Another Day in Sedona

After returning from Grand Canyon National Park, we spent another great day hiking and swimming in Sedona. 

We hiked to Devil's Bridge, the largest natural sandstone arch in the area, then enjoyed nature's version of a water slide at Slide Rock State Park.

 

The park quickly filled with bats when the sun went down, but it was the tarantula that crossed our path as we were leaving the park that provided the most excitement! 

• Click here for photos from Devil's Bridge.
• Click here for Slide Rock.

Grand Canyon - Part 2

Here's another album of photos from our time at the Grand Canyon. 

We ended Day 1 with a sunset hike on the Bright Angel Trail and some elk-watching on the front lawn of El Tovar Lodge.   

We started Day 2 early to catch the sunrise at Hopi Point, then had the 5+ mile Rim Trail pretty much to ourselves between Hopi & Hermit's Rest at the west end of the South Rim.  

Jake earned a Junior Ranger badge to add to his collection.  Among his assignments was to write a cinquain:

Canyon

Vast, Grand

Carving, Heating, Cooling

Wonderful and totally mystifying

Abyss

Grand Canyon Adventures - Part 1

We're just back from 2 amazing days at Grand Canyon National Park.  

We arrived late morning on Tuesday and began our exploration of the park and canyon from the east end of the south rim.  The chance for stormy weather was fairly high and cloud cover was thick at times, which made our first views of the canyon all the more interesting.  

Click here for photos.  MANY more coming soon. 

Standin' on the Corner...

... in Winslow, Arizona.

Yesterday we visited Meteor Crater, a big hole in the middle of the dessert near Winslow and a dry escape from the rain in Flagstaff.  The crater is nearly a mile wide and was one of the first confirmed locations of an asteroid hitting the earth.  As long as we were in the neighborhood, we had to go for the Winslow photo-op and shout-out to Eagles fans.

Today was also rainy, but we managed to find a decent weather window for hiking a portion of the Kachina Trail.  We got caught in a passing thunderstorm just as we were passing a large cave... fortunate timing on our part, because it really poured!  To add to the adventure, we saw a huge tree fall just a few yards behind us on the trail.  

Click here for photos. 

Sunset Crater & Wapatki National Monuments

Today we explored Sunset Crater and Wapatki National Monuments just east of Flagstaff.  Click here for photos.  

The Pueblo ruins at Wapatki date back to the 1100s.  It was amazing to see so many structures so well preserved and in such an otherwise barren landscape.  

Our Day in Sedona

We drove south to Sedona today and hiked the Cathedral Rock Trail. The views were amazing - from the bottom, top and in-between.  After hiking, we spent the afternoon at a local swimming hole, Grasshopper Point, where the kids got to cool off with some cliff jumping.  

• Click here for photos.  
• Click here for video.

Walnut Creek Cliff Dwellings

It was great to put a new stamp in our National Park passport book this morning... it's been a while.  We visited Walnut Creek National Monument just east of Flagstaff to check out the cliff dwellings.  Click here for photos, many taken by Jake.

Waking up in Vegas...

We woke up in Las Vegas this morning, but we're going to bed in Flagstaff.  

A few hours exploring the Strip last night was more than enough for us. We saw dancing fountains, erupting volcanos, fake European monuments and more.  Today we headed east via Hoover Dam and Route 66 to our home exchange destination in Flagstaff, Arizona.  

The temperature change was as dramatic as the change of scenery... 106 at Hoover Dam this morning; 70 in Flagstaff this afternoon.    

• Click here for Las Vegas photos.  
• Click here for photos from our drive to Arizona.

Party & Parade

Join the Revolution... Liger Evolution!

On Friday, we hosted a Liger Evolution Concert.  Aspiring rockers Carl and Miles put on a great show! Click here for photos from the concert, as well as Saturday's Multnomah Days Parade.  Click here to see video clips of the concert; and here to see a clip from our recent trip to Mix-N-Match, a cool new ice cream cart that makes made-to-order ice cream on-the-spot with liquid nitrogen.

Fun, Games & Rainbows

Last week was Bridlemile's annual National Night Out Picnic, complete with a donut-eating contest and a water ballon toss.  We followed that up with a dock-side picnic a few nights later.  The wind was lacking for sailing, but the rainbows were lovely!  Click here for photos.

Summer Fun

Click here for a few photos from Emily's Joy Now family picnic and the most recent Family Friday at the Willamette Sailing Club.  Summer is going way too fast!