Grand Canyon- Las Vegas- Death Valley

When arriving at the Grand Canyon we set up Dave's tent he's so proud of.


Heading out the next day we went down the trail Bright Angel where we then needed to hike back up the trail later in the day. We saw a sticker saying, "What goes down must come up." We liked that one.


We didn't get the chance to snap shops in Las Vegas, but if we did we would of snapped some shots of the the Cirque du Soleil show, Ka. It was amazing.

Arriving in Death Valley we strolled out to to Bad Water Basin, an elevation of 282ft. below sea level, which is the lowest land point in the U.S. The basin is also unique because all rivers that lead to this point are not connected to the ocean. The basin is white due to salt that is left behind after the water is quickly absorbed into the desert soil.



Camp. I love the hammock.
The next day we hiked the dunes practicing our yoga and stretching.

Just a few pics

Four wheeling in Sedona, AZ, it's a lot less stressful when it's not your own car

Chrissy riding like she's been doing it for years (the picture doesn't really do it justice, this was kinda sketchy)

 

Baking pizza at Grand Canyon NP, we were super excited about this

Hiking the Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley NP

 These were just a few from my camera, Chrissy's camera has a lot more but that camera is unfortunately in the car.  Stay tuned...

Still Trucking

We have been very busy since our last post. Before we left Sedona we rented ATVs for the morning. We had a blast. We then moved on for two nights at Grand Canyon NP where we managed a 9 mile, 3000 foot elevation loss then gain dayhike. We even woke to fresh snow the first morning.

This morning finds us in fabulous Las Vegas. After going to a terrific show we walked on the strip and partook in some Vegas debauchery. Needless to say we will be having a slow start to the day.

The next stop is Death Valley for a night and then buzzing up to Lake Tahoe. We will make sure to post lots of pictures then.

Day 25, Sedona cont.

The snow blew away and the red rocks heated up to a high of 50.  It was perfect hiking weather which we took full advantage of.  Sedona is such a beautiful place.  We had a blast taking the Jeep on a road to the trailhead which only Jeeps should drive on.  It was a great feeling driving past poor people who didn't feel comfortable with their 4x4 skills and decided to walk the road instead.  I hope the red mud doesn't stain my car for good.

Chrissy on the trail

Secret Canyon

The beautiful Sedona horizon

Day 23-24, San Diego to Joshua Tree to Sedona

Yesterday we witnessed a miracle. On our drive to Joshua Tree state park a girl whipped out in front of us, right before a sharp turn, and managed to flip her car. We watched this happen before us which seemed like in extreme slow motion. I've never seen anything like it. We stopped and I dialed 911, which was something I never thought I'd do, and motioned for cars to slow down while Dave took a few deep breaths before walking up to the crumpled car. Miraculously the girl walked away from this horrendous accident with a slight concussion as well as some scrapes and bruises from what we could tell. As we waited for help to arrive I held her head. Never before did I think I would be in a position like this. Driving away we shook off what we just saw. I think it ingrained in me how important it is to be alert at the wheel and it also convinced me that for the next car I purchase will have all the safety features.

Driving along we passed the Salton Sea. Taken a pit stop to use the honey bucket we witnessed another not so pretty view. There were many decaying fish close to the waters edge and it was super smelly. Funny little place.

After checking in at Joshua Tree National Park we began our drive to our camp site. On our journey there we spotted the Skull rock. Took us a minute to figure out which way to take the picture to make it look like a skull, but sure enough we found it. It looks like a skull. Continuing on we spotted the famous Joshua Trees.


After setting up camp real quick we quickly climbed Ryan Mountain. The wind was ripping. I almost lost my handkerchief map I just bought.
Dave discovered he could make his clothes balloon out.
The night in the tent turned out to be interesting. The wind ended up bringing rain... imagine that. Never thought I'd see rain in the desert. My ideas of the desert are squashed.

The next day I climbed the Arch Rock that was conveniently located in our back yard.
Driving out of the park we snapped a shot of the Cholla Gardens. They looked furry to us, but I'm sure they are not.

Four and a half hours later we stopped at Montezuma Castle National Monument. It's a humongous castle built into a rock which up to fifty people were said to have lived in it at one time. It's a pretty impressive structure.

A little drive later we arrived at Sedona where it happened to be snowing. I'm pretty sure this is a rare occasion for late March.

The return trip to Seattle has turned out to be nothing short of interesting so far.

Day 21 & 22, San Diego

First of all I apologize for the long times between our last couple posts, it's difficult to make all the pictures of us laying beside a pool look different from day to day.  That said...

 Back in the states and the intestinal system seems to be getting under control for both of us.  San Diego has been bliss, it doesn't seem to have the same feel as LA and Santa Monica, the people seem more real and down to earth compared to the Southern California (Paris Hilton) mentality.  When we got into town we visited the world famous San Diego Zoo and had a blast making monkey sounds, unfortunately we only had a few takers.

This guy thought we were kinda funny

We had a great day and saw a lot of animals.  We had a few favorites from the zoo; Hippos, Gorillas and Pandas, but in reality all of the animals were cool.  As you can see Chrissy decided to get kinda crazy with the tourist garb; notice the hat, cup (came with free refills all day), grin and big ass turtle. 

After a good night's sleep we woke up to a little rain and decided to explore San Diego.  The rain decided to lay up for the day and we visited the USS Midway museum which is an aircraft carrier built during WWII and was the headquarters for the first Gulf War.  They have done a good job with it and it is really a pretty amazing piece of machinery. 

The Midway Brig, thank goodness the Fairweather doesn't have one!

After the Midway we walked around downtown San Diego and the Gaslamp Quarter.  By the end of the night we are both in agreement that San Diego could be one of the best places on the west coast. It might help that San Diego won the basketball game tonight in two overtimes.

Tomorrow we are heading inland to the desert so make sure to track us on SPOT (link at the very bottom of the web page) to see all the sweet places we've been.  Cheers.

Ixtapa to LAX

Well.... the final days of Ixtapa, Mexico came and went. We enjoyed our time there fully.

For one of our final days we dedicated it to scuba diving. We went out with a company called Mero who's lead diver looked and acted just like Jack Cousteau. For our two dives he was picking up puffin fish, taking samples of plants for his fish tank, and just playing the whole time he was in water. We really enjoyed diving in the warm waters, with less gear than we typically dive with in Alaska, looking at all the pretty fish.

On the remaining days we spent some time playing in the pool.


We also spent some time roaming around the markets, busing it down to Zihuatanejo to explore and enjoy some cerveza in the local cantinas.

On our last night the owners of the condo recommended we go to a restaurant down at the end of the beach up the cliff. We caught a gondola up to the top and had front seats to a Mexican sunset. Unfortunately the food set our stomachs into a Mexican rumble, if you know what I mean, but we recuperated eventually.

Internet is real shaky these last few days in Mexico... we'll have to update you when we reach the States. We're still alive if you're curious though... see you soon.

Day ???, I'm on vacation!

Today was the day that we decided to brave the bike path laid out for the big bad tourists. 500 pesos later (50 U.S.D.) we had two really broken down bikes with ginormous diameter wheels that would roll us faster than we could move our feet. Later we chuckled when a Mexican family asked us where the path went and if it was safe. They were as much of tourist as we are I think.

At the end of the trail we were told we would find crocodiles and it was true. We found lots of crocodiles. On the way back we even found a baby crocodile in the middle of the bike path. Dave almost ran him over. I think we saved his life when we stopped to block a family from running him over. Or maybe we saved the family... who knows.


We also found huge turtles on a log as well as what turtles do when they run out of log. They climb on each others back. It was a funny sight to see.

At the end of the day we did what we typically do, because it just feels so goooooood. We hung out by the pool and cached some muy bonita sun rays.

Day ??, I'm on vacation!

Dave before the big match

Well two days have passed since our last update and we are still content on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.  Ixtapa/Zihuantenejo has so far been the perfect getaway which we both needed away from the ship life.  Yesterday we found ourselves a little afraid to go snorkeling (due to a tsunami warning issued on the entire Pacific Coast) so we instead lounged around the pool and played some tennis.  We determined that warm weather does not improve our game at all.

Mexican turkeys (their gobble sounds English)

After the expected tsunami time range came and went with no increase in wave action we wandered back into downtown Ixtapa for some dinner and drinks.  We found some more turkeys and wondered if Grammy Marr could tell the difference between Mexican turkeys, Californian turkeys and Maine turkeys. 

Chrissy with Mr. Pina Colada head

Today we wandered in Zihuantenejo which gets us away from the Hotel Zone of Ixtapa.  We took a water taxi to Playa los Gatos which was bustling with tourists and natives alike, all enjoying a warm sunny Saturday.  Here is the Pina Colada which Chrissy ordered, we got quite a few double takes from the beach-goers as she sipped this one down.

After the day we made it back to the condo with some sunlight to spare so we headed down to the pool where I played in the ocean and Chrissy swam laps.  Chrissy managed to catch this shot right before we headed in to get cleaned up.  Now its off dinner and then rest for another fun filled day tomorrow.

Buenas noches amigos.

Day 12, Ixtapa

Getting in the Mexican groove we kicked back by laying in the sun, taking a dip in the pool, getting sloshed around in the huge breakers in our front yard, taking a long walk on the beach, playing cribbage on the front deck, and eating out at this amazing restaurant overlooking the marina. This just might be a repeater vacation.

Day 11 LAX -> Ixtapa

We made it to Ixtapa Mexico.  The flight was uneventful and only half full.  We each had our share of screwdrivers to make it an enjoyable flight.  Upon arrival I found that five years of not using Spanish is enough to forget just about everything.

The Condo is beautiful.  It's so big I almost feel bad that it is just the two of us staying here, but I will get over that soon enough.  Next time maybe you'll be able to make it down with us, Sarah.

Its a cool 80 degrees at six oclock and we are off to find some food.

Adios.

Day ten, Hollywood and Santa Monica

First stop after leaving Santa Clarita was Hollywood! Dave was a little wary about my choice to do the tourist thing, but he went along with it and in the end we had a blast. We found parking for a cheap 7 dollars and walked our way down to to Hollywood Blvd. Hitching a ride on a roofless tour van we were shuttled around Hollywood and Beverly Hills to see ridiculously expensive houses from ridiculously rich famous people where the fire hydrants were platinum and street signs had crowns on them. I feverishly clicked away with my camera until the battery died as Dave laughed at my amazing ability to be the perfect tourist.

I'll spare you from viewing all the pics that I took, but I got to show of my abilities as a photographer on the fly.

Here is a picture from the movie, Pretty Women. Later on we saw the store that she went shopping at.
Most of the time we were only able to see famous peoples houses peaking out the hedges. This is the Playboy Mansion. The craziest noises came out of the hedges; it sounded like a zoo in there.

Other times we were shown were famous people live and could only see nature. Here is Johnny Depp's bamboo in front of his house.

After the tour we made our way to Hollywood's Walk of Fame. I was excited to see Cary Grant's hand prints. Her hands are slightly bigger than mine.

Next... we grabbed lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Ummm ummm delicious.
Feeling satisfied with Hollywood we drove to Santa Monica to get away from the tourist and take a stroll on Venice Beach. Here we discovered the Santa Monica pier is pretty cool.
Sitting back in a huge chair we watched the sun set.

It was beautiful.
I heart Santa Monica.