On our first day in Grand Canyon we did a family hike along the canyon rim, west from the Yavapai Museum of Geology to the El Tovar hotel, a little over one and a half miles. It’s not a very long hike, but a good bit longer than we’d ever done before at the canyon. On our previous trips we’d visited in July and August with temps in the mid-90s. Coming from Dallas we’re used to the heat, but not so much the elevation. As it was, visiting in early May we had beautiful weather, it never getting above the low 80s at the hottest time of the day. The kids are all older now, too, and made short work of this easy and incredibly gorgeous hike. Kassi and I lagged behind, taking photos and enjoying the scenery.
After a pleasant enough night at the hotel in Albuquerque we enjoyed a hearty hotel breakfast of all the usual fare — eggs, sausage, potatoes, bagels, waffles, and (of course) my beloved Raisin Bran. We grabbed coffee at a Starbucks on the way out of town, remarking on the visible and sometimes sobering realities of the bad and better parts of the city. We were only a couple hours away from our first stop, and a chance to really stretch our legs after many hours of being on the road.
Ride along with us once again on another one of our great American family road trips. This year we are westward bound, headed back to Williams, Arizona to dip our toes in the Grand Canyon, and to visit an extraordinary park I’ve wanted to see for a good five years now — Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado.
I suppose it can’t be helped; every year as March drags into April, as the days get hotter and the brief Texas spring looks more toward the summer, the early zeal of the Lenten discipline wears off, and the sacrifices once willingly undertaken become an annoyance and a burden. These things are only compounded by the enforced isolation and the looming prospect of an almost anti-climatic, if not mildly depressing, Pascha undertaken as it is this year without the usual joy of communal celebration. I find myself thinking about freer times, without all these restrictions on movement and enjoyment. We — the whole family, really — have been fantasizing about another vacation, although I don’t expect there will be anywhere to go for quite some time. I was chatting with a colleague today and I realized I missed California; miss in a sense my old travel schedule and working lifestyle. Pasadena was beautiful. Interesting. It was a great working experience on top of everything. I like to travel, let’s face it. I like exploring, and I always have. I’m glad I had the good fortune to share that with my wife Kassi, on our second most memorable trip together anywhere.
To commemorate those times, I thought I’d put together this collection of my California blogs for both you and me to revisit and reminisce. Enjoy.
