Day Two - The Grand Canyon

Day Two - the Grand Canyon - Wednesday, June 20, 2007.

We had a surprisingly quick start out of Barstow around 8:30 AM and everything confirmed our beliefs that we will NEVER be recommending BARSTOW for ANYTHING. Gas was 3.69 a gallon - even more expensive than the Bay Area! Plus the Mojave desert is just barren - only thing it would be good for is as a hiding place if the Russians attack (Red Dawn reference). Unfortunately (most likely too much info here but this is a blog so this is what you get) our family has been hit with a stomach bug - I had it last week, Sammie had it the first couple of days and now Laura came down with it today. We are not looking forward to Lucas having this - trust me. The drive today was about 6 hours - our new portable GPS system - which we have decided to call Stella - was particularly bored today because the road was straight and hot. We made it to our hotel by about 3 pm and promptly jumped into the pool amidst accents from several different countries. Sammie is swimming fearlessly now and will swim in water over her head without any supervision. She has come a long way - but still refuses to play mermaids with me. After the pool we went to over to the Grand Canyon and I learned that I am not as patient as I thought (the picture above was taken by a tourist after about the 6th try - as my mother always said - patience is a virtue). Honestly I think the best picture of the canyon we got was of Lucas picking his nose. I will save that one for only those who request it. After a few minutes of viewing one of the 7 WONDERS OF THE MODERN WORLD Sammie was asking to go back to the hotel and that her feet were tired of walking - not a surprise. Needless to say she won't be making much of a hike tomorrow (I think the IMAX movie is in her future). Unfortunately Lucas doesn't have a choice. We brought the backpack and tomorrow I am going to take him into the canyon for a short hike. We plan on doing some other things around the canyon and then head out for camping on Friday. Our hotel room for the next two nights is on the first floor - thank goodness - makes for the unpacking ritual to be much easier.

What we learned today - Barstow still sucks. Sammie does not like to hike. The Tusayan Cafe serves Black Butte Porter (nice!). Germans like Quesadillas.

More tomorrow. We look at each other daily and can't believe that this trip is not going to loop back to California. Michigan here we come....

FYI - our house closed and the money is in the bank. YAHOO!!