Final thoughts

Hey guys! Wow what an adventure we have been on this week. It has been so exciting to see and experience first hand things that I have only read and heard about my whole life. It has also been very exciting to be able to share these things(as much as possible) with you back home. We get almost giddy when we have a post. Traveling out here has been a huge learning experience for me. We live in an amazing country with some of the most beautiful landscapes and the abilities to go and visit these places. Our park services do a great job in maintaining our parks. If you ever get a chance to go to the Grand Canyon-GO! Anytime I travel I am always reminded of how nice home is. Home is nice not because of the landscape(but Sugarhill is pretty awesome) but because of the people. I have a great family and some of the best friends in the world. Thanks for all the texts and calls this week. I love all of you and will be "porch sittin" soon. Love ya- Lori
What a great week. Sites I will never forget. We saw a small part of three states, so much more out there, what great place to live. Just in the area we visited, I did not have time for Monument Valley, or the North Rim, or Sunset crater, or Crater Monument, or many other National or state parks close by. I wanted to stand on a corner in Winslow Arizona(we did drive by Winslow), but there was no time. I came to see all these sites, it was a great success. I also meant for the trip to be a week of meditation and discovery inwardly as well. This too is a success. God has always been so good to me, I need to prosper wherever I find myself. Thanks for all your comments, use the pictures as you wish. Still lets us hear from you, I enjoy looking. Finally, there is no place like home, which we arrive at tuesday at 2:57.
Tracy

Day 6 and 7

Day 6 and 7

These pictures begin with the Wupatki Indian ruins. Notice the black ground, that is volcanic ash from around 1040. The volcano is above 25 miles away. Next is the Petrified forest and then the Painted Desert. We are in our hotel in Phoenix and can see the airport. The final drive from Flagstaff to Phoenix is about 140 miles. It is from mountains to valley, curvy down from mountain to valley. Today is was constant downpour and thunderstorm. It ended with 25 miles of Phoenix rush hour traffic. Thank God for Lori, thank God. We will post our final thoughts tonight.
Tracy

Lori's camera day 1-6

loricamera

These are the pictures from Lori's still camera. It includes every stop. Some of the pictures are repeats, but many are unique, including Vegas. If you have not checked out day 5 Bryce Canyon, be sure and scroll down to day 5. Last entry tonight, hopefully our airport hotel internet is working.
Have a good day. Tracy

Loritracy Day 5

loritracy day 5

Day five is Bryce Canyon. Not as well visited as the previous Parks, mostly due to it being quite remote(see previous post) but spectacular. There are 97 pictures. They begin with our trip down into the canyon, it is about a three mile trip with a 600 feet drop. The remainder of the pictures are from the rim. They are from several spots along the eighteen mile road that travel next to the rim. You may begin to feel that I just stood in one spot and took the same picture over and over, 97 is a lot. I promise each is unique from a different place or angle. In the first group of pictures see if you can find Queen Victoria sitting on her throne. I am below the rock looking up. I was just lucky with the rainbow picture. The picture with Lori out on the ledge is from Inspiration Point, as many of the picture are. It is a spectacular place to photograph.
Things are still going well. I have been almost totally free of knee pain, hard to believe uh. Plenty of sore muscles and sunburned face but no knee pain. If you come to Bryce Canyon get in early, between seven and nine we were pretty much alone it was so cool. After nine the shuttle starts and the visitor center opens and it begins to get a little crowded, not Grand
Canyon or Zion crowded but crowded. Angie, I hear you, your mother has made that point quite clearly, no later than Tuesday, but you do know the Lori stand wherever she likes, even too close to the edge of canyons. Aaron, we enjoyed you dam comment. Today was travel and rest day, we did see the Wupakti Indian ruins(thanks to Rebekah Thomas). Tomorrow is petrified forest and painted desert. I will post Monday night with some final thoughts. Johnny, the flight arrives Tuesday 2:57 P.M. Charlotte. I will call. I am also going to post Lori picture, thanks to a suggestion from Aaron. Lori is making movie and not many still shots, the DVD will be awesome.

Oh My God I was not meant to live in the wilderness!!! I may not be a girly girl but I do like modern technology and civilization of 2007. Unless you have been to Tropic, Utah you will not understand what I mean when I say we stepped back in time. It is a county of less than 500 people and even though they get HGTV as one of their channels they have no clue about home comforts or new styles. I have so much to say because I have not been able to use the cell phone or talk to people (everyone around speaks a different language and it is not spanish) so I don't know where to start. Zion and Bryce were amazing but still not as spectacular as The Grand Canyon(the name says it all). Climbing the trails and just being in the middle of nature has been truly a gift(thank you Tracy). Also, being able to climb the trails in the manner in which I have hiked them has made me feel very good about all the hard work I have been doing in working out(thank you Dawn and Angie). Our timing to parks and our safety to and from places have been a blessing from God(thanks for all the prayers). I thought I was going to go crazy yesterday in Utah but I am going to live because I have had good food at Cracker Barrel, went to Walmart and am in a clean hotel. LIFE IS GOOD!!! Enjoy the pictures Tracy has done a great job(Kodak and Fuji could not have done any better my family will get that joke) Love Ya-Lori

Day 4 Zion

loritracy day 4

First, click on the above photo to see the rest of day 4.
The beginning of these pictures are a few taken from the car as we moved north and east from Henderson Nevada to Zion National Park. The interstate had cut through solid rock mountains. Think I-40 from above Asheville to Gatlinburg exit, only solid rock and twice as high and more steep and curvy. The rest of the pictures are Zion National Park. The pictures do not tell Zion's story. It is an extremely beautiful, peaceful place. The road out heading east is probably the most scary road I have ever driven without crossing a bridge. There are a few pictures of that. I was gripping the wheel with both hands focused 15 feet in front of the car. Lori was leaning out the window shouting whaa look at that drop off.
I am now sitting in the corner of a "rustic" motel lobby the only place I could get a connection to the internet. I have some AWESOME pictures from Bryce Canyon we took this morning. We went in a 6:30 to keep cool, miss the crowd. I will probably wait until Sunday night to post those when we get to Flagstaff. It took 45 minutes to download 57 pictures for day four.
Lori is at the General Store think the Olsen on Little House on the Pairie. She said she will be back to her normal constant texting when we get back to civilization.
Enjoy the pictures, everything is going great look for the next post late Sunday
Tracy and Lori.

Randam observations on the three days so far

While on the road we have discovered certain things about the west and we wanted to share these with you. For instance... Today there were 10,000 fewer people in China because they were at the Grand Canyon. Bar-b-que, slaw and cornbread are traditional food for the Hualapai(who knew). You can get sweet tea west of Texas we had some in Kingman, Arizona(it was good too). There are rednecks everywhere we saw a bunch in Stockton Hill. Finally, from me I got so excited today when our hotel had grass out front. Dirt yards are the way to go out here no lawnmowers needed out west. One more thing if Mexico is worse than southern Arizona then I know why they are trying to jump the boarder( I would pick tomatoes too). Just making some observations-Lori

There no trees on the mountain in Arizona and Nevada. The only trees we have seen are Joshua trees. These are really glorified bushes and do not grow close to each other at all. Because everything is so flat, distances for this NC boy is difficult to judge. Even at the rim of the Grand Canyon altitude of 7000 feet(1500 feet higher than Grandfather mountain) it is a plateau. A moving thunderstorm may look close and be 50 miles away. Coming to America is still a very popular thing to do. In one short period, at one overlook we heard French, Spanish, German, Slavic, Queen's English, Japanese, Chinese and a couple languages we could not figure out. I have had a conversation with a man from Kingsport, Tn about UT. A man from Boston about the Sox and the Yanks. People seem just so friendly when on vacation. There are no Highway patrolmen in Arizona or Nevada, at least we have not seen any. God has always bless me with wonderful friends, Lori being not the least of these. Look for day 4 tomorrow. Tracy

Day 3 The West Rim

loritracy day 3

Click on the photo above to see more pictures from day three. Check out day one and two on previous post if you have not already.
I have been neglectful in not thanking Burke County schools Technology department for the two day workshop at the end of school, and especially Aaron Slutsky for his help on this blog.
Today started at the West Rim, this part is not under Park service control but the Hualapai( pronounced walapi)nation. This is the famous skywalk which Lori went out on. This was a different look at the canyon and quite enjoyable. However it is quite new and the trip in includes a 14 mile stretch on a very dusty, sometimes muddy road(see the picture of our jeep in today's picture) I ended with Hoover Dam, an awesome structure. We visited Las Vegas tonight, but city policy will not allow us to show pictures online. Still going great, here is Lori, check out our next post for some ramblings about the trip so far.

Today has been a tale of two cities. It started out in the remote area of the west rim. Here you will not find running water or bathrooms. It does have the skywalk which is amazing. This is a glass bridge that extends out over the grand canyon. No cameras or phones are allowed on the bridge. There is no way to sneak one out there either because I had to go through more security there than I did at the airport. I also had to put on surgical slippers over my shoes. All of this was worth it for the view. The best way I can describe it is to imagine walking over the grandfather mountain bridge if it was a glass bottom. When standing in the middle and looking straight down you totally blocked everything around you out and it was as if you were the only person standing there. No matter where you looked it was incredible and being able to walk on air was empowering. After the west rim adventure it was off to the Hoover Dam and civilization. The dam was very interesting and even though it was busy it could not hold a candle to VEGAS. I know now why they say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Oh my God it was crazy.
Love ya, Lori

Day 2 What goes down must come up

loritracy day 2

Click on the picture above to see more from day 2

Today began before sunrise(we were up and watching the sun come up). I was able to get some video of the sunrise, and walking the trail which I can't wait to share with all of you when I get home. It has been so fun sending all of you pictures and being able to share with you what I am seeing. Thanks for all your comments. Zack, the Best Western I am staying in tonight is as close to camping as I am getting! Tomorrow we are going to the west rim which has the glass walkway. I am so excited!!! Then it is off to the Hoover Dam. Love Ya- Lori
The trail we walked down was 1 and 1/2 miles linear feet and 1200 feet down.(If one wished he could walk another nine miles with a 4000 foot drop.) It took Lori 40 minutes to walk out. It took me two hours, but I did it. As we were taking the sunrise pictures there were about 30 people at that overlook, and there was an amazing silent reverence as we watched. Also notice that these pictures were from the same location as yesterday, but the colors, shadows, look is totally different from morning to afternoon. Hey Corinne, I am missing everyone. Thanks for the comments, things are going well.
Tracy

The first day

loritracy day1

First, to see the other 39 pictures from today click on this picture.
What a great start. We did not get to the park until after 3:00, only went to a couple of overlooks and 1/2 mile around the rim and got these picture. Tomorrow back to South rim for sunrise, a mile and 1/2 walk into the canyon, and a shuttle ride.
It was a good flight, Tracy does not do airplanes well. Southern Arizona is drab, colorless and unappealing, Northern Arizona, although strange to these NC eyes is quite beautiful. I am very happy with the picture(these are just mine, Lori does not have her wire to connect to the computer from the camera). Great memory pictures and great teaching picture.
I was concerned that Casey and Courtney would constantly be on my mind and make enjoying myself difficult, but that are constantly on my mind and enhancing my trip. Gives us your comments, heres Lori.
Seeing the Grand Canyon is something I have wanted to do for a long time and today when I stepped up and there it was...I FROZE. My eyes could not focus fast enough. I don't have the words to describe what it is like all I can say is that it is worth seeing. I am not a deep spiritual person but I see God here and I feel God here. Can't wait till tomorrow... Love ya, Lori