The diary of a road trip.

And the results are in …

bittersweetwordsmith — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:47:26 +0000

Stops … 14
States … 25
Miles … 9,180
Flat tires … 1
Oil changes … 1
Accidents … 0
Tickets … 0
Pictures … 924

We hope you enjoyed living our trip vicariously through us as much as we enjoyed experiencing it and sharing it with you. See you next time! Over and out.

Love – Jimmy & Meredith

Bye Bye Mosquito City!

bittersweetwordsmith — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:38:10 +0000

After another evening of being ill for me and of being a pin cushion to mosquitos for Jimmy; the plan was to drive across Tennessee, over the Great Smoky Mountains, and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway to our overnight campsite at Mt. Pisgah, near Asheville, NC. Tennessee is one long state to drive across and it was starting to get dark by the time we reached Pigeon Forge, which we have dubbed the “Las Vegas of Tennessee”. I had no idea how hopping a place it is in reality. I knew Dollywood was there but, beyond that, I figured it was just like any other town. Not so, not so at all. This town, which only spans about 10 miles, has more restaurants, hotels, and shops per yard than any other place I have ever scene in my life. And there were so many people there – everywhere! Once we made it through Pigeon Forge, we came across Gatlinburg. It’s not exactly the same type of scene but there may have been even MORE people crowding the streets in this town. In fact, with only three miles to go, it took us almost an hour to get through town because of traffic. It was wild. Finally we made it through all the action and headed up and over the Smokys. By this time it had gotten quite dark and we weren’t entirely sure where we were going or how long it would take. But, sure enough, about an hour later we reached the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Though we only had 60 miles to go to the campground, it would probably take us more like 90 minutes with all the twists and turns we had to navigate. Since we hadn’t eaten anything for dinner, we pulled over at one of the Scenic Overlooks to get some food out of the back. I also took that opportunity to change into sweats and a sweatshirt since the temperature had dropped about 30 degrees. I took over driving and we finally made our way to the Mt. Pisgah campground. It was late, probably 12:30am, but we arrived at our campsite and confusion immediately set in. It appeared that the two footprints that we could see, with the help of a couple flashlights, were already set up with tents. I was extremely pissed off since I had made my reservation quite a few weeks before and it seemed that someone had stolen our spot. We decided to just throw up the tent right there by the car and not worry about it, since we were leaving first thing in the morning anyway. I think I was asleep before I ever even laid down.

The next morning we got up and moving pretty early, around 7am. As soon as I stepped out of the tent I could see there was yet another, unoccupied footprint there that, I assume, was ours. We both shook our heads and also commented on how lame a campsite it was in comparison to all the other really great ones we had enjoyed over the course of the trip. No worries, though, we were on our way home. There was one minor set-back, however. As soon as we got in the car, the underinflated tire light flashed up on my dashboard … again. There was no way I could drive the Blue Ridge Parkway home if I was going to be dealing with a near-dead tire all day. So, we jumped off the Parkway in Asheville to check it out. We filled the two tires that were low with air and set off on our revised route.

By the time 2pm rolled around, we had made it to 66 out near Front Royal. I couldn’t believe that our three week trip was finally coming to a close. It had been such great fun. We filled up the tank one last time and then, within about 30 minutes, we were back in the thick of Metro D.C. area traffic. It was not cause for happiness, I assure you. While Jimmy distracted himself by reading, I had a mini melt-down thinking of all the great things we had seen and places we had left behind. I was, however, ready to get back to my pup and all my great family and friends who were waiting to see our photos and hear our tales. It was truly the adventure of a lifetime and we were so lucky to have experienced it all together. What great memories we will have for so many years to come!

Look! A Flying Saucer!

bittersweetwordsmith — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:31:26 +0000

I woke up first the next morning, after a particularly miserable night of sleep … or no sleep, as it turned out. Sometime in the night I woke up and felt very ill. And, what happened next – though I’ll spare you the details – definitely proved that something was amiss. After that I found it completely impossible to fall asleep, so I just laid awake in the tent until I eventually passed out. Once I woke up and it was light outside, I headed up to the bath house to take a shower. It was there I discovered that I had quite a few more bug bites than I had originally thought. In fact, I ended the lives of a number of mosquitos while I was in the shower. I headed back to the campsite where Jimmy was just opening up his eyes for the first time. We were horrified to discover that the mosquitos had used Jimmy as a pin cushion all night long. He had so many bites on his elbows and ankles it looked like his skin might bust right open. Poor guy. He went up to the bath house to see if a shower would help dull the itch but no dice. It took a dousing in Sea Breeze before he found any relief at all – and pffffft to any of you who may have teased me about bringing “too much” stuff along. To you I say – you can never be too prepared. So :-p

We finally jumped in the car and drove into Memphis. We really had no idea where we were going but Jimmy had a pretty good idea that Union and Beale were the main streets we should concentrate on. Just off the highway we saw a sign for Sun Studios, where Elvis Presley (among others) had recorded. We followed that and it led us right to Union Street and the front stoop of Sun Studios. It has since been turned into a little diner-type restaurant but it’s a charming spot that was realizing plenty of action without us crowding in too. We decided to just move on and pretty soon we saw signs pointing us in the direction of Beale Street. We found a parking lot, asked the attendant which way to go, and headed off.

Beale Street is full of great restaurants, fun shops, and plenty of history. We browsed in a couple of stores and spent quite a bit of time in one in particular. It was there that Jimmy found a Grateful Dead poster he had only seen one other time. And, I purchased a couple of CDs – Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. The woman who checked us out looked like she knew her BBQ so we asked her which of the restaurants we should go to for lunch. She asked “what do you want to eat?” We answered “BBQ!” To which she replied “pulled pork or ribs?” And we immediately replied “ribs!” With a smirk on her face she asked “wet or dry?” Jimmy said “dry” and I just listened. She recommended Pig on Beale. She said she loves their dry ribs but didn’t prefer the wet ribs because the sauce is not her favorite. We thanked her and headed out the door. Before sitting down to eat we decided to walk around a little more. We encountered a band in a little park area and they were playing blues, of course. We watched them for a while before Jimmy proclaimed he was dying of starvation. So we headed to Pig on Beale where Jimmy ordered dry ribs and I ordered wet ribs. We both loved our meals; the meat was, literally, falling right off the bone and it was so delicious!

Once we left there, we did a little more exploring. We passed by a Starbucks, which gave us the great idea to go back to the car, get the laptop, and hang out there while we caught up with e-mail and some blogs. Not to mention the fact it would keep us out of mosquito city for a few more hours. We did just that but on our way back to the car we passed by The Flying Saucer. The walls of the bar were completely open to the street via huge garage door-type windows that opened and closed as appropriate. We were intrigued and decided to see if they had a plug we could “borrow”. We were in luck – they did! It also turned out that this place had hundreds of beers available both in bottle and draft. We were in heaven. We ordered a couple of beers, plugged the computer in, and all was right in the world. We even got to play some darts before we called it a night and headed back to camp. When we got to the campsite, Jimmy set up shop in the tent again while I made us a couple of grilled cheeses. We played some cards and then eventually moved on to reading and bedtime. After all, the next day was the start of our trek back home.

I had never been so happy to see a power source in my life.

bittersweetwordsmith — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:21:42 +0000

After taking full advantage of the noon checkout time from the Inn on Bourbon, we headed down to the lobby. We left most of our bags with the bellman since our car was quite a few blocks away. When we arrived there, two days before, we were told the truck was too tall for their parking facilities due to the cargo carrier on top. So, after much frustration, we had parked it down near the French Market and kept our fingers crossed that overnight parking was allowed since the signs made no indication either way. By the time we had lugged our bags all the way back to the hotel, I vowed that was not going to happen again. Fortunately, when we arrived at the parking lot the truck was, in fact, still there. And, as an added bonus, it actually cost us $10 less to park in that lot then it would have to park in the hotel lot. Niiiiice. We drove back to the hotel, picked up our bags, and we were on the road again.

Jimmy was feeling a little under the weather so he fell asleep pretty quickly as we took a very long bridge, over Lake Pontchartrain and other wetlands, out of town. It wasn’t a suspension bridge but, for some reason, the pavement was extremely bouncy and it wasn’t helping his poor little tummy to feel any better. The drive to Memphis was only going to take us a little less than six hours and it was only going to take us through Mississippi. The landscape was very plain. For the most part the highways were surrounded by forest with the occasional farm thrown in for good measure. We stopped along the way to get some food at Cracker Barrel. Yum!

Eventually we arrived in Tennessee and navigated our way to Meeman-Shelby State Park, which is about 15 miles North of Memphis. We stopped to pick up some firewood and other necessities, at a gas station just outside the park. When we checked in, the woman let us know that even though we had a reserved spot we could take any of the others that weren’t reserved for someone else if we decided we liked it better. So, we took a drive through the campsites and decided that ours was just fine. And, we discovered something great – each site had it’s own power source. YAY! Internet connectivity had not been our only computer issue during the course of the trip. My laptop’s battery is not able to hold a charge, without being plugged in, for any longer than an hour or two. So, even when we had a good connection, if we weren’t near a power source it didn’t do us much good for very long.

We started to get our campsite set up and realized pretty quickly that the bug situation in Tennessee is out of control. We both had to use the bug spray within minutes of getting out of the car. Once we got ourselves situated, Jimmy started to build a fire to cook dinner and I set up shop at the power source, with the laptop, to get some writing done. By the time I had finished writing one blog, the fire was ready for the hot dogs so I shut down shop. I had been swiping bugs from the screen, my eyes, my face, my neck, my arms, and my legs the entire time anyway so it was getting to be a little irritating. Jimmy wasn’t having any better luck near the fire so we doused ourselves in bug spray again and started cooking dinner. It didn’t take long for us to abandon the outdoors completely. We set up the chairs and table inside the tent so we could play some cards. And then, with a plan to explore Memphis the next afternoon, we finally called it a night.

Yeah. We’re tourists. And, what??

bittersweetwordsmith — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:38:38 +0000

After a leisurely morning of … you guessed it … sleeping in, Jimmy and I set off to explore New Orleans by foot. I just adore the architecture of that city. It feels so well worn, so romantic, and vaguely European. I love that nearly every home has a balcony, in the French Quarter, and that most of them are well adorned with plants and flowers. It really just makes me feel like I stepped back in time. We made our way to the French Market, which has been in “business” since 1791. It has plenty of shopping, markets, restaurants, and live music and runs parallel to the mighty Mississippi River. We found a great little cafe where we could sit outside near a garden and listen to one of the local bands play jazz. I ordered my favorite, jambalaya, while Jimmy went for the red beans and rice. Both were excellent choices.

Eventually, we meandered our way back to the hotel so we could change clothes and figure out what we might want to do that evening. It didn’t take too long for roaming Bourbon Street to be the clear winner yet again. First we wanted to walk a few blocks to St. Louis Cemetery #1 to do some exploring. It was only a few blocks away and on the way we got to see Louis Armstrong Park. For the most part it seemed to be abandoned but their was an enormous, beautiful concert hall there that I sincerely hope is still in use. Just before we reached the park, however, I heard a woman’s voice say “are y’all tourists?” I looked over to see an exceptionally well-groomed woman in a Jaguar with the window rolled down and I nodded to her. To which she replied “you don’t want to go much further up that way” as she pointed in the general direction of the park and the cemetery. She drove away as we both stood there, flabbergasted. I can certainly appreciate wanting to warn someone but it wasn’t as though we were about to cross the line from French Quarter to some sort of ghetto. The cemetery and the park are well-advertised as within walking distance to the French Quarter and I have my doubts that the New Orleans tourism site would lead their visitors so far astray. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the cemetery it was only to find that it had closed at 3pm and we had missed our chance to explore the grounds. Bummer.

Next we were off to dinner at Desire, the restaurant of the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street. This restaurant was complete with black and white checkered floors and stained glass signs labeling parts of the space. Our server, Joanna, was an absolute doll. Jimmy and I decided that when we open our restaurant she’s definitely being brought on board. We started off with some oysters. After all, Desire was supposed to be one of the premiere oyster bars in the French Quarter and it lived up to it’s reputation. For dinner, Jimmy ordered the crawfish etouffe, which we both thought was excellent, and I ordered the most finger-lickingly delicious shrimp pasta Alfredo I have ever had. I don’t know what it was – because I have had plenty and I make a pretty decent one myself – but it was SO cheesy and SO decadent that I just couldn’t help but eat every last bite and then sop up the remaining sauce with their fresh baked bread. We were enjoying our meal so much we even ordered a bread pudding to share for dessert. It was every bit as delicious as the rest of the meal and we were completely satisfied. Everyone needs a good base to get their drink on anyway, right??

We spent the remainder of the evening doing the Bourbon Street thing – drinks, bars, and general silliness. I got quite a few compliments on my t-shirt choice that night. On one of our shopping/dinner dates, Lori and I spotted a t-shirt at Urban Outfitters, in Georgetown, with a funny little character on it that proclaimed “Little Miss Bossy” across the top. It’s hard to say why but the New Orleans crowd was digging it and that was a-okay with me. We finished up our evening and hit the sheets. We had a drive to Memphis the next day and wanted to make sure we were well rested.

Who needs a hotel room or a campsite when there are rest areas?!?

bittersweetwordsmith — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 01:28:53 +0000

Everyone was a late riser the next morning. We finally got our acts together and headed over to Reanna’s apartment complex to hit the pool. Robyn and her daughter also joined us and we had a great time goofing off and lounging around. It was a beautiful day and, certainly, no one was in the mood to do anything more strenuous than toss the beach ball around. Afterwards, Jimmy and I went back to Brian’s place where we cleaned up and started getting our bags together since we had to leave the next day. Eventually we ended up back at Reanna’s where she had prepared a great dinner for all of us – we were so spoiled! We all got some good laughs looking through the pictures from the night before too. Reanna had taken a pretty amusing video of all of us at one of the bars with my camera. Nothing like self-entertainment. We called it an evening pretty early and Jimmy & I headed back to Brian’s to chill out and watch a movie.

The next day Brian and Reanna wanted to have lunch one more time before Jimmy and I hit the road. They took us out to Manitou Springs. It’s a bit of a hippie town, which Jimmy and I always appreciate. We walked around a few of the shops, grabbed some lunch, said our goodbyes, and hit the road to New Orleans. We had such a great time with Brian, Reanna, and their friends. They were such gracious hosts! We missed them as soon as we parted ways.

This was going to be a very long drive. Since we had skipped our stop in Austin, we had no place to stay the night. We decided to just drive until we couldn’t stand it anymore and then stop at a rest area to catch some zzzz’s. The route from Colorado was going to take us through parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas before we finally reached Louisiana. I drove for a lot of this leg of the trip but I finally had to give up about 40 miles from Texas. Jimmy had already fallen asleep some time ago and I couldn’t keep myself awake enough to be safe. I pulled over at a rest area, we rearranged some things in the car, and crashed out … me in the back seat, Jimmy laid out in the passenger seat. It was definitely the worst sleep of the trip but probably the most necessary. I was uncomfortable almost the entire time and worried that someone would bother us, especially with the sunroof open so we could get some fresh air through the night. After a few restless hours we were back up and on the road.

One of the first places we hit was Dallas, Texas. Dallas is everything I ever thought it would be and, of course, like any good “Yankee” I learned everything I need to know about Dallas from watching “Dallas” on TV with my parents when I was a little kid. Jimmy and I were both struck how everyone in Texas seems so thrilled and proud to be from there. More so, certainly, than any other state I have ever visited. Also, every single office building in the near vicinity of Dallas is plated in mirror-glass. The only thing left was to run into the Ewings and all of my wildest Dallas dreams would have come true. Tee hee!

We arrived in New Orleans around 6pm and checked into the Inn on Bourbon. This hotel is right on the corner of Bourbon and Toulouse … prime French Quarter real estate. Nothing like arriving at your next destination and being immediately surrounded by bars, strip clubs, and the Huge Ass Beers To Go shop. YAY New Orleans! The hotel, in general, and our room, more specifically, was lovely. This may have been compounded by our night at the rest area in Oklahoma but, nonetheless, we were happy campers. We immediately got ourselves cleaned up and ready to head out. We had some dinner at one of the Bourbon Street restaurants, Le Bayou, and then hit the streets like good NOLA tourists. Some of you may not know, but New Orleans is my favorite place and I was so thrilled to finally be sharing it with my baby brother. We had a blast, of course!

“You guys should stay!!!”

bittersweetwordsmith — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:45:39 +0000

Brian had a job interview Friday morning and we had agreed that when he was through we would get some breakfast. It didn’t really end up working out that way but eventually we got ourselves together and hit a diner for lunch once we met up with Reanna and her daughter, Belle. After that we drove through the Garden of the Gods, which is a really colorful and interesting rock formation left over from a glacier many moons before. Reanna told us her high school was just down the street and there were many times she could remember when people had skipped school and gone to the Garden of the Gods just to hang out and goof off. Those most have been some good times. Certainly nothing like that was around Silver Spring. Next, Brian wanted us to see Pike’s Peak, one of the 30 tallest mountains in Colorado.

It took us quite some time to wind our way to the top of the mountain. I think, in all, it’s a 19 mile drive but it seemed like it took forever. The views from the top were really nice. The pictures didn’t turn out as well, however, because it was a bit overcast. The one complaint from all of us was how cold it was up there! We went from 80-something degrees on the ground to 50 at the very peak. I was really glad I remembered my sweatshirt because the t-shirt and shorts were definitely NOT going to cut it up there for very long. We goofed around in the gift shop for a while since Belle wanted to see the train, which brings spectators up and down the mountain, leave for the trip back down. After that it was a very slow ride to the bottom. They impose strict restrictions on brake temperature and even have a stopping point about halfway down where someone measures it with some sort of instrument. If they deem your brakes to be too hot they’ll make you pull over until they cool down to an acceptable level. I found that really interesting but I guess you can never be too careful when heights of 14,000+ feet are involved.

Earlier that day Brian had bought all kinds of groceries so we could have a cookout. We chowed down on steak, baked potatoes, fresh corn, and various other options. It was a really yummy dinner! By that time, Brian and Reanna’s friend, Robyn, had joined us and we were all getting ready for a little bar hopping in the Springs. Another friend of Reanna’s, Thad, joined us as well and we headed out. As most bar hopping goes there were lots of drinks, laughs, and photos througout the evening. The last place we visited, The Ritz, was my favorite. The atmosphere was really fun and the bartenders were friendlier than they had been at the other two stops. In fact, one of the bartenders turned out to be from the D.C. area … small world. We were having a great time and Reanna suggested that Jimmy and I should stay. We were already feeling very happy and were supposed to be leaving bright and early the next morning for Austin, Texas. I deferred to Jimmy to make the decision since Austin was one of his picks but he quickly jumped on board with hanging around for another day. YAY!

Once we got kicked out of the bar, a few of the revelers had decided that a trip to Village Inn (much like Denny’s or a Waffle/Huddle House) was in order. Everyone except Jimmy and I got something to eat. Pretty soon it devolved into making some concoction in a pitcher that looked like the end result of a long night out … the kind you might find in your bathroom … or perhaps in the trash can next to your bed. The guys were suggesting bets on what it would take for one of them to take a sip. Thankfully, none of them did but at one point I looked up to see Brian, literally, chugging a bottle of hot sauce. I’m sure he was regretting that the next day. Hahaha! As we were leaving the waitresses let us know that the two young girls at the table next to ours had gotten up and left without paying. Even though we were acting like a bunch of kindergartners I think they still liked us better, in the end, since we actually paid for our meal.

We continued the evening back at Brian’s place until everyone had changed into their jammies and was, literally, falling asleep on the couch, on the floor, and everywhere in between. A definite sign of a good time had by all. We had already made plans to spend a good portion of the next day lounging at the pool and I was really loving the fact that we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to hit the streets.

Umphrey’s McGee at the Ogden

bittersweetwordsmith — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:10:49 +0000

The first order of business for the day was to get an oil change and get the flat tire from San Francisco fixed, if possible. Fortunately, Brian had found a place for us that could do both. We dropped the car and then went to get lunch while they were working. Within an hour, or so, the car was all fixed up. YAY! We went back to Brian’s place to have a few beers before the show. His girlfriend, Reanna, came over to join us and we decided that we had enough time to grab some dinner before the hike up to Denver. They took us to this great little Mexican place nearby. Pretty soon, the time had flown by and we needed to leave right then so we wouldn’t be late.

We made our way up to Denver with no difficulty until we got off the exit. It turned out the street the Ogden Theatre is on was under construction in the direction we needed to go … of course. So, there we were with only 15 minutes until showtime with no idea how to detour around the construction and no idea where to park either. We attempted to head in the right direction but the frustration levels were definitely rising quickly. We pulled into a parking lot but were told we couldn’t park there. At least the gentleman who shared that information with me was also nice enough to provide us directions back to the Ogden. His directions were spot-on and just as we passed the theatre there was event parking off to the right. Score!

There was a huge crowd of people out front, with only five minutes to showtime, but we overheard someone saying that line was for will call tickets. We headed right in the door and went inside. We walked through the lobby into the theatre and Jimmy found a good place for us to stand. The forum reminded me, very much, of the 9:30 Club. There were several different levels and a balcony but no seating. It was already pretty crowded inside even with all those people still waiting in line to pick up their tickets. Jimmy mentioned that Umphrey’s McGee typically never starts a show when people are still outside, which I thought was a pretty decent policy.

Not knowing much about the band or their music, aside from what Jimmy had shared with me, I can’t say that I’ll be offering a well-informed review here but I will do my best. They played two fairly long sets. We both agreed the second was much better and more fun for the audience. They interacted really well with the crowd. In fact, they were headlining a festival that same weekend and it appeared that the majority of people there were going “up the mountain” with them too. They played several covers, in addition to their own music, including Toto’s “Rosanna” which was so much fun and really got the audience pumped up. After their final set they did two encores and told everyone they’d see them that weekend. It was a lot of fun and, in the end, I was glad that I went along. From that point on, I didn’t have much trouble recognizing the Umphrey’s songs when Jimmy played them from his iPod. Fortunately, the ride back to Colorado Springs was only about an hour long. Brian had given us the keys to his place so we were able to get in and get settled for the evening with no problem.

Sunset, Sunrise

bittersweetwordsmith — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:18:43 +0000

As usual, we took our time getting up the next morning. We even made ourselves some breakfast burritos before heading off to explore the North Rim. We drove down the road a bit to where the lodge is located and discovered a trail that lead us to a few different points on the Canyon edge. Again, Jimmy took to going off the beaten path and sitting on the very edge and, I mostly took to watching him and taking pictures. I could sit with him for a minute or two but then it just started to get too intimidating. After exhausting the walking options we went up to the lodge to check it, and the gift shop, out. There, we discovered that for $65 a pop (and for who knows how long – an hour? Two?) we could take mule rides into the canyon. Except then Jimmy noticed that there was a 200 pound weight limit and that was the end of that. I told him he could ride his own and share mine to compensate but he thought that wouldn’t be good for him … or the mule. Haha!

We had noticed, coming into the Park, that there were several turn-offs the main road which lead you to other points of interest so we decided to seek some of those out. As it happened, the side trip we chose took us to the only spot on the North Rim where you can view the Colorado River as it winds through the Canyon. The views from this part of the Rim were my favorite. It took us nearly an hour to get to the site but there were many scenic overlooks and other places to stop along the way. As we wound our way back to the main road there was another viewing area just a little further down but we had both had our fill, particularly since we had neglected to put sunblock on and the sun was beating down on us.

Once we got back to the campsite we were trying to figure out the details for our departure the following morning – how long the trip would take, what time we should get up, etc… We were headed to Colorado Springs, Colorado and that same evening we had tickets to see one of Jimmy’s favorite bands, Umphrey’s McGee, in Denver. No matter how we looked at it, it was going to be a very long day. And neither of us were overly excited about the prospect of maybe arriving to our friend Brian’s house in time to shower and still make it up to the show (an hour away) in time. Jimmy suggested we leave right then and drive through the night. At least, that way, we would have some time to sleep once we arrived in Colorado Springs and could regroup ourselves appropriately for the show. After much consideration I reluctantly agreed – there is really nothing about driving through the night in unfamiliar territory that sounded overly appealing except not being dead for the concert – and we packed up camp and headed out.

I drove for the first four or five hours as we wound our way through some absolutely stunning scenery in Arizona in and around the Kaibob National Forest. It was then that we regained a cell signal and were able to touch base with Brian to fill him in on the change of plans. We saw an absolutely gorgeous sunset in Arizona, which was only matched by the sunrise we saw as we entered Colorado the next morning. The overnight drive took us through New Mexico. We had modified our route slightly before departure so we were able to add New Mexico to our collection, even though we didn’t really see much of it except the inside of a McDonalds at 9pm. Jimmy took over driving and logged his longest trip behind the wheel ever – keep in mind, he’s never had a car of his own (but soon!) – he did a great job and was a total trooper. I spent most of the time reading magazines with a flashlight and fighting off the urge to sleep. We were both zombies by the time we arrived at Brian’s around 6:30am. We immediately crashed after planning for Brian to wake us up when he returned from his half day of work so we could get some food. Ironically, it took both of us a little while to fall asleep, even though we were so completely exhausted, but when we did we were both out like lights.

Grand Canyon-bound.

bittersweetwordsmith — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:45:23 +0000

Since we didn’t have to leave Treasure Island until noon, we took advantage of the opportunity to sleep. We finally got up and headed down to the car. The ice had long since melted so we had to throw away some stuff in the coolers – kind of a pain but no big deal really. We stopped at a gas station to check the tires, replace the ice, fill up the tank, and then we were on our way. We were headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon which is the less visited side. It’s only open from May through November because of weather conditions and we were both excited to view what we had only seen in pictures previously.

The route took us directly through Zion National Park, which was a fun little surprise. The Park is full of winding roads, super-dark tunnels, and reddish-hued mountains. We even saw some type of mountain sheep, or goat, with horns and a couple of her babies high up on a peak just off the roadside. The America the Beautiful National Parks pass that I purchased for the trip has totally been worth the $80 price tag. Most of the National Parks charge $25 or more for each car to enter. And, since we have visited five Parks which accept the pass, it was a huge advantage to us in the end. Jimmy was the photographer in this Park and he did a great job while I weaved the truck in and out of mountainsides and tunnels.

About five hours later we reached the road that takes you into the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We still had another hour to go down the road but we were both struck by how wooded the area is in person. After viewing video and photographs of the area, huge forests of pines was the last thing I imagined I would be seeing. Even when we arrived at the campsite we were still completely surrounded by tall pines and graceful aspens. I checked out the campground map we had received from the ranger and it seemed to me that we were literally on the edge of the Canyon. After setting up our site we headed off in that direction to explore. I was right. Just a few campsites down the forest opened up to reveal the Grand Canyon. Jimmy headed right to the edge of the Canyon and took a seat with his feet dangling over the edge. I just knew that was an act that would make Mom crazy, so I was sure to capture it for her enjoyment later. I joined Jimmy on the edge and we also had a little squirrel friend who didn’t want to leave but didn’t seem to mind us being there either. So we just sat in peace and soaked it all in.

The Grand Canyon is home to another squirrel, which is pretty odd looking. It has long pointy ears, which stand straight up, a black body, white on its belly, and a long white bushy tail. Everyone seemed to be on the lookout for them, as they’re apparently elusive. But as it turned out, we had one in the trees just above our campsite. He liked to sit above the tent, nibbling the pine tree, and tossing debris down to hit the tent. I definitely wasn’t fast enough to photograph him but we thought it was kind of cool that his hang out was at our campsite. With the sun quickly making it’s descent, it was time to make some dinner and settle in for the evening. We would take off down the road to do some exploring the next day.