Monday, July 23, 2007
Vacation Day by Day
I haven't had the time I expected to detail out the trip, so before I forget here are notes on our daily activities while on our recent vacation (kind of long, but more for my benefit than yours anyway!).
One item of note - we decided to collect smashed pennies wherever we could (those machines that smash the penny and impress a design of some sort).
I'll try and add pictures and links in future posts.
Friday, July 6th
The biggest challenge of the day was figuring out how to attach the cargo bag to the top of the Suburban. Once we had that figured out, we headed out. We drove from home to Salina, Utah in about 9 hours. Crossing the desert was VERY hot. We saw a high temperature of 119 around Las Vegas.
Through the course of the day, we were in 4 US states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah.
The girls and I got to swim in the pool at the hotel, but otherwise it was an uneventful day.
Saturday, July 7th
We drove the rest of the way to Colorado Springs (a little under 9 hours). Along the way, we stopped at a number of scenic view points in Utah and Colorado (our 5th US state of the trip). We saw a low temperature of 51 degrees while crossing the Rocky Mountains - a major change from yesterday!
As we approached Colorado Springs, we met up with my brother and his family (a.k.a, the Colorado George Family) for dinner. They were just getting home from vacation in Oregon. We also got to stop by and see their house for the first time.
Sunday, July 8th
- Air Force Academy - smashed our first pennies.
- Garden of the Gods trip 1 - more penny smashing (Trading Post).
- Played card game "Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot" with the Colorado Georges.
Monday, July 9th
- Garden of the Gods trip 2 - still more penny smashing (Visitors Center).
- Geocaching (we found one and attempted, but failed, on a second).
- Movie: Ratatouille with Colorado Georges.
Tuesday, July 10th
- Pikes Peak via Cog Railway (penny smashing again).
- Manitou Springs old time family photo with Colorado Georges.
- Manitou Springs Melodrama Theater.
Wednesday, July 11th
- White Water Rafting with Colorado Georges (the most popular family activity this trip). Celeste wanted to keep going!
- Train Ride through the bottom of Royal Gorge.
- HUGE afternoon thunderstorm prevented visiting the Royal Gorge bridge at the top of the Royal Gorge.
- Several hours of laundry for Celeste & I, everyone else got to swim.
Thursday, July 12th
- 12+ hour drive from Colorado Springs to Springdale, Utah.
- Penny smashing at Red Rock Amphitheatre.
- Photos of Eagle Scout Andrew in Eagle, Colorado. Good fudge at the visitor's center!
- Arrive in Springdale, UT well after dark. Hotel lobby was closed, but they left us a note for our room number. Key was in the door waiting for us.
Suburban oil light came intermittently towards the end of the drive.
Friday, July 13th
Zion National Park
- Rode tram to Zion Lodge.
- Penny smashing at Zion Lodge.
- Escaped heat in hotel room.
- Found out that the Suburban needed 3 quarts of oil (a mystery since we had an oil change days before leaving and had no problems crossing the Rocky Mtns twice!).
- Beth/Rob evening hikes to Weeping Rock and the Riverwalk in Zion (including a small portion of the river hike towards the Narrows).
Saturday, July 14th
- Beth/Rob hike to Emerald Pools in Zion.
- 3 hour drive to Las Vegas. Stopped for buffet lunch in Mesquite, Nevada. Girls play Keno for the first time ever (ok, technically to give us numbers to play Keno). I think we started a gambling addiction.
- Check in at Excalibur.
- Drive to Circus Circus AdventureDome. Play games (Hayley won a stuffed dog), smashed more pennies.
- Noted a trip-high temperature of 127 when we got back to the car in the parking garage at Circus Circus!
- Return to hotel and drove the strip after dark to let kids see the lights.
- Rob/Beth walk to M&M World on strip for M&M purchasing and more penny smashing.
- Rob/Beth/Drew walk to Houdini's Magic Shop (Drew's company) at New York, New York hotel.
- Rob/Beth/Drew walk to Luxor to see the inside of the pyramid and find out that cool Egyptian-themed chips are no longer sold (they are ditching that theme, kind of odd for a pyramid shaped hotel?).
Sunday, July 15th
- Breakfast in the Excalibur Coffee Shop. The girls wanted their last chance to play Keno. We had a net loss of $2 from our entire Keno play.
- Ethel M Chocolate Factory tour. We did our last penny smashing of the trip, got some chocolate, took a few pictures in the cactus garden, then headed home.
The 5 hour drive home was fairly uneventful and safe, but hot.
One item of note - we decided to collect smashed pennies wherever we could (those machines that smash the penny and impress a design of some sort).
I'll try and add pictures and links in future posts.
Friday, July 6th
The biggest challenge of the day was figuring out how to attach the cargo bag to the top of the Suburban. Once we had that figured out, we headed out. We drove from home to Salina, Utah in about 9 hours. Crossing the desert was VERY hot. We saw a high temperature of 119 around Las Vegas.
Through the course of the day, we were in 4 US states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah.
The girls and I got to swim in the pool at the hotel, but otherwise it was an uneventful day.
Saturday, July 7th
We drove the rest of the way to Colorado Springs (a little under 9 hours). Along the way, we stopped at a number of scenic view points in Utah and Colorado (our 5th US state of the trip). We saw a low temperature of 51 degrees while crossing the Rocky Mountains - a major change from yesterday!
As we approached Colorado Springs, we met up with my brother and his family (a.k.a, the Colorado George Family) for dinner. They were just getting home from vacation in Oregon. We also got to stop by and see their house for the first time.
Sunday, July 8th
- Air Force Academy - smashed our first pennies.
- Garden of the Gods trip 1 - more penny smashing (Trading Post).
- Played card game "Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot" with the Colorado Georges.
Monday, July 9th
- Garden of the Gods trip 2 - still more penny smashing (Visitors Center).
- Geocaching (we found one and attempted, but failed, on a second).
- Movie: Ratatouille with Colorado Georges.
Tuesday, July 10th
- Pikes Peak via Cog Railway (penny smashing again).
- Manitou Springs old time family photo with Colorado Georges.
- Manitou Springs Melodrama Theater.
Wednesday, July 11th
- White Water Rafting with Colorado Georges (the most popular family activity this trip). Celeste wanted to keep going!
- Train Ride through the bottom of Royal Gorge.
- HUGE afternoon thunderstorm prevented visiting the Royal Gorge bridge at the top of the Royal Gorge.
- Several hours of laundry for Celeste & I, everyone else got to swim.
Thursday, July 12th
- 12+ hour drive from Colorado Springs to Springdale, Utah.
- Penny smashing at Red Rock Amphitheatre.
- Photos of Eagle Scout Andrew in Eagle, Colorado. Good fudge at the visitor's center!
- Arrive in Springdale, UT well after dark. Hotel lobby was closed, but they left us a note for our room number. Key was in the door waiting for us.
Suburban oil light came intermittently towards the end of the drive.
Friday, July 13th
Zion National Park
- Rode tram to Zion Lodge.
- Penny smashing at Zion Lodge.
- Escaped heat in hotel room.
- Found out that the Suburban needed 3 quarts of oil (a mystery since we had an oil change days before leaving and had no problems crossing the Rocky Mtns twice!).
- Beth/Rob evening hikes to Weeping Rock and the Riverwalk in Zion (including a small portion of the river hike towards the Narrows).
Saturday, July 14th
- Beth/Rob hike to Emerald Pools in Zion.
- 3 hour drive to Las Vegas. Stopped for buffet lunch in Mesquite, Nevada. Girls play Keno for the first time ever (ok, technically to give us numbers to play Keno). I think we started a gambling addiction.
- Check in at Excalibur.
- Drive to Circus Circus AdventureDome. Play games (Hayley won a stuffed dog), smashed more pennies.
- Noted a trip-high temperature of 127 when we got back to the car in the parking garage at Circus Circus!
- Return to hotel and drove the strip after dark to let kids see the lights.
- Rob/Beth walk to M&M World on strip for M&M purchasing and more penny smashing.
- Rob/Beth/Drew walk to Houdini's Magic Shop (Drew's company) at New York, New York hotel.
- Rob/Beth/Drew walk to Luxor to see the inside of the pyramid and find out that cool Egyptian-themed chips are no longer sold (they are ditching that theme, kind of odd for a pyramid shaped hotel?).
Sunday, July 15th
- Breakfast in the Excalibur Coffee Shop. The girls wanted their last chance to play Keno. We had a net loss of $2 from our entire Keno play.
- Ethel M Chocolate Factory tour. We did our last penny smashing of the trip, got some chocolate, took a few pictures in the cactus garden, then headed home.
The 5 hour drive home was fairly uneventful and safe, but hot.
Labels: Penny Smashing, Vacation
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Vacation
The family recently returned from a road trip vacation. Fortunately, it went much better than the National Lampoon movies! We drove from SoCal to Colorado, then to Zion National Park in Utah, spent a night in Las Vegas, then returned home last Sunday. Total trip was 10 days. It was very HOT, but otherwise we had a great trip.
As time permits, I'll post some details.
For those that are curious, Peanut did NOT escape from the family that took care of her this time!
As time permits, I'll post some details.
For those that are curious, Peanut did NOT escape from the family that took care of her this time!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Peanut the Hamster Escapes Again
Our hamster, Peanut, has escaped a number of times. I have done blog entries about this in the past. She has always shown up again, but usually after getting a good day or so of freedom hiding who-knows-where.
Last weekend while we were camping, we took Peanut to some friends to take care of her for the weekend. We warned them about Peanut's wandering tendencies and the precautions to prevent an escape. It didn't matter. Peanut seemed to sense their weak defenses and exploited them last Sunday night around 7pm. The family taking care of her was devastated. They have 3 dogs and other assorted pets. They are next to a creek outside, so they have raccoons, rats, and other varmints in the area too. As of late last night, there was no sign of Peanut after 24 hours.
The trick that I suggested was to leave 1 pile of food inside the cage and wait until around 10pm when she wakes up to search for her. However, that didn't work last night. They still left the cage in a dog-free area with some food out. This morning, they saw that the food was gone. After a quick search, they found Peanut in the little hamster penthouse curled up asleep.
This was Peanut's longest adventure yet. The hamster-sitting family was greatly relieved. My girls took it all in stride. They really didn't seem worried about her -- even though we had serious doubts that she would be back this time. Now that she is back though everyone is very happy.
Last weekend while we were camping, we took Peanut to some friends to take care of her for the weekend. We warned them about Peanut's wandering tendencies and the precautions to prevent an escape. It didn't matter. Peanut seemed to sense their weak defenses and exploited them last Sunday night around 7pm. The family taking care of her was devastated. They have 3 dogs and other assorted pets. They are next to a creek outside, so they have raccoons, rats, and other varmints in the area too. As of late last night, there was no sign of Peanut after 24 hours.
The trick that I suggested was to leave 1 pile of food inside the cage and wait until around 10pm when she wakes up to search for her. However, that didn't work last night. They still left the cage in a dog-free area with some food out. This morning, they saw that the food was gone. After a quick search, they found Peanut in the little hamster penthouse curled up asleep.
This was Peanut's longest adventure yet. The hamster-sitting family was greatly relieved. My girls took it all in stride. They really didn't seem worried about her -- even though we had serious doubts that she would be back this time. Now that she is back though everyone is very happy.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Camping
We went camping last weekend. We took the tents and sleeping bags and such and headed out to a campground that I remember going to a lot as a kid. The place is called Vail Lake Resort (it was called Butterfield Country when I was a kid) and it is a few miles east of Temecula. We went a few years ago over a long February weekend and it was great. The site was still being re-built after years of neglect, but they had done a good job on what was done. Based on that, we decided to head out there again with some friends of ours.
The kids had fun this past weekend, although it was less so for us parents. There were a lot of cool things going on including live music on Friday and Saturday night, a BBQ and fireworks on Saturday, lots of places to ride bikes, and we added 3 new geocaches to our finds.
However, on the negative side it was hot, dusty, and loud. Hot was annoying, dusty was manageable, but the loud part was very unacceptable. It was like the campsites around us were having a stereo volume war and everyone lost. On top of that, we were dealing with kids screaming until well past midnight.
Wow, I feel old complaining like this -- but on the other hand I have rarely experienced such an utter lack of courtesy by so many different people in what should have been a relaxing atmosphere. The campsite had rules, they just didn't enforce them. I asked the nearest group to turn it down around 11pm, but I just didn't have the time or energy to deal with all of the others. Unfortunately, we don't plan to return anytime soon (and definitely not in the summertime).
The kids had fun this past weekend, although it was less so for us parents. There were a lot of cool things going on including live music on Friday and Saturday night, a BBQ and fireworks on Saturday, lots of places to ride bikes, and we added 3 new geocaches to our finds.
However, on the negative side it was hot, dusty, and loud. Hot was annoying, dusty was manageable, but the loud part was very unacceptable. It was like the campsites around us were having a stereo volume war and everyone lost. On top of that, we were dealing with kids screaming until well past midnight.
Wow, I feel old complaining like this -- but on the other hand I have rarely experienced such an utter lack of courtesy by so many different people in what should have been a relaxing atmosphere. The campsite had rules, they just didn't enforce them. I asked the nearest group to turn it down around 11pm, but I just didn't have the time or energy to deal with all of the others. Unfortunately, we don't plan to return anytime soon (and definitely not in the summertime).
Labels: Camping, Geocaching, GPS, Rant
