Arizona

You Never Know What You Might See

While working at the gate this week I have seen some things….

I saw a very young guy, who was traveling with some friends of his, who was knitting a scarf! I found that to be quite interesting as 1. he was actually knitting in front of his friends, and 2. he said he learned how to knit so he would have something to do to pass the time while he was on this long road trip. When I asked him about it, all of the guys in the car were telling me how they loved to knit!

I saw a VERY COOL Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. It was very obviously loved by its owner. Yellow, convertible, and occupied by an old hippie. I didn’t think there were any of them on the road anymore. (the car or the hippie, ha ha)

I saw a little girl, with blonde curly hair, sitting in the back seat of a car. She was watching everything I did, and when they pulled away from the gate, she smiled a big smile and waved at me.

There was a Japanese family, who when I asked how many people where in the vehicle, the father said 5, and a very cute little boy in the back seat shouted “Five! I’m five!”

I saw a raven land in a tree top across the road from my station. He was very vocal that day, and cawed in count (it seemed) for each car that came by during his stay there.

Then there was the lady who cried when she asked me where she could find a certain hotel, and I had to tell her it was 220 miles away on the other side of the world. I felt so bad, but there was nothing I could do. She really thought she was on the right side.

A little boy who showed me his Jr. Ranger badge with pride, asking me if it would get his family in for free. His dad had a pass, so I told him it would. He was grinning ear to ear.

And on the way home, a deer family, a doe and two fawns. It was dark, but lightening lit up the sky. It was raining, and smelled so good out there. I just love my job.

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Some More Wildflowers

Karen · 2 Comments

I didn’t have time to upload all these yesterday, so here are:

Indian Paintbrush on the Cape Royal Road

Another view of the meadow with the aspen trees:

I don’t know what this one is called but it looks like a coreopsis:

And this one most people would say is a weed, but I still think it’s pretty:

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Wildflower Paradise

Karen · 5 Comments

I love wildflowers. I go on driving trips just to see them and take pictures of them. I had no idea that the North Rim of the Grand Canyon would be a wildflower paradise, but they are everywhere up here. If you drive slower than the speed limit you will be able to see tons of them. Whenever I drive anywhere it makes me think of easter, with all the pastel colors on the roadsides and in the meadows. Here are just a few of them:

Asters

Daisies

Thistle

Don’t know what this one is called but it is pretty.

A pastel meadow with aspens in the background.

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What I Want To Be When I Grow Up…

Karen · 2 Comments

I know if I refused to participate in these Meme’s that 1. people would stop tagging me, and 2. people would stop reading me. So what are you gonna do? I was tagged by Witchypoo over at Psychicgeek, who really makes me laugh, so I have to do this.

The tag is for a Meme, in which I have to list eight things I want to do before I die. Once upon a time, there was a lot of things I wanted to do, and places I wanted to go, so it would have been really easy to this several years ago. But now? It has taken me days to think about this. I have most of what I want, and have been to or have plans in the works for going to most of the places I want to go. So, yeah, this one has been hard for me.

1. I want to lose 50 pounds. And somehow, I often think that I will die much too early if I don’t lose 50 pounds. I really need to do this one because I want to be around to still be FabGrandma for my gran chilluns.

2. I want to learn how to speak Spanish fluently. I want to do this because I will need to know how to do it if I get to:

3. Spend the winter in La Paz, Mexico, down at the end of the Baja. I want to loll on the beach, eat fish tacos til I pop, and take a ferry ride over to that island where the Blue Footed Boobies live.

4. I want to add Blue Footed Boobies to my lifetime list. For those of you who are not birdwatchers, a lifetime list is “just” a list of the different birds you have seen whilst birdwatching.

5. I want to publish a cookbook. Yeah, Me. I have one in the works, but have not gotten very far with it. A few years ago, all the members of my family–sister, sisters-in-love, nieces, some nephews, mother, etc., all wrote down our recipes and made up a family cookbook. All the new brides in our family get a copy of it, and let me tell you, it has probably saved a couple of marriages on that side of the family. But this new cookbook I have in mind is solely my creation, and will remain secret until I get further down the road with it.

6. I want to own a really good digital camera. Not a cheap one. I want one with multiple lenses, that will take excellent pictures of Blue Footed Boobies and Gluten Free Cherry Pie. One that will cost a month’s pay, but that will let me take pictures worthy of selling and suitable for framing.

7. A short term goal I have is to have to buy new pants before this season is over in mid-October. I ain’t telling what size I wear, just suffice it to say it is way too big. And even one size smaller would be one small step for womankind, and make this old lady very happy. Oh, and this is probably almost the same as #1, but because it is so important, I have put it in here twice, and because if I accomplish this one, it will help me to accomplish #8:

8. I want to be able to hike the Grand Canyon on the Kaibab Trail, from the North Rim to the South Rim. I want to stay overnight at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon. I want to drench myself in the Colorado River, and see for myself the waterfalls at Havasu Falls, Ribbon Falls, and Roaring Springs. Even seeing one of them would make it for me.

So, there you have it. I am not tagging anyone to do this, but if you decide on your own to list your eight things you want to do before you die, please come back here and leave a comment so I will know you have done it and I can come over and read what you want to do, OK?

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Oh, Give Me A Home…

Karen · 3 Comments

I really think this place is where that song is about…

These guys were on the side of the road the other day. I took this pic out the window of the Jeep I was driving. There must have been about 50 of them out there. Click on the picture to make it bigger and get the full effect of it.

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Tripping Over to Page Arizona

Karen · 4 Comments

Me at the Glen Canyon Dam

Over the weekend we drove the 150 miles to Page, Arizona. we had to get some work done on our truck, and we wanted to be there when the Ford dealership opened, so we went on Sunday afternoon and spent the night at Motel 6.

On Monday morning we walked across the street to the service department, and made an appointment for 1:00 p.m. That left us with the morning to do some sightseeing.

We drove over to Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. What an amazing sight! Even though the lake is 67 feet below full pool, it is still a beautiful oasis in the desert.

We took a 45 minuted guided tour of the dam. Construction on the dam began in 1956 when President Eisenhower pushed a button in the Oval Office that triggered the switch by telegraph to ignite the first dynamite blast of the cliffs above the Colorado River. The construction work continued 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, until the dam was completed in 1963.

The photo below was taken from the bottom of the dam , looking up at the visitors center at the top of the cliff.

On the way home, we took highway 89 north through southern Utah and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The visitors center there had great displays of dinosaur bones that have been discovered in Utah. I asked FabGrandpa to put his hand on this dinosaur foot to show you just how big it is! I ‘m glad these guys aren’t walking the earth these days.

We found a really good restaurant in Page, you can read about our dining experiences at Fiesta Mexicana by clicking here. Although we came to this area because the Grand Canyon is here, there is so much more to see and do here, it is unbelievable.

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Yes, This Is Really In Arizona

Karen · Leave a Comment

This lake is on the road to Cape Royal, at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I always amazes me that people who are otherwise intelligent, think that Arizona is all desert and dry, barren land. So, this post is for them. This place is less than 2o miles from my trailer. Isn’t it beautiful?

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Hiking The Uncle Jim Trail

Karen · 2 Comments

On June 9, Jim and I and our neighbor across the street went for a hike on the Uncle Jim Trail. The Uncle Jim is a 5 mile loop, that starts out at the North Kaibab Trailhead. The North Kaibab is the trail that goes down into the canyon. It goes across to the South Rim, where you meet up with the Bright Angel Trail and up to the top of the South Rim. The Uncle Jim Trail takes you through the forest out onto the North Rim, where you can get a fabulous view of the winding North Kaibab Trail. This first picture is the beginning of the Uncle Jim Trail.

One thing I did not like about the Uncle Jim Trail is that you have to share the trail with the mule rides, so you can just guess what it LOOKED like and what it SMELLED like. (can you say peee yewwww!!!) But after about a mile or so, the mule rides turn left and follow the Ken Patrick Trail and the Uncle Jim Trail turn right, so it did improve after that. Here is FabGrandpa standing at the intersection of the Ken Patrick and the Uncle Jim Trails.

I was ready for this hike, or so I thought, because I brought plenty of water and snacks, and it was ONLY 5 miles, right? But, we were surprised by the ravenous mosquitos. They came out after two o’clock, and wouldn’t let us rest. We couldn’t sit down or take a break at all, because if we did, the vicious little b#$@%r&* were relentless. I learned on THIS hike that I should pack some bug repellent wipes or spray in my backpack. Oh, and another thing I learned is that your hiking partner needs to take their own backpack. Here is the backpackless Jim hiking along on the Uncle Jim Trail:

This view of the canyon is from the Uncle Jim Trail, along the top of the ridge from the first “up” om the trail. You come out of the forest to the edge and see this :

At the top of the trail, near the edge of the canyon, is a lovely field of lupine. They were growing everywhere up there, all in a beautiful blue bloom:

Jim and Gary went all the way to the edge. I was a little afraid, so I didn’t go down there. Don’t they look like they are observing their kingdom?
If you click on the picture below, you will be able to see the winding North Kaibab Trail, down in the canyon below. You would not believe how many people hike down that trail to get to the bottom of the canyon. And can you believe those shear rock walls? It is an awesome view that just boggles my mind about how this area was formed.

It seems like everywhere I go on the North Rim, I wind up taking pictures of Humphrey’s Peak. The mountain in the distance in this pic is 70 miles away, in Flagstaff. It still has a snowcap. When we were on our way up here we camped at a campground on the other side of that mountain.

Here is a picture of my elbow after the mosquitos got through with it. I am still itching over a week later. I will definitely have some bug stuff next time I go hiking!

And, I know this is not an attractive picture, but I wanted to show you that my feet are ok. No blisters, no sores, no cracks. Just fat feet. Oh, and I have to tell you, I have lost 17 pounds since I got here in April, so this hiking stuff is beginning to pay off. Yay me!

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