From New York to Arizona: November Excitement

Grand Canyon Trip

Grand Canyon

On Veteran's Day weekend, I took a trip up to the Grand Canyon. Susan had to stay back with Gladys, because she was still on cage-rest for her neck injury, so I packed Zoe and myself into the car and headed North. We stayed in a KOA cabin in Williams, Arizona, about an hour south of the Grand Canyon. It was freezing that night, around 20°, and the "heater" in the cabin was a tiny space heater. Zoe and I were curled up together under the comforter, trying to keep warm. We made it through the night, though, and headed up to the Grand Canyon the next day. We went in the South Entrance and walked along the rim for about 1.5 miles. I can't tell you how many times I heard comments about how big Zoe was and "I didn't know they allowed horses!"

Little Colorado River Canyon, Navajo nation

After walking along the rim, we headed out the East Entrance, through the Navajo nation and then down South towards Sunset Crater Volcano, another National Monument I wanted to hit up. Along the way, there was a beautiful canyon I decided to stop and take some pictures of. It was in the Navajo nation and there were little stalls set up along the highway with people selling their wares. At the area where I pulled over to take pictures, there was a family selling jewelry. I talked a bit with one of the guys there, and I mentioned recently moving from Rochester. Amazingly enough, he knew where it was and was like "what's that...bowl...or something that Rochester is famous for?" He knew about the Garbage plate! Apparently he has a friend from Rochester who told him all about it. Very surreal, though!

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

The rest of the day was taken up by going South towards Flagstaff and hitting up Waputki National Monument, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument an Walnut Canyon National Monument. Zoe and I stayed at another KOA somewhere south of Flagstaff but north of Phoenix. It was warmer and they had a better heater in this cabin. The last day of our trip we headed back home and hit up the Casa Grande ruins along the way.

Family Visit - Salt River Canyon

Salt River Canyon, North of Globe, Arizona

The following week I had some surprise visits. On Wednesday, a coworker and her husband were in town from Rochester and we went out for dinner. The next day, my Dad and Aunt finally showed up in her RV. I knew they were coming at some time in November, but plans weren't firmed up until just a day or two before. We went out to eat at Thunder Canyon Brewery and met up with one of my Dad's friends. While I worked on Friday, my Aunt took my Dad to Saguaro National Park. On Saturday, we took a drive up north to find a canyon my Aunt remembered seeing on another trip. It ended up being much further than we thought, but totally worth it. We went out to dinner at a place I hadn't been before, HiFalutin'. They had yummy blue corn cakes! On Sunday, my Dad helped me with a minor repair on the Harley and then we went riding up to Gates Pass and out into the desert a bit. Then he went off to hang out with his friend and I hung out with my Aunt. We went out to dinner again that night and then said our goodbyes. They headed to Dallas to spend Thanksgiving with extended family.

San Diego Trip

Zoe and Baxter enjoying the dog beach

For my birthday, Susan bought me tickets for an 8-hour whale watching trip out of San Diego. We decided Thanksgiving weekend was a good time to go, so we packed everything up and made the 6 hour trip on Thanksgiving. On Black Friday, we explored San Diego, took the dogs to an ocean-side dog park, hit up the Hard Rock Cafe and Hotel for my pins, and got the dogs set to do Doggie Daycamp at PetSmart during our whale watch.

Saturday was the big day and we headed out early. The boat headed due West for about 9 miles, to an area where the ocean floor rises up a bit and there tends to be more feeding activity. However, there were no whales to be found. We headed South to the Coronado Islands in Mexican waters. Along the way we did see some dolphin pods and watched them ride along the bow of the boat. At the islands, there were lots of seals and sea lions to see. On the way back, there were a few more dolphins, but it was a bust in terms of whales. They are sort of between two migratory seasons - blue whales and grey whales - so they gave us a voucher to come back and save 50%. Susan swears never again, but I might be game if I can ensure I go back during a good season. I doubt I'll do the 8 hour trip again, though. That was a little too much! See the video below for highlights of the trip.