Rough Terrain, Eh

Western Expedition 2021

    Our story begins like everyone else's "We had grand plans for 2020.... then the pandemic hit".  This trip was firming up in early 2020.  We planned a National Park loop for Genna's 4th grade year (Every Kid in a Park) since she has always had a desire to see Yellowstone. Google was mapped, spreadsheets were tallied, campsites in popular parks were booked, and All Trails was consulted.  When Covid hit we wavered until the last minute and eventually canceled those August dates. Thankfully all sites had generous cancellation policies in 2020.  We were fairly Covid cautious, so cancelling was prudent.  Some parks, like Yellowstone and the Tetons counted more recreational visits in August 2020 than 2019.  We were resolved to stay out of the fray and expand the garden instead.  

    In early 2021, halfway into a fully virtual school year, we wondered if we should reschedule our trip for this summer.  Every Kid in a Park had extended its free pass to 5th graders this year due to the Pandemic and Genna had even studied the wolves of Yellowstone in her science curriculum this year.  I let the advance booking windows come and go as we left many what-if boxes unchecked all spring.  What would Jeff's work obligations be? What would we do with the garden?  Would the Boyan Grandparents be able to come to Michigan (to watch the garden!)? What was up with vaccines and the peaks and waves of Covid?  

    In mid-April the eldest 3 of us were vaccinated and Jeff had a summer gig with 2 farm garden outfits which he felt obligated to see through the season.  As soon as he floated the idea of making it a girls-only trip, I immediately engaged Mom (AKA, Babçia) to see if she was in.  I think I took his offer faster than he expected and just like that, Papa was out and Babçia was in.  

    

    There were some route changes from the original 2020 itinerary.  Rocky Mountain National Park was combating overcrowding with ticketed entries and had no more reservable summer campsites by April. Routing through northern Colorado would have enabled stops at Dinosaur National Monument and my old CCO haunts near Snow Mountain Ranch.  Last year we would have also stayed in a covered wagon at the Ingalls Homestead in South Dakota, as Genna had just finished bingeing the book and TV series.  

    With RMNP out of contention, I came across the Snowy Range area of Medicine Bow National Forest in southern Wyoming.  It was the perfect addition to the loop and was more off the beaten path of popular National Parks.  I specifically wanted to add some genuine backpacking to our car-camping itinerary.  With the change in my co-pilot, I tried to find trails that were both grandma, tween, and flatlander friendly.... and fretted about those choices endlessly.  Our dates were pinned in by the meager availability of campsites left in Yellowstone and the Tetons.  I quickly booked all the sites possible for the first 2 weeks in August.  With that, I present the following trip report, fondly remembered as, "Rough Terrain, Eh"

Babçia, co-pilot.  

First in the rotation of music selectors - oldest to youngest.  

We learned many new country songs.

Utah Spring Break 2018

This post is brought to you by everykidoutdoors.gov

This is the Spring of Maya's 4th grade year and we are happily taking advantage of the program that gives 4th graders National Park Passes to use for a year!

3/25/18, Day 1: Kalamazoo to Omaha, Nebraska.  We passed a lot of ice in Iowa and many hours-old slide-offs.
We gave in and rigged up an i-Pad movie theatre loaded with some Hoopla Movies for the long drives.  A sequence of reading, spelling, and homework had to be completed to earn screen time.  We are skipping a week of school to make this a 2-week Spring Break, so we have some make-up work to travel with.  Hotel Pool in Omaha was closed.  😢

3/26, Day 2: Omaha to Denver.  Saw hundreds of Sand Hill Cranes in fields of Nebraska.  A sign in Kearney proclaimed "S.H.C. Capital of the World." Obviously!

The clouds cleared past Denver just enough for the girls to get a glimpse of the Front Range.  Coors Brewery Tour was closed.  Hotel Pool up and running!  The girls went for a 6am swim to let Papa sleep in the next day.

3/27, Day 3: Woke up to 2" of snow in Lakewood, CO.  The drive over the Rockies was sunny and glorious.  Genna snapped many peak photos from her window.  

4000 miles total.  It took us nearly 1400 miles just to arrive at our first camping location, Colorado National Monument, outside Grand Junction.

Maya pointing out the Coke Ovens formation at Colorado National Monument.  We only spent one night here and did a quick driving tour of the park in the afternoon.  The Saddlehorn campground had some neat sandstone buttes to climb through caves and rock flakes.  

3/28, Day 4: Goblin Valley State Park.  I have always wanted to come here..... so have thousands - it was very crowded!  There are no trail routes, you are free to wander the Goblins and discover secret nooks and crannies. 

The girls discovered a small cave that tiny people could exit through the ceiling.  This was not the famed Goblin's Lair.  

Maya!

Antelope Crossing!

Goblin Valley had one (expensive) campsite available when we arrived, but we opted to free-camp on the adjacent BLM land and found this sweet spot on babbling Horse Creek for 2 nights.  The second night got down in the 30ºs. 

The campsite had neighbors from Denver with 2 girls ages 10 and 11.  Our girls played with them for hours and after dinner we all went back to Goblin Valley to run around.

3/29, Day 5: Entering Little Wild Horse Canyon.
It's a popular slot canyon outside Goblin Valley, thus a busy place.  We made our way around the whole loop finishing through Bell Canyon, which made it a tiring 8 mile day for the girls.   So many canyons cut into the San Rafael Swell here to explore in the future.  Ended the day with an ice-cream provisioning trip (30 miles) to Hanksville. 

3/30, Day 6.  There is so much to explore at Capitol Reef National Park.  We'll definitely be back.  It is a drive-by park for many on their way between the more famous Zion and Arches - but there are many backcountry roads and trails to discover in this long narrow band of the Waterpocket Fold.  The drive through Capitol Gorge was incredible.  We were too late to get a spot in the Park campground, so we BLM'd a lackluster spot off Cottonwood Wash on Notom-Bullfrog Road.  

Lackluster campsite, aside, Jeff did snap some lovely moonrise photos over the Henry Mountains, a feature we circumnavigated during the trip.

3/31, Day 7: Day hike in Sheets Gulch. 
Genna, what's wrong with this picture?

A very cool Arch in Sheets Gulch, described as a bowstring, looked like an elephant trunk.

We finished the day at our mid-trip hotel to break up the 8 nights of camping. The showers and beds were a welcome respite.  To get to Ticaboo we finished the scenic drive south down the Fold all the way to Bullfrog Marina at northern Lake Powell.  Ticaboo is a one-horse town 15 minutes north of the Marina that caters to Lake tourists and ORV renters.  Here we diagnosed that our stove was not going to be reliable for the rest of the trip.  The readily-available Colman gas canisters were not compatible with our MSR stove - so we are on cold meals until we can get to a real camping outfitter in Moab.

4/1, Easter, Day 8: Maidenwater Canyon is a  short and sweet little slot north of Ticaboo.  This is the non-technical side.  Genna wants to do some roped routes with me next time.  She'll have to save her allowance for a guide service!

There was more than a little moaning and groaning about the amount of hiking, but the girls' Easter card to me admitted that they enjoy adventures in slot canyons... however pale it is in comparison to the all-inclusive, private yacht, beachy vacations they are spoiled with.

Since the Bullfrog Car Ferry was not running on Sundays, we revised our itinerary into Natural Bridges National Monument.  It was a very pleasant diversion.  This is a small Monument (next door to the infamous Bear's Ears) - and is not really on a through route from anywhere, so it was rather uncrowded and we easily got a campsite.  We did the scenic drive and hiked around the oldest Bridge: Owachomo. 

4/2, Day 9: Newspaper Rock, near Indian Creek, HYW 211.

We had originally planned 3 nights in Moab, but were getting increasingly wary of the rumored busy-ness of the popular town, coupled with the difficulty in securing campsites.  Last week was a huge Jeep Rally, and we wanted that traffic to clear out.  Since we did not get a super early start on the day to head to Moab, we decided to put in a night at Canyonlands, Needles District.  

Slickrock Trail, Canyonlands, Needles District

Surprised to find a little water in the potholes.  It did cloud up this afternoon, but we never saw rainfall.

Met another playmate in the Squaw Flat Campground.  The Canadian family showed us a cool route up the campground Buttes. 

4/3, Day 10: Jeff's first impression of Moab was that it was too busy and overused by ORV enthusiasts and other adventure seekers.  It didn't help that we attempted to get a campsite at Sand Flats which caters to off-roaders and mountain bikers, as there are several specifically designated trails for each here.  But we got a decently quiet spot with a friendly threesome of brother 4-Runner neighbors.

Corona Arch
(swinging is now banned - but you can clearly see the rope burns on the other side of the arch.)

In the afternoon, we stopped to gawk at the climbers on Wall Street, then spontaneously decided to drive up to the Islands in the Sky District of Canyonlands, since we'd never been there (Have Passport - Must get stamps!).  The girls barely wanted to get out of the car by now, so we did a short hike and saw some scenic overlooks.  Made me want to study the explorations of J.W. Powell in greater detail and perhaps retrace some of his route (although not via rapids - I do not do cold water.)
We also have to make it to the Maze District some day.

4/4, Day 11: The final camping day was spent at Arches National Park.  Of course it was crowded, but you gotta do it.  We arrived at the Visitor's Center at 8am and were still among the throngs hiking to Delicate Arch in the morning.  We lunched at the Devil's Garden picnic area and closed the day with the Landscape Arch hike.  If we ever come again, we'll have to investigate the Fiery Furnace permits.

4/5, Day 12: Drove from Moab to Lakewood (Denver) with a lunch picnic in Glenwood Canyon.  Made it just in time for the Coors Brewery tour.  The smell of rotting grains was worth the free sodas at the end, or beer if you're so inclined.  

Patronized the Baymont Pool again and found Pho for dinner.

4/6, Day 13: Jeff is down with Maya's head cold from last week... Genna's from 2 weeks ago.  So I got to do my only bit of driving.  We opted to go the Kansas route as the I-80 Corridor was forecasted with snow.  Stopped in KC, MO for the night.

4/7, Day 14: Through Missouri and central IL, finally arrived home on Saturday evening.

Post-Trip musings....

• Jeff is on to van-camper research, for retirement options.
• The girls are wondering when we will go to the boat next. (although Genna is still interested in trying technical canyoneering.)
• I look forward to the next time I can get the old Kelsey guidebook off the shelf and plan the next Grand Circle Tour.  

LINKS:

• We got addicted to Jamal Green's You-tube channel.  This dude has walked all over southern Utah.  What a lifestyle goal!  
• Blogger, Andrew Wojtanik, is a previous staffer at Capitol Reef National Park and has tons of great info and trail guides for the area.
• Richard Pattison is a British-Ozzie mountaineer that has several great videos on Utah's canyon country.  When we watched them we actually commented that there was a surprising amount of information!   (unlike most of the vacation videos posted on any particular trail.)  I couldn't get anyone to do Chambers with me, based on his video.
• We did use the freecampsites.net for several areas.
• And of course NPS.gov has all the links to all the National Parks.... while they're still open.

#SorryNotSorry Michigan

After living here 12 years, we finally trekked to the promised land of Mitten State Snowflakes.  The Upper Peninsula!!!!!   Our trip included the 3rd most voluminous waterfall east of the Mississippi (OOOOH!), the largest surface area freshwater lake in the world (Gasp!), and the the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere (wow!).

I think the experience clinched the fact that Michigan is just not our thing.  If you enjoy trees and lakes and miles upon miles of trees and lakes and trees, then this is paradise.  When it comes to outdoor rec, we'll save our vacation budget for the wild west.

The girls are only allowed to have a fire if they scavenge enough wood from empty campsites.

Lower Falls campground @ Tahquamenon State Park was crowded, loud, and densely spaced. I think it is this busy throughout summer even when it is not 4th of July week.  During mid-day cars would back-up on Highway 123 to access the 2 entrances.  The few hiking trails were muddy and buggy while the campground and Falls areas were mysteriously bug free.  Perhaps they bomb them.  We visited the semi-modern Rivermouth Campground of the State Park and noticed the layout was much better with many river sites and less people.  There are also some signed Forest Service campgrounds in the general area which would have perhaps been more primitive.  

Beach Vaulting at Whitefish Point

Hitchhikers at Whitefish Point did not further endear the area to the Carrolls.

We booked 3 nights at the Tahquamenon Falls campground.  There is not 3 days of stuff to do there - so we made an unplanned daytrip to Munising to the fabled Pictured Rocks.  I had high hopes that this scenic wonder would satisfy my interest in rock outcroppings and redeem Michigan's geologic wonder cred.  We dayhiked Munising Falls and then wandered east to the Chapel Falls/Rock/Beach hike.  The hike was pleasant, surprisingly light on mosquitos, and the falls at the halfway point were nice.  The trail let out where the unusually warm creek met Lake Superior.  The surrounding beach featured views of the "Grand Portal Point" area of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  

Warm Chapel Creek tumbles into Lake Superior.

We passed through Sault St. Marie on the way back to St. Ignace on 4th of July.  The girls were totally uninterested in the Soo Locks, but Jeff and I felt adequately informed by the interpretation at the visitors center.  Our last night was camped at The Straits State Park on the point north of the Mackinac Bridge.  We went into St. Ignace for a nice fireworks display.

Meditating above the Mighty Mac.

Our final report card on the U.P.  = meh
I don't think we feel like we need to come back.  Sorry Porcupines & Isle Royal.


From now on I'll be working on this sweet Grand Circle Road Trip for Spring Break 2018.

route TBD

Mom Camping

Last year the girls and Jeff did a weekend of Dad Camping at Fort Custer.  This year we had a girls weekend at Gun Lake and Yankee Springs while Papa was on a work trip to Washington DC.  

A cool Preying Mantis on our beach shade

#ShadowSelfie

Since Mom bans campfires, we had to improvise with Nutella Smores.

Baby Toads!  Everywhere!

Southwest Chief

Do you have a while?  This is a long post.  Best suited to retirees or those stuck on a boat with nothing better to do.  Most pics from this trip are posted at this link.   

click pics for link to album

We started Summer 2015 with an eagerly anticipated trip to the Colorado Plateau.  A million thanks to Grandpa Carroll for gifting us train tickets for this awesome journey.  Departure was scheduled for the day after Maya finished 1st Grade.  Good thing there were no snow days added to the end of the school year!

Thursday, June 11
Departed Kalamazoo via "Wolverine" route to Chicago.
Enjoyed a 3-hour layover in Chicago.
Spent the first night on the Amtrak in 2 Sleeper "Roomettes."  Maya bunked with Papa.  Mini, of course, went with Mama.  Genna opted to spend half the night on the bottom (larger) bunk and then switched me half way through.  Not much sleep was had on our first night.  The highlight was dessert!

Friday, June 12
Having passed most of Kansas overnight, the morning brought us into the West and a corner of Colorado where we slowly worked our way over Raton Pass at the New Mexico Border.  A couple volunteer NPS "Rails and Trails" Rangers peppered the Observation Car with commentary of the view for 400 miles this day. We were slightly behind schedule as we rolled into Albuquerque and made the final leg to Flagstaff.  About an hour and a half late, we de-trained after 10pm and hit the hotel.  The Carrolls and Zubkos generously met us at the depot to leave us with Courtney's truck.

Saturday, June 13
We spent a bit of the morning exploring our old haunts around FLG and NAU.  Much of it is unrecognizable and the campus seems quite crowded with buildings, parking garages and new housing.  The traffic is terrible.
Donna and Arni graciously invited us to their summer home in Mund's Park, 20 minutes south of FLG.  This has become a frequent retreat of Courtney and Paula and we'd heard much about it.  It was as nice as advertised.  They even welcomed the Gatson Family to join us for a BBQ so we could make the most of our AZ reunion.  A highlight for the girls was meeting Courtney's dog, Cooper.  He is a relatively big dog and they eventually warmed up to him and gained some much needed confidence in canine company.  By the end of the weekend they were fighting over who could hold his leash.

A drizzly walk in the woods with the Gatsons

Sunday, June 14
The girls checked out the hotel pool with Papa in the morning while I hit the store for some camp provisioning.  In the afternoon we met up with the rest of the Zubkos in Mund's Park again.

I am available for trip routing consultations.

Monday, June 15 (208 driving miles today)
We wanted to leave early to get on the road for our longest milage day of a week-long camping trip "up north".  When we arrived at Peace Surplus to pick up our rental gear (tent, bags, pads, stove), they leisurely accumulated the pieces of our order before we could get on our way up to "The Canyon" as the dude assumed.  Ok, so he was right, but we were merely passing through the GRAND CANYON en route to one of our favorite spots in the area.
Of course the Grand Canyon is amazing and we wanted the girls to see it and check it off their list.  But it can be a little too grand and inaccessible, especially if you can't get away from the crowds and explore below the rim quite a ways.  We're not ashamed to say we did a quick drive by tour, got our stamps, and got on the 64 (AKA Desert View Drive) east towards Cameron.  That is a gorgeous drive with great views of the Little Colorado River Gorge which most visitors to the Park do not use.  It also facilitates a pit stop at the Cameron Trading Post which is a great place for Native jewelry, ice cream, or both!
Our desired destination for the day was Lee's Ferry.  In Marble Canyon, it is the beginning of the Grand Canyon and you can get right down to the river at the confluence of the Paria.  This was the only location we could not pre-reserve a campsite, so we were slightly worried about arriving early for accommodations, but we rolled up to a half empty campground.

As you can see, this is the worst dinner Genna has ever had (Pepperoni Ciabatta Pizza).
I don't know, the view's not that bad.

Tuesday, June 16 (113 driving miles today)
Did you know the sun comes up at 4:30 Arizona Time?  Fun Fact.  So if you don't sleep well while camping, you don't have to wait long for morning!

     One of our favorite day hikes is right here in Lee's Ferry.  I think we have done it twice before, sans kids.    Cathedral Wash is a minor drainage to the Colorado River from the north.  We had heard that there had been a lot of rain in this area a week or so before our trip and even flooding of the Paria.  However, due to the ephemeral nature of desert "streams" we figured enough time had passed for things to dry up.  In Cathedral, some full puddles presented minor difficulty, but later into the week, excess leftover water had greater impact on our itinerary.
     In this wash, there are several areas where the canyon narrows at a drop off or a puddle will span wall to wall (maybe 3-4 feet) but will be longer than is possible to jump.  Now, who's afraid of a little puddle?  Well, as they are typically the color of chocolate milk and the lack of vegetation in the area eliminates the option of poking a stick to the bottom - we didn't want to ruin our day by stepping in to discover the phenomena of liquefaction.  Quicksand is REAL, people!  Due to some geological luck in these areas, you can typically find your way past a puddle or even a 2 story choke-stoned drop by skirting the obstacle on a side cliff.  The girls loved this part and did quite well.  Genna's penchant for running EVERYWHERE made some passes unnerving.  Even when everyone is dead tired and dehydrated, the girl needs to be reminded to use her "walking feet".
     The end of the 1.5 mile wash deposits you on the banks of the Colorado River, cold and clear from recently passing under the Glen Canyon Dam.  It is so cold I could hardly step up to my ankles for more than 10 seconds.  But this was a very hot day (honestly hotter than we hoped AZ would be in mid-June.......what were we smoking?) and everyone enjoyed splashing around in the 'Rado and even more so in the light flow that had materialized at the end of Cathedral Wash to be a proper "stream".  Here was a place to properly experiment with the quicksand and find clay in the banks.  We even discovered possible California Condor tracks.  (See pic, compared to size 10 foot).
     The hike out was blistering.  The final puddle jump turned out to be our undoing, as we could not pass it above the way we did on the way in.  Instead we opted for an equally sketchy climb out of a hanging side wash.  Obviously we lived to tell about it.  But this morning heat was doing us in!  Genna and I got some rad elbow rock-rash to show for it.

     We proceded to drive the rest of the afternoon to Zion National Park.  What a lovely drive over the Kaibab Plateau.  I'd never been this way.  The girls were so tired and restless by then and were playing a game called "If you drink it (the water bottle), you will die!" so they missed the awesomeness of the Zion Tunnel.  Finally we arrived at our campsite and collapsed in a nap proceeded to round out the day with burrito making, hacky sack, ranger program, junior ranger swearing-in, and splashing in the creek.  "No rest for the weary" is our motto!

Wednesday, June 17 (105 driving miles today)
     The morning was deceptively cool.  We almost second guessed the idea to take the Park bus north to The Narrows.  We were positively chilly on the 1 mile Riverwalk into Canyon.  When we got to the Virgin River Narrows, we waded across a few knee-deep crossings and then turned back, which was all I suspected we would accomplish.  You can't really get farther without getting quite wet with little people (or cold-adverse people).  By the time we were turning around, mid-morning, it was HOT again.  We had kept an eye on the temps in the weeks leading up to the trip.  They seemed reasonable, in the 90ºs or so.  It's a dry heat, of course (wink, wink).  However, we paid less attention to the forecast, in which this would be the first week of temps rising to 100º.
     On the way to Lake Powell we stopped at the Big Water Ranger Station.  His report on Buckskin Gulch (one jewel in the crown of our week) was that there were waist deep potholes at the confluence, if you could even get through Wire Pass's new large chokestones.  It sounded beyond our means for this trip.  By the time we got to the SHADELESS Wahaweap Marina Campground at Lake Powell we were toast.  It was all we could do to rustle up our bathing suits and high tail it to the complimentary pool at the adjacent hotel-resort.  While there, we thought about revising our itinerary which was supposed to entail Dan and Courtney meeting us the following afternoon so we could do Buckskin on Friday morning, camp a third night here and hike Waterholes Canyon south of Page (another gem we wanted to show off to the Phoenicians) on the way back to FLG on Saturday.
     Faced with Buckskin being out due to conditions and the unbearable heat we threw in the towel.  We could not bring ourselves to have Dan and Courtney drive 4 hours to this shade-forsaken country for a one night stand and morning turn-around for one short (but sweet) slot canyon.  We agreed with them to rendezvous in the Pines and have our campout in Flagstaff.  Tough decisions call for scrapping campsite dinner for a Mexican Restaurant.  (sounds like 2000 LTP staff training trip).

Thursday, June 18 (140 driving miles today)
     In the relative cool of the morning we could handle a few excursions on our way out of town.  First stop was the Hanging Gardens Trail north of the Dam.  A nice short slickrock trail lead to a shady moist oasis.  On the way back, we stopped to discover life in some temporary potholes.  Our guess was horseshoe crabs.  It took 3 staff persons at the Dam Visitor Center to tell us the same.

When we got home, we got out this kit Maya had been saving for warm weather.  The creatures, TRIOPS, are exactly what we observed in the potholes at Lake Powell.  NOT Horseshoe Crabs. 

    A nearby sign and Ranger alerted us to the fact that there was lake access further up the driveway, so we made a unplanned stop to check it out.  We hadn't been to the Lake yet and the whole reason we chose this area to camp was because swimming is such a perk for the girls.  The area, known as "The Chains".  It was a nice little swimming area with a slickrock beach.  We even found a piece of shade that lasted the morning.  Surprisingly the water temperature was even tolerable to ME!  It nearly made us re-think bailing on Page.
     But alas, we were on the road back to FLG.  The girls were promised a return visit to Cameron Trading Post, but we rushed them through for popsicles and earrings and aimed towards the Peaks.   We met up with Dan and Courtney, did some restocking of the cooler and found a site in the Coconino National Forest near the Lava Tubes, and tucked in for a very chilly night. (Be careful what you wish for!)

Friday, June 19
     In the morning, everyone but me went off down the road to explore the Lava Tubes.  I sat out due to our limited flashlight supply.  After an hour Jeff called to say Dan cut his head badly and would swing by for me to check it out on the way to the ER.  According to Maya it was bad.  Obviously I was not about to check it out.  The boys went into town for some scalp gluing and the girls stayed behind for card games in the dust.  The forest made crunching sounds as you walked around.  Everything is parched.
     When the guys returned we all motored over to Snowbowl to consider a sky ride and have ice cream.  Sky ride was a no-go, but Dan and I got to stay behind for a pleasant hike while the others killed some time at a playground downhill.

Saturday, June 20
This concludes the camping portion of our journey.  Lessons learned:
-It is super hot in Arizona (and Utah) in June.  Don't kid yourself.
-Slot Canyons are a fickle plaything.  When is a more stable time to visit them?  Maybe October?
-When trip planning, try not to include 100-200 miles of driving EVERY DAY.  While it is historically Carroll-travel 101, in reality it is tedious.
-Bring your own shade to Lake Powell.
-Bring sleeping pills.  I'm getting too old for sleeping on the ground.
-La Fonda is very busy for lunch on Saturdays.
-Next trip is Moab.  Who's in?

Saturday evening we had a lovely reunion with many Flagstaff friends and their children.  So good to see the Turkos, Coopers, and Joe.  I am pretty sure Jeff told them all we are retiring there in 13 years (immediately after Genna's H.S. Graduation Party) so I guess that is our next planned reunion. 

Sunday, June 21
We celebrated Father's Day by taking ourselves down Oak Creek Canyon to Slide Rock State Park.  Scratch that, we were the first car in line to be turned away due to a full parking lot.  So GRASSHOPPER POINT for the save!  There is a little and big cliff there to jump in to the creek and  Maya was the brave soul among us who went for it (off the little cliff) into the ice cold creek.  After that it was back to Mund's Park for a pleasant dinner with the Zubkos and Carrolls (minus Genna, who slept through dinner).




Monday, June 22
Set our alarms for 4:00am to catch the good old Southwest Chief out of town.  Once again the Kansas leg was mostly overnight and I think everyone slept better.  Sadly they were out of ice cream.

Tuesday, June 23
We arrived back in Kalamazoo around 9:30pm.  Genna and Maya thought they had forgotten what our house looked like.  Upon our return the biggest perk has been that the girls sleep in till 8 or 9am.  AND.... we did get home in time for mulberries and blackberries!



Thank you again to Grandpa and Courtney!  Your help was invaluable!  Love you!!!!