A Grand Adventure - A Guest Blog by Kim

Shawn and Tammy and the boys are currently overrun with guests. After Sandy and Arne left them in Vegas, Annette, Cassandra and I moved in and then we all met up with Mom and Dad in Bryce Canyon and have been travelling around together since then. Having seen beautiful sites in Bryce and Sedona, we moved on to a few days in the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon is almost too big to take in. At every turn, you see another spectacular view and don’t quite know where to look first. We thoroughly exhausted everyone with hiking and biking. We first took in the main Rim walkway and a program with the fabulous Nicole, who I think we all agreed was one of the best park rangers we’ve met and all the teachers (as well as non-teachers) agreed that she was a first rate educator who held all of our attention for more than an hour, talking about the history, geology and the wildlife of the Grand. We liked her so much that we followed her to the graveyard that night in the spooky full moon to hear about some of the interesting characters buried there and of course, some ghost stories.

Shawn, Tammy and myself took the kids on a bike ride to see another amazing view of the Canyon. We ended up doing first aid on Braedon to remove an inch long splinter from his leg (nails are a very good tool). We then ended up accidentally splitting up into the girls and the guys and both groups got totally lost trying to get back to the campground. We eventually made it back with very weary legs and a strong dislike of Grand Canyon maps.

Our next adventure was a hike down into the Canyon on Kaibab trail. We opted for the short version that only took us about 1 ½ miles into the Canyon. It was more than enough by the time we dragged ourselves up the top 4 hours later. The trip to go down to the bottom is a 7 or 8 hour hike and understandably, they don’t recommend that you go down and back in 1 day. We had to hold onto Cassandra at times because the wind was so strong. Although it had really nice views and was very beautiful, you could get much closer to everything in Bryce Canyon which we liked better.

Our final stop on the way out of the Canyon was the Watchtower, a native inspired building built in the 20’s by a female architect, Mary Colter. It had spectacular views and the interior was decorated with native art. The flute player held the children mesmerized and inspired Braedon to practice very hard with his new birthday flute.

Watching the scenery unfold around this country has been wonderful. The many colours, shapes and sizes of rocks has been unbelievable. Looking forward to what’s around the next bend.

Kim

Back to Nature...in all its' splendour!

After an exciting five days in Las Vegas, we were all thrilled to get out of the city and back into our trailer. Our first stop was Bryce Canyon, which is sure to become one of the highlights of our trip! Bryce Canyon is not really a canyon at all, but rather is a natural amphitheatre with such extraordinary views and formations, that it was almost hard to take it all in at once.

After a long climb through the mountains and into Utah, we arrived late last Friday evening and were welcomed by Len and Noreen (Shawn’s parents) who have driven their motor home out to meet us. Saturday morning, we took a leisurely hike along the rim trail and marvelled at the amazing view down into the red and white hoodoos. Later that day, we got to see an astronomy presentation and to take our turn to look through the high powered telescopes into the night sky. Bryce is known as a dark sky area and the stars above us were very bright. On Sunday, we tightened up our boots and headed out for a four hour hike down into the hoodoos, along the canyon floor, and then back up to Bryce Point. Seeing the hoodoos up close from down at the bottom allowed us to truly appreciate their size and colours. The kids and I enjoyed being together with their cousin Cassandra and beating the other adults up the one mile and almost 1700ft climb to the end of our route. Interestingly, due to the elevation change, the weather at Bryce was way colder than we had all gotten used to and we had to pull out our coats and sweaters once again. There was even one inch of snow overnight on our last night there, and we awoke to a blanket of white!

On Monday morning, we headed toward Sedona where we camped in the Coconino Forest. Although the drive was a little long and included an unexpected and significant descent down switchbacks into the Oak Creek Canyon, we all enjoyed the views along the way and the chance to camp in amongst the trees. On Tuesday, we prepared to enjoy the much hotter Arizona weather and gathered up our swimsuits for a visit to Slide Rock State Park. Slide Rock is a most amazing place! In the park, the river that flows through Oak Creek Canyon cuts a path through the red rock creating both a natural water slide and deep pools with cliffs for jumping. Although the water was only 55 degrees, our family has made a pact to embrace any adventure that comes our way on this trip, so we suited up and jumped into the very refreshing water. We even jumped off the highest cliff, which was nearly 3 metres above the water! All in all, I think we enjoyed the water slide the most – being pushed down the rocks by the rapids was so much fun that we all went down numerous times despite the temperature of the water and Braedon must have gone down 10 or more. That afternoon, we spent some time in Sedona and enjoyed the many shops and art galleries including a unique pedestrian village called Tlaquepaque which had amazing sculptures everywhere we looked. Yesterday, we enjoyed a visit to another nearby state park called Red Rock and had a hike in the hot sun. Again, the views were beautiful and we were treated to a gathering of hummingbirds at the feeders which made everyone smile. Braedon was even lucky enough to have one energetic little hummingbird buzz by and stop on his hat!

Today, we are on our way to the Grand Canyon. Although some of the members of our group have seen this marvel before, everyone in our immediate family is really excited to finally get a look! We will explore the area for two nights and are excited to try some of the interesting hiking trails and to take part in some of the ranger led activities and tours. Aside from Riley fighting a mild cold, everyone is well and healthy and continuing to enjoy our adventure. We do, however, miss all of our friends and family very much. If you have a minute to drop us a line on the blog, we’d love to hear from you!

Tammy

PS. This was written yesterday - we are at the Grand Canyon and just hiked 3 hours down and back up - WOW!

Viva Las Vegas!

It has been a thrilling past few days in Las Vegas. On Tuesday, we spent an enjoyable day touring the strip and checking out the amazing scenery. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse and ended the day by seeing Cirque du Soleil's KA which we all agree is by far the best stage production we have ever seen! Although I know that you cannot possible see a bad Cirque production, the gravity defying aerial manuevers, unbelievable stage, non-stop action, martial arts and the fact that KA is the first Cirque show to tella complete story make this a must-see show and a highlight of our trip to Vegas.

Since Tuesday, we have been busy exploring all of the amazing hotels along the Vegas strip and taking advantage of the many free attractions. My favourites have to be the fountains at the Bellagio, the canals and murals in the Venetian, the facade of New York, New York and the statues at Caesars Palace. The children have particularly enjoyed the street performers, including an incredible Jack Sparrow we met our first night in town and a whole bunch of superheroes.
For obvious reasons, they also loved the M&M store and have now sampled almost every variety! Our hotel Circus Circus, though not quite as oppulent as some of the others has been a great place for the kids with on-going circus performances, a mid-way and a great games area. All in all it has been a fun stop and we are all glad to have visited!

Sadly, my mum and Arne left us to fly home to Barrie yesterday, but lucky for us we have lots of family who have been keen to join us on our adventure and our new visitors started arriving today! Shawn's Aunt Annette flew in this afternoon and his sister Kim and our neice Cassandra will be arriving in the next few minutes. The seven of us will leave Vegas in the morning heading to Bryce Canyon National Park where we will be joined by Shawn's parents for the next few weeks. We are looking forward to some great biking and hiking in Utah and to having the chance to see the Grand Canyon as we dip back into Arizona.

Tammy

The Oasis in the Desert - A Guest Post by Sandy & Arne

On Friday, we left Sequoia National Park and headed toward Death Valley across the Mohave Desert. It was an unnerving drive of hairpin turns, steep grades, narrow roads, and shear cliffs. Along the way hardly anything was growing .except tumbleweed, but still beautiful with some wild flowers and lots of colourful rock. After we descended into the first part of the Valley, we had a huge uphill climb with a steep grade from less than sea level to over 5500 feet. It was just too steep for the trailer to make it up with all of us, so Shawn dropped us off at a rest stop and while we sat and relaxed in the shade, he went back to get the trailer.

After six hours of travelling through the desert, we arrived at an oasis called Furnace Creek with palm trees, flowers, a green golf course, and everything lush and growing. Although the temperature was still over 100 degrees, we all dived into the spring-fed pool which is 82 degrees year round and cooled off. It was a beautiful resort, but even more appreciated after such a long drive through the desert.

The next day, we were out exploring.
We walked on the salt flats at Badwater Basin which is 280 feet below sea level and took a drive through Artist’s Palette where we marvelled at all the beautiful colours on the rocks. There were turquoise, pinks, vanilla ice cream, and taupe and they made us want to change all the colours of our house when we get home!

Yesterday, after a short and much more successful drive, we arrived at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. After a surf and turf buffet dinner, we watched the pirate show at Treasure Island. Today we enjoyed the pool, the midway, some circus acts, and then set out to Excalibur to watch the Tournament of Kings. Tomorrow night, we go to Cirque Du Soleil to see KA and I think we may just stay in Las Vegas forever and never go home!

Sandy & Arne

In awe of the trees!

After a busy and exciting cruise, we have enjoyed a change pace this week. After a brief stay at Pyramid Lake where we enjoyed learning about the California Water Project, we enjoyed a a beautiful drive through the California Valley. For those of you that have not seen it, the valley is nestled at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains and has some of the richest soil in North America. As we drove through, we marvelled at the sheer vastness and were thrilled to see all sorts of fruits and vegetables growing alongside our route. The boys were particularly excited by the apple-sized (I am not exaggerating!) strawberries that we purchased at a road side stand and managed to eat three pints all by themselves!

At the end of our 3-hour drive, we arrived at a lovely RV park near Sequoia National Park. Yesterday, we spent a very memorable day at the park and could hardly believe the size of the monarch sequoia trees. We started our journey with a visit to the Giant Forest Museum, and then took a walk around the meadow. I am not sure why we weren't expecting it after all of our other adventures in the mountains, but since we had to climb to nearly 7000 feet, we arrived to find almost 3 feet of snow on the trails. Since my mum and step-dad are visitingit was Arne's first really crazy hiking adventure since his accident and we are proud to report that he hiked the full 1 mile loop through the snow! As we continued to drive up into the groves, the developing 6-7 ft diametre Sequoias we saw enroute were amazing enough, but when we came face to face with General Sherman that stands more than 300 feet tall and has a diametre of 37 feet and a circumference of more than 100 feet, we could barely believe our eyes! It was certainly a sight that none of us will forget and made for a truly amazing day.

Today, mum, Arne, and Riley decided to have a quiet day around the campsite, but since Braedon has such an interest, Shawn and I decided to take him on a tour of the Crystal Cave at Sequoia. Like all of the other caves we have visited, the formations were truly beautiful, and we were all delighted to find that we are gradually becoming knowledgeable about the geology of a cave, the different types of formations and the factors that cause them to form. What made this tour even more exciting was the crazy drive required to get to cave entrance! To say that it was a windy road would be an understatement and combined with the 1/2 mile hike down to the cave entrance, it provided a great lead up to the tour. Although this cave has not been as protected from human interaction as Kartchner Caverns, we were pleased to find that it is very much alive and is continuing to develop. It was a very wet cave, with a base of marble rather than the limestone we have gotten used to in other caves, and as a result there were some beautiful sections covered with flowstone. Since Braedon was the youngest person on the tour, he got to enjoy some special priviledges like opening the spider web entrance and protecting the local wildlife (including one very tenacious millipede that refused to leave the walking path!).

Tomorrow, we are heading on a long drive from Sequoia to Death Valley and are looking forward to some very hot weather. Although today was beautiful with warmer temperatures and lots of sun, California has been unseasonable cool.

Tammy

Cruising in the Sun! A Guest Post by Tanya and Brooklyn

We landed in sunny LA late on Saturday May 1 and were met by Tammy and Shawn who whisked us to beautiful Long Beach where we got a long overdue hug from Braedon and Riley.

The next morning, we took the hotel shuttle to the ship terminal where we got our first look at Carnival Splendor. Once on board, we set sail for sunny Mexico. The next two days of cruising were filled with good food and fun.

When we arrived in Puerta Vallarta, Brooklyn and I enjoyed a wonderful horseback ride in the Sierra Madre mountains. We arrived at a beautiful waterfall by horseback where we swam before heading back and boarding a zodiac for a ride to gorgeous beach where we snorkelled and relaxed in the sun.

The next day, Brooke and I, along with Tammy, Shawn, Braedon, Riley, Mum and Arne took a whirlwind tour of Mazatlan. At a historic cathedral in Old Mazatlan, Brooklyn and I lit a candle and said a prayer for Bob. Next, we shopped the Golden Zone. We think we could have stayed a month!

Friday, we all took the tender from the ship to the dock in gorgeous Cabo San Lucas. We then took a water taxi to Medano Beach and were treated to seeing seals in the ocean on the way. Following a swim in the Sea of Cortez, we made our way through the charming shops of Cabo San Lucas and tendered back to the boat.

Saturday, we enjoyed a relaxing day as we cruised the Pacific. Our last night, we dined at the Black Pearl where our wait staff continued to entertain us with their singing and dancing. Sunday morning we disembarked and spent the day in Long Beach before making our way back to Barrie. Hopefully, we will take the sun home with us!

We have had a wonderful time with everyone and will muss Tammy, Shawn, Braedon and Riley as they continue on with 4:Exploring. Thanks so much for letting us be a part of the adventure!

Tanya & Brooklyn

Back Online

I cannot believe how long it has been since I last sat down to write! The boys had both done such a fabulous job of blogging about our experiences at Disney that we didn't feel the need to add more, and then suddenly 10 more days have passed.

We are continuing to have a wonderful adventure! After Disney, we spent a great few days in West Hollywood and as usual, we could have stayed much longer. Our visit to the Santa Monica pier and beach was so much fun. Not only did we arrive to huge waves, but also had a blast at muscle beach and enjoyed a stroll along the promenade. The next day, we thoroughly enjoyed a visit to Universal Studios, finding like most others we have talked to that we liked it even better than Disney and that the rides and attractions were totally amazing and unlike anything else we have ever seen. We particularly enjoyed the Terminator 4D show where live action and a 4D movie were combined into a thrilling and almost too real adventure. After an exciting day, we headed to the Griffith Observatory to enjoy the sunset (Thanks again to Cynth and Greg for that great suggestion!). Since the observatory sits high up in the hills, the view over the city and up into the mountains is absolutely incredible. To top it off, we discovered that they also had an active planetarium and since we arrived just in time, we enjoyed an inspiring presentation about the universe.

Once again we have been fortunate enough to have been joined by some visitors and are really enjoying the time to catch up with family. My mum and step-dad flew in on April 30 and were joined by my sister Tanya and niece Brooklyn on May 1. Together, we embarked on a 7-day cruise to Mexico with stops in Puerta Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. Since none of us has ever cruised before, this was a new experience and despite wishing that we had more time in each port, we all had a fabulous time! Braedon and I had an amazing tour to the Marietas Islands and we all enjoyed the beach in Cabo San Lucas where we plan to return sometime in the future. At our request, Tanya and Brooklyn have prepared a guest blog that will describe some of our adventures in more detail. As soon as we receive their pictures via email tomorrow, I will post their descriptions.

Tonight, we have arrived at a small RV Park half-way between LA and Sequoia. We are enjoying time to catch up on our laundry and re-organize and are happy to have safely managed another climb through the mountains. We are looking forward to some great hikes over the next few days!

Tammy