Marathon Driving Day, Yes, Dorothy, this IS Kansas.

On Wednesday, June 23rd, we left Taos before 7 am! We drove east into the panhandle of Oklahoma, and then detoured North about 50 miles for our token stop in Kansas. We stopped at a lovely Pizza Hut for lunch in Elkhart Kansas. We took few photos for proof, and headed back southeast back into Oklahoma, then south through a part of Texas, and east back into Oklahoma again. We pulled into the Arbuckle RV park in Sulphur, Oklahoma, around 10:00 PM. It was a long day in the car!

When we got out to set up the trailer, it was 96 degrees outside at 10:00 at night!! And let me tell you, we finally hit the humid part of the country. Somewhere between New Mexico and Oklahoma, the air changed quite a bit! It was late, and we needed to be stealthy while putting up our trailer so as not to wake those around us. Let me just tell you how proud I am of my boys!! They chipped in and we got that trailer up lickety-split! We were all hot and sweaty when we were done, so we poured ourselves various cold beverages and basked in the cool AC breeze! We read a chapter of Warriors and climbed in bed. The AC worked so well, that at one point Marcus got a bit cold, but when we got up this morning, it was still hot and humid outside, with condensation all over the outside of the trailer and the windows all fogged up. We decided to put the trailer down in the relative comfort of the morning temperature (only 88) and head to Chickasaw National Park, where we are playing in waterfalls, trying to catch minnows, watching butterflies, skipping rocks and yes, I sit in my chair and catch up on the blog! I think that does it though! I am caught up all but for a few photos to add! Yippee skippee! Keep posted though, because tomorrow we are going to get rich!

Surfing the rapids of the Rio Grande or Whitewater Rafting Near Taos New Mexico

Monday, June 21st we headed to Taos New Mexico. We were scheduled to go on a rafting trip the next day. We stayed in a little RV park just outside of Taos that had a little creek running through it. There isn't usually much to report on travel days except: we took the trailer down, we drove, we put the trailer up, got situated, ate dinner, maybe played a board game, read a chapter from Warriors to Colin and went to bed. Yeehaa, we are exciting folks!!

Tuesday was a bit more exciting! We went whitewater rafting on the Lower Gorge which is part of the Rio Grande before it gets very Grande. It's beautiful, rocky country. There were 7 of us on the trip including us, and a great young guide named Colby. We went about 11 miles on the river in all. The first part was quite calm, and we enjoyed the scenery and the company. Colby taught us a few paddling maneuvers and we rode a few class 2 rapids. On the first real rapid, Colin squealed with delight and said, " This is what I wanted!!" It was so fun to watch Colin on his first rafting experience! He was the left front paddler and Derek was the right front, with Marcus behind Colin, and me behind Derek. Colin and Derek were to lead the rhythm for the strokes, which was great as long as the water was fairly calm, but as soon as it got more interesting, Colin would forget all about paddling and go back to squealing with glee.

About halfway through, we stopped for lunch and then climbed back aboard for the class 3 rapids. We ran what was called the racecourse. At one point Colby suggested that Colin go on the very front of the raft and dangle his feet over the front as he held on while we went over a big rapid. The rapid was quite big and as the force of the water hit Colin full face on, he was thrown back into the boat with his feet in the air, snot streams from both nostrils and a huge grin on his face. It was so funny to see we all laughed for quite a while. A bit later, we went down another fairly big rapid, and Colby turned us around and had us paddle hard so we could "surf" the rapid. We paddled with all our might, and had started surfing the rapid for a few seconds, when the raft tipped and poured out both Colin and Marcus. Apparently, they both came up under the raft, but managed to get out from under it quite easily and floated together downstream a bit. Marcus managed to keep Colin safe and happy, while keeping track of both their paddles as well. Again, Colin thought that was totally awesome! Our rafting adventure ended about 2:30. We treated ourselves to ice cream and headed to the historic Pueblo. The boys weren't very interested, it was almost closing time, and it was not cheap, so we did not actually go through it. I am kind of disappointed about that.

We had a pretty good day, but it ended with a fair amount of sniping and bickering between the boys, which kind of put an unpleasant spin on the day. We're working on that!

Durango Colorado

Saturday, June 19th, we loaded up our stuff and headed to Durango, Colorado. When we got into town it was still too early to go to the campground, so we went into town. It turned out they were having a street fair. The boys got to try riding unicycles, make their own bouncy balls, and I got a fine neck massage. We ate lunch while listening to a gypsy band. Then we headed out to our campground. We stayed in a nice RV park called Riverside RV Park. It was right on the Animas River. The only issue with that place was the mosquitoes! We set up camp and played a bit in the VERY cold river. The boys went to the outdoor movie, while Marcus and I got reorganized. The next day was Father's Day. We took a bus to Silverton, Colorado. Our guide was quite a kick. He was very enthusiastic about his topic. He gave us many comparisons to consider about the height of the mountains in Colorado. The bus took the high route over two passes to get to Silverton. The views were great! Once in Silverton, we piled into a jeep and headed for Old 100 gold mine. They had sluce boxes set up for panning and the boys got gold fever enough to put their hands in that freezing water to find their flecks of gold. I was the photographer and baggy holder. They did indeed get some. Next we suited up in hard hats and bright yellow waterproof coats and piled into an ore car to head deep into the mountain to the mine itself. Our guide was an old crusty man with a dry sense of humor. He demonstrated how the equipment worked from hammer and steel all the way to hydraulics... He showed us the techniques of placing the dynamite to get the most effective blast. It was great.

After the tour we went back into Silverton where we had lunch and did a bit of sightseeing. Then we boarded the train for the ride back. The train took the lower route back, right next to the Animas River. It was such beautiful country!! It was a 3 1/2 hour trip back. When the train got into town, we were amazed that pretty much everyone stopped to wave at the train. We would have thought that they would have gotten tired of doing that long ago, but it made it quite fun for us!

Quote from Derek about the mosquitoes during the outdoor movie night: "The mosquitoes were lined up on my leg like a free buffet!"

Mesa Verde: The Cram Course

The Colvin boys only had 1 full day left to go see Mesa Verde, so see it we did! We got tickets to all 3 tours of the cliff dwellings for Thursday, the 17th. They were skeptical at the visitor's center that we could handle that much, but we were the few, the strong, the brave and not even hiking could hinder our enthusiasm! There was road construction going on, so we had to leave at 7am to be sure we were there in time for our 9am first tour. On our way in, as we were following the Colvins, they pulled over and started taking photos. There were 2 black bears! It was so cool! Of course, it turned out we were too early for the construction... so we were an hour early for our tour. But if we had been later we would have missed the bears, so we were glad to have gotten up so early.

We took our first tour at Cliff Palace. The guide did a good job of having us imagine what life would have been like in the 1200's and the similarities and differences between life then and now. It was so cool to be able to see these ancient cliff dwellings so close up! We went immediately to our next tour at Balcony House. The guide for that tour was funny and informative! Again we hiked down into an ancient cliff dwelling. I don't know how to describe how amazing and intricate these dwellings are. The boys enjoyed the tours (even though Colin hates tours!) and even stayed back to ask the guides questions. They made their homeschooling momma proud! Next we had a picnic lunch and went on a self guided tour of Spruce Tree House. In that one, we could actually climb down into a covered Kiva and see what it would have been like inside. For our third tour we went to Longhouse. Our tour guide for that one was a Native American Indian and brought yet another angle to how life would have been. He compared the religious ceremonies the ancient Pueblo Indians had with the types of ceremonies held in various religions we would be familiar with today. It was an interesting perspective. He also talked about the reverence to life and the earth the Pueblo Indians had and how important rain was. They had to wait for rain to build their dwellings, because there was not enough water to spare otherwise. He spoke in a quiet, calm manner, with a slight accent that added much to the experience. After that tour, we were told that we could walk around the three remaining sites before the area closed for the night. By this time it was around 4:30 and we had been going at it all day. Everyone was enthusiastic to go through the last bit but poor Colin. It was hot, he was tired and wanted to go back. Marcus volunteered to take him back while the rest of us went, but suddenly he decided he could handle it. He must have gotten a second wind. We all went and saw the remaining sites that were built before the cliff dwellings were built around 600 AD. They were much smaller and less sophisticated, but still very cool!

Rating for June 17th:

Craig 9

Ann 10 I LOVE this place!!

Marcus 10

Derek 10

Eric 10

Colin 10

VIP is a three way tie with Marcus, Ann and ERIC!!

The next day Craig and Eric were leaving us to go back home. They were going to check out the four corners landmark on their way to the airport. We decided to go with them. The area is closed Monday through Thursday for construction as they are (get this) moving the location of the marker. I am unclear as to the rationale behind this. I think Craig or Marcus read up on it. Anyway, when we go there, there was a big fenced off area that contained the spot and the construction site, so we couldn't actually be in all four states at once. We DID run around the construction site, thus being in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah withing 5 minutes. That was the best we could do. Then we said our goodbyes to Craig and Eric and headed back to our little RV park. We decided to spend the afternoon swimming, laundering and reading. I did a day or two of blogging, trying valiantly to catch up. It was lovely.

I have not uploaded the photos from this yet, so I will have to come back to this to post them. so keep posted.

Arches And Canyonlands UT

Monday, June 14th we broke camp from the Grand Canyon, and headed for Dead Horse State Park, where we were thinking there were showers... NOT! Remember, we hadn't showered since the 10th at Lake Mead. We were starting to really need it! Dead Horse State Park is in Utah. It overlooks the Colorado River 2000 feet below in canyon country like the Grand Canyon but on a bit smaller scale. Legend has it, that this is a place where people used to drive wild mustangs, corral them with the narrow cliff and fence, choose the ones they wanted, and leave the rest to die. It is a pretty spectacular site. There was not much shade there, so thank goodness it was not terribly hot! It was about a 6 hour drive to from the Grand Canyon to Dead Horse. The kids love long drives because they get as much screen time as they like. I need to take a photo of the front passenger seat situation! We have an inverter that will charge up to three things at once, plus the GPS which plugs into one lighter, and an MP3 player which plugs into another. My job, when I am not driving, is to rotate, which things are being charged, and since we had no hookups at the Grand Canyon, everything needed charging at once. We had Eric with us, which added a few more devices to be charged. My method was to get each thing to about 40% charged, and then rotate to another item.

Tuesday, June 15th, we headed out to Arches. We went to most of the arches that were within a Colin-type hiking distance. Even then, there was some Complaining. Our boys LOVED to scramble on the rocks and into the arches whenever they could. It is truly amazing how these things formed! We watched a short video in the visitor's center that explained it.

Wednesday, June 16th we spent a short time in the morning driving through Canyonlands with a few photo op stops. Then we broke down camp and were on the road again. This time we were headed for Mesa Verde.

What Goes Down, Must Come Up!

So, on Friday June 11th, we had what turned out to be our last shower for a while. We took down the trailer and left our RV Park at Lake Mead, without feeling too sad to leave the place! Our drive to the Grand Canyon was uneventful. We got there and set up camp in the Mather campground right there in Grand Canyon Village. We headed off to the Visitor's Center to check out what activities were available. When we got back to our campsite, who do you think had arriven? Our friends from San Jose; Derek's best friend Eric and his dad Craig. They had arranged their schedules so that they could spend a week with us on our journey. We had a lovely dinner with them, and said goodbye to Craig as he went off on his merry way to get sunset photos of the canyon. The next day was our hike partway into the canyon. Usually it is VERY hot for this particular hike in June, but the high on Saturday was to be 59 degrees with thundershowers. We bundled up and set of for our adventure down over the rim. We hiked a mile and a half straight down. The elevation change was 1500 feet in that mile and a half. We saw lots of flowers and the views of the canyon were breathtaking. We stopped for our picnic lunch out on a ledge with panoramic views of the canyon and watched the lightening strikes get closer and closer as the clouds got blacker and blacker. We were feeling energetic enough to go on, but with the storm coming and knowing it was straight up all the way back, we decided to head back up. WOW, was that up!!! After the first 10 steps we were all huffing and puffing and ready for a break. We had some sprinkles of rain and let me tell you they were darn cold (though not dam cold ha, get it?!) We made it to the top and to the visitor's center just in time for a major downpour with hail and everything. We felt so lucky NOT to be included in the group of hikers stuck in that! When we got back to the trailer, we noticed little bits of Styrofoam, and food containers all over our campsite. Craig had left his 2 dollar Styrofoam cooler with all their food outside the trailer. The Ravens found it. Those things pecked the cooler into lotsa tiny pieces and managed to get into the food containers, even poking holes in the milk jug. From that moment on, Ravens were the enemy. It was so wet and cold that we decided to go just outside the park to the IMAX theater to watch the Grand Canyon movie. Can I just say, we were not the only ones with THAT idea. The place was a zoo. After you bought your tickets, you had to go through the gift shop to get into the theater. You couldn't move! I lost Colin for about 5 minutes, and was just starting to panic when I found him. After that we went out to pizza and headed back to camp. The rain came and went but it was a chilly night. We stuck all three boys out in the tent. They stayed pretty cozy in there rain showers and all. I went to be frozen so we put on our HEATER!! Here we had been running the ac nonstop and now we were on to the heater! Unfortunately, we had it on pretty high, and us adults were all too lazy to get up and turn it down, so we were pretty hot all night.

Sunday we hiked part of the rim trail, which is paved and less strenuous. There was a fair amount of complaining going on about more hiking from one of the Smith boys! I think he was still a bit tired from the hike the day before. Eric, who claims to not like hiking did a pretty good job, toughing it out. There were so many wonderful vistas and sights to see!, that I think we all were glad to have done it, sore feet and all. Meanwhile, Craig had been getting up at about 4 each morning to get the sunrise photos of his dreams, and staying up late after going off to get sunset photos. He felt like he had scoured the Grand Canyon and since he was to have less time at Arches and Canyonlands, he decided to take off and head for Moab a day early. We still had Eric with us, and we spent the afternoon getting reorganized, trying to catch up on blogs, and paperwork, napping and general playing. That night Marcus and I had the trailer all to ourselves as the boys still wanted to sleep in the tent. That was an unexpected treat!

The Dam Stop

Thursday was the day for our tour of the Hoover Dam. The kids got a kick out of saying things like, "I need to use the dam bathroom," and "Do I really need to wear this dam hat?!" We got to the dam and took a tour that led us down into the dam where we could look out about 2/3 of the way down out of a vent, we got to see the generators, we walked around on top of the dam and up into a lookout with a great view of the dam. We learned a lot about the dam and had a good time. We spent most of the morning there and then went back to the trailer for lunch and another hot nap. Then we went back to the water hole to stand in the lake. It was VERY windy and still pretty hot.

Ratings for the day:
Ann 7- I enjoyed the dam tour, but the heat in this place is just too much and then when you add the wind!!
Marcus 7- To dam hot!
Derek 7- I liked it.
Colin 3- The tour guide wasn't very good!

Rafting in Black Canyon/ Lessons About Gambling

Wednesday we were very worried as we were scheduled to go on an all day rafting trip in the Colorado River, just under the Hoover Dam. The weather was still so hot we were afraid we would be miserable. I think if we it hadn't been so expensive (and previously paid) we wouldn't have gone. We are so glad that we did! The trip was wonderful. We met at a casino close to Hoover Dam. We had some time to kill, and the boys were interested in the slot machines. They asked Marcus to play. He thought that might be a good way to show the boys how silly slots are. They aren't very entertaining and you just lose all your money. He played the quarter slots starting with 10 dollars. All was going according to plan at first as Marcus was losing, but soon he won a fairly big one and ended up 5 dollars ahead. Now the boys are more interested than ever. So much for real life lessons, perhaps a lecture would have been better?!
Once we got on the river, we had a great guide who was funny and knowlegeable. We learned lots about the area and saw some great wildlife. I'm not sure how many Big Horn Sheep we saw, but they came right up to the river to drink and we were not that far away in our raft. We saw Black Crested Cormorants, and Red-Tailed Hawks as well. But the "coolest" part of all ( pun intended) was that the 48 degree water kept splashing on us keeping us nice and cool indeed! We had a nice picnic halfway through where the Smith men even swam in that cold cold water! Colin stayed in the longest. He loved it! Apparently he is a cold water fish.
After the rafting trip, we watched a movie and ate dinner. By the time we got back to our trailer it was cool again. It was all good!

Rating for the Day:
Ann 9- Now this was what I wanted from this trip!
Marcus 9- Rafting was awesome and we got along really well.
Derek 9- The day would have been perfect, but the heat was still pretty intense and I still got annoyed with Colin.
Colin 10- I liked the rafting, we had nice family time and I liked the movie!

VIP winner Marcus with 32 out of 40.

The Most Miserable Day of our Trip (We Hope!)

So on Tuesday, we didn't have any plans and we were thinking that it would be good to have some down time as our trip had been quite busy so far. The main issue was it was so hot and windy that the AC couldn't keep up, even after getting nice and cool overnight. We were miserable and early in the AM too! The sun came up at 5 and beat on the trailer, waking us up and heating us up way to early. It wasn't long before we were desperate for things to in cool places. We went to Walmart and shopped, we went to "the beach," at Lake Mead, a rocky, muddy, polluted place with no shade. It turned out to save us. The water felt very cold, but once you got in, it was wonderful. We just stood in the water up to our necks for hours watching the boys play. We took a brief nap in our hot trailer, and went back to soak in the lake again. When we got back from the lake, we found the awning thrown up over the trailer from the wind and two of the poles that held it up were broken. Yet more trailer stuff broken!! Now we have to find a place to get more poles before we can use our awning again!
The main thing that made the day so bad was that because we were all so hot and miserable, that we were all very short-tempered. It was not a pretty sight. We definately were not feeling the love!

Ratings for the Day:
Ann 3- Pretty miserable with the heat and the bickering, more stuff broke!
Marcus 3- Too dang hot!!
Derek 2- Time in the lake was good, family games were good, the rest was very very bad.
Colin 4- Lake was good, shopping was good, I got 2 new DS games!!

Our VIP scores are so low we are embarassed to share!! We tied for 23 out of 40 each, except for Derek who was a bit lower! We'll work on that!

I Beat the ODDS in Vegas

On Monday morning, we left San Diego bright and early for Lake Mead. The drive over was uneventful. We arrived at the RV park around 2ish. The temp was 111! We broke records in how fast a tent trailer can go up! We had the air conditioner plugged in and turned on full blast before we finished putting the trailer up. Poor thing, with temps like 111, it worked full blast the whole time we were there, but just couldn't compete during the heat of the day. Temps inside the trailer during the day were 97!
After putting up the trailer, we got back into the car and drove to Las Vegas where we were hooking up with our dear friends the Colvins. They had flown in to Vegas for a long weekend. The plan was to walk around and take in the decadent sights, which we did, but the temps were still very high! Derek and Lauren started by riding the roller coaster at New York New york, while Eric and Colin started by enjoying the Lazy River at the MGM Grand. Derek rates that roller coaster a 3. It was too hot and too jerky. Colin rates the Lazy River a 7. Next we headed to The Mirage to see the Secret Garden. We saw trainers working with dolphins and we saw white tigers and golden tigers, lions and Alpacas. There was one older golden tiger in an enclosure by himslef. He was right by the fence, so close you could almost touch him. I was admiring the pretty kitty when he turned his back to me and sprayed my arm with tiger pee. I'm not sure if he was marking his territory or telling me to get out of his space, but I consider myself one of the big winners from my Vegas experience. I mean, how many people do you know that have been peed on by a tiger? I bet that is more rare than being hit by lightening or leaving Vegas a winner! We hung out in Vegas until about 10:00 that night, seeing the pirate show, the volcano show, and the fountain show. It was 98 degrees even then and there were people hawking cold bottles of water on every corner. We bid our friends goodbye and headed back to our lovely trailer hoping with all our hopes that it would be habitable. Luckily, when the sun went down, the AC was able to beat the heat and we had a comfortable night's sleep!

San Diego and Friends

After our Cruise we went to San Diego and stayed with our friend Howard from College and his wife Loreen and their two boys Trevor and Troy. Their boys are in between the ages of our boys, so that worked well. It was great to get a chance to catch up with them! We got there on Friday at about 4:00, and went out to a nice dinner that evening. The next day Howard's company had their annual picnic at the Wild Animal Park. One of the highlights was that they brought in some wild animals to show and tell. We were lucky enough to have front row seats. We had VERY close up views of a Golden Eagle and a Cheetah. It was Very cool! We enjoyed feeding the laurakeets, and the tram ride through the back country!
Sunday we had a leasurely morning and then went to La Jolla to see the baby Harbor seals. The boys enjoyed getting a chance to get to know Trevor and Troy and we had a great time visiting with old friends... not to say that they are old, just good friends for a long time dispite the fact that Howard likes San Diego sports teams.

The 60th Anniversary Cruise

So, as many of you know, we went on a cruise with my siblings and their spouses to help my folks celebrate 60th anniversary. We left on Monday, May 31st and arrived back in Long Beach on June 4th. Take down of the trailer took longer than we thought, but we finally got our ducks in a row and got to the Long Beach cruise terminal where we parked. We got on board with no hitches and used the magic of cell phones to find my siblings. My sister, Penny had called ahead to have my parents room decorated. There were streamers and flowers and a banner. I will attempt to post photos later. We started the cruise by doing what one does a lot on cruises... we ate!
The cruise was interesting! It was certainly NOT Smith hours! Most all the activites ( even for the kids) started after our bedtime (9pm) The kids were in clubs for their ages. Derek's club seemed to start at about 9 and go until 1am. Colin's was a little more variable, though he had one night party that went until 3:30am!!!! That first night Marcus and I enjoyed playing pinnochle with Sandy and Steve like we used to when we lived in Chico and Sacramento! We made it all the way 'til 10:00pm.
During the day we went to Catalina where we wandered around with various family members, shopping, hiking and chatting. That evening after dinner the adult Smiths went to bed early. The nest day we went to Ensenada where we shopped some more. The kids enjoyed the bartering process and ended up with some cool hats, and sling shots. That evening we found a room to take over where we presented our parents with a DVD of photos of each of us and our families as we grew up. It was so fun to see the old photos that brought back so many memories! Sandy did an excellent job putting it all together! My dad then talked about each of his children and thier strengths and how mauch we each mean to him. Then he gave his sweetheart a lovely Tahitian pearl necklace and earrings that he had collect and bring on board. To top it off the 5 of us kids sang the anniversary song Sandy wrote for their 50th anniversary.
The rest of the cruise was spent visiting and catching up. Poor Penny ended up with the flu and was very sick, spending most of the rest of the time in her room. That was sad, since she lives in Germany, and we don't get to see her very often, let alone how misereable she was.
All in all it was great to see each other. We had a wonderful chance to visit with each other which is so rare since we all live so far apart!

Rating of the cruise:
Ann 9 I had a great time seeing my family, but I would have liked the activities to have started earlier.
Marcus 7 It was good to see Ann's family, but the cruise was not really my thing.
Derek 10 It was really really good!
Colin 9 It was great!

BBQ on the beach with Marcus' cousins May 30th

So, I know it has been a while! What a whirlwind of adventures we have had! I will try my best to remember it all. May 30th was a family day with Marcus' side of the family. He has several cousins from his dad's side that live in the area. We took the opportunity to have a family BBQ on the beach. There were 16 of us. What Marcus and I hadn't realized was this was Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and we were trying to have a beach bonfire in LA area. We got there first and it looked like there were no fire rings to be had. We parked the car and wandered up and down the beach looking for one. Trina got there next and looked farther south on the beach. She found one of the last few fire rings to be had for the day! We lucked out with parking too. Trina even threw herself in front of a truck risking life and limb for one of the last spots. Once all the family was there, we started to settle in. AS I said there were 16 of us, but I'm sure we had enough food and beverages for 160! And wood. We had plenty of wood for our fire! It was none too warm with the wind on the beach, but the sun was out and we were happy to get to spend the time together. Derek begged, bartered and manipulated his way into starting a family game of capture the flag, which brought on lots of giggling, and feats of athleticism and skill. Soon, a neighboring group joined in. We ate, we chatted, we ate some more. The only down side was the wind. It was very hard to get away from the smoke with all the fire rings lined up in a row. Our eyes were burning and we smelled of campfire as we went home to our little trailer, but we wouldn't have traded it for the world! We had a great time reconnecting with Marcus' side of the family!

You will have to survive without rating the days and such for a while, until I catch up with myself! Sorry!