More Nevada sites

Some historical perspective as we drove through Nevada - signs for "Nevada Test Site" - which foretold the story of Harry Truman setting aside 400 sq. miles for testing of nuclear weapons. Between 1951 - 1991 dozens of bombs were tested; initially, they were a tourist attraction, as people would watch the mushroom clouds from their hotel rooms in Vegas. Today, you can tour the area, but on a limited basis - the site is only open to the public once a quarter, with the exact day picked a few months in advance (sounds very cold war).

The desert

Long drive from Las Vegas to Yosemite, as we drove parallel to Death Valley in our own 110 degree heat. Nothing to see on this long, dry stretch...


until we came to this sign:


And following the sign, we found out what an open range is:



*no cattle were injured or maimed in the making of this blog

Vegas nightlife - Day 25

Chris and I LOVED the show - foul language warning for parents thinking of bringing young children.

Swimming Pools

Hotels where we have gone swimming on this trip:
- Wyndham (Cleveland)
- Trump (Chicago)
- Quality Inn (Mitchell, SD)
- Fairfield Inn (Rapid City, SD)
- Holiday Inn (Cody, WY)
- Wynn (Vegas)

Wynn Hotel - Las Vegas

View of hotel golf course from our room.

"Hit King" in Vegas

Look who we stumbled upon in Caesar's Palace - baseball's all-time hit leader, signing for dollars. Autographed copy of his book My Prison Without Bars - $89.00 (I passed). I did receive a perfunctory handshake, but he was committed to autographing responsibilities, so Chris was not quick enough to capture the actual exchange.

Park City, Utah

After returning RV (crocodile tears), a stop in Park City to see Andy Wellins pitch in Triple AAA World Series softball event (referenced earlier in blog), as well as a stop for a bite and treats in town.

Day 23 - 19th Wedding Anniversary

Creepy animals of Grand Canyon

On the drive into we ran into this herd and had a discussion "Bison or Steer?". Turns out these are a hybrid of both - "Beefalo" - as a local tried to cross-breed the two about 80 years ago, and they live on at the North Rim.

Taking creepy to a new level - kaibob squirrels - big white tails, and big pointy ears - looks part skunk and part rabbit ears.

Grand Canyon Lodge

Each of the national parks has a landmark lodge which are reasonably priced (pending availability). On the North Rim, the Grand Canyon Lodge was one of our favorites, with large picture windows providing spectacular views.





Katie with a statue of Brighty. Anyone else read that book growing up?

Grand Canyon

"Sorry folks, Canyon's closed. Moose out front should have told you so."

Day 21 - Grand Canyon

campfire

Pipe Spring Nat'l Monument - Fredonia, AZ

Not exactly sure what this was all about... this site which provided as a natural spring for settlers, as well as a hideout for mormon polygamists, currently part of Paiute Indian Reservation... good way to break up the trip though.

Lost in America

We picked up our RV a week ago and just ran a 1200 mile gauntlet from Salt Lake City to Moab to Bryce to Zion to Grand Canyon (North Rim) and back. Now we can say we did it. Here is some of the good and bad:

Bad
* Shake, Rattle and Roll - The "tin box" effect driving down the highway was in full force - windows banging, side door seemingly flapping, general shaking and shimmying.
* While it was great to have everything in one place, it was small when we all started bumping into each other - 25 footer does not provide much room for four.
* Cost - renting plus cost of gas - would have been cheaper to rent cabins at Grand Canyon Lodge (although availability is very tight - book a year in advance)
* Cleanliness - RV did not pass the Chris Canning liveablity test - took much scrubbing upon receipt to bring it to acceptable level. She wondered - was this cleaned at all prior to last customers?

* RV Parks - Beautiful scenery, but be prepared to share it in the communal setting, with neighbors twenty feet away on both sides. We stayed in both commercial lots (KOA, etc. as well as national parks). Big difference between commercial lots imagine Ed Bundy meets Roseanne meets the Brady Bunch going out west) vs national parks (seemingly more serious campers, many of whom arrive in hybrid cars and sleep in little tents the size of an old-style phone booth tilted sideways) - national parks do not allow many of the comforts (no electricity, not direct hook up for sewage), but once you work around those creature comforts, national parks offer a much more austere and pleasant environment. We LOVED camping on the North Rim of Grand Canyon (photos to follow).

Good
* Girls like the change-up in travel, sitting at table and using lounge chair for a new take on seating options. They also thought it was cool to sleep in bunk on top of drivers seats.
* Great to not have to unpack and unload bags into/out of hotel rooms. Roll out of bed and start the day.
* Before the trip, everyone was captivated by the idea of the RV - inevitably, the first question we were asked when we said we were driving cross country "Are you doing the whole month in an RV?" Looking back, I am confident 90% of the people who asked that question have never lived in an RV, and the 10% who did must have had some sort of sadistic streak in them.

Would not have been a worthy experience without some sort of calamity (a Chris and Jerry staple). Here were two of ours:
- Flooding Shower - shower basin did not drain well, perhaps because camper was not perfectly level and tank would create back-up of water (understood in retrospect). Of course that led to the classic water pouring through camper when we moved the vehicle and gravity shift led to water rushing out of shower and running through camper from back to front. Jerry viewed this as a cleansing function, Chris viewed it as a reason to bleach and scrub the entire carriage.

- Battery drain - two days in national park with no electricity/hook-ups creates a situation where you need to aggressively monitor all levels in RV (battery, water, fuel, propane, etc.) and proactively counter - which seems simple enough, but when you are out hiking and enjoying the sites all day, and the national park enforces "quiet hours" and only offers limited windows of opportunity to re-charge (which involves varying levels of noise), suddenly these first-time campers found maintenance to be a tricky juggle. So by night number two, we overlooked re-charging batteries, and as our heads hit pillows at midnight, carbon monoxide and gas leak detectors started beeping. After initial fright led to a spirited review of the renter's manual, we determined that the alarms were not actual leaks, but low battery. So here we were in this incredibly tranquil part of the world, full moon shining, breeze gently blowing in off the grand canyon, dead quiet in campgrounds as all other slept peacefully, and our alarms were chirping away, keeping us awake in RV. The only option to fix was to turn on engine and let it run for 45 minutes, which seemed like the equivalent to starting a leaf blower in the middle of college library during finals week. Trying to be mindful of our neighbors, we ran the engine for five minutes at 12:30, which charged the battery momentarily and stopped the chirping. We tentatively fell into a fitful sleep, knowing what was to come next. At 2:30 chirping alarms started again, so this time, we ran engine for 10 minutes. Thankfully, no hostile response from our neighbors. Again, drift to sleep only to be awoken by chirping alarm at 5:00 am (note moon is gone and signs of daylight creeping in). Ran engine for another five minutes to carry us until 7:00 a.m. when quiet period is lifted for two hours in a.m.

Fortunately, we're on vacation, so the stress of losing a few hours sleep is all relative. That being said, chalk this up to just another new experience in the great outdoors! Anyone renting RV for first time, feel free to check in with us for additional detailed insights :)


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Who could ask for anything more?

Saw this sign as we traveled through northern Arizona - talk about one-stop shopping...

It's got to be the shoes!

There was much discussion and rumination around footwear in preparation for the trip. Chris is happy to report that she is thrilled with her new hiking shoes and they held up very well through the streams of Zion.

Zion National Park - Utah

Another incredible national park in southern Utah - Zion is a narrow canyon running south - north with towering sandstone walls looming over as you traverse up the canyon. We chose to "hike" the Narrows, which was actually 75% water. Of course, wasn't long before we all got wet.






Katie, cousin Christina and Annie took turns riding the rapids of the Narrows:

Day 20 - Dinner w friends and family

We had a nice dinner upon arrival in Zion National Park in Utah. In addition to meeting up with Jerry's sister Denise and her daughter Christina (1+ year older than Annie), we connected w Jerry's fraternity brother Greg Wellins, who was passing through town with family on his way from Phoenix to his daughter's softball tourney in Park City, UT.

(clockwise from upper right) - Greg, Annie, Carmen (Greg's wife), Nicky Wellins (7 years old), Andrea Wellins (15), Chris, Christina, Denise, Katie, Jerry

Bryce Canyon - Annie's camera