Friday in Glen Canyon and Zion

We spent Thursday night in Tuba City, AZ - on the Navajo Trail in the Painted Desert. We even got to hear a little of the Navajo language.

Then we headed up to Glen Canyon which is on the border with Utah along the Colorado river. The scenery is very dramatic - with jagged sandstone mountains and breathtaking views across the valleys. We took a tour of the Glen Canyon dam which was completed in 1964 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The tour included a walk on the top of the dam (600+ feet above the river) from which you can see both sides and then a trip down the elevator into the depths of the dam (500+ feet below) - where you can see the giant turbines generating power for use across the southwest. More details at the Bureau's website.

Well Zion National Park in Utah is my favorite so far on the trip - spectacular and yet amazingly uncrowded and quiet. Visitors drive down through the park through all the twisty switchbacks and tunnels through the mountains until you reach the bottom and the Visitor's Center. Then you take a one of the shuttle buses and get off at various spots. They run until 11:00 p.m. which we thought quite cool. Many of the rock formations have names and the "Patriarchs" (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) are particularly beautiful.

Zion would be a fabulous place to camp - at the bottom of the canyon - so we will definitely have to come back some day.

We made it to Hurricane, UT for the night.

We're Off

On Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings evenings we said some of our last goodbyes - to Rob and Joy Sage, to Ken & Fureya Walicki and Jason & Maria Teven (and Julian and Magdalena of course) and then to Pete & Kathy LeNoache and John Dunne. Even Dave shed a couple of tears at leaving such dear friends. Dave hurt his back on Saturday (not actually moving furniture but swinging Linden around) so that has put a damper on some of our activities.

So we finally hit the road on Wednesday afternoon about 5:15 p.m. (it took a little bit longer than I thought to clean out my office!) But we made it to Needles, CA on Wednesday night.


On Thursday afternoon we arrived at the South rim of the Grand Canyon. Quite spectacular - just like the photos;-> We spent some time looking over the edges and at the visitor's center. Linden was seemingly more impressed with the rock edges on the pathways - great for balancing and jumping.

One of the photos here shows an unusual flying creature - it seemed like a cross between a moth and a hummingbird - as it hovered like a hummingbird to suck nectar out of the butterfly bush - but it was clearly not a bird. So hopefully one of the wildlife biologists in the group can provide an answer here.

Friday is Zion National Park.


[Remember to click on the link to the right to access our latest photos through Flickr]

Last trip to Sequoia

My sister and her husband are now working in Sequoia National Forest near Shaver Lake so we went up to see them before we start our journey East. She is doing another fisher project (Martes pennanti- small weasel-like mammal) similar to the Hoopa Valley Pacific Fisher project.

We enjoyed staying at their cabin although Mr. Cat felt a little imposed upon I believe. Linden just adores "Baracca". Hopefully Jim and Bec and teach her how to use the binoculars on more birding expeditions. We also saw the Mckinley Grove - our last touch of a Sequoia for a while.

House!

After an intensive team effort, I believe we have a place to live in Chapel Hill! Woo hoo!! Dave flew out to NC to meet my folks on Friday and look at quite a few homes in just 2 days. We've been working with a great realtor Julia Teasley. Dave put in the offer this morning - and he got the call that it was accepted while he was at the airport on the way home.

A hearty thanks to Mom and Dad for making the trips down to NC to help us find just the right place. There are still lots of details to work out but this will be a great relief to have an address (in the near future).

We are gearing up for a new adventure for our family - a big move to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. So I thought a blog might be a good way for our family and friends to track our move and new surroundings.

22 days until the movers arrive and we have a LOT to do. We are still looking for a home but hope to find something in the next two weeks. Fortunately the moving company will store our stuff for two months just in case. Orientation for my school is August 16 and we plan to take a leisurely drive across the country August 1 - 15 seeing some sights, family and friends. This will be one of those trips that later we can say to Linden, "You don't remember it but you've been to the Grand Canyon."

More later...