Hi all, we drove to Joshua Tree National Park from Blythe, California. We don't recommend stopping in Blythe for a fun time... In Joshua Tree, we climbed Ryan Mountain. It's a unique mountain of rock with a switch back trail. Once we conquered Ryan, we drove to Newport Beach. The boys dove into Anne and Rob's hot tub and then we took a drive up Pacific Coast Highway (California Route 1) for a tour of Huntington Beach. Today, we're off for a tour of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Westwood with Rob.
We were up by 6:30am and on the trail by 8:00am. Our hike didn't take long, but the scenery sure is special. We spent Wednesday night in Williams AZ. I took took the boys to a BBQ place in the downtown area that is called Rte 66 Diner. The best hamburger I've had and the best chicken wings, too.
At first, Bright Angel Trail is frightening. The drop on the right side, at times, is bottomless. At the top, young kids and teenagers seem wild and unknowing... a recipe for disaster. But soon, the trail thins out and the hiking and the drop seem less threatening. We hiked 6 miles today and probably walked another 2 or 3. The photos tell a better story than my words. We had fun. The boys did well. Now, we're in Sedona. The boys are in the swimming pool and I'm answering email. Tomorrow, Doe Mountain in Sedona. All's well. We arrived in La Vegas by 7pm and checked in our hotel by 8:00. After dinner and walking through the Circus Circus Casino, we're heading to bed. I'm sure I'm the only guy in Vegas going to be before 10 pm. :-) Big day tomorrow.
I'm not sure why, but our Hoover Dam post is below the Las Vegas post. Just scroll down.
Hoover Dam and its new bridge give me the heebie-jeebies. They're high. Soenke said he felt like a beaver during the visit to the dam (you work with that for a while). On the way east, we stopped at a humungous Walmart to pick up supplies. Our least glorious moment came when we could not figure out how to lock the rental car. It has an "intelligent" key or some such thing and the three of us could not figure out how to get all the doors and the back locked. Come to find out, after driving and thinking and testing out... when you hold the key and pull up on the locked door, it unlocks because the key is within one meter of the door. If you could have seen us in the Walmart parking lot... well, you wouldn't have been impressed. Now, we're just outside Flagstaff AZ and tomorrow we head to the Grand Canyon to climb down Bright Angel Trail. Then, we'll drive to Sedona. Off to eat at a BBQ place in Williams AZ. More later! In less than a day, we have tenants in our new bird house. I have to say, watching these industrious birds has been fun. On another note, I attended the boys' baseball game this morning and they played really well. On the baseball field, there's no way you'd know they were Foreigns. They're swinging the bat very well and play the field like natives. Our 13-year-old neighbor, Garrett, put up a birdhouse in our backyard. Ably assisted by his dad, Gregory, the G-Man dug a two-foot hole, slid in a six-foot post, and voila! Our spring birds, at least two of them, have a new home that faces our dining room window. Thanks, Garrett and Gregory! We'll keep you posted who moves in.
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