As Kt Sees it, Too

Biking to Hermit's Rest

Toto, we are not in the Grand Canyon anymore. I know I've been camping when I wake up and feel almost out of place in a bed between four walls. It's wonderful to know we're going to continue on this journey and I can't even imagine what adventures are still ahead, but as the GC was our longest stay thus far, I feel like a big piece of this trip (for me) will always be there. Then again, considering I tripped down Kaibab Trail and skinned my knees, I guess I really did leave a piece of me there.

See the dust on my knees? They bled first, and now are purple. Sweet.

Being on this trip with Kt has definitely been one of the most fun parts. Though we are seeing beautiful things that would be beautiful regardless of the circumstances, it's nice to be with someone who seems to appreciate them as much as you do. Kt's love for history and time is especially interesting as we see things that are significant to our past, society, and country. She also seems to be much better at communicating her feelings, while for the purposes of this blog, I'm trying to stick to events. Last night as we tried to cozy up our Safari Motor Inn room (and by cozy up I mean facebooked, blogged, and took advantage of indoor plumbing and electric sockets) Kt wrote this:

Joshua Tree, Safari Motor Inn, Room 106

I’m having trouble putting the past 10 days into words. It really can’t be done. I’ll do my best to catalogue our journey, but I know it won’t even be half as inspiring as the things we’ve seen and done these last few days.

During Kt's awesome 14 hour drive from NM to AZ.

What we’ve seen so far:

New Orleans, the bayou (that’s what I’m telling myself it was), Houston, San Antonio (the Alamo and Riverwalk… I dug ‘em), numerous desert mountains (some rocky, some foresty, some sandy, all scary), Carlsbad Caverns, multiple national parks and forests, Route 66, the Grand Canyon (and it is), Flagstaff, Sedona, Prescott (10/10), California state line, the road into Joshua Tree, and one SWEET $40/night motel!

See what I mean? It’s a little much just reading the list myself… it’s even more difficult to express what it’s actually like! So, for now, I’ll just highlight some of my favorites.

In addition to being constantly floored by the astounding beauty that makes up our country, I was a little surprised at how much I am into the wildlife! Emily, not so much, but for me seeing a wild animal is like the most potent natural drug! The first one I spotted was on the long drive from Carlsbad to the Grand Canyon. During about hour 13.5 (for some reason I decided to drive the entire 14 hour stretch) I spotted an enormous elk literally 3 feet off the winding mountain road! It was also pitch black as it was 10:30pm. My reaction was the biggest gasp I’ve ever gasped followed by 6 straight minutes of “I can’t BELIEVE I just saw that!” and “OH MY GOSH!” My adrenaline was going so fast I thought I should pull over. Luckily Emily saw the next one (an even bigger one!) with me and was able to share in the experience.

At the Grand Canyon campsite I saw another elk (thanks to our friendly campsite neighbors pointing the way) in the woods and as if that wasn’t enough the Lord blessed us with an amazing opportunity of seeing two of them crossing the road not 15 feet from us during our drive to view the canyon at sunset! Naturally I took 152 pictures (2 of which aren’t blurry). The natural sites (Carlsbad, the Grand Canyon, etc.) are beyond words (at least for me) so I’ll leave that description to Emily’s blog and the pictures I’ll (one day) post. (I promise I’ll post more pictures, but it might not be until the trip is over… there are so many!

One of many ravens. This picture makes it look far smaller than in reality.

The other animal “encounter” that floored me was last night, our final night in the Grand Canyon. As Emily and I sat talking in our tent, layering on clothes for the chill of the mountain evening, we heard something that I have only heard in movies. COYOTES! There had to be at least 5 or 6 of them and they were probably only 100 yards away! They started off howling and then a series of barks accompanied the howls. It lasted all of 30 seconds, but it may as well have been 30 minutes. It was very Stand By Me! It was also eerie, amazing, beautiful, terrifying, thrilling, shocking, exciting, and glorious! I felt like God sent us a little treat for out last night in northern Arizona. I truly cannot describe in words (or any other medium) what that experience meant to me. Something about the animals out here just make me come alive! I called for mountain lions and bobcats the ENTIRE time we were there but, alas, I saw none. Next time.

Taking a break to eat while biking.

We’ve been told that if seeing wild animals is what I dig then I’d love Yellowstone, so naturally we’ll be staying 2 nights there instead of the previously planned 1. I’m looking forward to seeing some bison! Also, I’ll be scouring the earth for moose, more elk, and of course bears (black and grizzly). Please note that while I may come packed with a little extra crazy, I have no intention of approaching any of these amazing creatures if I’m so lucky to see them! Well, probably not.

Tomorrow we leave for San Diego and a stint of our trip along the coast of California in which we’ll take a short hiatus from camping. The transfer from making coffee on a propane stove to ordering it in Starbucks will probably be a nice break. As Emily so eloquently noted, it’ll be nice to wake up and relieve ourselves in a bathroom 10 feet away rather than hiking up a sandy mountain road with only a lantern to guide our chilly path. If only we could hear the coyotes again it’d make this night perfect.

GC sunset.

And then there were pictures:

This morning we packed up our Grand Canyon campsite, waved goodbye, and headed south to Joshua Tree via Sedona. I will definitely miss Arizona and the GC especially.

Yesterday after we finished up our laundry, Kt and I hiked down South Kaibab Trail. It was such a beautiful and, at times, intimidating hike. We literally hiked into the canyon on a path that was at times no more than 3 feet wide without a rail. Due to some mapping issues, we miscalculated our distance and didn't go quite as far as planned, which was probably a good thing considering how steep the climb back up was. Remember that invincible feeling I mentioned? Imagine looking down and seeing birds flying below you. Make a little more sense now? The hike trumped our bike ride and was equally as intense, though I didn't urge Kt to leave me behind this time.

Last night as we lay in our tent waiting to fall asleep, we heard wailing that turned to howling and barking about 100 yds from our tent. Kt and I froze as we realized it was coyotes. Definitely gave us goosebumps (I had to hold Kt back from trying to get a picture). I got a little nervous because I hadn't planned on a coyote attack, but luckily they didn't come closer.

This afternoon after passing through the truly jaw dropping red rocks of Sedona we decided to head on to Prescott for lunch. Based on a recommendation from our friend Eddie, we stopped at the Prescott Brewing Company. By far, best meal yet. We also drove through the small mountain town of Jerome that sits on the top peak of a mountain. Though tiny (I guessed 35 people lived there, but I guess it's closer to 350) it houses multiple artists and wineries and was voted the "wickedest town of the west" in 1903.

From there, we drove out into the desert and into the 111 degree heat as we crossed California's state line. We are now tucked into our motel in Joshua Tree (ditched camping when we realized how hot it would be) and will check out the park tomorrow before we head to San Diego.

As promised, here is a sprinkling of pictures. Between the 4 cameras Kt and I have, these are only mine. Once we get more settled (or back home) we will try to consolidate, but for now, enjoy!

New Mexico Campsite KOA

Kt outside Carlsbad National Park after we went into the caverns.

The mouth of the caverns that we hiked into. We went 800 feet down.

In the Caverns

Leaving NM. Grabbed a map and some coffee.

The Indian Reservation we accidentally drove through.

Somewhere between NM and Arizona

Arizona!

First stop: Petrified Forest

Painted Desert=Beauty

Grand Canyon Site 148

The dog sized ravens attacked our water jug, pecked holes in it and drained it.

Kt cooking....or sitting by the stove.

First look of the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon at sunset

Psalm 68, Hermit's Rest (where we biked)

Kt hunting elk...

...found one.

Our bikes.

Hiking Kaibab. At the top.

Looking down Kaibab.

Made it to Ooh Aah Point.

Looking back up. I'm in red (the dot) in the middle of the picture.

Back at the top, feeling like champs.

The Really Loooooong Post

Doing laundry at the Grand Canyon is far more fun than laundry in West Palm. As I sit and listen to the whir of the washing machines and the gentle hum of the driers I feel as if nothing can touch me. As we hoped, Sunday was a relaxing day. We grocery shopped, recharged, fixed the problem with the car chargers (2 blown fuses, who knew?) and backed into a car at the gas station. It's always an adventure, remember?

Once back at site 148 we made some dinner, situated ourselves and found an elk wandering through the woods behind our site. Turns out those huge deer I mentioned seeing on our way up the mountain were actually elk. That explains their girth. Kt LOVES all the animals we are seeing. She has chased down multiple ravens, elk, and squirrels for pictures who seem less than thrilled about their photo-ops. I'm exaggerating a little, I don't think she actually took a picture of the squirrel.

Later, we went to the rim of the canyon for a pink and orange sunset passing two more elk that were within 10 feet of the car. As we sat on the edge, feet dangling precariously close to the 300 foot drop, we quietly waited among people of all nations for the sun to fall below the rocks and drop the sky down to a lavender blue. Talk about feeling invincible.

As the sky dimmed from purple, to deep blue we attempted to go back to our campsite. I managed only to drive to the exit twice before finally finding the way back. This has become a normal occurrence for me as the signs here are less than par. Nonetheless, we did make it back and quickly started our fire, made s'mores and drank a Grand Canyon Ale. The neighbors we alienated the night before by hammering our tent stakes in at midnight, wandered over and managed to forgive us as we shared our fire. Ironically, they were also from Florida and one of them even frequents the Port St. Lucie Walmart where we made our first stop. They gave us some good tips for Yellowstone and even left us with a gift of their extra camping supplies (thanks Micheal and Alex!). They also gave us the suggestion of biking to Hermit's Rest, which is a trail restricted to shuttles, pedestrians and bicyclists.

We woke up refreshed Monday morning and rented bikes as suggested. After loading them onto the shuttle, we were dropped off at Hopi Point and began our 5 mile ride to the end at Hermit's Rest where we would be picked up. This really is one of the most amazing things I have ever done or seen. (Do I keep saying that?) The GC is bigger than any picture shows and dwarfs everything near it, including people, cars, rivers and rafts. Every point provides a different perspective that is equally impressive.

We made it safely to Hermit's Rest and hiked about a quarter mile down before turning around. Traveling into the canyon changes your perspective again as dots become trees and bushes, and rock formations seen from afar become ledges and turns in the trail. Once back to the top we decided to ride back to Hopi Point instead of waiting there. What we didn't realize was most of the ride had been downhill. Uphill is not as fun. We walked the bikes a few times and at one point I heard myself telling Kt to save herself, one of us needed to make it out alive. Turns out we both did.

We crawled into bed early last night and plan on hiking the Kaibab trail this afternoon. Tomorrow we pack up and head towards Joshua Tree. I think it will be hard to leave the beauty we found here, but I know there is more waiting for us.

***I know I keep promising pictures, but my internet signal is too weak to upload right now. Patience! Also a big congratulations to my sister who got engaged this past weekend. Congratulations!

Then things started to get tents...

Pun intended.

Lincoln National Forest

Yesterday Kt and I left Carlsbad around 9:30 hoping to arrive in the Grand Canyon before dark. We got some sparse directions from someone at the KOA who suggested we drive through Cloudcroft instead of Roswell for a prettier route. Her advice did not disappoint as each mile grew more beautiful. It's almost as if God was hearing our exclamations and saying, “Oh yeah? You think that's cool?” and then around the next curve something even more astounding would come over the horizon. While we were silenced into a reverent state by the natural beauty around us, we noticed far less natural things happening with the technology in front of us. We had lost service, lost the power to charge anything through the cigarette lighters, and were quickly losing charge. Directions were not existent, contact was lost and power was gone.

I had picked up a map of New Mexico at the KAO by chance (you taught me well mom) and had also grabbed a KAO guide that included basic maps of each state. Using a combination of the two we somehow managed to find our way. Yep, I am now a professional cartographer. I will not say we did not miss a few road signs or that we smiled beatifically the whole time, BUT we did make it to the GC safely. Albeit 14 hours later. To be fair, we drove blue highways and mountains and weren't afraid to stop for a picture or two. We drove through the smoky mountain-esque Lincoln National Forest, saw White Sands, past the Valley of Fire, the site of the first atomic bomb, the Malais Mountains, the village of Tularosa (twice), stopped at the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert State Park, onto the Coconino State Forest, through a few restricted Native American reservations (oops) and crossed into a new time zone (who knew Az (only parts mind you) didn't do day light savings time?).

We made it to Flagstaff around 9:30 and headed up more mountains and into Kaibab State Forest. Kt saw 4 deer (I only saw 3) one of which was a 6-8 point buck about to cross the road. I don't think we are in West Palm anymore. The higher we climbed, about 8,000 feet, the cooler it got. By the time we reached site 148 we were exhausted and ready for those KOA yellow shirts to greet us. Except we aren't staying in a KOA. As we set up the tent, things got increasingly tense. A word of advice to those who may follow our path: it's not the dark that makes putting the tent up hard, it's 14 hours on the road, dark, cold, and exhaustion that make it difficult. Though we alienated all of our camping neighbors, we did manage to finally set ourselves up and were giggling while we fell asleep. After all, we are in the Grand Canyon.

Today we are taking it slow and getting settled. We will be here four nights and could use a little relaxing. We had our first glimpse of the GC today and....it deserves it's own post.

Pictures are coming, I promise!

***Special thanks and a note: Kt drove the ENTIRE way to the GC. I think she deserves a few woot woots (it's the farthest she's driven in one stretch!). Also, I still don't have service and we are having a hard time charging so the blogs may be few and far between as well as the phone calls.

Desert by night. And by blur

Lost Keys on Aisle 9

Today, while in the company of four beautiful children and one overstuffed, ripping tote bag, I went to the Palm Beach Zoo. We saw lots of animals. Like:

a panther

a preening peacock

fake turtles

and various other wonders.

We played in the fountains, threw flamingo food at a deer, had a large neon lizard fall onto one of said beautiful children (better her than me) and sweated an obscene amount. All in all, a successful zoo trip.

Especially when, upon walking towards the exit of the zoo, I realized I also lost my keys. Such things tend to happen when in the company of the aforementioned ripping tote. After an involved and frustrating few hours of more sweating, triple A-ing and chatting up every zoo employee I could find, the keys were found by a cherubic 8 year old camper. What a fun day.

Better the WPB Zoo than the Grand Canyon, Redwoods, or San Fran where I will soon spend the remaining days of summer.

I took solace in my sweet Forever tattoo:

**Special thanks to Anna and Beach for partying in the fountains with us, Sara for driving me home, Kt for driving me back, Jennifer the friendly zoo keeper for calling me with joyful news, and the Otters for entertaining me. Twice.

Pink Flags, Tents and Bears, Oh My!

Last night I came home to find this on our living room wall:

Kt found these maps that she had collected for her classroom and started marking out our trip in pink sticky flags. So exciting to see a large, paper version of our plans. Obviously, we've only gotten to San Francisco thus far. The return trip is still in the works.

This weekend my goal is to get hiking boots and a coat/jacket; Gander Mountain here we come! Too bad we don't have one of these nearby. Any suggestions for relatively inexpensive yet high quality gear?

Confession time: I don't have massive amounts of camping/wilderness experience. I've definitely had my fair share of roughing it and camping and rafting etc, but never at the Grand Canyon in the middle of the summer with myself as one of the "responsible adults". So many things keep running through my mind that we need to get or read about or research. I'm really looking forward to just sort of experiencig thing as they happen, but then I get the "second guesses"and the "unprepareds"and my mind begins its flurry of activity again.

I started googling weather conditions, hiking trails, tips etc. (google=wealth of knowledge at your fingertips, right Dana?) and found this pretty helpful website. I'm sure there are many more out there. So for those of you experienced wilderness adventurers, what kind of advice can you give us? If you have any suggestions for gear, places to visit, tips, checklists, books, websites, leave a comment for me.

Please pray this doesn't happen to us! The Worst!

Also, (FYI) if I ever figure out to set it up, you should see some ads on this blog. For every click/visit the ad gets I think I get like, $0.003, so help a girl out and click away (maybe I'll make $0.63 to go towards gas!).

What's in a Name?

Juliet famously asks this question after meeting her star crossed lover, and asks us if a rose would smell so sweet if it was called, say, “frog”. Though Shakespeare seems to think a name means little (or at least lets his heroine believe so), I disagree. A name means a lot. A name is how we're known, how we're identified by friends and family and how we present ourselves to our society. I'm a firm believer in names. Do I think names predetermine our futures? Maybe not, but I think names are important and deserve thought and time. That being said, my poor children will probably lay around nameless for God knows how long, while I “try on” possible names for them. Hope they like “baby” in the meantime.

Though perhaps not as important as living things, a blog deserves a good name too. And THIS blog deserves a really good name. For years, I have dreamed of going on a road trip. And by road trip, I mean Road Trip. In high school I wrote short stories about road tripping cross country and learning about not only oneself, but the world in which we live (embarrassingly enough, I'm not joking, that's really what they were about. Most of my stories also involved red jeeps....guess I haven't changed much). In college, I planned road trips, mini-road tripped to Ohio, Virginia and Philly, and often thought of simply using 4 wheels to escape whatever ailed me. Needless to say, road trips have long appealed to me, so when Kt mentioned going to California this summer, and I shuttered at the thought of another stagnate summer in Florida, a neon sign lit in my mind and the words it so beautifully flashed were: Road. Trip. Kt was game and our plans began to form.

It was not until this weekend when things finally calmed down enough for both of us to be able to sit down and start planning definitively. We breakfasted Saturday and, while sipping coffee and sneaking bites of blueberry pancakes, we began to actually write down our plans. Later that afternoon, between booking our hotel in New Orleans and yelling out names of random cities that called to us, “Loving, New Mexico! We have to stop there!” Kt began loading her new iPod with music. Now, if you've spent more than twenty minutes with me, you're probably aware of my Counting Crows/Adam Duritz obsession, (I. LOVE. THEM.) so when August and Everything After began playing, I felt some sort of divine intervention. As we planned, and sang along with Adam, so many feelings ran around in my head...road trip....3,0000,0000,008 things to see....California...the Painted Desert...Mt. Rushmore?...I can go anywhere. I am about to live the life I imagined. (So cheesy I just gagged, but so true it had to be said).

The Counting Crows' song, Omaha, is a song about starting over, life going on, and beginning again even when we think we can't. It's a sort of redemption song about what really matters, as opposed to all the crap that usually chokes us up, messies up our lives, and distracts us, or makes us feel worthless. Like when we think we'll never achieve those things we dreamed of, when life begins to get monotonous, or when we want to get our money back at the door, Omaha reminds us there is another; there's more. It's also an ironic song, because while seeming to deep-down offer hope, at times, it definitely seems more hopeless. But, man, I love my irony. And in that vein, the irony was not lost on me when Kt and I loudly sang, “Omaha, somewhere in middle America...” It was also no coincidence when Kt later sent me a link to Roadtripusa.com with the comment: “Start threading the needle”, as that's exactly what we're about to do as we sew our paths, stitch by stitch, across the middle, outside and inside of America. As that phrase keeps repeating itself, I realized...that's the name. So tonight, as I book our home away from home campsite in the Grand Canyon, I realize, I'm threading that needle, I'm putting one more connection, making one more stitch through this crazy life, and that's what names are all about. Connection.

So, what's in a name? Quite a lot.