Hello Terrace

Hope you're having half the weather in Terrace that we're having in Victoria! It has been incredibly hot! We'll try to store this heat up for our trip to Ireland. I've been taking lots of pictures of Mason....surprise! Here are a couple








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Location:Gault Crescent,Victoria,Canada

Ireland Adventure

Tis better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money!

An Irish proverb, one I think Mary has adopted wholeheartedly!


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Location:Lazelle Ave,Terrace,Canada

Oct. 18/2010 Zion Canyon

We left Navajo country and headed for Zion National Park.  We backtracked through Kayenta, Page and Kanab and then on to the park.  We drove right through the park on the eastern side including the 1.1 mile long tunnel....pretty impressive.  We drove through to Springdale where we checked into the Zion Park Inn.  We went out for dinner at the Spotted Dog and recalled our trip to Italy as we dined on pesto penne.  Great meal, thanks to Cathy Eades for the recommendation.  The next morning we caught the shuttle to the trail for the Emerald Pools where we hiked to all 3 pools.  The upper pool hike was a little adventurous but worth the effort, except for the jerk that stood right in front of my tripod set up for about 10 minutes....breathe deep, enjoy the sights.  We came back and checked out the Zion Lodge before going our separate ways, Mary to the Weeping Rock and Parus River Trail and I went to the Hidden Canyon and then half ways up the Observation Point Trail.   I discovered that I have a fair fear of heights on the last trail, hence only half the trail.   Zion is a beautiful park with views in all directions.

The next morning we headed out for Bryce Canyon.
M and K

Upper Emerald Pool

Lower Emerald Pool

Slot Canyon on way to Observation Point

Near western entrance to Zion

Monument Valley Oct. 17/18

Did a couple of hikes through Monument Valley (part of my old childhood western fantasies) and a jeep tour with a resident Navajo.  Also woke up for a Monument Valley sunrise.  Pretty nice. 

On to Zion and Bryce Canyons next.

M and K

Oct. 15/10 Chinle and Canyon de Chelly

After Page and Antelope Canyon we had a long day in the car as we moved on to Navajo Country, with our final desination being Chinle.  We got to see more of the country than initially planned when we missed a turn off that would have shortened our trip.  So, after a long day in the car we pulled into Chinle.  Loosely quoting Cher here:  "When you come to Chinle, you don't come for Chinle, you come for the canyon".  After we drove through Chinle and all its attractions, Burger King, A & W, and Church's Chicken, we pulled into the Holiday Inn, avoided all the stray, homeless dogs (where is Best Friends when you need them?) and settled in to an early night because of our early jeep tour in the morning.

Our tour guide, Ben Teller, met us at the lobby door, we crawled into his borrowed jeep and off we went to Canyon de Chelly, famous for being the starting point for the long walk of the Navajo.  The tour consisted of an interesting drive through the sandy bottomed canyon.  Our guide Ben, was in his mid-seventies and had lived his whole life in the canyon, so he was able to share a lot of interesting history in information about the canyon.  We saw a lot of early ruins and ended up 10 miles down the canyon at Canyon del Morte(sic), at Antelope House and Ben's house.

Later that day we did a 2 hour hike down to the canyon floor to see the White House ruins.  It was a beautiful hike and not too strenuous.  We had an early night again, avoided the hotel restaurant (we learned our lesson from the night before) and got ready for our trip to Monument Valley.



Canyon de Chelly

M & K

Antelope House









At the start of the White House trail



Mary and Ben (Ben's house in background)

 

Kanab/Page/Antelope Canyon Oct. 13 and 14

Okay, I've got this really slow connection, so having problems with the pics.  On the morning of the 13th we headed out to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.  A world famous sanctuary loaded with abandoned, abused, injured domestic animals.  An amazing place with some 1800 -2000 animals, including dogs, cats, horses, pigs, rabbits and parrots.  We visited one building in Cat World and one in Dog Town.  Of course Mary got emotionally involved with a 9 year old dachsund called Tiger.  To make it worse an attendant told her that Tiger's brother, Pencil, had just been adopted a week ago.  We were just able to escape the place animal-less.

From there we drove on to Page, home of the Glen Canyon Dam, the dam that formed Lake Powell.  A very impressive sight.  That night we did Mexican with a LARGE marquerita (there seems to be a theme).

Early the next morning we took a tour to Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon, near page.  The canyon was beautiful, the light very subtle, bring out the striking colours of the canyon.

I'll try to include pictures of the 3 places we visited.

K and M

Parry Lodge in Kanab

Frank Sinatra Room

Tiger's on the left.

Glen Canyon Dam

Trip to Antelope Canyon

Inside the canyon

Leaving Vegas 10/12/10

Our last day in Vegas was more quiet.  Everyone needed a little bit of recoup time. Spent most of the day with Wendy, Glen and Tyler.  We caught the Deuce to Fremont, the older part of downtown Vegas.  Got to play a little bit of $2 blackjack which was fun.....won $30.  That night we went to Jimmy Buffet's restaurant in the Flamingo and watched the girl in the small bikini slide into the large marquerita....twice.

Set out from Vegas the next day, Tuesday, after a snafu with our rental car.  Made our first stop in the Valley of Fire (I'll include some pics) and then drove on to Kanab, where we stayed at the world famous Parry Lodge.  Parry Lodge was the home for many movie stars who filmed westerns in this area....Utah's Little Hollywood. 

K & M

Valley of Fire