Today was kind of a strange day. After getting in to WaKeeney after midnight and carrying the sleeping boys into the camper, we decided sleeping in was a good thing. We think they were awake by 7:30, after which they pulled out almost all of the toys in their room and created a multi-vehicle accident scene, complete with tipped over light pole. It was an interesting start. The day was a mix of somewhat odd attractions/sites of interest/weirdness and caching. This vacation, to date, has mostly been about seeing the real attractions--Zion, Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, but that's not really who we are. Jeff and I are more about seeing the Mt Horeb Mustard Museum (in Wisconsin) and the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church (in Kansas, not a long way from where we are now). ... read more

I finally have a computer again! Of course, I don't have Zoom Browser or Photoshop or Access or any other programs I use on a regular basis. I also don't have Firefox, although that should soon be remedied. The boys were quite pleased this morning that we let them sleep in, but it wasn't going to be a long day. We left Estes Park and were amazed by how many impatient drivers there are. People were trying to pass long strings of vehicles in no-pass zones on windy mountain roads. Do you not get used to what driving is like in the Rocky Mountains? If you hate it, wouldn't you choose to live somewhere else? Our sole destination for the day was Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, west of Colorado Springs. It has been a destination ... read more

We could not make up our minds today. We had planned to drive to Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada, but Telenav was telling us it would take over four hours, so we needed to leave early. Jeff's internal clock got him up plenty early, but he was unsuccessful in getting me out of bed. Dad, does this sound at all familiar? I convinced him that it was silly to drive all that way just to spend an hour or so in a park, so he started pancakes and I tried to figure out what to do. Part of that was looking at what other vacation could include Great Basin. Unfortunately, Cedar City is the closest we will be to there in any logical future vacation, so after 9:00, we decide to go. As it ... read more

I must admit, the title is not mine. It's on T-shirts that we bought today. It's absolutely appropriate, though, because today was fantastic. Our first stop was Cedar Breaks National Monument east of Cedar City. It is not huge, and is a drive-through kind of place, not that unlike how we usually do parks. We first stopped at the visitor center/bathrooms/southern view. We didn't see any hint of what was coming (aside from the snow!) until walking up a short hill to the viewpoint. It was breathtaking, literally (>10,000 feet) and figuratively. I cannot honestly think of anything that has impressed me this much, except perhaps my first view of the Grand Canyon 9 years ago. The boys agreed, although they weren't impressed by the mud caked on their shoes, a result of the big storm ... read more

Our last visit to the Grand Canyon included 140 miles driving out of our way, 30 minutes looking for a place to park and 20 minutes spent actually looking at the canyon. Today's visit to the North Rim was far better. After driving through the sub-alpine forest and meadows of Kaibab National Forest, we easily found parking near the Visitor Center. We strolled through the cabins of Grand Canyon Lodge, with their front porches and rocking chairs set amongst the pines. Chipmunks and lizards scurried about while ravens hopped around looking for food. The boys were enthralled. So were we, I guess, because we've already priced future visits. The lodge itself is set right on the edge, and has a 3-story great room overlooking the canyon. Good gracious, it's gorgeous. Liam's first comment was the title ... read more