Colorado River Rafting, Grand Canyon AZ

Just finished 8 days "roughing it" on a Grand Canyon Expeditions river trip.  Yes, we slept out side under some awesome stars.

I can't take credit for this photo, but gives an idea of the AZ night sky.  And bathroom facilities were, well non-existent.  Nothing like having a tour of boats come around the corner once you have dropped your drawers.  But besides that we really had it made.  The crew, Adam and Emily our Guides, and Kate and Robby our Swampers.  (Yes, I trusted my sister and her friends to take me down the river and they did great.  ) Really pampered us with great meals.  Including Mexican food, steak, brownies and champagne.

 Emily and Kate working hard to make lunch

 my dry sack for the week.  Everyone was given one of these to keep their belongings in.

Getting ready to start our on our adventure.  I was told I looked like I was going to a "woods Kegger."  One of the many fashions of the river

We started off at Lee's Ferry.  You can see Grand Canyon right up ahead.  Actually officially Marble Canyon that leads into Grand Canyon



Emily and Robby.  2 boats, and 24 passengers.  Good luck guys

 Working our way into the depths of the canyon

 

 Beautiful blue skies

June 3rd was 24yrs since my dad passed away.  It was nice that Kate, my mom, and I got to spend the time together and in the Grand Canyon a place that was very dear to him and have little remembrance for him and Sara

 There were so many beautiful shots it was hard to choose which to use on here

 Kate and Robby working hard

 Great spot for some lunch

 Sisters

 Family

 Getting some spray from a water fall

 The "Little Colorado" we were fortunate that this was not muddy when we were here.  There were some fun natural rock slide areas that we played in

 Doing some exploring in a side canyon.  Don't let the long clothing fool you.  It was warm! Just trying to protect ourselves from the sun

Adam and Kate getting their crew safely thru some rapids

 Water fall

Another group.  Great idea with the umbrellas

 Bridge to Phantom Ranch. Not a good idea to hike in the summer.  It is hot!!

Red Wall Cavern.  Didn't look so big from the river, but was huge. 

On the speed boat and on our way out of the canyon and towards Lake Mead.  Great trip.  8 days, approx. 278 miles, numerous rapids, and tons of fun. 

 





Verde Valley, N. AZ

Sunday. Funday.  Happy 100th birthday to the National Park System.  Mom, Audra and I decided to celebrate by taking advantage of the free admission being offered this week.  Fortunate to have such varying places so close to home.

 Montezuma's Well. 15million gallons of Natural spring water is fed into the well daily.  It is believed that people have inhabited this area for 10,000 years.  You may be able to spot some cliff dwellings on the far side of the lake.

Water.  Guessing that the water from Montezuma's Well would give you a fierce case of Montezumas' Revenge.

 Something about being in such a dry climate that makes any water an Oasis.  Tempting to not just jump in.  Probably a good thing I didn't go in the middle of summer.  I probably would have stripped down and been in the water before I had a chance to think about it.

They found a rattlesnake. Smart idea to have the snakes head inclosed.  I've seen some rattlesnake bites and it's not pretty.  Good luck ladies,  glad you are holding the snake and not me.

 Montezuma's Castle.  1100-1425 AD comprised of approx. 20 rooms and took over 3 centuries to build.  It's pretty neat that such a huge structure still exists after all these years and is so accessible to get to. 

 Tuzigoot.  Another Native American structure found in the Verde Valley.  Had over 100 rooms.  Curious how hard it was to get in and out of this structure in it's hayday. 3 parks, no fees.  Really can't complain about that.  We ended the day by going to Jerome.  An old copper mining town that is now a fun community with restaurants, artist shops and plenty of tourists.

 Exploring the town.

 Apparently the population of Jerome is 454 which is hard to believe with the number of cars and people around. 

Would be fun to go back and do one of the tours again.  It has been quite a few years since I have been.

Looking out from Jerome.  Check out that clear, blue AZ sky.  A beautiful day for some sightseeing.

Quebec City, Canada

Winter Vacation 2016, continuing with the cold destinations trend, we decided to explore Quebec City, Canada.  After playing 100 questions with border patrol they fortunately decided to let me in.

 Carnaval de Quebec was in full swing while we were there and the town was decorated with images of Bonhomme-the snowman mascot of the carnival

 We had a lot of fun  rode down an ice slide, and a crazy ride that brought you up about 3 stories and then drops you suddenly.  Felt like it took a solid 5minutes for my innards to settle back into place

 Took a carriage ride around the park.  Which would have been fine if we hadn't waited about 20mins for the rest of riders.  We were freezing by the time we actually got going.

 A few more images.  They had a lot of fun events happening. 

 

 The only walled city in North America.  Quebec has quite the history which we learned about at one of the museums.   Or at least tried to.   I was getting a little confused about who was being referred to at times.  The British or the French.

 Some images of old town Quebec. 

 Enjoying exploring the city and doing our best to not slip on the ice

 Looking thru the wall to the old city

 We stumbled upon this street while wandering around town.  It had cute shops, and enjoyed a nice lunch.

 

Having fun at the children's playground.  BTW climbing ice stairs not the easiest thing to do

 This is a shop in town with lots of lights.  Maybe I will find some inspiration for my own place.

 Inside one of the churches
We also went to a museum "Le Monastere Des Augustines."  A museum dedicated to a hospital run by a group of nuns.  It is hard for me to fathom that someone could want to give up all pleasures in life to join the "sisterhood"

 A picture of the Apothecary.

And a chocolate museum.  Where we each enjoyed an nice cup of hot cocoa when we were finished.  Mine was very rich and creamy.  Almost like a mousse.  Yum!!!

 Attempting to ice fish. 

Audra did much better than me.  We were 2-0.  They had a restaurant on site that cooked up the fish for lunch.  Thanks for sharing.

Our final day in Quebec we opted to go check out the Aquarium.  They had several exhibits of various fish, jellyfish, an artic fox, walruses, seals and polar bears.

We then decided to go see a movie "How to be Single"  Which played in French.  Am definitely interested in seeing it in English and seeing how far off my interpretation of the story line was.

Another great trip.  Au revoir. 

Seattle, WA

Spent nine days in Seattle orienting for my new job at Vera Whole Health.  We stayed right by the UW, but with the grounds around our hotel you wouldn't think it. It was great to get back to the Northwest and even had some time to connect with friends and and do a little sightseeing.

Unfortunately, I was not good about getting photos with people, but was able to capture this great memory enjoying a froyo. Wonderful catching up

There are not many places I haven't explored before in Seattle, but the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum was one of them.  The museum had a lot more to see than I expected and there may be an embarrassing music video floating around somewhere. ; )

 Of course a trip to Seattle isn't complete without a trip to the space needle.   This time I actually went to the top for the first time.

View of Seattle from the top of the space needle.  I love city landscapes.

Snuck a shot of the Chuhuly exhibit. Wish I had time to actually go and explore it more.

And down to the Market.  Monorail made it easy to get from the Needle to the Market.  

 So many flowers and this is just one vendor! Enjoy the sites at the market-foods, arts, flowers and of course some fish tossing.

 Thanks to a recommendation we found this little hideaway right at the market.   Would have walked right past the Alibi room.  I'm pretty sure we sampled just about every pizza on the menu.  So goood.

A trip to the market isn't complete without grossing people out at the gum wall.  Yes.  That is all gum and yes it's gross

Til next time Seattle...