Finally-A Wrap Up!

It dawned on me that I haven't posted for a while, and I can't quite believe it's been 7 months.  It's been a whirlwind of activity since the Grand Canyon and it seems like our winter trip barely happened.

We made a 2 week stop in Las Vegas, my lifelong home.  Gidget and I met up with my brother and his two pups at a local dog park and did a little catching up.  Eric and I took turns meeting up with old friends individually and together.  It was a busy couple of weeks with lunches, dinners and sushi with old friends.  It made me realize how much I missed our old friends, but not the big city.  I like the convenience of the city, but the speed of things got to me.  I used to drive the freeways there every day, but whew, it seemed the speed limits were excessive.  I guess I've gotten used to the laid back beach lifestyle of Newport after all.

After Las Vegas, we spent a week in Salt Lake with our daughter.  We made a visit to her classroom to visit with the students we face timed with at so many places.  What a great group of young people!

On our way thru Idaho we hit snow.  It was really the only bad weather we experienced on our 13,000 mile journey.  As Murphy would have it, our windshield wipers decided to stop working right then.  If Eric turned them off, then on quickly we would get one or to swipes, just enough to get the windshield cleared for more snow and ice.  We made an appointment at the Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene for a few little repairs and adjustments before we settled in for the summer in Newport after a brief stop over in Fall River to visit my folks and catch up.

Our only daughter got engaged last fall while we were traveling in Cape Cod.  No date was set, not even a loose estimate.  Well after a brief period of decisions being made and changed, a date and location was set.  June 10th would be the big day and a barefoot beach wedding was ordered.  Since the engaged couple live out of state, the planning and research was up to her dad and I.  Finding nice restaurants for the night before dinner and the wedding dinner was a challenge I was up for.  We tried every nice restaurant along the coast and was relieved when we found a hotel for the newlyweds, the restaurants that were just right and got the flowers ordered.  Not everything (well actually nothing) went as planned but the bottom line was a laid back ceremony and the two became husband and wife under sunny skies.

Schmoo stayed on his Mama's dress the whole ceremony.

It was a whirlwind three months of planning, experimenting with restaurants and venues.  It was fun, but boy was it tiring.  Ashley and Nick make a great team and are so much fun to be around.  Ashley made a beautiful bride and Nick loves her so much.   We wish only the best for these two and can't wait to see their story be told.  

The Mighty Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon Trailer Village
March 10 to the 14, 2015

There is not much to say about the Grand Canyon except Wow!  We enjoyed some down time there on our adventure.  It was relaxing even though we were busy every day.

This was our first time staying in the park and I am so glad they had space for us at the Trailer Village.  We were in spot 62 which was away from the rest of the spots and very quiet.  We had deer and elk walk thru our site every day.  It was awesome!  Our little pups didn't make a sound as they watched these majestic creatures wander about.  We enjoyed watching them each afternoon.

One thing that was really cool when we went to the viewpoints along the canyon was the reaction of the people that had never seen this place before.  If you are quiet and just wait, you'll hear people young and old all saying "Wow!" as they approach the edge.  It is definitely a "WOW" factor.

We made several trips to different lookout points and even took the bus to the Hermit's Rest.  There are several stops along the way and you can walk the entire distance from the Village to Hermit's Rest.  There are lengths that are dirt trails right along the edge and there are paved sections to the next lookout.

Our last day there was forecast to be clear skies so we rose early to watch the sun come up and watch the Canyon change colors.  It was beautiful!  We decided we had to go back to watch the sunset and it too was amazing.  Beautiful!

We went to the Canyon a few years ago with our friends Steve and Jane from Troy, NY.  It snowed while we were there and it was so cold.  We ate lunch at a wonderful restaurant and I thought I would never forget it.  Well, I did.  We tried the places we thought it was, but we never found it.  I don't know if it has been remodeled or closed.  It was fun though trying out all the lunch places.  Definitely recommend the Navajo Taco.  Very good!

Enough with the chit chat-I'll let the pictures tell the story of this part of our adventure!

Next Stop-Las Vegas!