And a National Monument

Hey Spencer, don't forget Mt. Rushmore!

Sunday, August 16, The Last Post

Hi guys, I'm sorry I was late again in writing the post. Anyway, this is to be the last post we will publish on our blog, so I will drop some pretty big figures on the table. We traveled 7650.9 miles over the course of the whole trip, and visited 11 National Parks: Mammoth Cave, Badlands, Rocky Mountains, Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Carlsbad Caverns. We were on the road for 5 weeks, and we enjoyed every single moment. It has been a truly wonderful and inspirational time, and I speak not only for myself, but for the whole family. I won't simply leave it there, either. I've had a great time writing the blog and listening to all of your comments. I've had lot's of time to think of how meaningful our trip was, and in what ways: I think the true meaning of our trip was not simply to look at rocks (however amazing the rocks were), but to be together, and have fellowship on a once in a lifetime journey. This may be the last post for this blog, but do not fear! There's always more summers around the corner. We may very well travel even farther northwest next year, if not by RV, then by plane. If we do, then I'll make sure that there's a blog there as well. Goodbye everyone, and have a great year.

Almost Home

Hi all,

Well, we are camped in Tugaloo State Park, off of I-85 on the GA/SC border. It's on a beautiful lake, and it's a restful spot to spend our last night (once we got into a VERY tight space...). The last few days have been a true diary of "driving across America." From Monday morning to Friday night (tomorrow), it will have been a story of get up and drive, stop, set up camp, eat supper and go to bed. Last night we violated the schedule, unhitched the camper and went out for dinner for the second time on this vacation. It was great!

A few things to mention. For the whole trip, we have been on the lookout for rattlesnakes...up in those canyons, under rocks and walking through the desert. No snakes seen, although I'm sure they saw us. Then, in a small, dusty Texas town, we pulled into a little gas station to fill up. Afterward, we had to back up a bit in order to get out of the station with the camper. I stood behind the camper to help Mark avoid any cars. As I stood there and motioned directions, I casually glanced to my left. There, not five feet away, was a diamondback. Yep, a four foot rattler, just hanging out on the sidewalk. I felt like someone popped my balloon...I nearly flew to outer space in reaction! We did get a photo (used the zoom function to get closer). What a way to finally spot a rattlesnake.

Driving across Texas is more than 600 miles. Reminded me of the ditty: "The sun has ris, the sun has set, and here I am in Texas yet!". It took us two full days to best Texas! However, it was better than in my childhood, when we crossed from El Paso to Houston with no air conditioning or with an air conditioner that mounted on the back passenger window, dripped water on the nearest passenger, and barely cooled the driver!

Okay, well, time to figure out how to complement the Olive Garden leftovers with enough protein and bulk to call it supper. I'm good at it; they won't even know.

Hi to everyone who has written to us as well as to those of you who have just read along. We have been the beneficiaries of your good thoughts and prayers. Thank you so much and see you all soon.

Wednesday, August 12

Well, the vacation is drawing to a close, and the members of the family have slipped into a somewhat lethargic state of mind, a little disappointed at the vacation's end. Regardless, we've had a great time, and that's enough to make me happy. Anyway, we averaged around 480 miles today, driving from Shreveport, Louisiana to Birmingham, Alabama. Not that much changed in the scenery, and I really don't suspect it will over the next few days. The only thing that will be sidelining the interstate will be trees, all the way until we get home. That part makes me kind of glum, considering that the flat openness of the Great Plains area made me feel free. This isn't my last posting, but it's getting quite close. I have a feeling the last one will be on Friday, but don't be sad, because I've decided to start a blog for reviewing recent products in the field of electronics. More on that later on. Today, in addition to buying Philip a new pair of shoes, we went to Olive Garden for dinner. Aside from that, there is nothing left to say, so, tonight's closing will be in Latin: Vale et bonus noctis! By the way, I did not use a translator for that phrase. Instead, I used two years of Latin class to aid my own translation of the phrase.

Monday August 10

Today, we drove around 380 miles from Carlsbad, New Mexico to Abilene, Texas. The one way I could describe the scenery is flat. Once we got about 50 miles away from our morning campground, everything just went horizontal. Some other recurrent things we saw were one oil refinery, masses of oil drilling sites, and incredible windmill farms. They just popped up every 30 miles or so, taking up large stretches of land. Nothing really happened today, I just needed to report something, just for the sake of the blog. Anyway, tonight's closing will be in Czech: Sbohem a dobrou noc !

Sunday, August 9

Today, we went to visit Carlsbad Caverns. We started the day off with an 8:50 pancake breakfast in the campground's gathering area. They were really good pancakes, too. After breakfast, Philip and I played Scrabble for a bit while waiting to set off. Technically, Philip won, but I question his accusations that I didn't play fairly. Once we were ready to go, we set off, around 11:30. We drove for about 20 minutes or so, then we entered the park. We stopped at several places on the way to the visitor center, marveling at the beautiful terrain. When we got to the visitor center, we got tickets to take a self-guided tour of the caverns, then we went outside to eat our packed lunch. Once we got in the cave, we noticed one thing that set it aside from Mammoth Cave. It was far older, judging by the size of the stalactites and stalagmites. There were even columns, which must have taken hundreds of thousands of years to form. On top of that, they were 65 feet high and at least 8 feet wide! Anyway, as we walked around, we passed needlelike stalactites, hanging down from the ceiling of the cave like a thousand icicles, and bulky stalagmites, sticking up like trees on the cave floor. It is a very cool place, not to mention encompassing of a monstrous range of time. We wandered around the cave, looking into deep pits, high domes, and mirrorlike pools of frigid water. Nothing can disturb these pools with even the slightest ripple (aside from ignorant or malicious tourists, who throw coins into the pools without any regard as to the effect it has on the delicately balanced ecosystem), as the elements can't touch this environment, which lies 750 feet below the surface of the Earth. After viewing the cave at our leisure for a long while, we exited the caves to return to our campsite. When we got back to the surface, however, we found that the weather had changed. In the distance, a storm was brewing, and lightning flashed across the sky. That just goes to show how secluded the caves are from the elements. Anyway, we quickly got into the truck, and drove back. On the way back, we stopped to get groceries, and we also bought yet another movie: the fifth Harry Potter film. Aside from watching that this night, there's really nothing else to say. Therefore, tonights greeting will be "goodbye and good night" in . . . pig Latin: oodbye-gay and ood-gay ight-nay!

Friday, August 7

Today was a long day of driving. Our destination: Grants, New Mexico, 347 miles from Williams, Arizona. We packed up in about half an hour, and got on the road around 7:30. It really wasn't an eventful day, but the scenery was nice. Nothing truly amazing, but nice. However, the wind was absolutely terrible. There had to have been around 80 mph gusts that spontaneously popped in at terrible times. It was so bad, we believe it stripped the screws away from a 6-foot-long strip of sheet metal on one end, because we looked in the mirror and something was flapping around in the wind. We stopped at the world's largest existing meteor crater to fix it, and what we feared was true. We proceeded to take the whole strip off, as there were no screws to screw the other end back in. After our little adventure, we continued down the road to Grants. Anyway, we stopped about 11:30 at a Walmart, to get 22 gallons of distilled water for the water/methanol tank in the back of the truck, as well as to look for windshield washer fluid, which contained the methanol to combine with the water. We found some, but not of the type we were looking for. For lunch, we got Subway, which we ate on the road. We checked into the campground around 3:30, to find that only four campers occupied the park! It was a very good, clean campground, with good cable (thank goodness), much to the delight of Mom and Dad. There really is nothing else that happened, so tonight's closing will be in Arabic: وداعا وتصبحي على خير !

Thursday, August 6

Today, we visited the Grand Canyon. It was simply jaw-droppingly stunning. We got up pretty early, as we had about an hour drive to get to there. We set off around 8:45 or so, and we got to the Canyon around 10:00. The first thing we did (after sitting in line at the entrance for about 20 minutes) was to get a parking space. The Grand Canyon is hugely popular, so the sooner we got one, the better. We got a rather good spot, and we proceeded to wait at the shuttle bus stop so we didn't have to traipse around the park in a car, constantly looking for a spot to park. When we got on the bus, the first place we visited was the visitor center, where we had lunch. After our brief respite, we went out to Mather Point, a short walk away, where we got our first look at the Grand Canyon. It spans ten miles across, and is at least 5000 feet deep from rim to river. We visited several view points today, all of which did not disappoint. Something interesting about the Canyon is the fact that so many of the landmarks were given religious names; for example, there's Jupiter Temple, Vishnu Temple, the Temple of Solomon, the Temple of Isis, and Angel's Gate. The list still goes on!! Anyway, we looked around the park until about 4:30 pm. After a full day with lots of fun, we headed back to camp. I know that I've said this about a lot of things this summer, but if you get the chance in your life, visit the Grand Canyon. It is amazing. Tonight's closing will be "goodbye and good night" in Vietnamese: Tạm biệt và tốt đẹp ban đêm !

Just a Note

Hi all, Just a note about the album for Zion and Bryce National Parks. I have just uploaded what I have from the 3 photographers, without any editing. Time is short, as I am also working this week from AFAR, and I really didn't have time to edit the pictures. Just click through, visually, knowing there are many duplicates. Hope you enjoy, anyway.

We are leaving the Grand Canyon town of Williams, AZ, tomorrow morning, rather than staying for two more days. Somehow, the idea of camping in a parking lot has little attraction. Instead, we will hit the Petrified Forest National Park tomorrow, and drive on in the next day to Carlsbad, NM. We originally had no plans to see these caves, but we decided it was a better plan than the one we had booked here.

Tomorrow, I hope you hear from Spencer about the awesome Grand Canyon, however!!!

Good bye and good night (in English)

Tuesday, August 4

Today was also pretty cool. We got up to go out to eat at the Ruby's Inn Restaurant for breakfast, where we ate french toast and other things. After our delicious breakfast, we came back to the camper, where we planned our day. Mom couldn't go, because she had to work on the computer, so only Dad, Philip and I would go today. We decided to go on the Bristlecone Loop at the south end of the park, which would take us by the 1700-year-old bristlecone pines, the oldest trees in the world. Also, we decided to look at several landmarks, including Natural Bridge and Rainbow Point. We drove to the park right after Mom put in the laundry and returned the truck; we checked into the park, and entered the visitor center, where we watched a video on Bryce Canyon. After that, we drove to Sunset Point, where Philip and I hiked some of the Navajo Loop trail. We saw quite a few landmarks there, including Sinking Ship and Thor's Hammer. After our brief visit, we decided to drive all the way to Rainbow Point first, so we could hike before the heat. We got there, looked around a bit before we hiked, and then we started off. It took about one hour, but it was worth seeing the "everlasting evergreens." Afterwards, we headed back, stopping along the way to see the occasional viewpoint or landmark. When we got back, Mom and Scout were outside, Scout lying down in his pen, Mom sitting out at the table on the computer. When she left to take care of the groceries, I got on the computer to write the blog postings for yesterday and today. Seeing as there's really nothing else to write about, tonight's closing will be "goodbye and good night" in Bulgarian: Сбогом и лека нощ!

Monday, August 3

Just to let you know, Mom published Sunday's posting, and I'm publishing yesterday and today. Yesterday, we visited Zion National Park, a truly beautiful place. It was named by Mormon settlers for its heavenly appearance. A lot of the natural features in the park were given religious names as well: there's the Great White Throne, Angel's Landing, the Three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), and more. What makes Zion so different is that it's so huge and majestic in a simple sort of way. Anyway, we got up at our leisure, and left to visit the park around 11:00. We entered the park, and drove 12 miles to the visitor center. When we got there, the place was packed. It had a huge parking lot, and almost every space was filled with vehicles! We finally got a parking space, and went to eat lunch outside. Afterwards, we boarded a shuttle that took us through the park, and past several cool places. We got off the bus at Big Bend, where we could see Angel's Landing, The Organ, and the Great White Throne. We also took a stop at the Temple of Sinawava, and we proceeded down a trail that led to a river where we could cool our feet off. We stayed there a while, and one of my twenties nearly floated down the river! After our refreshing respite at the river, we headed back towards the visitor center on another shuttle bus. Once we got back, we got back in the truck to head home. Zion simply was amazing, a truly heavenly place. Once we got back, Philip went up to get some firewood. We started the fire around five, and got out some hot dogs and Bratwursts to cook over it. The food was great that night: eight hot dogs, two bratwursts, some macaroni and cheese, and asparagus. That really concludes yesterday, so yesterday's closing will be in Japanese: さようなら、お休み!

Sunday, August 2

We've gotten a little bit behind in the posting, partially because we have seen quite a few parks in the last couple of days. I told Spencer I would do this one, so he could catch up. We stayed in Torrey, UT, for only one night, and squeezed in a hike up a canyon on Sunday morning before leaving. However, the campsite and park were so beautiful, we would have liked to stay longer. Also, it is not as crowded there as it is in Bryce and Zion National Parks. Be ready for crowds in those two places!!!

Having been to Zion yesterday (you'll hear soon from Spencer), all of us keep saying, "How can we continue to see DIFFERENT types of landscapes in one state? It goes from one type to another in a stretch of a couple of miles. Although the visits have been quick, the kids will know where they want to return when it is their time to plan a trip.

The trip is winding down, now. Tomorrow, off to the Grand Canyon for 4 nights, and then we start the southern leg home. A note to my new friend, Kendall: we fired up the telescope here in Utah, got over a bit of learning curve in using it, and actually attempted to take a photo of the moon. The photo wasn't that great, but the viewing was fantastic! We hope to do more of it in AZ. The tough part is staying up late enough to get a black night full of bright stars! Thanks for all of your help! For those needing help with telescopes, visit bigbangastro.com.

Saturday, August 1

Well, we are now officially two weeks from the end of our vacation. It kind of bums us out, having that little time until getting back home . . . and straight to school. That's right, when we get back, we'll have less than half a week until school starts. It's going to be a nightmare! But, we can enjoy the vacation while we still have it. This morning, we went to visit Arches National Park, because I wanted to hike to Delicate Arch, the keystone arch of the park. On the way to driving there, we saw a true natural wonder: the Balanced Rock. It comprises of a 3500 ton boulder on top of a pillar of rock. Just so you don't have to pull out your calculators, here's the translated figure: 3500 tons becomes 7 million pounds. 7 million pounds of solid rock, balanced on a pillar 6 to 12 feet wide at the not-so-flat top. Anyway, the Delicate Arch hike was a 3 mile round trip, 1.5 there, 1.5 back. We hike up a flat rock face, slanting up towards the Delicate Arch, and when we got there, it was incredible. Search up a picture of the Delicate Arch, and you'll know what I'm talking about. After viewing the arch, we headed back, to pack up the camper and hitch. We left camp around 11:30, with a 142 mile journey to drive, to reach Torrey, Utah, just outside of Capitol Reef. It was about a three hour drive, and it took us through part of Capitol Reef National Park, which we will see tomorrow. Anway, I really don't have anything left to do tell about today's blog posting, so, the clsoing for today will be in Ukrainian: До побачення і спокійної ночі!