Havasupai

Sometime last year, I started hearing about Havasupai from a lot of different directions.  Sina said it was one of her favorite places in the world.   (She's been to a lot of great places, so that means a lot!)  A friend posted unbelievably beautiful pictures on Facebook.  It was even mentioned in the book my book club was reading right about the same time.  How had I never heard of this place before?  (For those who, like me, have never heard of it, it's near the Grand Canyon, on the Havasupai Indian Reservation.)  Clearly, with all of the buzz, it was a place that needed to be on my Go There Someday list.  Chris agreed and put it on her list too and we started making plans to go. 

Havasupai is 10 miles and about 2000 feet down into a canyon.  There are 3 ways to get there.  Some people fly in on a helicopter.  Some go by mule or horse.

Other people walk.  Other than an overnighter at Girls' Camp back in the day, I've never been backpacking and this seemed like a good time to give it a try.  It was hard, but not as hard as I expected it to be.  I think I could do it again . . . if the destination is worth it.  :)   I like to think I'm low maintenance, but it turns out I really like having my comfort items easily accessible.  Notice that I am not carrying my pillow, my way comfy sleeping pad, shampoo, my favorite camp chair, or a portable air conditioner.  This gives me hard core adventurer points.  Okay, probably not many, but at least a couple. 

The first mile and a half was lots and lots of switchbacks.  Then we hit the bottom of the canyon and went another 6.5 miles through beautiful redrock.

Almost there . . .

Almost to the village, that is. . .   We stopped there to check in and get amazingly wonderful cold drinks (funny how much more you appreciate cold Gatorade after 8 miles in the sun) from a little store run by a very sweet man who Chris immediately named Grandpa.  We continued through town and on toward the campground, which was another 2 miles.  By this time, we were getting pretty tired and this was a very welcome sight.

This was even better . . .

And finally we arrived at the campground.  We dropped our packs and headed for Havasu Falls for a dip.   Besides the beautiful scenery and the cold, refreshing water, the people watching here was very entertaining.  We quickly learned that if we saw a bunch of teenage boys doing something crazy, like jumping off the cliff behind us here, there was sure to be a scout leader or two nearby with a camera egging them on.

 Other, less daredevil-y folks, and even a dog, jumped off of this one.  One guy spent quite a while impressing his friends by jumping off into not one, but three inner-tubes.  I guess everyone has their super power.

The next morning, we headed for Mooney Falls. 

 I had heard about the descent to it and had been deep breathing and mentally preparing for a few months. I would have loved to have just looked from the top, but the only way to the next set of falls was down.  So into the hole I went. . .

Down the rocks and ladders . . .

And to the bottom.  This was taken not long after my heart started beating again.

Looking back up . . .

And on to Beaver Falls . . . The hike was beautiful.  It looked like the jungle in some parts and required several creek crossings and some rock hopping.  Only a little bit of it was scary. 

I can't decide if I liked the journey or the final destination more. 

 We spent most of the last day waiting for our turn on the helicopter.  That's right . . . We didn't hike out.  I am hard core enough to go without shampoo but I have my limits.  We got to see a bit of how the locals get their stuff in and out (this is a bunch of backpacks hanging from the helicopter which I somehow forgot to take a picture of),

and fend off an attack from a crazy, angry cane wielding attacker who was mad that we didn't let her friends cut in line.  Seriously. 

When we finally made it out of the canyon, we headed down to get our kicks (and dinner) on Route 66, then on to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The final leg of the trip was Kodachrome Basin State Park where we saw Grosevenor Arch

hiked in Willis Creek, a very cool slot canyon,

and checked out the rock formations at Kodachrome,

then headed home. . . exhausted and in awe of all that nature has to offer.

Austin

I've mentioned many times before that my favorite thing about geocaching is that it takes me to places I wouldn't otherwise go.  Austin, Texas is one of those places that I never thought of visiting but should have.  It's a great city with tons of parks, nice hiking trails, turtles, amazingly good food, and exceptional geocaches.  A perfect place to spend a long weekend.  Here are some of the highlights. . .

The main goal of the trip was to find a cache called The Necropolis of Britannia Manor.  It is a multi-cache, which means you have to find various information that will eventually lead you to the final spot.  We started in a cemetery looking for a grave that was right next to this one.  You might think it's a fake, but it's not!  It's in the Hogg family plot.  Rude parents!!!

 After we gathered all of the required information from the cemetery, we were hungry and tired so we stopped for dinner at Chuy's.  Chris wanted to look up some info on the computer but her battery was dead.  No worries, there was a plug on the ceiling near our table. 

The next day, we headed out to find the next stage of the cache.  It took us to the Laguna Gloria, home of the Austin Art Museum.  

One of millions of Austin parks was right next door.  This one was home to many peacocks who have reportedly been there since the 1930's.

From there, we climbed Austin's highest mountain (775 ft. above sea level), then headed to the final cache spot.  The path was pretty clear, but just in case, this hand pointed the way.

 Getting closer. . . Hopefully we will fare better than these guys.

We made it.  Chris is punching in the secret code here, completely unaware of the horde of daddy long-legs at her feet.

 The picture doesn't really do them justice.  There were millions!

With that mission accomplished, we had time to check out some other things.  We stopped for lunch at the Salt Lick BBQ.  They have a the biggest restaurant parking lot I've ever seen, and a patio where you can enjoy fresh-squeezed lemonade and listen to live music while waiting for your table. 


  It was totally worth the wait!  BEST BBQ EVER!  Here it is cooking. . .

In our travels, we kept noticing people kayaking in the river.  It looked like fun so we did it too!  We found a few caches along the way,

 and a very fun swing on Lady Bird Island!  Interesting that I'm wearing a life jacket in the swing but not in the boat.  Just noticed that. 

 That night we headed to Walnut Creek Park to do some night caches.  I started to worry when this was the trail marker.

Although it was well-named, we did make our way out without getting lost, and with only a little bit of poison ivy, and find several high-quality caches.  Phew!  Thank goodness for GPS tracks!

The Big 4-0

Turning 40 is kind of a big deal so I decided to celebrate my birth-week this year instead of merely my birth-day.  It has been a very fun and memorable week . . . I might have to celebrate my birth-month when I turn 50 (which, I must say, is sounding younger and younger every year).

I started the celebration with a Friday night walk through the Christmas lights downtown.  Here we are at the Gallivan Center with kind of an alien-ish glow.

(OK, that wasn't really a birthday event but the timing was right so I'm counting it.)

Saturday started with a birthday snowshoe to Lake Mary.  Look at that view!

 And look at those Cool People. . .

That could have been enough celebrating, but hey, it's the big 4-0, so we went out for lunch, then I ran off to see the Blue Man Group.  That was the strangest entertainment I've seen but it was a lot of fun!  (OK, that wasn't really a birthday event either, but again the timing is right, so I'm counting it.)  I rushed home from there to game night (another well-timed, not really birthday event).  I was trying to see how many of my favorite things I could pack into one day.

By this time, I needed a nap, but since it was the middle of the night, it was too late for that.  I caught a few zzzz's, then got up early for a geocaching snowshoe to Willow Heights (again, not really a birthday event but it was two of my favorite activities, and the timing was right so I'm counting it).  I have now seen Willow Lake in the summer, fall and winter.  I can't say that about many hiking destinations.  So far, it's beautiful in every season.

After that, I really needed a nap so I took one (another one of my favorite things). 

Wednesday was the actual big day.  Chris was the first to wish me Happy Birthday at 12:01 am.  Nicole was next at 6:30 am.  (She says the Facebook posts don't count.  She was second.  So there.)  I spent all day at school getting drawings, ornaments, and cute notes from the kids, and my team brought brownies with a candle.  That night, I met Diane and Gail for a walk through the Harvard/Yale neighborhood (they have really good Christmas lights) and dinner.  We had some unusual, but very tasty dishes . . . pizza with pumpkin topping, pizza with fried egg topping, and pumpkin ravioli, with hazelnut mud pie for dessert.

Thursday, I had a less unusual but equally tasty and enjoyable dinner with Joan.  We missed our other Edison friends, but since it was another one of those well-timed un-birthday events, I understand.  :) 

Friday was another game night (you really can't have too many of those. . . well, I can't anyway).

Saturday brought another hike with another great view in the morning,

 followed by . . . a nap . . . (does it mean I'm getting old if I have to keep taking afternoon naps?), followed by another delicious dinner with Chris and Tracie and A Christmas Carol at Hale Theatre.  The show was really good, and they did an amazing job in the creepy ghost department.

The crowning event of the birthday week (I say crowning because I rocked the tiara . . . Diane and Gail said so!) was one more hike to a place with a great view.  I was worried as we drove toward the meeting place since it was so foggy we could only see a few feet ahead of the car, but as we climbed a little higher, the sky started to peek out, and suddenly, we were above all the muck and in the middle of a beautiful winter day.

Rocking the tiara (you can't see it very well here, but the dog is wearing a matching tiara)

Birthdays are more fun when shared with friends. . . Dwight and Kim are fellow December babies.

How's that for a view?  Rumor has it there is a city down there somewhere.  I have no idea what the big metal pyramid is for . . . nobody else knows either. . . I think it gives the mountain top character.

All I can say is. . . Best. Birthday. Week. Ever!!!  Many thanks to all who celebrated with me.  I think I have the best friends and family in the world!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Hangin' with the Deli-Subs

The Deli-Kids love to go geocaching so, of course, we went.  I noticed there was a Darth Vader themed cache nearby so I took my fellow Star Wars geeks to go find it.  We were very impressed with the find.  You had to press a button in Darth's mouth to make a nearby ping pong ball shoot up, then use the lock combination written on the ball to open the cache.  Very cool!  We liked it so much, we made a point of finding several others hidden by the same guy.  We were not disappointed.  Cacher friends, next time you're in the northwest, look for goblindust caches.  He's right up there with himilecyclist in the creative hides department.  Non-cacher friends, stop rolling your eyes!  You just don't get it yet.  Mom Bread even liked them.  :)

We didn't find the cache here but we found a super-cool climbing tree.  I had to drag the boys away, even after telling them about the pizza that was waiting for them.  That's a seriously great tree.  When we got back in the car, Baloney emphatically stated, "I'm so uncomfortable!  It has to be at least 70 degrees in this car!" Yeah, it's freezing here.

I wanted to go for a hike so Mom Bread suggested going to the Dungeness Spit.  Here we are at the trailhead. 

Mom Bread and the girls walked partway with us, then hung out at the beach while Pickle, Baloney and I walked and walked and walked and walked.

We finally made it to the lighthouse.

We ate some lunch and Pickle caught a few frogs.

 

Then we took a tour, talked to the lighthouse keepers . . . members or the American Lighthouse Association who were spending a week there as volunteers because GPS has made lighthouses just about obsolete so they don't have professional keepers anymore,

and headed back.

 Pickle thought it was the greatest thing ever that the tide was coming in so the waves came up to his neck.

The next day, I dragged Mom Bread to Seattle to the mecca of geocaching, Groundspeak headquarters.  It was fun to see "the lily pad" and be the first to sign the latest log in the office.  There were people there who had come all the way from Texas and even Austria.

Groundspeak is in the Fremont area of Seattle, which has to be way up on the list of places with the highest number of street art specimens per capita.

Notice the top right. . . Noogie, top of head.  Love it!

I've been hearing for years about the favorite outing spot at Point No Point.  (So named because it is not a very large point of land.  I had to look that up.)  Pickle decided it was a perfect spot for his birthday party.  This is the treasure hunt that Cheese put together for them. 

 The priority at this party was to play, play, play.  Those boys did it right. They were wet, sandy, tired and happy!

This was the trash can (next to the recycle bin) in the area where we had the party . . . The words are too small to read, but it says Solar Compactor.  Welcome to the great northwest!