|
|
September came quickly and we were headed for Nevada to meet up with our friends the families. Sadly, Cindy's Grandma passed away. Grandma Frances was 92 years old and had suffered Parkinson's Disease for the past 20 years. We will miss her greatly.
After the services we were still able to hook up with our Barenaked and Unplugged friends in Utah and met new families as well. We were happy to meet the Free Range Family and the Airstream of Consciousness family, cool people taking back family life.
We couldn't have asked for a nicer campsite...
or nicer folks to hang with.
ABC's Nightline was profiling the Barenaked Family for a piece on traveling families. We got our two seconds of fame when they interviewed us in front of our bus! An interesting experience.
Some of the coolest people we know.
Five traveling families and the ABC news crew.
Alas, our time was too short together and we had to say goodbye too soon.
Our friends left on Jim's birthday, while it couldn't compete with last year's hummer extravaganza,
he still had a good time as you can see.
Happy Birthday Jim!
HIDDEN CANYON - ZION NATIONAL PARK
After a day of relaxing, it was time for some serious hiking. So we thought we'd start with a easy two mile round trip hike.
"We're going up there??" It is one mile up to the mouth of the canyon with an elevation gain of 850ft. Easy...right!
Remember hold on to the chain and don't look down.
I said don't look down.
Are we there yet?
We made it. The canyon that greeted us was worth the hike up. We hiked another two miles into the canyon.
See the owl?
We found ourselves in a couple of tight spots.
We were in a canyon alright...the walls went straight up.
Luckily we had Lara Croft to guide us safely through.
THE NARROWS
After our success in hidden canyon, we thought we'd try the Narrows. This is a hike through river canyon. We were prepared to get wet...lots of food, extra clothes in waterproof bags, emergency supplies etc.
The beauty of this place is indescribable, it is a definite lifetime must-do.
Testing the waters. Wow it's cold! We could have picked a better day, it was about 65 degrees outside...the water was about 52 degrees!
But it was soooo gorgeous!
We thought this was even more beautiful.
Once they realized I was taking their picture the kids clearly expressed their comfort level.
Soon thunderclouds moved in and the wind picked up, so we decided to pack it in and hoped to do it again in better weather.
VALLEY OF FIRE
The Kellys were going to meet us at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada so we packed it up and drove over to secure a dual campsite.
We arrived before all the weekend warriors and scored an awesome site, but honestly this is such a beautiful place, any site would inspire. It's amazing to find this in the middle of the desert.
While waiting for our pals Matthew couldn't resist exploring.
The Kellys are here!!
Ok, admit it...this looks really cool huh?
Loading up on explosives...those crazy Kellys!
Getting some hiking in...
"Now in Zion, you gotta have lots of water"
ooohhh...petroglyphs
Hot chicas taking a break.
Thelma and Louise?? Naw...just Lizzy and Maddie.
Ok...I want to know who stood up in a moving vehicle to take this shot!!
BACK TO ZION
How could we resist taking our friends to Hidden Canyon.
"It's only a mile guys....
uphill". Cecilia doesn't care, she rocks.
Good Times.
The path's a little tricky here...
'cause we started down there.
"Cindy are you sure this is safe?"
Our reward.
Even better shared with friends.
Remember, it's one thing to get up...
another to get down!
Is he hot or what?
I think so.
So now, it's hot outside, guess what we did next...
the Narrows of course!
So far so good, it was way warmer this time around...
but don't let those smiles fool you,
it's still a teeny tiny bit cold.
Little guys... big canyon.
This was the end of the line for the Kellys,
but we pushed on
Would we come back and do it again? Absolutely!!!
September was awesome.