Days 32-33: The South Rim

Thursday, May 27th - Friday, May 28th

• This was my first visit to that striking symbol of the southwest, that greatest of gaps in the ground, that famous fissure called the Grand Canyon - and I must say, it was impressive.
  We really only had one full day (Friday) to explore, and we spent most of the day kickin' it around the South Rim, riding the shuttle and hiking some to the various viewpoints.

• We did satisfy our urge to get below the rim by hiking a few miles down the South Kaibab trail, then tackling those switchbacks like no tomorrow on the way back up.

• I decided to make a life goal to do an extended raft trip down the Colorado someday...

• Jennifer fought for elbow room among the crowds at Hopi Point for some snappy sunset pics, and then we subsequently arose at 4:00am to hit Grandview Point and Lipan Point for sunrise the next day. Her ego would be highly stoked if any of you found time to express admiration for the results you see below...

Days 29-31: Havasupai

Monday, May 24th - Wednesday, May 26th

Rather than hike ten miles into the campground, we flew in one of these:


Over this:


To get to these:

• It's a little difficult to get there, but the Havasupai Reservation is a pretty cool place. The village of Supai is small, and the locals don't really like tourists poking around - but the falls are amazing. We had a good time hiking, swimming, relaxing, and removing dusty boogers from our noses. We didn't hike all the way to the confluence with the Colorado river, but we heard that it's pretty cool.

• The people of the Havasupai tribe are known as the people of the blue-green water, which has a lot of lime and other deposits in it, thus the amazing color.
  

• I'm definitely not the photographer in the family, but I will take credit for most of the waterfall pictures from this portion of our trip...
  

Days 26-28: Death Valley and All of His Friends

Friday, May 21st - Sunday, May 23rd

On Friday, we left the cool of the Sierra Nevadas to experience a little warmth in the desert...

...and we were soon wishing for some relief...

...but apparently the water at 282 feet below sea level isn't great for drinking...

...it, along with the desert floor, is a little salty...

...but Super Woman found some inspiration at the Artist's Palette...

...and at Zabriskie Point...

...while I practiced being a Sunglasses model...

...and figured, since there were Salt Flats around, why not try to set a land speed record?

Spent Saturday night and Sunday with Tom and Beryl in Las Vegas. We were struck by the beauty of the Las Vegas Temple, which we realized has the same layout as the Portland Temple. Once again, it has been great to sleep in a bed, have showers, good food (Salmon and Halibut on the grill) and recharge for our next week of adventures: the Havasupai Indian Reservation, South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Mesa Verde are on deck...stay tuned for future updates.