at Wendy’s (yes, we are very healthy eaters), and headed back to the hotel. We watched TV for a little bit (Mets v. Arizona baseball game) and went to sleep.

We woke up the next morning at 6:00. We ate breakfast and headed towards Los Angeles. For the first little bit of the drive between Arizona and California, it was the most desolate strip we’ve been on since western Texas. The drive wasn’t super scenic either as it was all desert and a few mountains, although they looked like big dirt piles…just our opinion of course. We stopped for lunch and ate at a place called Firehouse Italian because it looked better than fast food. After eating a chicken parmesan sub and mozzarella sticks (way healthier than fast food by the way), we filled up with gas that cost $4.99 a gallon, and drove to Los Angeles. We lucked out with the traffic, hitting very little. There was a lot going in the other direction and it was just starting to pile up in our direction…yet we made it to our hotel rather quick.

Sedona - Detailed - June 7

We got a bit delayed leaving the hotel because there was a detour. We ended up going through downtown Tucson. It seemed nice enough, but we didn’t stop or anything. We drove up towards Sedona through Phoenix. This was the most traffic we had seen on our trip. In Phoenix, Ed saw a billboard for In ‘n Out Burger. We used the handy GPS to track one down. They don’t have anything but burgers (really good ones) so Jeanette got a chicken sandwich from McDonalds. The drive from Phoenix to Sedona had tons of mountains and evergreens. We were not expecting that at all. After about 5 hours, we got up to Sedona. We stopped at Chapel Rock on the way. It is a church up on a hill with great views. Then we stopped at the Gap for Jeanette to get a new tank top. We didn’t have too many directions, but we thought we could figure out how to get to the nice section of town. We thought wrong. The first problem was that the whole town is under construction. The second problem is that we went towards downtown. It was all fast food and banks and whatnot. We ended up turning around and heading to our hotel. We figured out we had to go uptown and that is where we headed. We parked in a lot and headed to a few stores. There was live music playing out in front of them. We looked at some jewelry and T-shirts and a place called the Jerky Hut. Then we got sucked in by someone trying to sell us a time share. When we got out of there, we went to a few more local stores. We met a guy from Cazenovia who owned one of them. Another lady seemed very pretentious when we tried to make small talk with her. It seemed like Main Street was very touristy. Most of the people loved their little town and took any chance to tell you how great it was. We headed to some little shop village we had seen earlier. It was getting late, like 6pm, so most of the stores were closing. The village was very nice and was hosting a wedding when we were there. At that point, we decided to get some food. We looked around at a ton of restaurants because they were all very much overpriced. We ended up at an Italian place that was pretty good. You could tell it was fancy because it had Astroturf out in front. We sat on the patio that had some good smelling flowers and a little traffic noise. Jeanette had Fettuccini Alfredo with spinach, grilled chicken, and mushrooms. Ed had tortellini with Portobello mushrooms. Both of us liked our meal. Then we ran to the grocery store to get some supplies for the Grand Canyon. The town seemed to close down pretty early expect for a few bars. It wasn’t a bar night, so we went back and watched some TV.

We got up and ate some breakfast at the hotel. Jeanette’s legs were very tired from her early morning workout the day before. We headed down to Red Rock State Park for a hike. We went on a few trails and saw some gorgeous scenery. There were many lizards around ever corner. Then we saw a rattlesnake moving away from us. After that, we saw a few deer and a rabbit. It was a very nice park with great views. Then we headed up to Slide Rock Park. There are natural “waterslides” in the river. The lot was full so we went up the road a mile and parked on the side of the road. We went down a very steep path to the creek. We were attempting to walk down to the park. Ed went right in the water while Jeanette stayed up on the rocks. About half way there, Jeanette reluctantly got in the water up to her knees. We made it to the park and it was worth the trip. Although aimed at smaller kids, Ed went down the natural red rock slide. He also jumped from a red rock ledge that was about 15 feet up. Then we headed back up. There were a lot of people out, enjoying the nice day and great views. We got back in the car and drove towards Oak Creek Park. The drive was through the woods, not deserts at all. It was also very mountainous. When we got to the “park”, we realized it was just a scenic overlook. We got to see the road we drove up on and the creek. After that, we drove to Flagstaff. It has a nice downtown area with a bunch of stores, little plazas, and restaurants. Some of the plazas and restaurants had live music outside on this gorgeous afternoon. Most of the store were closing soon, so we saw a few and then headed to the hotel. There was an Outback nearby, so we got a quick bite and went back to the room to sort out things to take to the Grand Canyon. We had to make a quick trip to Target for a few last minute things. We came home and watched part of the movie, “Natural Lampoon’s Vacation”. It seemed like we were following their itinerary pretty closely…at least from the part we saw. They drove from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon, then out to Los Angeles. We didn’t watch the ending, which Ed has seen, but went to bed to wake up early for our drive to the Grand Canyon.

We made it out

We were able to get walk-in backcountry permits that allowed us to hike all the way down the canyon, camp out at the bottom, and then hike out. It was a great experience, but very exhausting. We took the South Kaibab trail seven miles down to get in, camped at Bright Angels campground, walked 17 miles to the north rim (not all the way out) on our "rest" day, and then hiked nine miles up the Bright Angels trail yesterday. We were hurting! We're now back on the road, headed to LA. We will write in the car and hopefully post something tomorrow. A few facts to keep you busy.

FACT: The best kind of turf is smurf turf.

FACT: Snakes can't drill holes in rocks.

FACT: Southerners don't plan on doing things, they fix on doing things.

FACT: The only thing worse than another ice age would be a heat age. (It was 107 in the Grand Caynon in the shade and not much cooler at night. We couldn't sleep too well and I might have been a bit crazy. I couldn't help but picture a saber tooth tiger crossed with Mr. Bigglesworth running around in 120 degree heat.)

Grand Canyon

We are headed up to the Grand Canyon tomorrow. We will update the blog when we get back to civilization. Sedona and Flagstaff were both fun, but the best time was at Slide Rock State Park.

We also saw our first rattlesnake at Red Rock State Park. Ed didn't freak too much!

White Sands June 6, 2008

We pulled into the visitor center first. There wasn’t much going on inside the visitor center, although it was really cool looking. It was an adobe style building with flowering cacti outside. We proceeded to drive back towards the trails. We paid our small entrance fee of $3 each, which would last six days. We arrived at the first trail, a nature trail, which covered 1 mile. As we started walking, Ed spotted a camouflaged lizard, but Jeanette did not. We hiked up the sand dune and followed the markers for our one mile loop. Along the way, there were several bugs, lizards, and cacti. We took several pictures. We had a hard time following the path at the beginning because we couldn’t easily locate the markers. As we finished the nature trail, Ed got the bright idea to go sledding down the hill as that’s what many people do here. Since we didn’t have sleds, he attempted using the lid of the cooler, which did not work at all!

We then headed back towards Akali Flat trail, which is a 4.6 mile hike in the dunes or as Ed calls it the “idiot trail”…more about that in a minute. Along the way, we stopped at one of the restrooms. Ed gagged in there as it was a glorified port-a-potty that stunk!

Anyway, we arrived at the trail at 12:20 and started our hike. It is affectionately called the “idiot trail” by Ed because we always seem to start our activity in the hottest part of the day. We began our hike with two bottles of water in hand (we both drank one bottle of water before starting the hike). We followed the trail markers out…although we lost sight of some of them. There was a sign telling us that if a windstorm should occur, do not move from the nearest trail marker. Instead, you should wait until the storm is over, and then try to locate the next trail marker. Luckily, we did not have this problem. The only things we saw out in the dunes were a few reddish colored ants, lizards, and grasshoppers. The dunes seemed to go on for a long time. Some of the low areas consisted of hard, dried up gypsum that was easy to walk on. However, some of the higher parts of the dune were made up of softer sand that was harder to walk on and got in your shoes as you hiked up and down the dunes. We drank a little bit of water every 10 minutes, even if we weren’t thirsty, to enjoy we were staying fairly hydrated. We made it to the half way point in the flats and looked around for a little bit before moving on. Truthfully, it didn’t look that different than anything else. Apparently, the flats mean the area in which the white sand is produced. It is a disappearing lake basin that produces the white sand. The wind carries the white sand from this basin to other parts of the park to give the whole area white sand. We continued on to the second half of the hike. It was a bit hotter at this point and we were definitely thirstier. It felt like there was a lot of going up and down the dunes on this portion of the hike…it may have been because we were tired…but we had to empty our shoes of sand more frequently. We got back to the car, drank some cold water, and Ed ate a quick snack…a granola bar with peanut butter. We then drove to the one last trail in the park. It was only .3 miles, so we quickly finished it. We stopped at the gift shop on the way out. We bought some post cards and then headed out. We started our drive towards Tucson. We noticed that there were two new fires in the mountains closer to Las Cruces that hadn’t been there, or at least not as big, in the morning. We drove to Las Cruces and stopped at a local, hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. We don’t remember the name of it, but it was super cheap and pretty good. It cost $7 for a huge plate of food consisting of refried beans, rice, enchiladas, deep fried cheese stuffed pepper, a taco, and some flautas. Jeanette ate refried beans, rice, and a chicken burrito. After eating, we drove to Tucson, Arizona.

While driving, there were some small hills along the way, but overall, it was pretty flat. The land was pretty open, with a few farms here and there. Before entering Arizona, we went through a border patrol station that was not on the border at all. It claimed that it was responsible for finding 20,000 pounds of drugs in people’s cars. Just to make sure that we weren’t going into Mexico, Ed asked the border patrolman, who laughed at us, and sent us on our way.

We arrived in Tucson, checked in to the Quality Inn motel. The time changed again as Arizona does not recognize daylight savings time. The hotel was really nice and was built in adobe style architecture. There were many large cacti outside and a covered wagon. The motel had wireless internet, a decent breakfast, and laundry. We did some laundry and headed out to Dairy Queen for some ice cream between loads of laundry. We came back and fell fast asleep.