Wednesday, March 18, 2009
March 16
We had to take a full day of rest. We stayed one more night in Vegas …..slept most of the day and did laundry.
Monday, March 16, 2009
March 14, 15
Las Vegas...
Here are some photos of Ashley's building that is being constructed here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/byrne15017/LasVegas?authkey=Gv1sRgCJeA2bS-5se3KA&feat=directlink
Met up with Joe, Todd and Marcy today. Is was great seeing them. Joe and I walked for two days seeing all there is to see here. We also went to see Ka which was fantastic. Worth the money.
Went to Ceasar's Palace for the fountain show.
March 13
Travel day to Las Vegas. Spent the trip making arrangements to get new glasses in Las Vegas. Good news is that Len’s Crafter in Pgh helped getting things done in the Las Vegas Len’s Crafters. Chain stores do help when you are on the road. Joe, Todd and Marcy are already in Vegas. Ash and I will probably be arriving around 2:30. At which time my glasses will be ready for pick up. An expense I really didn’t need. Hope my homeowners helps out.
March 12
A bit of bad news today…..I lost my glasses…..put them on the roof when I was putting on suntan lotion and drove off. I am so p___.
Today Ash and I split up. She took a hike with a friend and I took a 10 hr tour to the Grand Canyon. It took about 2 hrs to get to the Canyon. We drove through Oak Canyon and Flagstaff. The drive going through Oak Canyon was great…. the views started from the Canyon floor and ended by looking into the depths of the canyon. There were a good bit of trees covering this particular canyon. The road literally wound its way through the canyon. There wasn’t a straight stretch of road for about 15 miles. The canyon was dotted with camp sites and beautiful homes. Some of the homes cantilevered over the river. Truly amazing.
There isn’t much to see in Flagstaff. It is often used as a home base for people wanting to be located in a central place to visit all the surrounding parks.
Now onto the Grand Canyon. Well I’m on this drive and when I’m starting to thing…..ok were is it!......the guide says…..”Ok, get ready because here comes an AHA! moment in your life. We stop and walk to the South Rim of the Canyon and honestly I had to stop and just stare. It is totally overwhelming. All the pictures and photos that I had seen do not do justice for the view. The entire day was spent just traveling around the South and East Rim of the canyon getting different views. Each and every stop was an AHA! moment. The guide mentioned that October is the best time of the year to visit the area. Most tourism is done and the weather is warm. Good time to do rafting and hiking. That will be for the next trip.
During the tour I had a hard time getting my head around the fact that what I was seeing was millions of years old and that at one time the entire canyon was underwater. The huge shifting of land mass is evident by the shape and angle of huge formations. They have names for many of the formations because some do resemble things.
They have a mule tour that goes into the canyon that has to be booked a year and a half in advance. One of the trip options is for two days. Which is on my list of “To Do’s”. You basically sit on the mule and he takes it from there…….thank god!.......because if he didn’t I’m sure a great number of people wouldn’t do it on foot. The trail is only wide enough for a mule. If a hiker is on the trail, the mule has the right of way. The trail ends at the bottom of the canyon and our guide did let us know that at times it can be a butt puckering event…..but they have never had any injuries or lost anyone…….always a comforting piece of info.
Ash and I are planning to go back to the canyon after Las Vegas. When I get to a location that I can upload some photos, I’ll add the link f pictures from today.
Link to some photos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/byrne15017/GrandCanyon?feat=directlink
Here are some pics of Ashley's hike with Guy (the friend she met up with in Sedona) ---
March 11
Sedona is BEAUTIFUL. Very expensive area. Average home I’m told is $500K. Did a hike today up to a mesa. This trail was something I could actually handle but it was a good thing I had good hiking boots. Climbing rocks you want something that grabs the rock. I really like the hiking here but have to gain a lot of confidence in staying stable on loose rock and small passage ways. Think I’m going to start doing more hiking at home…..not Montour trails J Again, I’ll add photos at a later date when we are near an internet site.
March 10
Travel day to Sedona from Santa Fe. Had a great vegan breakfast with the people staying in the complex that we are staying. There was a stuffed mushroom that tasted like it was stuffed with sausage…..of course it wasn’t. Homemade granola…..which was terrific. You won’t believe this…….there were two girls from Pittsburgh (Pitt Students on spring break) staying there also. They too were heading to Las Vegas.
We took some time to stop and see different sites along the way to Sedona. The pertfified forest was one of the stops. Here are some photos of the drive.
Painted Desert....
http://picasaweb.google.com/byrne15017/PaintedDesert?authkey=Gv1sRgCPf8juuWw4X_xwE&feat=directlink
ancient ruins and writings
ancient ruins and writings
Monday, March 9, 2009
March 9
We woke up to SNOW. Can you believe it! Santa Fe has not had any moisture in the past 75 days. But the good news was it warmed up by lunch time. We did laundry, chores and planned our next stop until lunch. After, we walked the Canyon Road which is the artist area of Santa Fe. There was so much to see. You really need two days to visit all the shops. Then went to dinner and headed back to pack up for Sedona tomorrow morning.
The place we have been staying is great. A about a block or so from the Plaza in Santa Fe. We have to stay here when we come back.
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