Grand Canyon -- We Did It!

Day 1 -- Wed., Apr. 26, 2006
After going through the 4 day wait process at the Back Country office for overnight hiking permits, we got our permits Tuesday morning. It has been my sister Jenni's dream to some day hike down the Grand Canyon and now it was about to become reality! As you can see, we've got our back packs loaded and we're ready to head down the 7 mile hike to the Colorado River on South Kaibab Trail.
It took us 8 hours to get to the Phantom Ranch at the river where we stayed the night in the ranch dorms, had a steak dinner, a hot breakfast the next morning and they even packed us a sack lunch for the hike back up. So, it was a long day carrying 30-35 lb. packs!
Day 2 -- Thurs., Apr. 27
Now we're ready to start the hike back up. Bright Angel trail was a beautiful trail. We got to hike along the canyon next to the stream and saw waterfalls, lizards, squirrels and deer. We often had to hug the inside of the trail to let the mule riders go by! We hiked almost 7 hours to our half-way point where we spent the night at Indian Gardens campsite.
Day 3 -- Fri., Apr. 28
We got up and started our hike early, leaving the campsite around 5:45AM. It still took us about 6 hours to hike the rest of the way up! What an exhilarating feeling of accomplishment at the end of 3 days of hiking. They say 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon every year and only 1% of those attempt to hike to the bottom and back! It was awesome, challenging, a test of endurance..... and painful! But, we are glad we did it an we're still smiling.... Doug, Elaine, Jenni & Dottie!

Albuquerque -- Revisited!

We left Indiana for our trek out west once again, this time heading to Arizona to do some hiking in the Grand Canyon. We decided to take the route we had taken 35+ years ago when we moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico after our wedding in October, 1970.

We arrived in Albuquerque on Wednesday, April 19th and decided to stay a couple nights to explore once again our former "home". As with all cities, Albuquerque had changed! Nothing looked very familiar anymore except the Sandia mountains -- ever unchanging. We drove the 14 miles up to Sandia Peak (just as we had done 35 years ago) and looked out at the awesome sight of the city below! We also drove up to Sante Fe. We thought, this is not the Sante Fe we remembered either, but we parked and walked around old downtown Sante Fe and had a nice lunch at the Burrito Cafe.

When we got back to Albuquerque, we decided to search for our first home. We couldn't believe it when we turned off Central Street (old Route 66) onto General Hodges and found the little trailer park was still there and right in the middle, the little one-bedroom block home that we had rented in 1970-71 -- and it was for rent again! We even peaked in the windows and found it to be just as we remembered. What memories!
That's Doug in front of our home at 209 General Hodges N.E. in Dec. 1970 and photos we took April 20, 2006!


We enjoyed our stay at Turquoise Trails Campground in the Sandia foothills.

We are now in Williams, AZ about 45 min. from the Grand Canyon and will drive up to Canyon Village tomorrow to get information for our hikes next week.

Fun in Lafayette!

Miss Chloe spent a Friday night with us recently. What fun! Here she is in her favorite nightgown dancing around on the sofa bed!

Meanwhile, her daddy is having fun taking his latest project out for a test drive!