Sunrise at Bright Angel Point

This morning, Karl and I got up extra early to go out to Bright Angel Point, a scenic overlook at the North Rim to catch one more fantastic view of the Grand Canyon….this time at sunrise.  I wish that my photographs could do it an ounce of justice.  It was so beautiful!

As I walk along the trail which drops off on either side of me,  I look to the left and there is a perfect sunrise with beams of light glowing down through some light clouds tinted pink by the sun.

  When I look to the right there are dwindling remnants of the stillness of night with a darker blue sky and the moon still glowing above red and brown ridges.   

 Along the pathway there are pretty little red wildflowers, and even at 5 am, the bees and hummingbirds are buzzing around me.  There are couples along the path, serious photographers and point and shoot photographers. I saw a person  perched on a rock meditating, one reading the Bible, and I even saw a person on the phone.  We are all just taking this moment in – there is a magic to it, I think.

After the short hike to the lookout, Karl and I stopped at the Canyon Lodge for a cup of coffee and cinnamon roll, and went out back to the balcony lined with Adirondack Chairs looking out over the scenic vista.  We propped our feet up on the ledge and tried to soak it all in one last time.  Feeling soooo blessed.  Goodbye Grand Canyon!!!!!

-----Jen

Riding down into the Grand Canyon

Karl here .... Another day and another adventure. Today Emma, Grandma Kerr, and I rode the mules halfway down the Grand Canyon on the North Kaibab Trail to the Supai Tunnel Overlook. It was amazing!!! We got up early and were soon mounted on our trusty mules. They carefully stepped down the dusty trails over jumbles of rocks and around hairpin turns at the edge of steep canyon walls.

Wikieup, Mike, and Smurf.  For better or worse - we go where you go.

Emma - cool as a cucumber on Wikieup as we wind down the trail.

Karl riding Smurf at Cononino Overlook - maybe I missed my calling in life.

We had magnificent views of Roaring Springs Canyon as we winded down the trail. We stopped and enjoyed the view several times - it is breathtaking at Coconino Overlook and Supai Tunnel. It left us wanting to go further and reach the bottom of the Canyon - maybe someday. Our mule ride was a blast and a wonderful memory - K

Roaring Springs Canyon from the Supai Tunnel Overlook

Emma and I looking down the Grand Canyon

Grandma Kerr, Emma, and I on an adventure of a lifetime

The Grand Canyon -- North Rim

We got to our campsite yesterday afternoon, and it’s in a great location—not too close to any drop-offs, but right across the street from the Trancept Pass, a short little jaunt down to an amazing, if not terrifying (to me anyway) rock structure that I know Emma would have climbed out to the edge of if her nervous mom wasn’t right there.  At it’s narrowest, it’s probably about 3-4 feet across with a steep, hundreds of feet drop on either side.  If I was braver, I’d go the 15 feet or so out this narrow precipice to a part where it widens out a little bit and I’m sure I would be rewarded with an amazing view!!!!!  But, alas, without a railing there, I suddenly feel like the world is all wiggly under my feet and even on all fours, I’m not sure I could make it out to the unofficial lookout point.  So I am satisfied with a pretty darn good view of the canyon instead, at the beginning of the rock structure.

Our "secret" ledge...I think the view is better a bit further out, but I wouldn't let my brave girl go out there...

The girls enjoying a sunset out on our ledge.   Vivi, overtired, is like a a wild animal, minus the self - preservation instinct.  I had one hand firmly on her the whole time, lest she go tumbling over the ledge......

My little Chu, on a hike at the North Rim with me and Ian

We took a  20 mile white knuckle drive (in an RV anyway) to Cape Royal.  They say this is hands down the best place to view the Grand Canyon (on a clear day you can even see the south rim from here), but as you can see, there was a whole lot of haze/ pollution/ smoke in the canyon in most of our pictures.    It was the best spot to get a sense of the scope of the canyon, even if we couldn't see it clearly.  Plus......another arch!  My favorite!

I love this....really, I do....but....are we done with the pictures yet???

Notice the thunderstorm coming up behind Emma???  Sitting ducks, I tell you....we had just read a sign about the dangers of thunderstorms at this point.....followed by real life thunder...but the Danger Crew (Emma, Karl and Grandma) insisted it was all in my nervous imagination and made the trek out to this lookout while the rest of us made a break for the RV!!!  Obviously they all made it back safely, but still people....really????

Another noble, but failed attempt at capturing the grandness of the Grand Canyon....

More Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon was interesting -- the hoodoos were absolutely stunning and though we didn't spend much time hiking through them (we only had one full day there, and we were ATVing during the comfortable part of the day), we got some pretty amazing photos of the unique geology there.  It felt like we were on a different planet there at times!!

Aren't they sort of surreal?

Notice the book in hand -- Ian and Emma would carry their books along on any walks they didn't want to go on, like they had more important things to do than look at every hoodoo in Bryce Canyon.  An innocent little rebellion, LOL. They also did it on a ranger led shuttle tour through Zion, which would have been embarrassing, but I was kind of wishing I had a book on that one too, haha..  

I, on the other hand, could drive around to each of the lookouts and take pictures of these all day!  :)

Just a little gratuitous cuteness and fun in souvenir land.  And yes, she DID get the cowboy hat. :)

Bryce Canyon -- Hoodoos and ATVs

All geared up and ready to go!

Karl here....Day 6 of the Kerr Great Wild West RV vacation at Bryce Canyon National Park brought more adventures.  After waking up to temperatures in the forties, the day quickly warmed up for our guided ATV ride through Dixie National Forest to the Tropic Reservoir.  This was the first time on an ATV for Ian & Emma (& also Jen).   Technically, Emma and Ian were too young to drive alone since they were younger than sixteen,  but they had their minds set on proving they could do it themselves.  After 15 minutes of instruction and practice, they had gained the confidence of the guide and we were off – or so we thought.  As everyone else was pulling away following the guide, Vivi & I’s ATV stalled out and wouldn’t start.  Everyone was miles away before they noticed that we were not with them.      

A little dusty

Awesome after picture!!!  Look at Vivi's expression, LOL

Grandma and Grandpa Kerr came on the trip too, and are still smiling through sandy gritted teeth.
Our kids have amazing grandparents!

Jen here......Haha, that was funny after the fact…..but when we realized you and Vivi weren’t with us and didn’t know what had happened, we nearly had a heart attack!!!  Our guide chuckled a little and shook his head and said wait here—and took off to find you.   Of course with the din of the ATVs running no one could really hear each other.   Then after talking to one of the other riders, Karl’s mom got off her ATV and came up to me and said, “They cracked up their ATV, you’d better go see if they are okay….”  (or at least I’m pretty sure that’s what she said, LOL)  So off I went, heart in my throat, zipping back down the dusty road.  After about 5-10 minutes of backtracking, I finally caught sight of the guide and then Karl  & Vivi headed back giving me the thumbs up!!  YAY!!!!!   (Turns out, “Old Smoky”, Karl and Vivi’s ATV was actually on his last leg and gave out before they even left the parking lot)

Anyway, after that it was nothing but good, clean fun!!!!!  Er……well, make that really dirty fun, LOL…..The before and after pics say it all……      

Some Thoughts on Traveling with a family of 5 in an RV for 10 Days

First of all, I think I have been forever ruined  for tent camping!!  I love this thing!!!  We’ve got power, we’ve got a shower, a potty, mattresses that don’t deflate in the middle of the night, I don’t have to strike a match to cook dinner (I could even nuke it, LOL)  But most importantly, on this trip anyway… we’ve got temperature control!  This baby kept us cool in the desert (even in the middle of the afternoon when the temps soared above 105), and warm during the second half of our trip at night.  (it got into the low 40s at night and the upper 80s during the day there) 

Room for everybody

Cruising in style

A little Ipad time in Emma's nook

You would think it would feel congested with 5 people in one, but most of the time it didn’t, thanks to personal electronic devices.   I struggled with, and am still not 100% comfortable with our decision to let the kids bring their devices, downloaded shows, and get Verizon 3g coverage for our Ipad this month.  But let’s face it, nowadays we all like to stay connected somehow, and the kids are no different.  Part of me wanted to make them (and us!) go cold turkey and SPEND TIME together.  That’s what vacation is all about right?  Well, we have spent time together --  a lot of it!!!   But it is definitely nice for us all to retreat to our corners and chill with the electronics at the end of a long day.   So I guess I feel like this enhances the vacation, especially for a couple of our passengers. 

Oh, you think that we would all just be awestruck and want to explore every nook and cranny of our fine national parks???  I wish!!!!!  I am, and could spend the entire day out and about just taking it all in.  But it’s not just my vacation, and we have a couple of non- outdoorsy types.

 They feel like, “We came, we saw, can we go back to the RV now?” 

:::::::::shudder:::::::::  I know, I know………  Well, I think we have reached a happy medium for the most part.  We have done a couple of hikes, lots of sightseeing, and a couple of adventures so far with the canyoneering and ATV ride.  We’ve gotten to have the kids spend more time with my husband’s parents, and it has all been good….so far.   4 more days to go……

Virgin River Narrows

It's hard to capture the massiveness of Zion in a still picture, but here are a few attempts anyway.

Emma wading through one of the deeper parts--it's wade or turn around and go home here.

It's easy to feel small in the Narrows

The morning that we had to leave Zion National Park, Karl & Em got up super early to get a chance to do one of the most famous hikes out here….the Narrows.   You are in this really, well, deep and narrow canyon and clamber over rocks and through the Virgin River in varying depths of water.(up to Emma’s chest in one place)  I wish that I had gone too!  The pics looked like they had a really great time and if we ever come back, I think we will rent all the gear (Emma could have used better protective water shoes) and make a day of it.  

Beautiful in the Narrows

Zion Canyoneering

Early rising

All outfitted and ready to go

Jen climbing down a narrow chute

The day started wayyyy too early for me.  I had one of those weird nights of not being able to fall asleep….at all….until about 3:30 and then slept fitfully until 5:30 when Karl got me up for our first big scheduled event of the vacay----- Canyoneering!!!  Ughhh….I had been looking forward to this the most of all the other things we are doing on this trip and I felt awful!  I thought maybe I was coming down with something and was considering backing out of the trip.

I am SO glad I didn’t!  After getting everybody up dressed and out the door, with Karl and I lugging the bags with sunscreen, snacks, camera, and two liters of water for everyone (that was so heavy!)  We headed down the 10 minute walk to the visitor center where our guide was waiting for us to drive us out to the location.  I was still in a bit of a queasy fog when I look up at a dilapidated black dusty van with a 50- something guy with gray dreadlocks waving at us.  Oh my!  As I got closer I noticed his friendly smile and calm demeanor, and skin that had spent way too many years SPF free in the sun, and thought, ok this is going to be an interesting day.  J  We hopped into the filthy van and I hoped for the best.  The van had fine sand running through it’s ventilation system so that when you breathed in the hot, smelly air, you could taste dirt.  Awesome.  I struggled to open the vent window in the back and felt like I wanted to stick my face up to it so that I could resist the urge to get carsick, LOL. 

He was chatting away for the 30 minute drive out to the Kolob Terrace area where we were going to do this thing, though I couldn’t hear him because I’m pretty sure we had no muffler on the van.  So mostly I just watched him talk.  He seemed so relaxed, one flip-flopped foot on the gas, the other hitched up on the seat, turning to tell us about sediment and volcanoes as he casually maneuvered the squeaky van on the narrow mountain roads…..  I actually liked this guy.  So what if he didn’t wash his van, and maybe not his hair….he had a way about him that might just get our whole clan to try this! 

The first tight squeeze

Vivi gets ready for her first rappel

 Oh yeah, that’s one more thing.  We had two rather unhappy campers with us who don’t like to hike, thank you very much.   Yeah the rock formations were cool.  They saw them on the way in, and really didn’t see the need to break a sweat to get more up close and personal.  Haha.  The rules require that we ALL do each challenge or we all turn around and go home.  No man left behind.   We get to the first rappel, and he gave us each a little fear test of coming up to the edge, looking down the forty foot drop, and then giving him the thumbs up, thumbs down, or middle thumbs (unsure).  I have to say that I was a little shocked that we were jumping into such a big drop so quickly.  My heart did a few extra flutters, but I gave my thumbs up.  Emma and Karl gave two enthusiastic thumbs up, while Vivi and Ian were unsure….I don’t blame them one bit.  Frankly, I didn’t want a chance to change my mind so I volunteered to go first.   He patiently gave a little bit of instruction and then I had a go at it.   He continued to guide me and each of the other family members down one by one and it was such a rush to have done this!!!!  I was so proud to see the kids fearlessly and maybe a little fearfully, but nonetheless brave make their way down the drop.   I wasn’t sure how on earth Vivi was going to do, and when I saw her little purple fanny hanging out over the top, I was proud and terrified!  She was going to do this—alone!!

Emma rappelling

Ian rappelling

OMG!!!  Here comes Vivi, all by herself!

Everybody had a blast on this trip!  I think our non-hikers forgot they were working hard, it was so much fun!                     ------Jen

Night 1 Vegas to Zion

Our house on wheels

We are headed out of Sin City today to start our adventure!  We stayed at the MGM Grand for a night before RoadBearRV came and picked us up.    We took the kids for a little walk on the strip to sight see and then went to Ex Calibur for an authentic Las Vegas buffet.  I’ve always heard that they were amazing, but the food and selection was yuck-o.   Oh well, it happens….It was quickly forgotten once we got to Zion!       ----------Jen

Wow--I'm so in awe!!!

Hanging out at our swimming hole at Zion

Em planking at Zion, LOL

We got picked up by the Road Bear shuttle van around lunchtime, and after a quick lesson on how to use it, we were sent on our way.  It’s amazing to me how quickly after leaving Las Vegas everything goes barren.  I think it’s really cool and the desert rock formations are so beautiful, stark against the brightest blue sky I’ve ever seen.  The heat actually isn’t so bad.   It’s been about 100 to 105, but dry and windy.  I can see why there are so many wildfires that pop up.    --------Karl

MGM Grand

Hooray!!! Our adventure begins. We have safely arrived in Las Vegas with no issues. It was a long flight with a stop-over in Baltimore and we all glad we have arrived. One cool thing about the flight was that we flew over the Grand Canyon - What a sight! Pictures can't do it justice for how enormous it is. When arrived in Las Vegas, the kids were awestruck by the opulence and overwhelmed by the non-stop visual stimulation. Vivi said she never wanted to leave. Emma also was excited by her first taxi ride. Ian just wanted to get to the room to relax.

Vegas here we come!!! Then Zion, Grand Canyon, And Bryce Canyon!! In an RV! Oh my!

 

I really can't believe it it is here -- I am filled with nerves and excitement ... At least the excitement is starting to set in. My head tells me this is the trip of a lifetime, while my nerves make my mind race with the unknowns. I know half of my family is sick of me talking about my nerves, but it really should be an amazing trip! We are half packed now, dropping off the dog at my brother's GF house tomorrow and headed out bright and early on Tuesday. One night in Vegas then we're hitting the open road!

Wish us luck!

--J

 

Its almost time for our adventure

It is almost time to start our family adventure - only three days to get ready. Almost everything is per-planned but we still need to pack our clothes. I am very excited to spend time as a family exploring a new world. - K