One last DC hike

We slept in a bit but had learned yesterday that breakfast want really worth rushing.  Instead we headed to a few cute places we had seen the days before and settled on a nice crepe place.  It filled out bellies nicely for our walk over to the natural history museum.  Animals, bones, skins and mummies of all types.  We were able to morph our faces into pre-human ancestors and walk through a living butterfly palace.  Several of the lepidoptera landing lightly on our limbs and locks.  Back across the mall fore a wander through the Smithsonian Castle and of to find some food trucks to fill our now empty stomachs.  Few tricks to choose from given the wealth of choices the day before and we had to settle for the lone taco truck left.  A burrito in the belly and we were off looking for the next museum.  We hit the museum of American history in search of Dorthy's shoes, but sadly they were out for renovation and the heals were so vast and we were unprepared with limited time that we left with out seeing everything but not feeling that much was missed.  Plus it was time to eat again and get or gear out of hock!! We moved hotels and had to get to Dulles but left everything at the first hotel.  A short but adrenaline pumping drive into Virginia found us bellied up for a round of bacon cheeseburgers and a couple quick games of chess.

On the Move for the Monuments

I believe we ate ice cream three times today, it was hot and we put on about 12 miles of walking.  A solid urban hike.  We headed though an upscale commercial district towards the Carnegie Library and the Trump International hotel on our way to the National Mall.  The Washington monument is closed so we could not ride the elevator up but it is impressive none the less and we cooled ourselves in its shadow.  We need ice cream to help.  We saw the human price of war at the Vietnam and World War II memorials.  The Korean War memorial was presenting wreaths from nations around the world for the soldiers that they lost as well. Calling out the names of those that did not return home.  We stood in Martin Luther King Jr's footsteps from where he gave his "I have a dream speech."  Looked out at the reflecting pool and the distant expanse of the mall.  We looked out over competing protest groups exercising their free speech.  Some of the chants we knew well.  Taco trucks and gyros, burgers and fries, food trucks of all variety served as our lunch before heading towards the White House we were always in the shadow of a massive and imposing Federal Government building, the DoJ, IRS, the Mint the FDR building.  It is the Nation's Capitol, doing the work of the Nation.  We watched a young lady get handcuffed and driven away outside the White House, Police and K9 dogs but we don't know for what crime.  The Washington Hotel was hosting the Indian Prime Minister, it was well guarded  and included a wall of snow plow trucks along one side.  We were stopped on the sidewalk to allow a police escort/motorcade to rip past us.  I love the hustle and bustle with so many languages filling the air and a constant police/security presence with full automatic weapons, the girls are still not sold but are loving the sites and are appreciative of all they get to see.  We needed ice cream so we taxied over to Union Station and hit a Haagen dazs. We grabbed the metro and headed back to the hotel to cleaned up for a late dinner, making a reservation at a great restaurant (farmers and distillers) on our way back to the hotel.  After dinner it was time for some ice cream, just a little....even if it was actually gelato!

Time to Travel!

it was an early landing in DC but that also means an early departure time from the house, it is starting to seem normal as we hit our fourth time zone in less than a week.  A section of the yellow line metro was down so we hit a bus from the airport and then back on to the metro line further down.  The girls loved the metro much more than the bus, but still aren't being swept up by big city life.  It is immediately apparent that the speed and pace of this trip will be much faster than the last week.  Our hotel is on the edge of Chinatown and with our bellies eating themselves we headed into the neighborhood for lunch.  From menus to storefronts we had difficulty finding something to accommodate us all, even with google searches and ratings reviews.  We did stumble on to a burger shop and with our stomachs filled and bladders emptied (after we used the code to the lock found on the bottom of our receipt) we headed into the city to explore.  First stop, International Spy Museum.  Artifacts from our own Civil War relating to spying right up to the current era of tricks of the trade.  There are certainly levels to our reality and much of our surroundings that go unnoticed.  We hung out on a hot marble bench outside the National Portrait Gallery and located Ford's Theater for our next tour.  It apparently was closed down after the assassination, gutted and retrofitted into Federal office buildings.  It has since been reconstructed and is an active theater with multiple shows a year.  We shopped at the street vendors on our way to dinner....Ella's Wood Fired Pizza's.  It was on the list for name recognition alone and it was an excellent meal.  Although we were eating early in the evening having had a long day and I would need a second meal from the hotel bar later and appetizers for everyone else.  Some hotel swimming and then it was off to bed in preparation for the next day.

Soccer Balls and Birthday Cake

We are back in the central time zone although not for long.  We did have time to hit two soccer games, a soccer tryout and a birthday brunch and party.  We do stay busy!  Grace had a game the night we got back and she was supper excited to play after her high altitude acclimation and was all a buzz on the way to the game.  Afterward she didn't think it made a difference, but she still played well.  Merrick played in the rain the following night and he also thought the high altitude affects on his red blood cell count didn't make the expected difference in his performance.  Good games to watch either way and we never count the score when it isn't in our favor.  Amy and the kids made two trips to the library in as many days and each of them stacked up on tomes for summer reading, none more than Grace.  She is proudly logging the minutes in her summer reading log. Sophia  entered into her 15th year and celebrated her the 14th anniversary of the day of her birth.  We headed out for an breakfast feast at a local grill and then is was back home for some cake and gifts.  

Get my kicks on Route 66

It was time to head towards home but vacation wasn't over, and that phrase became a family mantra.  We had a 4-5 hour drive, time changes make it confusing, back to Vegas to catch our flight but we hit the American classic Route 66 for some of the trip.  Big milk shakes and huge burgers in little diners was whatthe last leg of the trip was all about.  Well ...that and crazy heat.  The dashboard temperature got as high as 119 degrees and yes, it is a dry heat with only 3-5% humidity but it is also a heat that makes the asphalt under your feet feel squishy and your corneas burn through your contacts.  The restaurant was about 90 with the air conditioning on and the airport terminal was in the mid eighties for sure so it was a shift to land and have the temperature read 50 degrees on the dashboard.  The flight had its own adventures as the vacation wasn't over yet.  Grace plugged her ears and buried her face into Sophia's chest as a man filled a bag with his disapproval of turbulence.  I prevented a row of men behind us from another round of drinks due to a medical emergency that required Amy and all the flight attendants and some of their personal hygiene items, a cuticle trimmer, to remove an ear plug that I had pushed way too far into my ear.  Properly armed, Amy save my ear drum and we continued on.  It was a delayed flight and a late flight to start, having watched the sunset in the Grand Canyon the evening before there was perfect circle feel to watch the sun rise over lake Michigan as we drove home.   

South Kaibab and setting sun

It has been an interesting growth and thought shifting, hiking these heights with the kids.  The trail's edges now fall into afe or dangerous just as they always have but the definitions of safe and dangerous have changed.  Safe now means that if they fall it will only mean a broken limb or two, with dangerous meaning so much worse.  The trails range from 20 to 36 inches across so there is plenty of room but the heights are dizzying.  It is also rough terrain and we are there to look at the sights but it is a challenge to both look at walk at the same time and it is obviously a great temptation to do both.  The sound of a sliding chaco on dusty sands, ramps up the parental adrenaline as a kids' heel rather than a toe impacts the trail first.  We were on the trail by about 7 am to hike in the shaded canyon down to Cedar Ridge along the South Kaibab trail.  It is about 3 mile hike and Cedar Ridge is the cut off for day hiking in the summer, even with out excessive heat warnings.  The trail has over a 1000 feet of elevation change and spectacular views along the switch backs.  Prickly pear and century plant (agave americana) were blooming along the cliff faces in beautiful yellows and pinks that added to the color of the whole canyon already dressed in oranges, umbers and ochers.  We stopped at Ooh-Aah Point for a cookie break and to just take in the views.   Merrick and Ella are fighting colds which was a benefit along the mule-appled trail and its earthy aroma.  Heading up the trail we could feel the elevation changes with the heavy breathing but we made great time in our ascent and the whole hike was only a little over three hours.  It was time for stout breakfast but none was to be found so we headed into town for a Mexican lunch, a nap and some time at the pool to rehydrate and recharge.  Rested and ready we hiked from Pipe Creek Vista along the Rim Trail to catch the sunset .  It was gorgeous and as the sun dropped below a cloud into a narrow opening between the cloud head and the canyon rim, the sun appeared to fill the canyon with purple hues in a wave of color.  The return trip in the last light of the day along the Rim trail also gave us glimpses of a mule deer walking among the ponderosa pines.  A sweet smelling tree the combined with the juniper and the dryness of the trails creates an aroma therapy that could never be canned.

To The Grand Canyon We Go

 

Back in Juicy to drive from Zion to the South Rim.  The views were beautiful and we stopped along the way, including a few road side Navajo art stands and massive bolder outcrops along the road.  The kids endlessly entertained themselves with car games, books, and Fidget spinners.  Merrick and Grace spent over an hour playing some version of guess what color sucker I am holding.  I think they now know every nuance of Dum-Dum Sucker labels.  The expanses of the drive were huge, from Zion to the South Rim of the Canyon requires a large arc of a drive to circumnavigate the canyon.  The Canyon is amazing and there are no words to describe its beauty, vastness or longevity in the lanscape that will outlast us. It is truly huge in all aspects.  Our first views were from Desert View and the Tower, circling ravens and turkey vultures add to the splendor of it all.  We hit the overlooks and scouted the trails for the tomorrow's hike.  There is a Rim to Rim hike, we didn't even consider this 22 mile hike to the bottom of the canyon and then back up the other side.  We looked at both trail heads on either side and planned a deadhead hike down and back.  There was excessive heat warnings and the temperature increases 10 degrees for every 1000 feet you go down.  With a rim temperature in the nineties the canyon floor is over 120 degrees.  The canyon is over 5000 feet (a mile) from rim to river.  We headed in to the main visitor center and were immediately greeted with three roaming elk.  Later in the day on the way back our hotel we stopped for two massive 7x7 males in full velvet browsing along the road.  We spoke with the ranger and decide to hike the South Kaibab trail to Cedar Ridge the next morning and get an early start to avoid the heat.  We ate dinner and then headed back to Mather point for a Star show.  It was a cloudless new moon night and the local astronomer's club was hosting a star gazing event with more than 40 telescopes on the Canyon's rim.  We saw nebulae and Saturn's rings along with binary stars and multiple planetary moons.

Where the Land goes Up

The Anasazi and the Paiute called the Zion region home long before the most recent waves of European immigration.  The Paiute called the region the place where the land goes up and does it ever.  The walls are vertical faces that rise 800 to 1000 feet in all directions.  It is a place for use to test our mettle at slot canyon hiking.  We hiked the Narrows, bottom - up which is easier than the top down through hikes and meant for day hiking.  80 % of people don't make it to the end of the route, we now count ourselves among that group.  We are proud 80 percenters! We rented sticks for $5...yup we paid thirty dollars to use sticks in a national park...they came with canyonnering boots as well as neoprene socks.  It was required equipment for a terrain we had never encountered.  We hiked for over 5 hours and the deadhead to the trail was still more than 3.5 hours upstream when we turned around.  It was cool in the canyon, water temps were in the mid fifties and the air temp was in the low eighties, so it was our most comfortable hiking temperature of the trip.  We also started early enough that the sun couldn't shine directly into the high walled slot canyon to keep us out of the direct sun.  We had some challenges along the way, Grace got some bad chaffing and Ella twisted her knee and fell in the stream (Virgin River) landing on her patella tendon.  It was badly bruised but after a brief rest she soldiered on and we kept continued on our rheopositive stroll.  The return trip was faster as it normally is, but also aided by the swift current sending us back to an entry point that was over a mile back to the shuttle.  We could see hikers on Angle's Landing from the shuttle, but we never did hike it, everyone being exhausted from the hike we instead decided to head into town and replenish the calories at the Zion Brewery instead.  A little shopping around in the Springdale for the most expensive aquapor ever sold (chaffing is common and profitable in the slot canyons) and some ice cream and it was back to the hotel pool.

Zion, oh Zion

The map route on the map told us the drive would be spectacular, it was a blue line of switch backs.  We left Ruby's and headed towards Zion and ever increasing beauty. We are convinced that we are doing this trip in the right direction, top down, following the water.  The colored walls of Zion are as massive as they are gorgeous, we want only for better adjectives.   Inside the park we stopped to watch five big horn sheep, one of which was a fawn.  Heard through a few tunnels, one of which had to be over a half mile.  Large holes in the state of the tunnel provided fleeting glimpses of the canyon below.  We got wildcat Willie's to fill our bellies, slathered on the sunscreen and hiked to the emerald pools.  The large Cliff walls and water falls cooled the air and we soaked our get and our hats to beat the heat.  Lower, middle and upper pools so named for altitude but also beauty.  The upper pool is against a massive cliff face and the toppled rocks below have the kids ample place to boulder hop.  We wadded the Virgin River on the return trip and made a stop for ice cream too.  No day is complete with or some pool swimming as we set plans for the next day's adventure.  Seems like that will include The Narrows and maybe Angle's landing.