Bothell to Arizona -
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Last Wednesday I woke up at 4am so as to have the family on our shuttle bus at 4:45. Except that, once I was done with my shower I realized somehow my alarm clock was 20 minutes late, and my cell phone alarm (set for redundancy) had not gone off due to the confusing requirement that you not only set the alarm time but also 'enable' the alarm. So everyone else got up and had about 10 minutes to be ready. Fortunately, the shuttle was also a bit late, and we had packed completely the night before. So, before we knew it, we were riding to the airport. Our driver, Julio, was a nice old New Yorker who gave us a rundown of Seattle history, when he wasn't answering endless questions from our (surprisingly for 5am) talkative kids.
Our flight was uneventful and Luke came to pick us up at the airport. We picked up some sandwiches at Casella's, a local sub shop that Kristen's family frequents, that even has a picture of Kristen (all right-- Kristen plus her whole graduating class and every other class-- but still). Then we went to Kristen's Grandpa Carl's house to eat lunch with Jen and pick up Kristen. Unfortunately Grandpa was not there.
We drove out to Sedona, the girls in the Pathfinder and Luke and I in the Jeep. As we drove out of the Scottsdale area Luke pointed out the huge site where he will soon be working and, by all accounts, running the show. Luke and I were having some great conversation as we drove north, until we came around the bend and I saw the astounding, enormous, rust colored sandstone formations growing out of the red and green valley below. Since my jaw was on the floor it was difficult to keep on talking. I don't know how long it would take to get over the majestic Sedona landscape, but it has to be measured in years.
We checked into the timeshare which Grandpa Carl owns, and which is nearly as beautiful as the landscape around it. Everything in our two-bedroom suite looked brand new and stylish. Both bedrooms and the living room had a big flatscreen. I can't say enough about it beyond the fact it is the nicest place I've ever stayed. Luke, Emma, Avery and myself swam while Kristen and Salina bought some groceries and cooked dinner in the full kitchen. Except that poor pregnant Kristen could not stomach the smell of onions cooking and had to go out to the balcony.
Thursday morning Avery stayed with Kristen while Luke took the rest of us out in his Jeep. Out and up. Up Schnebly Hill Road. Teddy Schnebly was Sedona's first postmaster, and named the city after his wife. She must have been beautiful. We stopped several times to take pictures, look for fossils, and hike around. We saw a deer along the road but did not get any good pictures. Luke had intended to take us all the way up but we finally came to a gate, locked for the winter. So we just hung out at that spot for a long time, and took in the sites. Emma collected 30 red rocks for her class. On the way down, we stopped at a trickling creek to look around, and Salina found some big cat paw prints.
We came back into Sedona and had lunch, and then we all went to Oak Canyon Creek near Bev and Rowland's timeshare. We saw lots of lizards and Salina jumped into the freezing cold glacial creek. Emma was fearless crossing the stream. That night we had dinner at another of Kristen's family's favorites, Shugrues, where I can personally recommend the Torrington steak. Then Luke and Kristen headed out of town so that Luke could fly out Friday morning to Blue's memorial service. They left us with the Pathfinder and their Garmin (a navigation device).
Friday morning we packed up and went into Sedona proper to check out the tourist trap Tlaquepaque, which is a fancy set of artsy shops in a beautiful Mexican styled villa. Except that the best coffee we could find was pretty awful.
We drove north from there heading for Williams. We stopped at a creek and explored, and there was someone's driveway that went straight through the creek. As we continued north we were rising in elevation, and though we were leaving the beautiful red-rock country, the landscape continued to provoke awe. I saw a coyote on the way. We even began to encounter piles of snow.
We arrived in Williams that evening. Williams is a small town on historic Route 66, about an hour south of the Grand Canyon. It was very cold, and the Travelodge we checked into was the polar opposite of the luxury of the Sedona timeshare. But we walked all the way up and down the strip and were very charmed by this little town. We had dinner at a fun Route 66 themed restaurant named Cruisers Cafe. Every shop has a wealth of Route 66 or old west paraphernalia and decor. The people are very nice and all willing to chat.
One fella behind the counter in a Western shop had a bola tie, a big black hat and a dark and wrinkled tan, looking the part of a real Southwest cowboy. But when he opened his mouth out came a New England accent. He had come over from the east coast years ago and fell in love with the little town. I can see how. It reminded me a lot of Forks. Somewhat depressed as far as the local economy, but still pridefully striving along.
The next morning we had breakfast at the Route 66 Diner across the street and coffee a bit later at the Java Cycle cafe, both of which I heartily recommend. We took some extra time at the cafe to let Emma catch up on her journal, in which she wrote a paragraph about our trip every day. Then stopped by Safeway and put together a picnic lunch, and headed up to the Grand Canyon.
There are many places and sites which get a lot of hype and do not live up to it. The Grand Canyon is not one of them. We parked and hiked a little bit to the edge of the canyon and once again, jaws dropped. It is so immensely huge, it is hard to understand just what you are looking at. The sun was high in the sky so there were barely any shadows, which increased the difficulty of comprehension. The landscape is so varied and detailed, each ancient layer created slowly in a different epoch of prehistory, then carved away by water in just the last few million years. The age of the place was tangible. We hiked maybe a half mile along the trail, taking numerous pictures. Emma and Salina were both very brave, venturing very close to the edge.
We got back to the car and drove to a different spot and had our picnic. There were huge crows badgering us for our scraps, one of them cawing in a very precise rhythm the entire time. Avery was very curious about the cemetery nearby, a burial site for those who worked at the Canyon, so we took a walk through it. Then we went down to the Canyon rim again and hiked another mile or so. Avery got very whiny towards the end so we headed back (although now she says the Grand Canyon is one of her favorite parts of our vacation). I think Emma would have happily hiked across the entire thing.
We drove back to Williams, had dinner at a fun 50's themed cafe called Twisters, and then Salina and I watched the Matrix. Salina's classes actually started Wednesday, so she had homework to do. Believe it or not, watching the Matrix was one assignment.
Sunday morning we drove down to Scottsdale area and checked into our resort in a nearby town called Carefree. The houses in Carefree all look like the style of adobe home you'd expect in an Indian village on a mesa-- square cornered and earth colored. Our resort was also very nice. We went swimming immediately, since we had returned to proper Arizona weather.
Then we drove into Scottsdale to have a barbecue at Bev and Rowland's house. Luke grilled and Kristen and Jen assembled the salads and other trappings, leaving us the pleasure of visiting with Bev, Rowland and Grandpa Carl. Actually, I am sure Bev and Rowland did a lot too, but if so, they made it seem effortless. The back yard was as beautiful as when we all came down for the wedding. The girls and Dylan picked oranges and rode Dylan's toy jeep.
The next morning we drove the girls out to Spur Cross Stables and bought them a few minute horse ride. We walked around the ranch a while and visited with the friendly workers. There were lots of horses and some other animals, including a huge and perfectly cylindrical potbellied pig. Then we had lunch at a nice outdoor Mexican restaurant with a big pond full of turtles, ducks and fish. We sat right next to the pond and the girls watched the turtles sunning. On the way back to the resort, we saw a large wild cat that looked like a lynx, walking right into the resort area, frightening some ladies. We also saw numerous quail on the site.
That afternoon I drove into Scottsdale and picked up Luke, and we went to the Diamondback's opening day at Chase field. Bev and Rowland gave us their tickets for this day, which was amazingly generous of them. Chase field is a lot like Safeco field. It has a retractable roof. It also has-- brand new this year-- the largest flat screen display on Earth, about 50 x 140 feet, called the Supertron. I did not know this, and before the game they had the display divided up so it looked like several small displays plus a traditional scoreboard. Then, an announcer on a small "screen" said "this is too small" and broke out of his screen into the bigger display. Then the entire screen showed a zoom in of the audience, and there's two white guys sitting there, one of whom is wearing a white UW hat with a purple W on it-- and I realize that it's me! After the star spangled banner, four Air Force jets flew over the stadium, and later the pilot's were at the game. It was a great game, which the Diamondbacks won (against the L.A. Dodgers), and featured many good plays and a few home runs.
While Luke and I were at the game, Kristen, Jen and Dylan went out to the resort to be with my girls. Apparently, they had a lot of trouble with the Jeep, a story I will leave them to tell.
Tuesday morning Luke picked us up and we dropped by the Scottsdale office of Salina's company, Apex Wine Cellars. Then we all hiked halfway up Camelback mountain, which sits between Scottsdale and Phoenix. It was very fun and beautiful. From the highest point, we could see miles and miles over Scottsdale and Phoenix. Once again, Emma would have been happy to climb to the top, and Avery was ready to go back about two minutes into the trek. Then we went in and got Casella's again and brought that into Grandpa Carl's for lunch. We had a great visit with him. Then we headed back to the resort for a swim. That evening we met Luke, Kristen, Grandpa Carl, Barb and Jen at a TGIFriday's midway between Carefree and Scottsdale. Then, back at the resort, we put the kids to bed and packed.
The next morning we drove in to Bev and Rowland's and said goodbye to everyone. Luke and Kristen were headed off to a prenatal checkup, so Bev offered to drive us to the Airport. Finally, we flew home-- though we all ended up sitting in different rows! The thought of sitting next to strangers made Avery very nervous, until her neighbor let her watch "Pirate's of the Caribbean" on her laptop. I was surprised Avery would watch it. But she said it was funny.
We feel bad for the people Salina met at the resort, who were doing the same trip (Carefree, Sedona, Canyon) in reverse, because the weather reports show rain up north now. It seems we got the best of everything...
5:30 PM
Last Wednesday I woke up at 4am so as to have the family on our shuttle bus at 4:45. Except that, once I was done with my shower I realized somehow my alarm clock was 20 minutes late, and my cell phone alarm (set for redundancy) had not gone off due to the confusing requirement that you not only set the alarm time but also 'enable' the alarm. So everyone else got up and had about 10 minutes to be ready. Fortunately, the shuttle was also a bit late, and we had packed completely the night before. So, before we knew it, we were riding to the airport. Our driver, Julio, was a nice old New Yorker who gave us a rundown of Seattle history, when he wasn't answering endless questions from our (surprisingly for 5am) talkative kids.
Our flight was uneventful and Luke came to pick us up at the airport. We picked up some sandwiches at Casella's, a local sub shop that Kristen's family frequents, that even has a picture of Kristen (all right-- Kristen plus her whole graduating class and every other class-- but still). Then we went to Kristen's Grandpa Carl's house to eat lunch with Jen and pick up Kristen. Unfortunately Grandpa was not there.
We drove out to Sedona, the girls in the Pathfinder and Luke and I in the Jeep. As we drove out of the Scottsdale area Luke pointed out the huge site where he will soon be working and, by all accounts, running the show. Luke and I were having some great conversation as we drove north, until we came around the bend and I saw the astounding, enormous, rust colored sandstone formations growing out of the red and green valley below. Since my jaw was on the floor it was difficult to keep on talking. I don't know how long it would take to get over the majestic Sedona landscape, but it has to be measured in years.
We checked into the timeshare which Grandpa Carl owns, and which is nearly as beautiful as the landscape around it. Everything in our two-bedroom suite looked brand new and stylish. Both bedrooms and the living room had a big flatscreen. I can't say enough about it beyond the fact it is the nicest place I've ever stayed. Luke, Emma, Avery and myself swam while Kristen and Salina bought some groceries and cooked dinner in the full kitchen. Except that poor pregnant Kristen could not stomach the smell of onions cooking and had to go out to the balcony.
Thursday morning Avery stayed with Kristen while Luke took the rest of us out in his Jeep. Out and up. Up Schnebly Hill Road. Teddy Schnebly was Sedona's first postmaster, and named the city after his wife. She must have been beautiful. We stopped several times to take pictures, look for fossils, and hike around. We saw a deer along the road but did not get any good pictures. Luke had intended to take us all the way up but we finally came to a gate, locked for the winter. So we just hung out at that spot for a long time, and took in the sites. Emma collected 30 red rocks for her class. On the way down, we stopped at a trickling creek to look around, and Salina found some big cat paw prints.
We came back into Sedona and had lunch, and then we all went to Oak Canyon Creek near Bev and Rowland's timeshare. We saw lots of lizards and Salina jumped into the freezing cold glacial creek. Emma was fearless crossing the stream. That night we had dinner at another of Kristen's family's favorites, Shugrues, where I can personally recommend the Torrington steak. Then Luke and Kristen headed out of town so that Luke could fly out Friday morning to Blue's memorial service. They left us with the Pathfinder and their Garmin (a navigation device).
Friday morning we packed up and went into Sedona proper to check out the tourist trap Tlaquepaque, which is a fancy set of artsy shops in a beautiful Mexican styled villa. Except that the best coffee we could find was pretty awful.
We drove north from there heading for Williams. We stopped at a creek and explored, and there was someone's driveway that went straight through the creek. As we continued north we were rising in elevation, and though we were leaving the beautiful red-rock country, the landscape continued to provoke awe. I saw a coyote on the way. We even began to encounter piles of snow.
We arrived in Williams that evening. Williams is a small town on historic Route 66, about an hour south of the Grand Canyon. It was very cold, and the Travelodge we checked into was the polar opposite of the luxury of the Sedona timeshare. But we walked all the way up and down the strip and were very charmed by this little town. We had dinner at a fun Route 66 themed restaurant named Cruisers Cafe. Every shop has a wealth of Route 66 or old west paraphernalia and decor. The people are very nice and all willing to chat.
One fella behind the counter in a Western shop had a bola tie, a big black hat and a dark and wrinkled tan, looking the part of a real Southwest cowboy. But when he opened his mouth out came a New England accent. He had come over from the east coast years ago and fell in love with the little town. I can see how. It reminded me a lot of Forks. Somewhat depressed as far as the local economy, but still pridefully striving along.
The next morning we had breakfast at the Route 66 Diner across the street and coffee a bit later at the Java Cycle cafe, both of which I heartily recommend. We took some extra time at the cafe to let Emma catch up on her journal, in which she wrote a paragraph about our trip every day. Then stopped by Safeway and put together a picnic lunch, and headed up to the Grand Canyon.
There are many places and sites which get a lot of hype and do not live up to it. The Grand Canyon is not one of them. We parked and hiked a little bit to the edge of the canyon and once again, jaws dropped. It is so immensely huge, it is hard to understand just what you are looking at. The sun was high in the sky so there were barely any shadows, which increased the difficulty of comprehension. The landscape is so varied and detailed, each ancient layer created slowly in a different epoch of prehistory, then carved away by water in just the last few million years. The age of the place was tangible. We hiked maybe a half mile along the trail, taking numerous pictures. Emma and Salina were both very brave, venturing very close to the edge.
We got back to the car and drove to a different spot and had our picnic. There were huge crows badgering us for our scraps, one of them cawing in a very precise rhythm the entire time. Avery was very curious about the cemetery nearby, a burial site for those who worked at the Canyon, so we took a walk through it. Then we went down to the Canyon rim again and hiked another mile or so. Avery got very whiny towards the end so we headed back (although now she says the Grand Canyon is one of her favorite parts of our vacation). I think Emma would have happily hiked across the entire thing.
We drove back to Williams, had dinner at a fun 50's themed cafe called Twisters, and then Salina and I watched the Matrix. Salina's classes actually started Wednesday, so she had homework to do. Believe it or not, watching the Matrix was one assignment.
Sunday morning we drove down to Scottsdale area and checked into our resort in a nearby town called Carefree. The houses in Carefree all look like the style of adobe home you'd expect in an Indian village on a mesa-- square cornered and earth colored. Our resort was also very nice. We went swimming immediately, since we had returned to proper Arizona weather.
Then we drove into Scottsdale to have a barbecue at Bev and Rowland's house. Luke grilled and Kristen and Jen assembled the salads and other trappings, leaving us the pleasure of visiting with Bev, Rowland and Grandpa Carl. Actually, I am sure Bev and Rowland did a lot too, but if so, they made it seem effortless. The back yard was as beautiful as when we all came down for the wedding. The girls and Dylan picked oranges and rode Dylan's toy jeep.
The next morning we drove the girls out to Spur Cross Stables and bought them a few minute horse ride. We walked around the ranch a while and visited with the friendly workers. There were lots of horses and some other animals, including a huge and perfectly cylindrical potbellied pig. Then we had lunch at a nice outdoor Mexican restaurant with a big pond full of turtles, ducks and fish. We sat right next to the pond and the girls watched the turtles sunning. On the way back to the resort, we saw a large wild cat that looked like a lynx, walking right into the resort area, frightening some ladies. We also saw numerous quail on the site.
That afternoon I drove into Scottsdale and picked up Luke, and we went to the Diamondback's opening day at Chase field. Bev and Rowland gave us their tickets for this day, which was amazingly generous of them. Chase field is a lot like Safeco field. It has a retractable roof. It also has-- brand new this year-- the largest flat screen display on Earth, about 50 x 140 feet, called the Supertron. I did not know this, and before the game they had the display divided up so it looked like several small displays plus a traditional scoreboard. Then, an announcer on a small "screen" said "this is too small" and broke out of his screen into the bigger display. Then the entire screen showed a zoom in of the audience, and there's two white guys sitting there, one of whom is wearing a white UW hat with a purple W on it-- and I realize that it's me! After the star spangled banner, four Air Force jets flew over the stadium, and later the pilot's were at the game. It was a great game, which the Diamondbacks won (against the L.A. Dodgers), and featured many good plays and a few home runs.
While Luke and I were at the game, Kristen, Jen and Dylan went out to the resort to be with my girls. Apparently, they had a lot of trouble with the Jeep, a story I will leave them to tell.
Tuesday morning Luke picked us up and we dropped by the Scottsdale office of Salina's company, Apex Wine Cellars. Then we all hiked halfway up Camelback mountain, which sits between Scottsdale and Phoenix. It was very fun and beautiful. From the highest point, we could see miles and miles over Scottsdale and Phoenix. Once again, Emma would have been happy to climb to the top, and Avery was ready to go back about two minutes into the trek. Then we went in and got Casella's again and brought that into Grandpa Carl's for lunch. We had a great visit with him. Then we headed back to the resort for a swim. That evening we met Luke, Kristen, Grandpa Carl, Barb and Jen at a TGIFriday's midway between Carefree and Scottsdale. Then, back at the resort, we put the kids to bed and packed.
The next morning we drove in to Bev and Rowland's and said goodbye to everyone. Luke and Kristen were headed off to a prenatal checkup, so Bev offered to drive us to the Airport. Finally, we flew home-- though we all ended up sitting in different rows! The thought of sitting next to strangers made Avery very nervous, until her neighbor let her watch "Pirate's of the Caribbean" on her laptop. I was surprised Avery would watch it. But she said it was funny.
We feel bad for the people Salina met at the resort, who were doing the same trip (Carefree, Sedona, Canyon) in reverse, because the weather reports show rain up north now. It seems we got the best of everything...
5:30 PM
archives
October 2004December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
February 2006
April 2006
May 2006
February 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
November 2008
December 2008
March 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
