Grand Canyon West, 22 July 09

We took a bus tour from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon West departing at 6:45 am and arriving back in Vegas at 7:30 pm. It was sooo nice to let someone else do the driving for the day! Especially the last 14 miles to the Grand Canyon West which is still a rough dirt road (it will be paved in about 7 months). Wow, what a view from the SkyBridge! Much more enjoyable than my past trips to the Grand Canyon NP. There were no guard rails and it was shear cliffs straight down! Our niece and nephew are fearless...they would stand right at the cliff's edge...oops should I being telling this to their parents?? We also had a very enjoyable conversation on the bus with a young Australian girl named Hope. She was touring America alone because her job in California at a youth camp was ended after only two weeks...the economy you know. She decided to tour American until the "feds caught her" or she ran out of money...whichever one came first! We also got caught in a desert monsoon on the dirt road coming back from the Grand Canyon; the desert lightening was very impressive.

Slot Canyons Inn, Zion NP, and Vegas

We had a very enjoyable hike into a small back canyon behind the Slot Canyons Inn. We explored the rock ledges and found many native American petroglyph on the rock faces. We then got rained on again...all morning with the temperature in the 60s...the desert was green! We were told this is very unusual weather for this time of year. Zion NP was celebrating its centennial, the weather was great and was getting warmer, and by the time we reached Nevada it was 105. In Las Vegas the kids took a roller-coaster ride in the New York, New York Hotel and we watched a water show at the Bellagio, and then an erupting volcano at the Mirage.

Bryce Canyon, Utah, 20 July 09

We were lucky that we didn't visit Bryce Canyon National Park last week...it was closed then because of a wildfire that swept through much of the park. We could still smell and see the smoke. More very striking vistas. We also continue to get rained on here in the desert! That didn't stop us from hiking along the Rim Trail. Took LOTS of pictures at every turn! We're now staying at a fantastic B&B, the Slots Canyon Inn, in Escalante which is located on Utah 12 about an hour from Bryce Canyon. The scenery is up close and personal; tomorrow morning we're hiking up to an archaeological dig going on just behind the B&B.

Mesa Verde, 4 Corners & Monument Valley, Sunday, 19 July 09

We visited the Cliff Palace and Spruce Tree House ruins Sunday morning at Mesa Verde. We drove west to Four Corners (AZ, NM, UT, & CO), it was touristy, but fun. It was 104 and very windy. Then on the way to Monument Valley we had a close encounter with a tumbleweed and a sand storm...this wasn't in the travel guide!

TAOS, NM 18 July 09

On Saturday we enjoyed a nice trolley tour of the northern New Mexico art colony of TAOS. A very "hippie" place, which fits in for a retirement holiday! It was very easy to see why Taos is an art colony, the scenery is very "western." The people here are very proud of their Spanish roots.

A big surprise was the drive through the Carson National Forest on the way to Mesa Verde...it was 63 degrees up there in the middle of the afternoon.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

We departed Fort Worth, Texas, this morning and drove west to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Brian and Amber got their first taste of the western wide open spaces. We had dinner at a very nice local watering hole, the Blue Corn Cafe and Brewery. Ernie was the only one to partake in the local brew...but, the food was outstanding.

Fort Worth Texas

We picked up Amber & Brian in St Louis, Missouri, and drove down to Cushing, Oklahoma, to visit Kim's dad's childhood home and dropped by the local cemetery to visit the resting place of Kim's grandfather and great grandparents. Kim's grandfather was killed in an oilfield accident in 1940.

We then headed down to see Kim's sister in Fort Worth, Texas. Today we all went down to the Fort Worth Stockyard to see the Texas longhorn steers and cowboys mozy down the street (temp 102 degrees). Amber and Brain had a blast riding the mechanical steer!