California Here We Come - Days Six and Seven

We are back in Williams, AZ after a whirlwind trip to the Grand Canyon.

Our adventure started when we boarded the Grand Canyon Railway on Tuesday morning at 9:30. No wait a minute, at 9:00 we were expected to attend a "western show" prior to the train boarding. Definitely not my cup of tea. There was a fake western town, 5 or 6 cowboys, a U.S. Marshall, and a guy picked from the audience. After the first gunshot, I left and waited by the train but I could hear them acting out some kind of drama. It made me very nervous about our train trip.

Thank goodness, the 2.5 hour train ride wasn't that hokey. We had a nice young guy assigned to our car who tried to engage people and basically acted as our flight attendant. The scenery on the trip up to the canyon was interesting but certainly not up to the standards we established the past couple of days!

When we arrived, we were ushered onto a tour bus. We had bought a packaged tour from AAA and this was included. The bus driver was a friendly type who had lots of interesting facts about the canyon. We first stopped for a buffet lunch which was included and finally began the tour.

The bus stopped for our first viewing of the canyon. I had seen pictures and paintings of
the Grand Canyon but I was not prepared for how emotional the experience of seeing in for the first time would be. The vastness and beauty brought tears to my eyes. I was completely unaware of the people around me snapping pictures. I was in awe and speechless. Our tour took us to three different outlooks. I took 90 pictures on my phone and a bunch more on my camera in the 24 hours we were there. These are of few of my first look.

After our bus tour, we checked into our lodge. We had a lovely back patio where we sat

and watched the train return to Williams. It was suggested that we take a sunset bus tour but after the first bus tour, we both decided we weren't that kind of tourist. We prefer exploring independently. They have free shuttle buses that will take you all over the park. We took one to a lookout to await the sunset.

The whole area is very crowded with tourists. It felt somewhat like when we travel in Europe and are surrounded by people speaking different language. It seemed like we were with mostly Germans and Asians but the lookout we chose was filled with about 10 Italians from Bologna with very fancy camera set-ups. Sunset was at 7:25. We arrived an hour early. It was windy and chilly but there was an excitement and expectation in the air. 

The photo on the left is how the area looked when we
arrived and the one on the right is after the sun had set. To tell you the truth, it wasn't as fantastic as I had expected. It was definitely worth the trip but I think I expected more.

The altitude was really getting to me. That, and the intensity of the experience left both of us exhausted. We had a quick dinner in the hotel food court and went to bed.

Today, we had until 3:15 to explore more of the canyon. I was feeling kinda crappy so Rick took off to explore the Bright Angel Trail. I took a shuttle to get me close to where
he would be and we met up. We went back to the hotel to check-out and then caught a shuttle to Pipe Creek Vista. We

actually then did a 1.6 mile hike to the Visitor Center. I tracked the hike on my walking app. We went from a minimum of 7059 feet altitude to a maximum of 7194. It took 41 minutes but I'm so proud that I actually did it! Stacy, our trainer, would be proud too.

We took a shuttle back to our hotel, collected our things and then went to the train station. By then I was cooked. Everyone on the train was in good spirits. It was nice to see everyone so happy but I wished they would just shut-up! I read for a while and then 2 hours into the trip they announced that the train was going to be robbed. It was boarded by the same "gun slingers" and Marshall. Oy vey. I just stared at the floor and hoped they wouldn't try to "rob" Rick and I. Luckily, there were enough passengers who wanted to play along so they left us alone.

We arrived back to our hotel in Williams around 6:00, had some dinner, FaceTimed with Clementine, and organized our stuff for the trip to LA.

What an adventure we've had! It seems surreal that we are not returning to Leawood but beginning our new life in Los Angeles tomorrow. Thanks for coming along with us. Knowing that you are reading keeps me writing. I like having a record of our travel experiences and I probably wouldn't do it if you weren't there!

Tune in starting July 30 for the next segment of Travels with Karen and Rick when we head to France!

California Here We Come - Day Five

We had an ambitious schedule today and I'm exhausted so this post is going to be mostly pictures.

Our first stop was Meteor Crater. This first photo is in a courtyard. I loved the "window" which gave you some perspective about the countryside in which the meteor landed.

We saw a movie about the meteor/science of the crater and then took an hour long guided walk along the rim around a quarter of the way around the crater. Our guide was fantastic and not only gave us the history of the human interactions with the crater but also about the geology.

I've become amazingly unafraid of rock-climbing and heights in my old age. The last part of the walk was climbing on rocks to the edge of the crater. It was totally cool and the beauty of the rocks was incredible.

The wind died down today and the temperature was perfect!

Following Meteor Crater we drove to Sunset Crater National Monument. Sunset

Crater was formed from an erupting volcano around 1064. I have never seen lava fields and this was mind-blowing. The photos don't really show the lava but it was really diverse ranging from rock formations, large rocks, small pebbles, to fine sand.

Sunset Crater and Wupataki National Monuments were connected by an 18 mile beautiful drive in National Park Service property. The scenery was varied and included many views of the Painted Desert in the distance. There were acres of these light yellow grass meadows. I have no idea of whether the grasses were dried or flourishing. I just know that it was incredibly beautiful!

Wupataki National Monument contained several ruins of Native
American Pueblos that dated from 500-1200 a.d. We were able to climb among some of the ruins. It was hard to conceive that people lived here during and after the volcano eruption. 

 We then drove to Williams, AZ which took about 90 minutes. It is here that we will board the Grand Canyon Railway tomorrow morning for our ride to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I'm told that there is no internet access in the hotel rooms there so I will not be sending a blog post tomorrow night. We've seen so much beauty, I can't imagine what it will be like to see the canyon in person. I'll let you know!

California Here We Come - Day Four

Wow! What a great day we had. We left Santa Fe by 10am and headed toward Arizona and the Petrified Forest National Park. It was really windy on the road but do'able. We arrived at 1:00 or so and after watching a short video, we headed out.

We are now the proud owners of Senior Passes for all National Parks. For $10.00 each, we get in free to every park we visit! Such a deal!

Unless you are planning to take some serious hikes, you drive through this park. The first part is the Painted Desert and remains of a pueblo village used by Native Americans for six centuries. The road had many lookout points and short trails to take. I've seen the Painted Desert from the air when flying over it but it is nothing like seeing it in person. I can't describe how beautiful, other-worldly, and spiritual the scenery was. I'm a sucker for beauty. Everywhere we looked was more beautiful that the last.

The Native American ruins and petroglyphs were equally moving. It's hard to conceive of anyone living in these badlands (cue Bruce's song which ran through my head during the whole visit). The wind added to the desolated feel of the area. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was at least 45 miles per hour pretty steadily the whole time we were there. The gusts sometimes felt like they were going to blow me down. It was pretty exhausting being outside in the wind but very much worth it!

The drive through the park is 28 miles. It took a couple of hours (we stopped at every outlook) before we got to the petrified forest. The guidebook says that more than 200 million years ago trees clinging to eroding riverbanks fell into streams and were buried in floodplains. The trees were buried in sediment which contained silica and that silica replaced the wood until the logs were turned to stone. Erosion has exposed these logs. The vastness and number of logs over miles made it hard to believe that this wasn't just some movie set.

We stayed at the park until about 5:30pm and then hit the road for Flagstaff. On the way we stopped at Winslow, AZ. We couldn't resist finding the "corner" of Jackson Browne fame. What fun!

We are now in our hotel in Flagstaff and excited about tomorrow. We have three park visits planned before heading to Williams, AZ and the beginning of our Grand Canyon adventure. Life is good!

California Here We Come - Day Three

We left Littleton around 9:00am to make our way to Santa Fe, NM. We've had beautiful weather so far and got out of town just in time. The Denver area is expected to have a snowstorm Sunday morning!

The mountains were to our right most of the way to Santa Fe. Many are still snow-covered. Because Rick has never seen Taos or Santa Fe, we opted for a two-lane road for about half the drive instead of the highway. Some of it was slow-going, especially when the people in front of us were not into passing. At one point we passed this truck. I don't know whether the warning was true or just a way to discourage people from breaking in. (If you can't read it, the printing on the back of the truck says, "Caution, poisonous snakes!"

We decided to drive through Taos instead of stopping as it was very crowded with tourists. The scenery was more important to both of us. The highway followed the Rio Grande River. It flows rapidly at this point and many people were using it for rafting and kayaking. We just looked!

We drove through Georgia O'Keefe country into Santa Fe arriving around 5:00pm. It was a gorgeous evening and the town was filled with tourists strolling the Plaza area, listening to music, and window shopping. After checking into the La Fonda Hotel, we joined the throngs walking through the historic town center.

We had a light Mexican dinner of chicken tortilla soup and chips with salsa and guacamole. I very much enjoyed my margarita!

We came back to the hotel to plan our travels for tomorrow. We're on our way to Flagstaff, AZ by way of the Petrified Forest!

Talk to you manana!

California Here We Come - Day Two - May 9, 2014

Today's road led to Littleton, Colorado to visit my cousin, Alan. We haven't seen each other for 36 years. We hadn't really been in contact until recently when we connected through Facebook!

What a delight it was to spend time with Alan and his son, Andrew. It was as if no time
had elapsed since we were last together, shortly after Alissa's birth. I'm amazed at the memories that bubbled up as we reminisced. My short term memory sucks yet I can't believe I remembered the names of Alan's neighbors on Long Island when we were in elementary school.

In honor of the past we had amazing New York-style pizza for dinner and then sat outside on his deck talking until late.

California Here We Come - Day 1 - May 8, 2014

You are on this blog list because you expressed interest in reading one of my past travel blogs. It won't hurt my feelings if you aren't interested anymore. Just let me know and I'll remove you from the mailing list.

 

As you know, we are heading to Los Angeles to begin the next chapter of our lives. I decided to keep a record of our trip west and here it is!

Hanging from my neck is a chain with a pendant that on one side says, “Life is short” and the other side says, “enjoy the ride.” That is my motto although I sometimes am not so good at the enjoy the ride part. I’m determined to take it literally though as we make our way to Los Angeles and what's to come.

The past weeks have been tough as we tried to organize what to take and what would fit in the car. We are staying in a furnished apartment for the first three months so we will need limited items from home. The stress this morning seemed to ease (maybe it was self-preservation) as the car was loaded and last minute items checked off the list. I will admit that I never thought Rick could pack all the stuff we were taking in our little Prius but he did. The only thing we ended up leaving behind was the printer.

We left Leawood at 12:30 with the first stop on our itinerary in Topeka. I’ve been collecting photos of all the homes I’ve lived in and the street signs where they are located. We drove around Topeka to the two apartment and two houses where Max and I lived those first ten years in Kansas. What memories were stirred up.

After a fast food lunch (Rick wanted to stop at a nice restaurant in Topeka…I didn’t know of any!), we headed out on I-70. The Flint Hills were just as I remembered, very beautiful. The remains of the spring burning was still evident in some places.

The first thing that really was remarkable was a wind farm that went on forever. I find the windmills beautiful for some reason. It may be that they remind me of Europe.  The windmills were followed by miles of oil wells. What a contrast of technologies. The windmills have my vote, if anything for aesthetic reasons, let alone care for our environment.

Our trip to Colby was made more interesting and enlightening by our listening to three podcasts of the TED Radio Hour. If you aren’t listening to these, you are missing out on some really cool stuff.