Day 26: Arizona

Today we had the pleasure of sleeping in after a few days of getting up for sunrise. When we did get up Grandma took us to breakfast at the Village inn because they have free wireless there and we needed to catch up on some posts. We stayed their for a few hours visiting and using the internet. After breakfast we spent the afternoon walking and shopping. Grandma wanted to get an exercise ball to sit on at her computer. I told her I do at work and it is great! The first one we got was too small so we had to go back and get the larger size so she could reach her computer. At her house we spent some time on the computer looking up Joshua's genealogy. For dinner we went to Applebee's and enjoyed talking about old memories. After dinner we played Yahtzee at the house and Grandma found old scores sheets with peoples names on the from about 30 years ago. It was really great getting to spend time with her.

Day 25 Grand Canyon to Mesa Arizona

We started out the day with another dark morning. We got up at 4:30 to catch the 5:15 shuttle out to the south rim view points of the Grand Canyon. We had read that there was going to be a sunrise church service at the last stop at 6:30 and we wanted to watch the sunrise and make it there. We arrived at our view point about 20 min before sunrise and waited. Unfortunately a cluster of clouds rolled in and blocked the sun from really shining so it was not the pictures we were hoping for but it was still fun to be up at that time. We caught the next shuttle to the last stop, but nobody was there for the church service. We walked around for about 15 min trying to find church. We could not find it anywhere and did not see one person. We are not sure what went wrong there. We decided from there to walk down a mile trail along the Grand Canyon rim to the next shuttle stop and catch a ride back to camp from there. When we got back to the parking lot we saw three Elk that were 12 point, so Joshua carefully approached them to get some great pictures. After packing up camp, we left Grand Canyon and headed on our way to Grandma's house. We drove through the beautiful Red Rock Mountains in Sedona and visited a church that was built into the mountain around the 1950's. Also we stopped at Montezuma's castle where we could look at houses built into the walls from 100's of years ago. It was very neat. We arrived at my Grandma's, enjoyed a swim in her pool, and then went out to dinner. After dinner we went over to my cousin Abby's house and were able to meet her husband Eric and their baby Avery. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures at Abby's. It was great to see my family after so many years.

Day 24 Utah to Arizona

We got up at 5am in the dark to attempt to catch the sunrise on the Delicate Arch trail. We packed up camp ate breakfast and headed that way. Unfortunately by the time we made it to the trailhead the sun was already coming up and we were standing behind a peak that we had to hike a mile and a half to get over. Oh well. The hike was uphill and strenuous but when we got to the top we had spectacular views down into the canyon and of the delicate arch. Luckily there were more peaks in the distance and the sun was just shinning around them so we got some amazing pictures. After we hiked back from that trail we did two more hikes to see the window arches, double arch, and terret arch. When we include last nights hikes we completed over 10 miles in a 16 hour period. After three weeks of mostly sitting in a car we were happy with that. We really enjoyed our time in Arches National Park and would love to go back. Next we drove towards Arizona and took the scenic route through the Navajo Nation Reserve. We got to see many more amazing rock towers and wonder at Gods creation. Unfortunately at this time we also encountered a rainstorm that kept going for the next two hours as we headed to the Grand Canyon. We were starting to wonder if we were going to just get a quick look and continue the four hours to my grandma’s house or instead camp there in the rain. When we arrived we were very pleased to see the rain stop but they also had 90% humidity so there was fog everywhere. The first lookout we stopped at you could see nothing but fog. But luckily it thinned as we went further into the park and we got some amazing views. You can walk out to the edge of the cliff and stand on small rock ledges that pictures do not even begin to show the severity of the drop. The first time Joshua and I went out we looked over the edge of the rock point we were standing on… keep in mind this is venturing past the lookout onto little cliffs….. and we were both shocked by the magnitude of the drop and our adrenaline kicked in. We really had no business standing on a tiny rock on the edge of a canyon that dropped over a mile (600 stories). We were a bit more cautious after that. Next we set up camp, showered and went back to the rim to watch the sunset. Glorious day!

Day 23 More Pics

Dat 23 Colorado to Utah

We had a great night sleep camping for once the cooler temperatures was a nice break. We took off through the Mountains of Colorado. They were absolutely beautiful to look at. We stopped in a cute mining town and ate breakfast by the river. We enjoyed looking at the houses in Vail. A lot of millionaires living there! We continued accross the country and stopped at Colorado National Monument Park. They said that it took about an hour to drive through so we thought we would try that out. Well Joshua liked the rock towers so much it took us two hours! At one point he started doing spins in excitement and ran right into a prickly try and ripped a small hole in his shirt! I could not stop laughing. We saw this neat cave in the wall and tried to walk into that but it was so dark I got afraid of what...or who might be living back there. We took a ton of pictures and enjoyed God's beautiful creation. We continued into Utah to Arches National Park. We checked into our campground in the park which was amazing. Our campsite was amidst all these huge amazing rocks that you can climb up on and enjoy the valley. We decided we wanted to see as many Arches as we could so we tackled a 5 mile hike to view 5 arches. We were trying to complete it by sunset so we were walking quick. We did see al of them and marveled at the amazing heights we could stand at and look for miles into the valley. Absolutely breathtaking. The sun did set when we were at the furthest point and we decided we better head back because we were losing light. Unfortunately the path was marked with little rock piles to direct your way over large rocks. Well we some how accidentally lost or way and were headed in the right direction but on the wrong rock cliff. Well a blessing from God this man came running on the rock ridge above us and let us know we were walking the wrong way away from the path and the rock we were on was going to drop into a huge valley that we would not have been able to get across. He directed us back the right way. Praise God. We made it back safely to camp in the dark and saw that our tent was in the bushes and behind the picnic table. Our neighbors came back and said it was so windy our tent blew away and they had moved it to protect it.

Day 22 Kansas to Colorado

Well, the day started with bagels and bananas. Not the same as the biscuits and gravy at the previous hotel, but plenty to get the day started:) We gave hugs to dad, thanked him for the wonderful time in Kansas, and hit the road early. Aiming for Colorado, we hoped to have a successful venture to an actual campground again. The accommodations of hotels have been nice, but Allison and I were both yearning for a good night camping. On the way towards Denver, we broke up the monotony of the driving when I pulled over to take a picture of us on a hay bail. I had been driving for the first 7,000 miles or so, and convinced Allison she should give the manual a try to learn driving stick. The last time she tried was when we were dating, and it was an experience...but a joyful one. It lasted for about 2 minutes before Allison was about at a breaking point and asked me to at least shift for her. That turned out to be a good idea to start her out, and she drove for about the next hour on the freeway. I think that's about all she desires to get in driving for now.
Eventually, we did make it to the Denver area of Colorado, to a popular campground in the vicinity called Cherry Creek. What a blessing to be there. The weather was nice, the rain was gone, and the campground was very nice. We went for a stroll through some trails for a couple of hours and settled back in the campsite to enjoy some fire-roasted hot dogs and hot vegetables. Oh, wonderful camp food. The campground was everything we could hope for and more and was a perfect end to another day on the road.

Day 21 Dallas-Oklahoma-Kansas

When we woke up Kelly made breakfast for us! She is so sweet. She made breakfast burritos for Joshua, Nate and herself and oatmeal for me since I can not eat eggs! After breakfast we hit the road and traveled through Oklahoma to Kansas. We did not make any stops in Oklahoma because we were in a hurry to get to Kansas. We met up with Joshua's dad for lunch and went to a Mexican place that is all you can eat to order. it is basically a buffet, but instead you order from a special menu as many items as you want! It was a great time of talking with Joshua's dad about all God has been doing in his life. After lunch we found a hotel and dad bargained with them to get a reduced price. Yay! We unloaded and went to Elk City to check out dad's new double wide he purchased in a small town. He is remodeling and then going to rent it. After there we went to the Elk City State park, had a picnic lunch and played games. It was a blast and the weather had cooled down to a bearable degree. We watched the most beautiful sunset. From there we headed over to Dad's friends house who had been struggling with cancer. Dad and pastor had been praying for him. He shared his testimony about how his cancer has stopped growing and that a legion he had has disappeared. It was great to hear how God had been working in his life in the last two weeks. We next traveled to the house dad had been staying at with Pastor and his wife. They were great people who welcomed us over and told us about what God had been doing in their lives and ministry. We had a great time in Kansas:)