Day 1 in Arizona

We flew into Phoenix last night and after a little trouble in Houston made it in to the hotel. Isabelle was beat but we got a good night's sleep in even with the time change. In case you haven't heard Jane has another stamp show and we are along for the ride, this time out west. We have a little less than a week in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and maybe a little corner of New Mexico.

My goal this trip is to try to post every day. Three paragraphs and whatever pictures look good. It is easier than trying to remember and figure it all out when I get home. Anyway, here goes.

First day was driving north from Phoenix (after a quick detour to Trader Joe's for some snacks) with a stop at Montezuma Castle. This site was pretty cool but very busy. Isabelle did the Junior Ranger program. We had a snack and then hit the road for the Grand Canyon. The weather here is pretty variable with warm spots and cold ones. In Phoenix it was a beautiful morning. One the south rim of the Grand Canyon it was very windy and cold. There is some snow here and there, especially at the higher elevations.

The canyon was absolutely amazing. I can't say anything else. Everyone simply need to see it to appreciate it. There is slots of culture and history here too. The second part of our day was driving to Page, AZ. It is at the bottom of Lake Powell. It was neat to see how dark it gets here. There is simply no light pollution from cities and street lamps. Sometimes we felt like we were the only people for miles and miles - simply amazing.

And now for a few pictures.

Montezuma castle

 The girl at the Grand Canyon

 The Colorado River that runs through the Grand Canyon

(This picture is from several miles away so you can imagine the size of it. We could hear the rapids.)

 A panorama of the canyon itself.

 

A decent picture, I think.

 Another panorama

Tomorrow is Zion National Park and hopefully Bryce Canyon National Park. Stay tuned.

Remember you can click on the picture for larger image.

A Good Geocaching Day at the Park

On Sunday we hit the road with Isabelle and one of here friends, Jean-Christophe, to do some geocaching. I had found a neat park about a half hour away with a few caches that looked like fun. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out.

The park is called: Cedar Falls Park and is part of the Greenville County Recreation system. It is a relatively new park and the playground, volleyball court, and other amenities are in excellent shape. I was there last spring and most of it wasn't even in place yet. It was nice to see the paths complete as well as the interpretive panels up. it is a little in the middle of nowhere but I'm sure it will draw people in from Simpsonville and other nearby areas.

Sunday was pretty nice down here in the south. We had some rain overnight and everything was wet but by the time we got to the park I was glad to have worn shorts. Short! in February, early February at that. In the end we saw 21C and had a great day (I hear it was -15C back in Nova Scotia, Canada, and in Clermont-Ferrand, France, where some of you are ready this).

The geocaches were pretty cool too. Two were normal/traditional caches and weren't too hard to find. The the third was a puzzle cache for the Geokids (a.k.a. Isabelle and J.-C.). They had to run around and answer questions about the park before we got the final coordinates. In the end we found an ammo box full of cool treats for them. We also left a "Travel Bug" that will hopefully find its way back to Canada and beyond. Have a look here for more on the Geocache and the type of questions Isabelle and Jean-Christophe had to deal with.

For those who don't know what geocahing is at all here is a video that helps to explain it.



Here are a few pictures of our day...

First, here is the "Travel Bug" we put in the cache. Hopefully someone else will pick it up and move it along. I will be tracking it online as it visits different geocaches along its journey.

The pictures above are of Cedar Falls. There used to be a mill here along with a penstock that directed water to an electric generator.

 The Geokids playing on the old supports for the penstock.

Here we are on our way to the playground through the woods on the trail along the Reedy River. If any of you have been to visit us or live in the area you'll know the Reedy River runs right through town. The park is on the river and downstream of Greenville.

Swimming

Isabelle has taken to swimming, in a pretty big way. She goes up to three times a week for practice at the Sportsclub here in Five Forks and really seems to enjoy it. She has improved lots since last summer and her best stroke still seems to be the backstroke. Last weekend she took part in a meet nearby in Duncan as part of the State Championship Qualifiers and finished first in her age group for backstroke and eighth for freestyle. She can't wait for the summer and the swim team here in the subdivision. I think her swim coach is looking forward to it too.

Here is video of her race in the backstroke. She is in lane 1 on the far left.

Now a shot of her time on the board. Lane 1 finished in first, not too bad for a meet she was pretty nervous about.

Her freestyle race was pretty good too but she blew the turn. She needs more work on the spin turns but is working at it. The video wasn't so good so I didn't post it.

The next big meet is in March here in town and should be fun. She's signed up for six races altogether. She'll be doing 25 freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke, as well as 50s in all three. I hope to be at all the races but I have to leave on a business trip around that time.

Another Art Show

Isabelle has finished another session at CAT Studio (Creating Artists for Tomorrow) and has produced some great works. Before we went to Florida we took in another art show and saw the results with all the other students/artists. Of course there was punch, crackers and finger food, like any good art show.

This is some of what the show looked like, starting with the artist herself.

 Here is a self portrait on an interesting background.

A sculpture of a rose in a vase. 

 

She seems to enjoy it and she'll be at it again for the next session starting next week.

Florida in December

Last year before Christmas we headed north to North Carolina to see the Outer Banks. This year we sort of teamed up with another family and headed south to Florida. Orlando is only about eight hours by car and has lots to do. No, we didn't go see the big mouse, not this time, but we did go to Seaworld and the newest theme park in Florida, Legoland.

We left early and managed to pack light for a change. I could even see out the back window for once! The trip down was uneventful until we got to I-95. Literally the first 10 cars we passed on the highway headed south were from Ontario or Quebec. I had heard of this mass migration of snowbirds to Florida in the winter but it was amazing to see. There were hundreds of cars from Canada and the northeastern states all headed for the sunny south. At the condo where we stayed we even saw Alaska and Newfoundland and Labrador!

We drove near Savannah, GA, through Jacksonville, FL, not far from Daytona Beach, and finally arrived on the other side of Orlando at about 4:00 or so. There was one close call as we passed an exit and spotted smoke, a pill-up, and some emergency vehicles ahead of us. I took the exit and Jane found a toll road that likely saved us some time standing still.

Day one was at Seaworld. This was our second time at a Seaworld park having visited the one in San Diego last year while in California. I think this one was bigger but they were both very nice. Given the weather and all the sun it was hard to imagine Christmas was around the corner, but the park simply would not let us forget it. There was fake snow, Christmas trees, elves, toy soldiers, the big red elf himself, and lots of Christmas themed shows and rides.

We saw the orca show, the dolphin and whale show, the sea lions and walruses, a Cirque du Soleil-esque production, and a Christmas pageant complete with real sheep, llamas, donkeys, and even camels. The rides were also pretty cool. On the second day we were there I did the Kraken and the Manta several times. Those were some serious G-forces. If you want to see what the Kraken was like click here. To see the Manta click here.

There were lots of rides for the little ones too. Isabelle took in some of those as well as the Polar Express virtual roller-coaster. Both days we stayed late, well after 9:00 and enjoyed the Lake of Trees and some outdoor figure skating on some questionable ice.

All in all a very good time was had by all. I must say it was nice to go with another family. Isabelle had someone to play with, which took some of the pressure of Papa and Mummy, and we didn't have to go on all the teacup spinny rides. It also meant we could watch some of the other little kids who were there while the other parents did stuff with the older kids. The Otto family have a daughter in Isabelle's class and two more little ones, one is four and the other is less than a year (he's also ridiculously happy, always smiling and goofing around). I think it worked out for everyone.

Here are some pictures of some of the things we did.

Legoland was a little different. We had two days there but really only needed the one. The park only opened at 10:00 and closed by 6:00 in the evening, maybe in part due to the family nature of it, maybe to make you go two days, I'm not sure. It was clearly targeted at the 4 to 14 crowd, and was not nearly as easy for me since the rides were difficult to get into. There was lots to do but my favorite things were Miniland USA and the Lego City. The village had boats, planes (sort of), and a driving school (Isabelle's favorite) for both kids and little kids. The Safari was also cool with the life sized Lego elephants, giraffes, and lions.

Legoland may be new but the park itself is actually an old theme park called Cypress Gardens. As the pictures show we had lots of fun on the rides and seeing the sights.

The safari was pretty cool with all the animals, including an elephant that sprayed water from his truck.

Isabelle went to driving school and got her driver's license in Lego City. It was neat to see what she had learned from our driving habits. She seemed to really like the traffic circle and nailed it every time.

I got to play with a Duplo giraffe...

...and so did Isabelle.

I think if I had to choose my favorite part it would be Miniland USA, where everything is made from Lego. There were little villages, pirates, the space shuttle, the races at Daytona, and lots of landmarks from all over. Have a look below.

In the little people area Jane fell in love with a giraffe.

We also took in some of the rides and roller coasters, but there aren't many pictures of those.

 

There were Lego people and animals everywhere. My favorite Lego construction was this huge octopus.

Isabelle took Jane on a ride in an old klunker.

There was also a Christmas tree they made a big deal of lighting every night.

On the trip back to Greenville left early and drove near Cape Canaveral. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the Space Center but it will be on my list for another time. We did drive through the Canaveral National Seashore, very near where the space shuttle lands, and saw a natural part of Florida with lots of wildlife. There were many birds and a few alligators just sitting by sunning themselves. At one point I think we saw a huge wild boar cross the road in front of the Jeep.

Two of the five gators we saw on our drive through the swamps.

We also stopped at a beach at Fort Matanzas national Monument. The water was cold but still manageable. We didn't swim but it was nice to be at the ocean again.

Below is a turtle (maybe a box turtle?) we watched at Fort Matanzas National Monument.

Our last stop was St. Augustine. It promised to be a neat little city but was sort of a disappointment. The city was nice enough but it seemed a little over commercialized for the oldest city in the Americas. There was entirely too much tourist trap type shopping for my liking. We did walk around town a little and saw of the city but the family was getting a little tired and we soon headed home.