The "Grand" Vaccation

All right. Vaccation has come and gone, but honestly it was great. Another intern and I drove all over Northern Arizona and went to 8 different parks and monuments. She decided to buy the interagency parks pass just in case and it is totally worth it.

The North Rim was cool. I don't know how else to describe it other than it is a really deep canyon with tons of fault lines going through it making it just really intreguing to view. I have seen pictures of it before, but it can't compare with viewing it in person. The sky was a little hazy because of all the fires going on in SW Utah and Northern Arizona. That would be the only thing that I would change about the visit. We also saw a bunch of different ancient ruins along the rim which were really neat too. We hiked along the rim, but not into the canyon because we didn't have too much time to spend just because we had to travel to Flagstaff and be there before dark. We did do at least 5 miles of hiking though along the rim and then had lunch at the Grand Canyon Lodge. I had the Turkey Ruben with fries which was fantastic. I highly reccomend it to anyone who enjoys ruben sandwhiches.

So Shelly and I left the canyon at about 3 pm and made it to the campground just outside Sunset Crater NM near Flagstaff at about 7 pm and got the last campsite! Whew! I'm glad we stayed there because it was honestly a beautiful campground. Just surrounded by ponderosa pine and the ground is ground up lava rocks. It was actually very comfortable. The next morning we got up early to do several hikes around the park. We hiked to Lenox Crater which was a viggorous morning hike that got us more than warmed up for the day. We then went and hiked the lava flows which is a much easier hike and has a brochure to guide you through the trail to points of interest. I have decided that this form of interpretation is fantastic! After Sunset Crater, we drove into Flagstaff for some Subway for lunch and to fill up on gas before heading north. We then ate lunch at Wupatki NM which was really, really hot. We saw most of the ruins, but the last bunch we did the drive by thing because we both were too hot and dehydrated.

We then headed north to Page and then to Lake Powell. I have to say honestly that Lake Powell is one of the worst places I have visited. The campground was terrible and we had strangers walking through our campsite all night long. Egh! It was also very hot there too all night long, so sleeping proved elusive to both Shelly and myself. I would go back, but only to hike the slot canyons and then I would rent a hotel room in Page instead of camping there. Needless to say, Shelly and I left there post haste the next morning only to find that not a single gas station apparently opens before 8 am anywhere near there on a Sunday morning. We had no water because the water available was so hot that it was unbearable to drink it.

We then stopped to get some gatorade at the gas station in Kanab and then got some breakfast in us too. From there we stopped in Pipe Springs NM and that was an interesting place. They do more of the dramatic side of interpretation which was neat to see implemented. Also, the monument is located on the Southern Paiute Indian Reservation so they have a partnership between the NPS and the Indians who live there. It is an interesting partnership to be sure, but the museum that they have there describing Paiute culture and history is absolutely amazing. I really liked it a lot.

So now I am back at home base in Utah and feeling so much better about many things and just overall have a better attitude about work now that I have had time away from it and from Cedar City. I was like a flower wilting due to lack of rain. Although the flowers here are way hardier than anything I have ever seen. I suppose they have to be to live in such a harsh and dry environment like this one. There are some more fires that are popping up all over the place and effecting daily routine for many. We have been getting more afternoon storms building which means rain=good but it also means lightning=fire=bad. We'll see. We haven't had to be evacuated yet and let's hope that it stays that way!