Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell

Left the Grand Canyon and headed to Page, AZ. Ambereen booked a tour at Antelope Slot Canyon Tours- I'm sure you've seen pics. I'll post a few of them later. Camped on the beach at Lake Powell and rented a boat for a day of sightseeing. Thought it would be cool to camp RIGHT NEXT TO THE WATER. Bright idea. I had no idea the water level could increas 6" in a matter of hours. Somebody moved our tent the day we were on the boat. That would have been a buzz kill to come back to everything under water. Then a storm hit. That tent stayed put but I didn't secure the fly and poles properly as you can tell. The boat was a great call. We must have driven that thing 100 miles (it cost me over $100 in fuel for the day) but we toured several canyons and a good portion of the lake. Swimming near the dam was way cool. The water felt great and the Stranahan's was flowin!

Grand Canyon - North Kaibab Trail

Entered the park around 10:30 am - traffic was bad due to the holiday weekend but we made it in. Had a little trouble finding a parking spot but the backcountry office is a great location as I parked under a huge pine which shaded the truck well. The trail is 14 miles each way so we made sure we were good to go. Started the hike down and we were amazed at the flora and fauna along the way. Many trees and shrubs. Much more diversity than we expected, even with all the rain. Our goal was to hike to Cottonwood Campground about 7 miles down. I mean down. We hiked down for the entire 7 miles! Set up camp, had dinner and crashed. The stars were incredible! Got up in the morning and headed to Bright Angel Campground near the Colorado River. Stopped at Ribbon Falls along the way. It was one of the most spectacular waterfalls I've ever seen. Not because it was big (it wasn't) but the spot where the water landed was spectacular. Back on the trail to Bright Angel. Made it by mid afternoon and set up camp then jumped in the river to cool off. Water was cold as hell but I didn't care - it was 105 in the sun! Spent a few hours hiking down by the river then crossed both the silver and black bridges over the Colorado. Went to listen the the Ranger talk about death in the canyon - mostly stories about stupid peiople making stupid decisions. I say it's the Darwin award for most of those idiots.. Got up in the am and headed back to Cottonwood. Stopped by Ribbon Falls for lunch and a nap along the way. Spent a few hours there and read my book for a bit. Cottonwood is a boring place to camp as there isn't much to do. One thing we noticed while talking to people is that several were attempting a day hike from rim to rim. That's 28 miles down then up at one time. Some were running it. Idiots. The final hike was pretty steep the entire way but we did great. Took some amazing pics and saw some cool things. A bird buzzed by my head at one point and it made the coolest sound. Must have been doing 60 or so. Really moving! Had reservations at the North Rim campground so we headed there to set up camp. We had dinner at the lodge then back to the tent to crash. What a trip.

North Kaibab National Forest

Made it to the N Kaibab and bought a map. Drove to the North Rim for our first ever view of the Grand Canyon. Damn, is it grand! Pictures can't come close to it's enormity! Stopped by the backcounty permit office to speak with a Ranger about a permit to hike down to the Colorado. He said he had on left and we could leave in the morning! What luck. These things sell out ASAP. It was a sign of things to come - everything was going our way!! Drove back to N Kaibab and then off road for 17 miles where we set up camp on North Timp Point. We literally pitched the tent within a few feet from the edge on top of the North Rim. Spectacular vista!!! Packed our gear for the 4 day adventure, had dinner and some wine then hit the sack.

Navajo National Monument

Left Gunnison on the 22nd and headed to the Grand Canyon. Weather was cold and wet. Saw Navajo National Monument on the map and more importantly saw the free camping! Set up the tent just in time for more rain. Had to put my base layer on as it got cold. Had a quick breakfast then hit the road for the Grand Canyon.

Gunnison, CO

Left on May 21st for Gunnison. Huge system for the entire drive. A sure sign of things to come!

Golden Gate Canyon State Park

Ray & I just got back from a 3 day trip to Golden Gate. We backpacked in the Eastern part of the park. Had some great hikes and scored 2 (it's early!) great camp sites. Windy Peak was nice and the park was very peaceful. Amazing that it's so close to civilization. On the 2nd day we were caught in a rain shower midway through the hike. We got close to the camp site and saw an old cabin next to a lake with a front porch and 3 chairs. Looked like a great place to ride out the rain. While we were sitting on the porch munching on some trail mix Ray said "look at the deer....wait a minute - that's a moose!" A moose had come out of the woods for a drink and a swim. Didn't know we were there so we got to watch her have fun for about 15 minutes before heading back into the woods. Saw lots of deer and humming birds too. It was a great warm up for my next adventure - a 9 day trip to the Grand Canyon - North Rim / Kaibab National Forest and the Slot Canyons.

North Table Mountain in Golden

Ray & I met in Golden for an afternoon hike and started with lunch at the Buffalo Rose, a little honkey tonk right on Washington. Cheeseburger, fries and a PBR for $5. Drove to the trail head and headed up. For those of you unfamiliar, Table Top is a mesa which can be seen for miles. The trail is moderate to advanced difficulty, with about 300 feet elevation gain from the north and about 400 feet gain from the south. There is moderate exposure to rock fall; many sections of the trail are rough and not suitable for strollers or bicycles, although neither are prohibited. There is abundant wildlife, including deer, coyote, fox, golden eagle, magpie, canyon wren, rattlesnake, and mountain lion. Thought I would plagiarize a little there ;) The only wildlife we saw were thousands of grasshoppers. And many rock climbers. I'd like to try that sometime.....

Naturalization ceremony

My friend became a citizen yesterday and since her husband was out of town I attended the ceremony as a show of support. It was a very moving experience and I'm glad I went. There were 72 countries represented and 243 people sworn in. The ceremony began with the National Anthem then two speakers discussed what it meant to be a citizen. A couple videos thrown in and we were on to the oath. Have you actually heard or read the oath? I think every citizen should....

Oath of Allegiance for Naturalized Citizens

The oath of allegiance is:

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

That's quite a committment.

Ended with the Pledge of Allegiance then a congratulations. Well done Paola!

Great day

2 for 1 Subway = $5
2 40 ouncers = $5
Disc golf on a Tuesday afternoon with my buddy = Priceless!

I won't even go into the fun I had last Thursday at the Rockies game, etc...to my grave ;)

Nuggets & Rockies

Game 2 against the Mavs was another beat-down. Great game and the crowd was so loud I needed ear plugs. A friend scored some tix the the Rockies last night - best seats I've ever had! 18 rows up right behind home plate. Headed to the game this afternoon - sunny and 78!
Oh yeah - I accepted a new position and will be gainfully employed in the very near future....

Stranahan's II

Got the call from Stranahan's that they needed help cleaning up an old warehouse they just bought so they can expand. Ray & I volunteered for lunch and a bottle. WTF were we thinking? It was a mess. We worked pretty hard for several hours until Ray decided it was time for a beer break. Then we noticed the work that needed to be done was pretty much complete when we saw most of the crew outside cleaning up the alley. Now mind you, this warehouse had been vacant for nearly 4 years. Someone broke in a while ago and stripped most of the copper so there was limited electricity This is on South Kalamath in a very industrial section. So you can imagine the trash. We decided to wander around the building instead. This place was probably 100,000 swuare feet total. Found an old restaurant with pool tables!
After we got our booty we decided to play 9 at City park. I had to take some precautions with the swine (oh, sorry - H1N1) flu.