And so we begin- 6k miles part deux

[crystalworks]

Great read. My daughter being only a hair over 1.5yo I look forward to taking her on trips like this. My parents took my sister and I cross country on many occasions and me, being the nerd that I am, always enjoyed them.

My Dad, more than my Mom, was much like yourself about sight seeing... and I can't wait to be that nerdy dad that wants to show her every "insignificant" little experience.

Thanks for posting.

[PropellerHead]

After a couple quiet days in Sedona, we were off to the nomadic part of our trip.. Packing up, moving on to the next stop, and doing it all again for the next few days. This is the part of the trip when we decided on a 3 day limit the back to back travel on our future adventures. It gets a bit tiresome unpacking and repacking each day- no matter how good and fast we get at it.

Day 7 was the short ride from Sedona up to the Grand Canyon and out from there to ready for Antelope Canyon the next day.

The *best* way I have found to get from Sedona to the Grand Canyon is the map I traced below. It is not crowded like I-40, and the run up 89A which is one of the prettiest drives I know of.

My wife and I were anxious to show our daughter the Grand Canyon. We did a hike along the rim and had a lot of fun looking out over the less crowded over looks.

I found myself thinking of the movie, Despicable Me. As we looked over the canyon, the further places just looked like a backdrop. It was so immense that my brain just couldn't completely comprehend what we were seeing.

We made it back to the visitor's center and then caught our bus back to the pick up place outside of the park.

This was key for us- taking the bus into the park. It was so easy. We missed a good 45 min wait of cars getting into the park. We just zipped right by in the shuttle. No parking worries, and no waiting, either. At the end of the day, the lines were way shorter, so we were able to enter the park and go to the other end for the last site of the day.

The most interesting thing about Desert View- besides the view- was that it was the location of a mid air plane collision. This collision happened for a lot of reasons, many of which were the basis for a new government agency- the FAA. Having worked closely with the FAA in some aircraft accident investigations, I was very interested in this fact.

The terrain in this part of the country is just beautiful. There's always something to see, even when there is nothing to see.

Here's an interesting factoid: Indian territory within Arizona does not share the same daylight savings schedule. If you find yourself staying the night in a place or wanting to be somewhere for an excursion, stay aware of the time. Depending on when you visit- DST or SDT- you might see different times on the clocks.

A long, lonely road. Flirting with triple digits.

[blackbeast]

Enjoyed reading this, thanks for sharing

[PropellerHead]

We made our trip up the lonely road to Page, AZ. This is a small place that left the impression we'd not like to return. But we did get a trip souvenir here. Nothing exciting, but something that will remind us of where we spent some time.

But the one thing Page, AZ *does* have is the closest hotels to Antelope Canyon. If you have a Windows machine, you have likely seen the red, wind blown rocks as a background choice. It was a beautiful place.

The canyons are on Indian land. This means you will work through them for access. They only allow guided tours to two of the canyons we visited: Owl and Rattlesnake. Upper Antelope canyon was SLAMMED with people. We were the only ones at Owl and Rattlesnake.

Well, not the only ones. Meet 'JoseB'.

Owl and Rattlesnake were quiet and serene. We really enjoyed our time there.

The wilderness is often most difficult on the wild...

It was awesome...

The passages were often VERY narrow. In some places, light could not get through to the base of the canyon.

Along with narrow passages, Owl and Rattlesnake have the added feauture of traversing ladders! It's a pretty neat feealing to 'pop out' at ground level and look down through the tiny cracks where you were standing 20 feet below.

So here's another beef with Antelope canyon. They make this huge deal out of seeing 'sunbeam'. That only lasts for like 15 minutes or something. I've seen these pics by professionals and always wondered what and where it was. I always wanted to know why the dust was so visible in that beam of light. Was it the Old Faithful of erosion? Did stuff fall every day during th etime this light beamed doen to the canyon floor?

Oh! The mystery!

Yeah. No.

One of the 47 guides in the place throws a handful of dust at it. I'm not kidding.

He's one of dozens of guides that move thousands of people through the most uncoordinated, poorly structured, flat out dangerous, gatherings of people/tourist as I have ever seen. This is 100% ab the money folks. I've never seen any man made attraction this jammed and this absent any foresight into crowd control or experience. I would go back, but I would avoid Upper Antelope canyon.

I carry along a trusty Atlas. Yep. Paper. I like it. Sue me. It was the counsel of this map along with some Subway that set our sights upon the next unplanned stop. And it was a DOOZY, gents..

ZION National Park... More to come.

[Ricky Bobby]

I'm friggin loving these updates

[PropellerHead]

Zion and Antelope quickly became our most favorite day. I am not one that likes to hike, but on this trip and in these places, I was driven to see the 'other' side. We walked for hours in Zion and we had a blast.

Shuttles take visitors up the main roads of the canyon. There are something like 12 stops. Each of them holds a trail head to a short or more difficult walk. All of them are connected to a trail that allows you to walk the whole thing. Along the last trek are a lot of places to sit and reflect along the river side.

The power within the currents is evident all around. This is not a place to be during heavy rains!

Along our walk, we went off the trail a little to see if we could 'see' some more.. It was rewarding...

These to the left are the 'hanging gardens.' Water seeps through the softer rock out the side of the walls. Vegetation loves the sunlight, and you get stuff growing out the side of a sheer cliff. Very cool spot with light water sprinkles to cool you down after the very short, but very uphill trek.

At the last stop for the buses, we heard about 'the narrows'. This was a hefty hike through water that is at times over your knees. We had a blast once again.

We'd already hiked for 2 hours, but I wanted to see those narrows. Sadly, we could not make it before the last bus would be making a run. We didn't want to hike back for four hours. But we were rewarded with one of the more amzing things I have seen.. A sunset shows the rock to appear as if it is solid gold. Even in freezing water above your knees, this is a time to soak in.

Even the drive inside the park is a beautiful one. We stopped so many times just to be on the side of the main road and look around.

Here's what we learned at Zion:

1. Enter late through the eastern side of the park. There was no line like there was at Grand Canyon.
2. The line to EXIT the park through the eastern side was the longest one we've seen. Only so many people are allowed through a long (and very cool) tunnel to the east exit.
3. Plan to be there longer than you think. It's unbelievable.
4. This is where the National park pass will once again show value. We had ours for a year and have visited nearly 10 national parks. At ~30 each, that a huge savings for an $80 annual pass

We traded time in Zion for an early arrival to our ski resort stay a little further north in Utah. The drive up was frustrating with a guy who topped out at 30MPH and would not yield. Once we arrived, though we found a heated pool and outdoor hot tubs to soak our weary legs and back.

From our hottest recorded temperature of 108, we saw the coolest at that mountain top: 38 degrees. Stuff like that makes me laugh and still amazes me. Think of it: A few hours drive from the hottest hot to the most breasy and relaxing cool. We enjoyed the short time on the mountain, but the next day would bring Bryce canyon and another unplanned adventure.

[crystalworks]

[PropellerHead]

We'd start our next trip on the side of a mountain in the morning at around 38 degrees. We were headed for Bryce Canyon which was a short trip with very little traffic. Once there, we did like we'd done in other parks and headed straight for a bus stop to take us in.

While at the stop, we saw one of these cool little things and chatted a bit with the owner. Nice guy. Enthusiastic about this, his second one of these. Quite the attention grabber.

If you take a bus in, you don't get the chance at a sign shot until *after* you've been in the park. That's OK, but it makes sense in the story to put the picture here:

Our first stop from the bus was Bryce point. It is like Zion, the top most part of the route taken by the buses. No wishing for a parking spot here. Just off the bus and a short wait when you want to go to the next one- or you can hike!

The views were incredible. I know you've heard that from the other spots, but it serves a point here. After a few days, it starts to feel like Disney. Sensory overload sets in. EVERYTHING is incredible, and so, quite sadly- nothing is incredible any more.

Family vacations are a fun time to watch things unfold from a great day to one one that is not the best. It's not really all that fun when you're in it, but the eventual thing that happens is you all get to know one another a little bit more. Trust is deepened after chances are taken. A broader perspective lightens the heavy load. A scheduled arrival falls to a better time had by all.

The day pretty much fell apart here. The wrong shoe choice for my youngest set in some pretty harsh blisters. The requisite round of blame and consternation followed. If I wanted to venture into the canyon, I would be on my own. So I did!

Looking down at the well worn trails...

Looking UP from the same... (my girls are at the lookout above)

After a late lunch, all was well with my girls, and we set off to our next stop. We would be staying outside of Monument Valley. But here, we had a choice, I explained to my bride. We could go ALLLLL the way back down 89, the way we'd already seen.. Or... we could take a look at this staircase monument and a little dirt road adventure...

I was thrilled to hear her vote for the fun.. So off we went!

Here is what we were there to see. I was really more in it for the drive.

Make no mistake. You're in a desert. The place is desolate and unfriendly. We saw only two cars in about 3 hours.

The X5 felt right at home on the 'any road' path we took.

About here is where we started to feel what I call nomadic depression setting in. We were at least two nights in different places away from a place to settle in for a couple days. We'd seen soooo much that we were road weary and ready to stop. We had in front of us the one place my daughter was desperate to see... 4 Corners.

We had more fun there than I expected, and that is good. We were due some fun. And some different shoes.

[kvc]

Very much enjoying your travel blog. Keep it up.
I too, took some of my family members to 4 Corners last year (in our hire car). The monument (or whatever it's called) is impressive, however I thought the entry fee kiosk and surrounding 'buildings' were a bit 'ordinary'. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the place, took the prerequisite photos of everyone jumping from state to state and headed down the road towards Monument Valley, calling in on a few places on the way. That was one of our favourite chapters of our cross continent road trip.

[crystalworks]

Damn... I just realized I should have tried to meet up with you on our way back from picking up the "new" 4.8is. We drove right through AZ on Fri-Sat. Would have made for some really cool pics.

At any rate. Keep the updates coming. Quite the adventure your family having for sure.