Viva la vortex, a day in Sedona

Everyone woke up early this morning raring to go. After a quick breakfast and hot showers we decided to spend some time at the Visitor's Center taking in the exhibits and watching the movie. Patty and I got "tsk tsk" by a French couple who were not amused by our giggling and cutting up. What me acting juvenile? Next in order was a scenic drive out of the park and over another 8000 ft. pass to Flagstaff. Today's eating adventure includes a stop at Salsa Brava. Ned and I found this on a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives episode. To see what we ate click here. After this amazing meal we had fun poking around a Farmer's Market and finding fresh veggies to grill for dinner...among other things:) Next stop Sedona. None of us are into the upscale shopping scene so instead we did what any self-respecting psychic wacko would do, we went in search of a psychic reading and a vortex. The boys didn't want anything to do with the readings so they hung out while Patty and I ventured into the unknown. All my questions were about the 3 kids, who may be mortified by reading this. (Kids call me for details). Our quest for the perfect vortex didn't really pan out, it either cost too much money (which was spent on psychic readings) or you needed a parking permit - lame. Patty said it really didn't matter since she was a vortex. Love that girl! We did however see Frank Lloyd Wright's Chapel of the Holy Cross and a phenomenal view from the top of a Mesa. We were all looking forward to getting to the campsite and spending our last night together. Tonight's activities included a Part-A at the Russell campsite. Wahoo let the good times roll. See today's pics here - Post using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Dead Horse Campground, Cottonwood, Az

Bike riding the rim of the Grand Canyon

We had a wonderful breakfast together then parted ways, with Patty and Alan headed for a photo-taking day, and Ned and I ready to bike the rim of the Grand Canyon. We did a quick lap of the Visitor's Center, asked the ranger some questions and then headed out for our adventure. We decided to take the bus to the first stop on the Hermit Road rather than tackling the 6% grade. It was an absolutely gorgeous day in the mid 70s and perfect for a bike ride. To say that it was amazing is quite simply an understatement. It was hard for me to wrap my brain around the endless expanse and deep chasms. To continuously bike alongside this view for over 10 miles is an experience I'll never forget. In addition to the over the top views, we also really enjoyed meeting all the international visitors along the way. One of our favorite families was this sweet young couple from Quebec with their 9 month old baby. We had so much fun exchanging stories of how much we enjoyed visiting their city and hearing about their time experiencing the wild west. At every stop along the ride we were greeted with Italian, French, German and Chinese. How wonderful to share this common experience regardless of our nationality. It's days like these that you really do feel like we are all one sharing in nature's beauty. We met up with Alan and Patty at Bright Angel Lodge in the late afternoon and decided to have an upscale dinner at one of the myriad of lodges. We settled upon El Tovar, the grand old lodge on the rim. We wanted to make sure to have dinner over in time for the sunset over the canyon. I'm whipping off this quick blog waiting for the sun to set, with my belly full of salmon, exhausted from a good bike and fully appreciating how blessed I am. Click here for pics Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:The Grand Canyon, Az

High on Zion

I stayed up past midnight trying to get the pics uploaded and the blog posted only to have the entire thing disappear. Ned was a real trooper and hung in there with me. We finally went to bed, but I got up before 6 and decided to just rewrite the whole thing and try again. (Not before firing off a nastygram to the developers grrr.) After writing this for a third time, it was once again removed. Here's the link if you want to see the Las Vegas crawdads feast. Click here for Las Vegas pics Patty was up early as well and together we rode our bikes to the visitor center in search of better wifi or 3G connection. The first pic of the day is Patty capturing me in early am blogging mode. (I do realize that I'm a sick techie junkie.) After I got the kinks worked out we all had breakfast together and wrote postcards. Our campsite was located on the Virgin River and it was so peaceful relaxing in the sun and listening to the rush of the river. We spent the rest of the morning at the Visitor's Center, the History Museum, shooting more pictures and visiting the Weeping Wall. Patty particularly loved the 4000 year old water seeping out of the sandstone walls. She was determined to drink it, but we talked her out of it. For those of you who know Patty you will appreciate this. Before we climbed out of the park we had a picnic lunch under a grove of cottonwood trees loaded with caterpillars. Well they sure loved us, especially Ned. At least 15 caterpillars dropped on him and were crawling down his shirt and up his pants. It was a pretty funny sight to see Mr. Mellow drop his pants in front of the children's museum to extract a particularly determined caterpillar that had crawled up to his knee. I'm still cracking up! I was so sure he was going to be arrested for indecent exposure. We hightailed it outta there pretty fast. Almost every year we travel thru Zion on our road trips. We consider this our annual pilgrimage and Zion has a special place in our heart. I don't think it's possible to take a bad picture in this park. Enjoy today's pics We had a 5 hour or so drive to the Grand Canyon and really had a blast stopping repeatedly to take pics and check out the Wild West scenery. It definitely felt like we were in a John Wayne movie. I kept expecting the Indians or Calvary to appear on top of the red mesas. After exploring the different views along the Grand Canyon rim we finally arrived at our campsite at about 7. We had a great time gathered around the fire telling stories and drinking wine. - Posted using BlogPress from my

Living it Up in Death Valley

Ned and I woke up early to clear bright skies. The only sound in the campground was the constant cooing of the doves nesting in the trees. We decided to do some exploring and check out the natural hot springs that are downstream from the private campground. We took our bikes for a spin down a dirt road. The temp was in the high 30s with a fairly brisk breeze. I was hoping to find something soon and I wasn't going to be too picky either, none of this girly stuff about the water being muddy or too many green icky things growing in it. About a 1/4 mile down the road we came across several pools of clear, steamy water. We stripped down to our bathing suits, which took an enormous amount of faith that we would soon be engulfed in warm water, and took the plunge. It was heaven. There was something magical about soaking in natural hot springs in the early morning with a backdrop of snow covered mountains. We ended up testing several pools before finding the perfect one. It was clear blue, deep enough to swim around and about 90 degrees. After our early morning jaunt and feeling refreshed we caught up with Patty and Alan, had coffee around the picnic table and planned the day. Well, actually I cop to planning the day while the others put up with my endless chattering. Patty and I took a walk thru the rock garden and thoroughly enjoyed the display of desert flora. Patty grew up in the desert so it was fun to hear her childhood memories of desert life. Before we headed out for the day the Cohens wanted to experience the natural pools, so one more soaking was in order. Most of our day was spent driving thru Death Valley, stopping at various places along the way for photo shoots and appreciating the diversity of the landscape. We had lunch next to a date grove, took in the visitor center and spent some time at Zabriskie Point taking photos or as Alan says pictures to die for! I have to admit that one of the highlights of the day for me was the thermometer reaching 90 degrees. Thank goodness summer has finally arrived! Once we drove across the state line into Nevada, a couple of things were apparent right away; one, the price of gas was well below $4 and $5 a gallon and two, the immediate availability of brothels. We got a chuckle out of the first gas station where we stopped. There were 3 buildings. The first was the "Brothel Art Museum, The Oldest Tourist Attraction in Southern Nevada." The second was showers for truckers, and the third was a brothel. I guess they get you worked up, cleaned up and ready for business. After a long day driving across the deserts of California and climbing, climbing, climbing 8500 feet to the top of Mt. Charleston, we finally arrived to our camping spot for the night. It was on the top of the world and freezing cold! Did I mention there was snow on the ground? Last night the Cohen's hosted us in The Cruiser. Tonight is our turn to host them in our humble abode. The menu is Moroccan lamb burgers and corn on the cob. Tomorrow, Vegas baby Vegas! Click here for today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Mt. Charleston, NV

Chilly Start and A Warm Finish

Finally, the clouds have parted, the sun is shining and the day has arrived! The nice thing about our long cold winters is that it gives you an opportunity to work on projects and plan things...like a road trip per se. The disadvantage of long cold winters, and especially this year, is that cabin fever sets in and you never quite believe the day will actually get here. We met up with Patty and Alan, our traveling buddies for the first week of the trip, and finally rolled out of town about mid-morning. As we climbed over the Donner summit and continued onto the Kingsbury Grade we were greeted with mother nature's last gasp of winter. I thought it looked like snow flurries, but Patty was convinced we were in the midst of a blizzard. The driving conditions didn't seem to bother me as much as the choice of clothing, or should I say lack thereof, that I had packed. Here I was feeling carefree and summery with Florida on my mind and 3 bikinis in my bag, and looking at snow. Mmm. Not one to be discouraged I stood my ground, on my firmly planted flip flops nonetheless, and remained optimistic. At least we have a soak in the hot springs in the near future! The Winniemobile and The Cruiser (aka the Cohen's wheels) continued to mosey on down 395 driving in and out of inclement weather. After a quick stop at Mono Lake, where it was a balmy 37 degrees, we stopped for lunch at Whoa Nellie Deli in the Mobile Gas Station. We had a rather late gourmet lunch of jumbalaya, fish tacos with pineapple and mango salsa, lobster toquitos and herb encrusted apricot pear pork chops. Yes, you can see where our priorities are headed this week. By the time we finally arrived at Keough Hot Springs we only had about an hour to enjoy " the cure" before closing time. Ahh, but what a wonderful hour it was. After swimming for the last several weeks in a chlorinated pool the mineral springs felt velvety smooth. The temperature in the soaking area was about 104 and the pool was approx. 95. Night time festivities include wine and hanging around the campfire with good friends. Seems like a pretty good first day and well worth the wait. This is my first time using the iPad to blog and link to pictures so I hope this works! Today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Keough Hot Springs, Bishop, CA

The End of the San Juan Coastal Tour - Home, 9/19

It rained all night – it rained hard all night. The first thing we saw when looking out the Winniemobile was that our campsite was flooded. Thank goodness we aren’t tent camping! The rain was still coming down this morning so we obviously scrapped the bike ride and decided to pack up and head home. Going over the coastal mountain range was windy (as in a lot of twists and turns), but so incredibly green. It was a shock when we hit the valley and saw how brown everything was. After being in rain forests for the last couple of weeks we got used to seeing every imaginable hue of green. The Pacific Northwest is a beautiful and magical part of our country. I can sure understand why Josh wants to live there. (Today’s pic is a shot of one of our favorite camping spots in the Olympic National Forest.) Once we drove past Clearlake, the weather completely cleared up and it was downright hot in the valley. As we pulled into the driveway three cords of wood were piled high. Ironically, soon after we arrived it began sprinkling here. Mmm – sounds like the wood arrived just in time. I love living on the road and am usually a little sad when the trip ends. But not this time! I received an early birthday present from Ned and on the way home we picked up my first ever sewing machine. I’m so excited to be home and start making quilts – my new passion. Next week we are heading off to Point Reyes for a three day trip, camping with some good friends. Here’s hoping we can eek out a bit more play time before the wet winter really rolls in.

Mendocino Mellow - MacKerricher State Park, Fort Bragg, CA 9/18

We left one of the best ever campgrounds early this morning and continued our drive down the Avenue of the Giants. The weather was threatening rain, but so far things remained dry and warm. We definitely got a kick out of all the tacky roadside attractions, but the best by far is definitely “The Legend of Big Foot.” We passed drive-thru trees, mystery trees, confusion trees and tree houses! It made us appreciate that if this area hadn’t been made into a National Park and a State Park what the rest of the forest would look like. We pulled into MacKerricher State Park in Fort Bragg around 11 and had several campsites to choose from. We think a lot of people were scared off by the weather – lucky us. After getting settled in, we headed for downtown Fort Bragg and ate at a so-so Japanese Restaurant. Next stop, one of my favorite places in the world – Mendocino! The sky turned blue and it was really pleasant and sunny. We took advantage of the situation and rode our bikes around town and out to the headlands. The sea was an amazing color of jade and turquoise and really mesmerizing to watch. Out over the horizon we could definitely see another storm front headed this way. It made for some dramatic cloud formations as the sky was almost cut in half with clear blue on one side and lens shaped clouds on the other. (See today’s pic). I just love the vibe of Mendocino with the beautiful gardens, seaside cottages, water towers jutting above the homes and the smell of the salt water in the air. Later in the afternoon we stopped for some mochas and Ned waited patiently as I continued my picture taking safari. We eventually made our way back to the campsite and had a rousing couple of hours playing games while drinking wine and munching on some local favorites (goat cheese, french bread, peppadews and figs). Would you say we are camping upscale Mendocino style? It’s about 9:30 at night and a soft rain has just begun. We decided that if it’s nice tomorrow we’ll ride our bikes into town for breakfast and then explore some of the local trails and if the rain continues – we’re heading home.