April Break

(I wrote this one week ago.  But I just today downloaded photos from the camera!  So here it is, a little late.)

Well we have returned from our Arizona vacation!

It was so nice to catch up with my side of the family, and enjoy warm temperatures for a couple of days.  We started out in Phoenix and Tucson, and they are warm places.  We visited with Grandma ("Nana" to the kids), Mom ("Grandma Kay" to the kids), and my Aunt Joan, and my cousin Jessica and her family.  Kim came down with some of her family, too.

David and Nana :)

In the middle of the week we took a jaunt up to the Grand Canyon.  Amazing.  Stunning.  Surreal.  This is really a painting, isn't it?  I tried to imagine what it would be like to be an explorer, discovering the Grand Canyon for the first time.  What a fabulous place!

The Grand Canyon, however, located in northern Arizona, is NOT warm in the month of April!  Nope.  The south rim is still 7200 feet in elevation or therabouts, so in April it's cold and windy.  We lucked out on our BIG HIKE day, that the wind died down to almost nothing.

It's windy, and we squint into the sun, but here we are!

see our family, tiny in the corner?

We took hundreds of photos.  Of course the pictures cannot do it justice, but it's better than nothing.  I just couldn't believe it was so varied and majestic.  Just breath-taking.

Teresa is happy to drive her own ATV

ATVs.  The first day, we went on an ATV tour.  Lots of fun!  It was a 40-mile trek through desert trails and a box canyon with steep rocks up the sides.  The kind of setting where you think you're in a western movie and any minute there will be an ambush, with cowboys jumping out from behind the boulders up ahead to steal the money box from the stagecoach.

THE BIG HIKE.  We hiked the Grand Canyon on Wednesday, from Rim to River to Rim in one day.  Our timing was good (April) because it wasn't too hot.  I can imagine that July and August are pretty stifling with the heat.  Actually in the beginning of our hike, it was quite cold: we started at 5:25 a.m., and it was 27 degrees outside!  But there was almost no wind.  We layered, and that made a big difference.

We got to see the sunrise, very nice.

Of course at the Grand Canyon, you are hiking down first.  Signs everywhere said, "Down is optional.  Up is mandatory!"

In the beginning you are fresh, and of course you are going down.  We made it to the Colorado River by 9:00 a.m.  Cross the suspension bridge, walk along the river for a little while, cross another bridge and start your way up.  The way up is full of switchbacks.  More and more switchbacks!  The last mile and a half of switchbacks I thought I was going to die.  Frank and I got slower, and ... slower.  The kids felt it, but they weren't as slow as their parents.  Ugh!

But the kids finished by 2:30.  We (Frank and I) were about 15 minutes behind them.  9 hours of hiking!  I was so proud of David, Teresa and Kara.  They did great!

Kara and I stop to take in the view.  Still COLD at this point!

Mind you, NONE OF US COULD WALK the next day!  Ugh!  The park employees call the day-after-hiking-staggering the "Canyon Crawl."  After laying down for the night, you wake up and can't quite move like you know you should be able to!  Your muscles rebel and you step gingerly.

We drove out the east entrance as we left, to get some different views.  Still awe-inspiring.

Kara and her Uncle Ray

SMALL PLANE RIDE.  The last day, we didn't leave to fly home until the middle of the afternoon, so Kathi & Ray had come up in their 2-seater plane from Albuquerque.  Ray took all of us up, one at a time, to loop around and see Phoenix from a different perspective!  It was a treat.

Teresa climbing aboard

So all around, it was a great week for us.  We were saddened to hear of and watch the news about the Boston Marathon bombs and other events of the week back here.  But is is also heartening to hear of the good stories--how so many people stepped up to help people they didn't even know.

Have a good week!  Kari