Whew!
Actually the drive wasn't that bad. About 5 hours Sunday, 5 1/2 Monday and 7 on Tuesday. Got back about 5 PM PDT. Hunny Bear was very well behaved in the car and in the hotel rooms.
More later...
Thursday, April 19
Sunday, April 15
Bryce and Grand Canyons
Haven't posted in a few days. We had limited/sporadic Internet access at the Grand Canyon, but mainly I forgot.
We had a few long days in there, but we successfully saw Bryce Canyon, drove around the Grand Canyon to the South rim for a couple of days, celebrated Monica's birthday, and drove back around the Grand Canyon to St George. Monica is already off to her class this morning. I'm repacking the car and getting ready to start the trek back to Sammamish. I'll post more later tonight, but some quick highlights.
I hate when people -- usually athletes -- explicitly say "literally" when they're obviously speaking figuratively, such as "they're literally killing us out there". Now that's an ugly basketball game. That said, Bryce Canyon was literally breath taking. Now only was it a stunning view, unlike anything we're seen in person, but at an elevation of 8000 feet, a short walk made it hard to breathe.
While Bryce (and St. George, Kanab, and Springdale) aren't that far from the south rim as the crow flies (about 70 miles), there's a huge crevice in the ground :) that you have to drive around to get from the north side to the south side and it takes about five hours. And you thought driving around Lake Washington was bad. So we got to the Grand Canyon later than we expected but still had a great time. Like Bryce, there's simply nothing like it. And depending where you are, there are a lot of different features. It was very, very cool and one of the nice things about GCNP is that it's phenomenally more pet friendly than any National Park we've visited. When I get the pictures up, you'll see a lot of Hunny Bear at the Grand Canyon.
For Monica's birthday she wanted to visit a deer farm that's an hour south of where we were staying. So we headed to Williams for the afternoon. It was like a mini-zoo or a super sized petting zoo. The video of Monica feeding the deer is awesome, but the photos are good too.
Saturday, we saw the East rim of the Grand Canyon on our way out of town, stopped to check out Glen Canyon Dam over the Colorado river and headed to St George for the night with a few adventures along the way.
We had a few long days in there, but we successfully saw Bryce Canyon, drove around the Grand Canyon to the South rim for a couple of days, celebrated Monica's birthday, and drove back around the Grand Canyon to St George. Monica is already off to her class this morning. I'm repacking the car and getting ready to start the trek back to Sammamish. I'll post more later tonight, but some quick highlights.
I hate when people -- usually athletes -- explicitly say "literally" when they're obviously speaking figuratively, such as "they're literally killing us out there". Now that's an ugly basketball game. That said, Bryce Canyon was literally breath taking. Now only was it a stunning view, unlike anything we're seen in person, but at an elevation of 8000 feet, a short walk made it hard to breathe.
While Bryce (and St. George, Kanab, and Springdale) aren't that far from the south rim as the crow flies (about 70 miles), there's a huge crevice in the ground :) that you have to drive around to get from the north side to the south side and it takes about five hours. And you thought driving around Lake Washington was bad. So we got to the Grand Canyon later than we expected but still had a great time. Like Bryce, there's simply nothing like it. And depending where you are, there are a lot of different features. It was very, very cool and one of the nice things about GCNP is that it's phenomenally more pet friendly than any National Park we've visited. When I get the pictures up, you'll see a lot of Hunny Bear at the Grand Canyon.
For Monica's birthday she wanted to visit a deer farm that's an hour south of where we were staying. So we headed to Williams for the afternoon. It was like a mini-zoo or a super sized petting zoo. The video of Monica feeding the deer is awesome, but the photos are good too.
Saturday, we saw the East rim of the Grand Canyon on our way out of town, stopped to check out Glen Canyon Dam over the Colorado river and headed to St George for the night with a few adventures along the way.
Tuesday, April 10
SLC to Zion
Slight change in plans. We were staying South of SLC so we'd miss rush hour and have a shorter drive to Springdale/Zion. Monica decided she wanted to see Salt Lake City, so we went into the city for a few hours and mainly walked around downtown. Very strange experience. While it was a Monday at 9:30-11, downtown was empty. Is Easter Monday a holiday? Businesses were open at 10, but there didn't seem to be the downtown hubbub you'd see in any other major city. Coolest place we found was a bookstore that is similar to Powell's in Portland. Took off about 2 and drove straight to our hotel.
Today was our first adventure in more ways than one. When we arrived Monday night, we found out we couldn't leave Hunny Bear in the room while we were out. Most pet friendly places say not to leave the pets unattended but they all turn a blind eye if you go to eat for an hour and don't care much about well behaved pets. It's like a speed limit -- driving 61 in a 60 zone is illegal but no one really enforces. But there are places where they will ticket you for that, so you need to be cautious. And the vibe that was we shouldn't leave Hunny Bear. We had passed a dog day care a couple miles before our hotel and they had an opening. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as our running around took longer than expected.
We had planned to be at Best Friends for a tour about 10, but didn't arrive until 10:45. Dropping off HB, and traffic (slow drivers) through the park slowed us down. So we caught the abbreviated tour at 11. By the time we finished at Best Friends, hit the gift shop and had lunch; we realized there was no way to fit Bryce Canyon in. So we headed straight for Zion National Park. My parents had been there a few years ago and said it was pretty quick to see. But now that it's gotten busier, they don't allow cars on the scenic drive (the best part). The shuttle system is pretty efficient but it does slow you down a lot. We did the shuttle tour where you can see the highlights and took a lot of photos (sorry, I'm slow on getting any photos uploaded). Monica and I actually split up so she could get Hunny Bear before 5 and I spent an extra 45 minutes in the park.
We'll hit Bryce Canyon tomorrow as it's one of the must see items on the agenda. We'll see how much of Glen Canyon and the Staricase we can fit in.
Today was our first adventure in more ways than one. When we arrived Monday night, we found out we couldn't leave Hunny Bear in the room while we were out. Most pet friendly places say not to leave the pets unattended but they all turn a blind eye if you go to eat for an hour and don't care much about well behaved pets. It's like a speed limit -- driving 61 in a 60 zone is illegal but no one really enforces. But there are places where they will ticket you for that, so you need to be cautious. And the vibe that was we shouldn't leave Hunny Bear. We had passed a dog day care a couple miles before our hotel and they had an opening. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as our running around took longer than expected.
We had planned to be at Best Friends for a tour about 10, but didn't arrive until 10:45. Dropping off HB, and traffic (slow drivers) through the park slowed us down. So we caught the abbreviated tour at 11. By the time we finished at Best Friends, hit the gift shop and had lunch; we realized there was no way to fit Bryce Canyon in. So we headed straight for Zion National Park. My parents had been there a few years ago and said it was pretty quick to see. But now that it's gotten busier, they don't allow cars on the scenic drive (the best part). The shuttle system is pretty efficient but it does slow you down a lot. We did the shuttle tour where you can see the highlights and took a lot of photos (sorry, I'm slow on getting any photos uploaded). Monica and I actually split up so she could get Hunny Bear before 5 and I spent an extra 45 minutes in the park.
We'll hit Bryce Canyon tomorrow as it's one of the must see items on the agenda. We'll see how much of Glen Canyon and the Staricase we can fit in.
Monday, April 9
On TV
At long last, we got to see the episode of King of Queens where Monica and I were extras. We had to race from dinner to see the start of the show. I actually missed the intro, but I'd seen it 10 times already.
While Monica and I had seen the show several times, at least in pieces, we didn't actually see how our scene turned out until it ran on TV. We didn't know we'd be on so much. (We did know we were both in it, but tried to keep some element of surprise.) Monica says "it was weird to see me [Adam] there" and wishes she would have seen more of herself. She wonders why people were watching Carrie and Doug and listening to their boring conversation about how their friends are cheap, when Monica and I are better looking and were having a scintillating conversation :)
It's funny. Probably several million people watched the episode and only a handful knew there was anything different about the people at the table behind the main players in the dinner scene. At least, I hope we looked like normal dinner patrons as that's what we were supposed to be (well, aside from not eating a single bite of food).
I looked for the episode, or our scene, online but don't see it yet. CBS is playing out the string with KoQ, so the don't have full episodes up like most of their shows.
While Monica and I had seen the show several times, at least in pieces, we didn't actually see how our scene turned out until it ran on TV. We didn't know we'd be on so much. (We did know we were both in it, but tried to keep some element of surprise.) Monica says "it was weird to see me [Adam] there" and wishes she would have seen more of herself. She wonders why people were watching Carrie and Doug and listening to their boring conversation about how their friends are cheap, when Monica and I are better looking and were having a scintillating conversation :)
It's funny. Probably several million people watched the episode and only a handful knew there was anything different about the people at the table behind the main players in the dinner scene. At least, I hope we looked like normal dinner patrons as that's what we were supposed to be (well, aside from not eating a single bite of food).
I looked for the episode, or our scene, online but don't see it yet. CBS is playing out the string with KoQ, so the don't have full episodes up like most of their shows.
Sunday, April 8
Boise to Salt Lake City
A pretty unevenful day. Easy drive. It rained most of the AM, but the sun came out in the afternoon. We're staying South of Salt Lake City but drove back into town to eat at a Brazilian restaurant. Very tasty food; even the rattlesnake sausage.
On a side note, XM radio is pretty cool. I really didn't think I'd like it -- it came with our new car -- but I was able to listen to the baseball games (Cubs) as we drove yesterday and today as well as always having the same stations even though we're 800 miles away from home.
On a side note, XM radio is pretty cool. I really didn't think I'd like it -- it came with our new car -- but I was able to listen to the baseball games (Cubs) as we drove yesterday and today as well as always having the same stations even though we're 800 miles away from home.
Saturday, April 7
Long first day
Well, we got a late start -- about 11:30. If you know us, you know why. I won't go into details.
With stops for lunch and dinner and the time change, we got to our hotel about 9 PM. Hotel is being remodelled and is really nice. But they don't allow dogs any more (shhh). Quick check of email and going to bed.
With stops for lunch and dinner and the time change, we got to our hotel about 9 PM. Hotel is being remodelled and is really nice. But they don't allow dogs any more (shhh). Quick check of email and going to bed.
Friday, April 6
Our trip to the National Parks
Monica and I start our trip tomorrow morning. In talking to some people I realize we may not have let everyone know about our planned adventure.
Monica is taking the final session of her T-Touch class at Best Friends, starting April 15. Best Friends is in Kanab, Utah, which is in the middle of nowhere and the middle of everywhere. Best Friends' site notes that it's a four-hour drive from Las Vegas or an hour and a half if you fly into the regional airport in St. George. But it's also right in the middle of Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon National Parks. Given that we've never seen that part of the country, I thought it would be fun to join her and vacation in the area for a few days. And if I drove down, we could bring Hunny Bear with us.
Here's our itinerary, which is always subject to change. We hope to be online most evenings and able to post updates, but I'm not quite sure of our Internet access in the middle of the trip.
4/7: Sammamish to Boise
4/8: Boise to Salt Lake City
4/9: Salt Lake City to Springdale, UT; watch King of Queens
4/10: The real vacation begins with a tour of Best Friends, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. Zion isn't pet friendly, so Hunny Bear will miss out.
4/11: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Lake Powell, then drive to the Grand Canyon for the night
4/12 - 4/13: Grand Canyon, Red Feather Lodge
4/14: Retrace our steps around the Grand Canyon, back to St George to pick up a rental car for Monica while she's there, then drive back to Kanab for the night
4/15: Monica's class starts, Hunny Bear and Adam begin the drive home
Monica is taking the final session of her T-Touch class at Best Friends, starting April 15. Best Friends is in Kanab, Utah, which is in the middle of nowhere and the middle of everywhere. Best Friends' site notes that it's a four-hour drive from Las Vegas or an hour and a half if you fly into the regional airport in St. George. But it's also right in the middle of Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon National Parks. Given that we've never seen that part of the country, I thought it would be fun to join her and vacation in the area for a few days. And if I drove down, we could bring Hunny Bear with us.
Here's our itinerary, which is always subject to change. We hope to be online most evenings and able to post updates, but I'm not quite sure of our Internet access in the middle of the trip.
4/7: Sammamish to Boise
4/8: Boise to Salt Lake City
4/9: Salt Lake City to Springdale, UT; watch King of Queens
4/10: The real vacation begins with a tour of Best Friends, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. Zion isn't pet friendly, so Hunny Bear will miss out.
4/11: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Lake Powell, then drive to the Grand Canyon for the night
4/12 - 4/13: Grand Canyon, Red Feather Lodge
4/14: Retrace our steps around the Grand Canyon, back to St George to pick up a rental car for Monica while she's there, then drive back to Kanab for the night
4/15: Monica's class starts, Hunny Bear and Adam begin the drive home
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