Kansas City, Ks

Except for a brief resupply visit home, we've been on the road since the 12th of July.  So last night we decided to forego the Gulf Coast for a more direct route home.  We had a long day today and plan another tomorrow, heading for Nashville.  We'll take a lay day there and catch a dinner show on Wednesday.  Then
 another long day to home on Thursday.  The temps are cooler now in New Bern and hopefully we can get in some fall sailing.  This will be our last blog entry for awhile.

Colorado Springs

We are now in Colorado Springs staying with Liz and Brian.  About a week ago we arrived at Mesa Verde National Park and enjoyed a very uncrowded campground and some great hiking around the Pueblo Ruins.  I especially enjoyed my tour of the Balcony House and our subsequent hike out onto the opposing mesa over Soda Canyon for a distant view of the reconstructed house.

We also enjoyed our first elaborate camping meal cooked over a wood fire.

Ever cook in knee pads?

You can view the Mesa Verde pictures here:

Mesa Verde

Then it was on to Durango and a great visit with Jim and Nancy Holland from the sailing vessel  Summer Breeze.  Carol and I met them in Marathon Fl where we were mooring ball neighbors.  We enjoyed staying with them in their home along the Animas River and a camping trip to a national forest overlooking Ouray Colorado.  After breaking camp, Jim took me on a four wheel drive adventure back to Silverton Co over the high peaks up to 1300 feet.  A truly amazing ride.

Carol, Nancy and Jim overlooking Ouray from the campground

You can see pictures from our visit with Jim and Nancy here:

Jim and Nancy

North Rim - Grand Canyon

After a wet afternoon, the sun came out briefly and we had our supper in the North Rim Lodge dining room. The atmosphere was great, the meal not so much.  It was nice sleeping at 9,000 feet again - cool temps.

This morning the sunrise was spectacular and I got a few pictures below:

View of the South Rim at Sunrise

North Rim Lodge at Sunrise

View from South Rim Lodge Deck at Sunrise

As geological features go, the big attraction for the Grand Canyon is its grand size.  Unfortunately these days that size is also a disadvantage.  The air pollution in the canyon makes those distant rim views pretty hazy.  So the smaller canyons of Zion and Bryce are far more spectacular in my mind just because there is less haze to peer through.

No room at the inn tonight so we move on to a needed motel for the night and then on toward the four corners area.  Probably no more updates until Tuesday or Wednesday.

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

We left Zion this morning after two great days there.  The elevation in the canyon was only 4k feet and it was really hot.  Near100 during the day, so our hiking was done in the early morning hours.  Fortunately the we had access to the Virgin River from our campsite.  What an oasis it was in the cool water.

Here is our campsite neighbor David Milner enjoying his 62'nd birthday and having finally gotten his National Parks Senior Pass.

Hikers on Angels Walk

Zion has some spectacular hikes.  The photo above is of some hikers on the Angels Walk Trail.  It is a sheer 1000 foot drop off on each side of a narrow trail.  The photo was shot through the skylight on our shuttle bus some 1500 feet below on the canyon floor.

Arriving at the North Rim our "campsite without reservations" and weather luck ran out!  Since we are tent camping we did get one night in a group site.  No sooner had we set up than it started really storming.  The forecast is for rain the whole week.  So tomorrow we will pack up hopefully a dry tent and head for Page AZ and a dry hotel room.

Here is the photo album for Zion:

Zion

Bryce Canyon

We arrived in Bryce Canyon yesterday and found a great campsite.  We are about 100 yards from the Rim and the views are terrific and different each time of the day.  Last night we had a spectacular Full Moon Rise.  Today I took the Queens Garden / Navajo Loop Combination trail.  Billed as the "best 3 mile hike in the world".  I have not been on all the other 3 mile hikes, but this is the best one for me!  Mid-way through the hike I met up with 3 young folks from California. Two PHD computer science engineers from Greece and Turkey and one doctoral candidate from the US.  I learned a lot about Twitter and how it is different from Facebook.

Check out the pictures from Brice Below:

Bryce Canyon

Coalville Ut

There is a lot of rain in the area today and forecast for tomorrow as well.  It's a good thing as there are a lot of fires around.  One of the more dramatic is the North Buffalo fire in Wyoming.  As of two days ago it had consumed over 12K acres fueled by pine park beetle stressed conifers. On Wednesday we drove up Signal Mountain for a look at this fire which was 5 days old.

North Buffalo Fire from Signal Mountain

Last night I did some internet searching and found this NOAA Satellite view of the fire

Our campsite was on Jackson Lake just to the west of Signal Mtn.  You can see the Teton Range running west of Jackson and Jenny Lakes.