The rain moved out as forecast and today was beautiful … low 80s and sunny. In the early afternoon we gathered at my sister’s and brother-in-law’s place for a family photo. We couldn’t find a local studio that could accommodate our large group (12 people) at a convenient time so we decided to do it ourselves in the backyard. It only took 4 or 5 timed shots with my mom’s Nikon SLR to get the perfect picture of all of us.
We gathered again, later in the evening, at Clague Park in Westlake for fireworks. We had a picnic lunch sitting around on blankets and lawn chairs as the sun set. Of course, we had to have some fun with sparklers while waiting:
The big show was fantastic! It had to have been about 40 minutes and the grand finale was tremendous. I was able to get some cool shots with the “Fireworks” mode on my Canon PowerShot SD600, like this one:
We went to breakfast at First Watch with my brother before he headed to work then headed over to my sister’s place to meet my new niece (the major reason for this road trip). We were planning on taking the girls to the Cleveland Zoo, but the chilly temperatures and constant rain changed our plans for us. At the mall we had some photos taken of the two cousins together before meeting my mom for a late lunch and then doing some shopping. On the way back to our hotel, we swung past Mapleside Farms, home of the Johnny Appleseed festival in the fall and a favorite hangout of ours when we lived in the area (apples fresh off the tree are wonderful).
Later that evening I picked up my other sister and her boyfriend, who had just flown in from Chicago, at the airport. The three of us had a really late dinner (10:30pm) at the Cheesecake Factory. I tried the chipotle chicken pasta (I usually get the orange chicken or crusted romano chicken), which was spicy and delicious, and finished the meal off with a slice of Kahlua coffee cheesecake, also fantastic.
The rain is supposed to be gone for tomorrow’s July 4th celebrations, so hopefully fireworks are still in order.
We spent today in the City of Brotherly Love: Philadelphia, PA … our first day without any serious driving since last Saturday.
The day started at the Independence Visitor Center after which we just started walking around the historic downtown area. Check out this great ad (to the let) for an iPod-assisted walking tour of Signers’ Hall in Constitution Center. In the gift shop of the museum, I found t-shirts sporting four black presidential silhouettes (Franklin, Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson I think) rocking out with their distinctive white earbuds. I wonder if Apple is aware of that? 😉
In the Christ Church burial ground we saw Benjamin Franklin’s grave and my daughter went on a scavenger hunt to find the seven signers of the Declaration of Independence buried there. Four more (besides Franklin) were in the cemetary: Francis Hopkinson, Joseph Hewes, George Ross, and Dr. Benjamin Rush. We had to walk over to the church proper to find the other two: Robert Morris and James Wilson.
Next was the Liberty Bell, of course. In its new location in the Liberty Bell center, it rests with a beautiful backdrop of Independence Hall viewed through a massive glass wall. Very cool.
Our final stop was at the U.S. Mint. Unfortunately, no cameras (or camera phones!) are allowed in the building so we had to go back to the car to drop everything off before heading back for the tour. After a long hallway of historical information and objects, you’re suddenly looking through windows down into the huge factory-like area where the coiled sheets of metal are loaded into huge machines that stamp out the blank coins. The blanks are whisked away in little buckets on conveyor belts to the stampers where they are imprinted with the proper signage. It was amazing to see what looked like millions of blank copper pennies shooting by below us.
After all of this walking we were starved, so we drove over to the Reading Terminal Market for lunch. My daughter and I split a cheese steak at Rick’s (her first one) … mmmm! After dining we shopped around in the market, picking up some fresh fruit and seafood for dinner back at my brother-in-law’s and sister-in-law’s 1887 Victorian home in Cheyney, PA (during our visit, I learned that my brother-in-law runs a blog about Victorian furniture called Rare Victorian, neat!)
This week we’re on vacation: a road trip that will take us 3,000 miles up the east coast of the United States, over to Ohio, and back to Florida in the next 10 days. I’ll be blogging the “highlights” when I can via my Eee.
We left the Tampa area right after work this evening and headed over to Orlando since my in-laws were there for the 2008 Kiwanis Convention. Check out the sweet “ghetto blaster” we found in our hotel room!
The last full day of vacation is always the worst … you try to enjoy it, but you still know that tomorrow you’re going home.
We spent the morning and early afternoon in Old Town, the historical section of downtown Albuquerque. These quiet, shade streets are lined with quaint little shops and art galleries and other neat stuff to look at.
We had lunch at La Hacienda, one of the local restaurants famous for its chimichangas (and I will vouch that they are good). The sopapillas that came with our meal were also delicious.
By 1:00pm we had exhausted what Old Town had to offer. Without any other definite plans, we did a little relaxing at the hotel room, and drove around to see the University of New Mexico and Kirtland Air Force Base.
We’ve got an early flight back tomorrow, so it’s dinner and early to bed.
Like last Friday, when this all began, today was a travel day, with the goal being to make it back to Albuquerque. We checked out of the hotel and left Flagstaff at 9:00am (see a pattern here?) and headed east on I-40.
Our first stop was at the Meteor Crater. Formed over 50,000 years ago when a meteorite about 150 feet across impacted with Earth at 40,000mph, the resulting crater about 400 feet deep and a mile across in the middle of the flat Arizona desert. After seeing the Grand Canyon, you can only look at a hole in the ground for so long, so we spent about 30 minutes going through the adjoining museum dedicated to astro-geology, meteor craters, and the astronaut program (all of the Apollo astronauts trained at the crater before going to the moon).
We got back onto I-40 and continued west for a little while more until we came to the Petrified Forest National Park. We drove on a small winding road through the Arizona desert for about 20 miles before we finally got to the park itself. Our first view of the petrified wood came as we hiked the Long Logs trail. The rangers and signs remind you that taking petrified wood from the park is a crime punishable by a $275,000 fine and possible prison time. We could see why people want to take these rocks … they look like old wood, but have so many colors in them (from trace chemicals left when the trees were fossilized).
We continued through the park through the Painted Desert, another beautiful sight, and eventually made it back to I-40. We continued on to Albuquerque and made it to the hotel around 6:00pm. Dinner was at The County Line, a barbeque place near the Sandia Peak Tramway, the largest tram in the world that goes up the side of the Sandia Mountain. A dip in the pool back at the hotel rounded out the evening.
Our only planned adventure for today was to get back to Flagstaff and visit the Lowell Observatory. We left Phoenix at 9:00am and headed north on I-17. Based on suggestions from friends and colleagues, we decided to detour off to visit Sedona and Red Rock Country.
We took Arizona 179 north off of I-17 and headed into the mountains and soon saw the red rock formations that Sedona is famous for: Bell Rock, Courthouse Rock, Cathedral Rock, and many others. Glancing through the Guidebook, we made a stop at the Holy Cross Chapel, a church built high up on the side of one of the mountains and made to look as if it is growing out of the rock itself.
Lunch was had on the shaded balcony of The Hideaway restaurant (again, based on advice from our Guidebook) overlooking more of the beautiful countryside.
Having the Ford Explorer, we tried a little off-roading, taking an unpaved road up to Schnebly’s Vista. As we left the paved road, a sign read: passenger cars not recommended, and we soon discovered why. The rocky road was incredible bumpy and rough, but the views it took us to were incredible.
After having our fill of the red rocks, we headed north on Arizona 89A through Oak Creek Canyon, a road which has several hairpin turn switchbacks as it winds back up the mountains out of the canyon. We eventually met back up with I-17 and continued into Flagstaff.
We checked into the hotel, rested a bit, went driving through historic downtown Flagstaff on US Route 66, had dinner at a local Denny’s, and then headed up to the Lowell Observatory for the night show.
The Observatory is situated up in the hills above Flagstaff and is famous for the discovery of the planet Pluto. After a 30-minute presentation on what you could see in tonight’s night sky, our group headed out the Clark telescope dome. The 24″ telescope (and the dome it is housed in) is 104 years old and would cost $7 million to replace. While waiting in line to look through the Clark, we were able to look through a smaller, 10″ telescope pointed at a binary star system in the handle of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). The larger telescope was pointed at the near-full moon and we were able to see some fantastic craters on the surface. It was a beautiful clear night, and we even caught a glimpse of a shooting star.
Holy Cross chapel in Sedona
red rocks viewed from the chapel
off-roading to Schnebly’s Vista
cacti are everywhere
more of the red rock formations
the switchbacks of Arizona 89A out of Oak Creek Canyon
Now we know why they call it the Valley of the Sun. The 85 degrees of the Grand Canyon seemed downright cool next to the 110 degrees we experienced today. The heat doesn’t seem to bother the locals, however.
Our only plans for today involved the Phoenix Zoo, which we departed to around 8:30am. The zoo is incredible … full of wandering trails (easy to forget where you’ve been and where you haven’t, though), great exhibits, and natural wildlife (butterflies, hummingbirds, ground squirrels, lizards, etc.). We managed to see almost everything in the three hours we were there, but eventually the extreme heat forced us to find a more favorable clime …
… the outlet mall, where else? Guided by Terri’s “mall radar” (and the Arizona Guidebook) we made our way to a newer indoor outlet mall a few miles from the zoo. We wandered around in air conditioned comfort for a while before heading back to the hotel.
Vacation is best when you don’t have a schedule, and today proved to be one of those days. An afternoon nap and a load of laundry, we went to dinner at a quaint little Italian restaurant in Scottsdale (with excellent tiramisu) and then turned in for the night.
Today we had all to ourselves. It started with an early breakfast at the Maswik Lodge cafeteria. We then checked out of the Lodge and headed back to the Canyon’s rim.
We ended up walking most of the Southern Rim Trail, from the Kolb Studio all the way to the Yavpai Observation Station … with stops at the Visitor’s Center, general store, and other sites along the way. A grand total of maybe 4 miles. Doesn’t sound like much, but in 85+ degree weather at 7,000+ feet elevation, it was quite a workout.
We grabbed some sandwiches at the general store and caught a shuttle bus to the Western Rim Trail. We found a scenic spot to have a brief picnic lunch, followed by some more hiking on the rim trails.
Eventually, at 3:00pm, we headed back to the train station to catch the train back to Williams. This time we were in Observation Class, a glass-domed second level of one of the first-class cars. Quite a view. On the way back to Williams the train was stopped and boarded by outlaw cowboys who tried to rob most of the passengers. Thank goodness for the marshal and his men who rounded the scoundrels up and saved us all.
Returning to Williams, we grabbed our luggage from the train, threw it back into the Explorer waiting for us in the parking lot, and hit the highway for Phoenix.
The drive continued to be stunning as we drove through the mountains, descending over 5,000 feet in a little over an hour and a half. Pausing briefly at a rest stop to watch the sun set behind the mountains, we pushed on and arrived at our hotel in Phoenix a little past 9:00pm.
Tomorrow, Phoenix.
a hummingbird, one of our cooler wildlife sightings
“I’m king of the world!”
I really enjoyed getting close to the edge
a small point of worship on the West Rim Trail
a well-framed shot
the squirrels were almost tame, but we were warned not to feed them
The day started early with breakfast over at Max and Thelma’s. At 9:30am, we boarded the Grand Canyon Railway, powered by an authentic steam engine
The two hour and fifteen minute trip from Williams to the Grand Canyon National Park was entertaining. We sat in “Parlor Class” which was the last car of the train. It had several large, antique chairs and tables to sit around, and a bar. We were able to go out on the end balcony to watch the rails go by. Cowboys would stroll through every now and then to sing songs, or intimidate other passengers.
After arriving at the Canyon, we hurried over to the Bright Angel Lodge to catch our bus tour. By 1:00pm we were on a bus with a bunch of other tourists on the Desert View tour. Our tour guide, Bob, was a colorful fellow from Texas who was full of Grand Canyon factoids, history, and bad jokes. We stopped at many scenic places during the four hour tour, and spent more time off of the bus than on it.
After the tour we checked into our room at the Maswik Lodge, where our luggage was waiting. We had dinner at the cafeteria in the Lodge and then headed back out to the Canyon for the sunset.
Tomorrow will be more hiking and scenic views.
the #18, our engine from Williams to the Canyon
we were reminded about fire danger everywhere
the view from the rear of the train
our first view of the Canyon
this formation is called “Duck on a Rock”
some transplanted California Condors, a rare sight
