August 13th

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon was really cool.  Grandpa Bob had made us a reservation at Jacob’s Lake, about 45 mins from the Canyon.  It was a very nice camping area.  After cooking over a fire, we got a good night’s sleep. The place was crawling with chipmunks, which are not baby squirrels.  A humming bird came by and said hi as we were having breakfast. We drove to the North Rim, which was cool and cloudy.  The Canyon has its own weather systems, and it was threatening to storm.  It sprinkled a few times, but the Canyon was still gorgeous.  It cleared up shortly before we left – the sun really helps with depth perception.  There were all kinds of wildflowers, shrubs, trees, and cacti. 

From Jacob’s Lake, we drove through NE Arizona toward Four Corners.  The four corners  was different than I remembered it:  same stuff and food for sale by the Native Americans, but new structures, new entrance fee, and higher prices for the flat bread.  Before Four Corners  we saw some cool stuff, like rock dwelling built by whites in the 1930’s.  There were great cliff formations with amazing colors.

After that we headed up into Durango (southern Colorado).  The mountains and foliage were a nice change after a couple of days of desert.  Perfect sleeping temps.  Got up early to go white water rafting.  Adele had a stomach ache and didn’t go, but Maddie and I had fun.  The river was rather low, so there wasn’t that much white water, but our guide was cool and we had  a good time seeing the river.  After rafting, we walking around Durango a bit (Adele was feeling better).  Pretty chill place: neat shops and galleries, coffee shops, etc. – a lot like Coeur d’Alene with a western fare.

Thursday night we went to Santa Fe, New Mexico and met up with an old family friend and the dean of St. John's College in Santa Fe, Walter Sterling, his wife Megan, and their kids Will and Luke. We went out to dinner and ate New Mexican food, which was like Mexican but with more chili and cheese. It was really good! The next day we went to St. John's and walked around the campus a little bit. The coolest buildings were the GI building and the library. Then Maddie and Adele played tennis for a little bit and we were back on the road, heading to Texas.

Last night we camped at Fort Amarillo, which was really nice. It had very nice bathrooms, an indoor pool, a work out room, and a very nice man made pond. I guess that's what makes it an RV resort. Today we are going to touch Oklahoma and then camp in Paris, Texas. pics later.