Halfway in Centralia - A message from Larry

Date: Tuesday, June 29th
Day: 46
RV Miles: 4,561
Location: Centralia, WA
Elevation: 189 ft

I know Max got behind in his blog but he was so wrapped up in enjoying the vacation, he didn’t have time to get to it on a daily basis. I gave him a stern talking to and he promises to do better in the future.

On Sunday, I came down with a bad case of the two-and-a-half-day flu so I cratered in Prospect and yesterday Marsha single-handily broke camp and drove us North to Eugene, Oregon. Earlier today, we drove to Centralia, Washington at the base of the Olympic peninsula. This puts us about 70 Miles West of Mt. Rainier and about 80 miles South of Olympic National Park, both future destinations. These distances are “as the eagle flies” and driving distances will to 2 to 3 times that.

Tomorrow we drive North about 160 miles to Forks, Washington which will be our base of operations for the next week over the 4th of July Weekend. During the week we will see Olympic National Park and many of the local sights. I hear that Forks has one heck of a 4th of July celebration tradition including the much heralded frog jumping contest. I can’t wait.

Tonight marks the halfway point in our vacation – we still have 45 days to go. So far, every day has taken us farther from home. Once we reach Forks, every day will bring us closer to home. Marsha and I will commemorate the halfway point and our arrival in Forks with a bottle of California Champagne. We are really having the time of our life so this milestone is bittersweet for both of us.

We have gone from dry deserts and 110 degree heat to lush mountain forests where 70 degrees is considered hot. The thing I marvel at most is the beautiful diversity of this country. Marsha says she prefers the desert to the mountains because in the desert the nights cool off really nice for sleeping and the deserts don’t have mosquitoes.

Crater Lake

Park Entrance



Lots of Deep Snow Remaining



Cascade Mountain Road Signs



Crater Lake



Crate Lake (6 miles across)



"Yup, that's one big lake."



"Let me see."




A Southern View from the Rim

Date: Saturday, June 26th
Day: 43
RV Miles: 4,223
Location: Prospect, OR (Near Crater Lake)
Elevation: 2556 ft

Well we managed to get to Prospect, OR yesterday without anything interesting happening and we landed in a beautiful heavily wooded campground. Temperatures are in the 60’s. A little before noon today, we all piled in the car and headed off on the 40 mile trip to Crater Lake National Park. There are two things about this part of the country I will never forget. Everywhere there are rich dense forests and you are never far away from the sound of moving water, be it s simple brook or a white-water river. A friend of Larry’s told him that this was God’s country and I think he was right.

The trip to Crater lake included a climb in elevation of about 6,000 feet with the normal amount of mountainous roads and switchbacks. Larry’s driving so inspired Marsha that she made Larry stop and get out so she could drive. She said, “It will help calm my nerves.”

Many of the mountains in the Cascades are still snow covered and some of the roads in the park are still closed due to snow (the park gets over 500 inches of snow per year). One of the curious things about the roads was that the signs were always 10 to 15 feet up in the air so they could be seen over the snow in the winter.

Formed by a volcano thousands of years ago Crater Lake is something to see. When you look at the photos you have to remember that the other side of the lake is 5 to 6 miles away. The deep blue color of the lake is due to the purity of the water and its depth (1,600 feet).

The Road to Crescent City

Avenue of the Giants



Marsha, driving sensibly



The coastal highway that triggered . . .



A blondillium attack at 60MPH



A view from out campground



And a distant lighthouse

Date: Thursday, June 24th
Day: 41
RV Miles: 4,165
Location: Crescent City, CA
Elevation: 3 ft

When we left Leggitt, CA we headed up the “Avenue of the Giants.” It certainly was that with the road cut through a dense virgin redwood forest. Larry was driving and after 20 miles of it he whimped-out because the road was extremely hilly-twisty and some of the huge redwoods were right at the road’s edge with no shoulder. You could see where others had hit some of these 500 year-old monsters, and it was obvious that the redwood was not the loser. Larry just said, “That’s all of the white-knucled drving I am doing today,” and he headed back to the main highway.

After that, Marsha took over the driving and we headed up the coast where the scenery was quite different but at least as spectacular as the redwood forests. As a matter of fact, Marsha got quite excited by the view of the coast line and Larry managed get a very rare photo of her by snapping a picture at the precise moment she had a blondillium attack.

Marsha was so into the beach scene that she informed Larry that before we headed home we had to get to one campground on the ocean. Little did she know Larry had already picked out just such a campground and had reserved a spot right on the beach. We got there about 4:30 right at low tide. Marsha just sat in the RV’s front seat and watched the tide start to come back in for over an hour. It was sorta neat with a lighthouse in the distance and the sound of a distant fog horn sounding ever 30 seconds or so.

Finally, Larry drug her out of the seat and Larry and Marsha took Sasha and I for a walk on the beach. On a sandbar just off the beach there were about 30 seagulls that I really wanted to go over and say “Hi” to, so I took off across the water. Now this is not a big problem for me for two reasons: I have a high ground clearance and the water was not too deep and I have short hair. Unfortunately Sasha didn’t stop to think that with my Lab and Bird Dog heritage I know how to do bird chasing across water and I am built for it. She doesn’t and she isn’t.

Well, by the time we got back to the camper, “the Princess” was covered with sand and seaweed and looked like a rat that had been drowned three or four times over with her hair a matted and tangled. Marsha was obsessing something about, “We just paid $30 to get her groomed.” The end of that story is simple, Larry gave her a bath and Marsha got out her hair dryer to blow dry Sasha’s hair while Larry brushed her out.

All I got out of it was a quick rinse of my paws to get rid of the sand. Geesh. I told you Sasha was going to be trouble.

Tomorrow is another travel day. No telling where we will end up.

Leggett CA Gateway to Avenue of the Giants

The "Drive-Thru" Tree



Our Campground in Leggett



A Cluster of Redwoods in our Campground

Date: Wednesday, June 23th
Day: 40
RV Miles: 4,015
Location: Leggett, CA
Elevation: 175 ft

This was an interesting but pretty much a do nothing day as we headed up the coast. We stopped here in Leggett since it is the beginning of the “Avenue of the Giants,” a 30-mile stretch of nothing but Ancient and Protected Redwood Groves. As a matter of fact, the campground we are staying in tonight is in a redwood forest. It is very shady, cool and quiet. Leggett is also home of one of the many drive-thru redwood trees. It seems that almost every town around here is trying to lure in the tourists and has some kind of redwood tree exhibit. Drive-thru, one-log cabin house etc.

Tomorrow we will continue up the coast via the Avenue of the Giants.

San Francisco Part 2

Alcatraz through the Bay smog



WWII Submarine




WWII Liberty Ship



1880 Sailing Ship



Skyline of San Francisco from the deck of the sailing ship



Powell - Hyde Line Cable Care Turn-around

Date: Monday, June 21th
Day: 38
RV Miles: 3,894
Location: Petaluma, CA
Elevation: 71 ft

Sasha and I had a great day. Well Sasha had a great day and I had a good day. If you remember, Larry and Marsha had us “approved” by a local Doggie Day-care Resort and Spa. Well that is where we spent the day while the humans headed into San Francisco. The Spa was really neat. They put us in a room with about 40 other dogs and pretty much spent the day smelling butts and meeting other dogs. Sasha on the other hand, figured she was put there to bring order out of the chaos of 40 dogs milling about and started bossing everyone around.

When Sasha wants to pester me, she starts biting at my legs or jumping up trying to bite my neck or ears. Well, as soon as they turned us loose with all of the other dogs, Sasha picked out the biggest dog in the room and tore into him, “Hey dude, there’s like a new totally awesome sheriff in town – ME! Like I’m in charge now.” Well anyway, one good thing came out of the trip to the doggie day-care. Sasha got a much-needed bath. Her coat was all grimy and the white was all gray looking. I am much more low-maintenance than the “princess” with short black hair I don’t show the dirt as much, besides I am constantly giving myself a bath unlike Sasha who expects to be waited on paw and paw.

While I was sniffing butt, Larry and Marsha went into San Francisco. Larry tells me he was very befuddled because the first place they went was Fisherman’s Warf. He had steeled himself and mentally prepared for a day of grazing and shopping with Marsha. Instead, Marsha went all historical on him and they wound up at the Maritime Museum. There they toured a World War II submarine and Liberty Ship as well as a three masted sailing ship.

After the museum they took a cable car ride and after a bunch of walking around and bobble-heading by Marsha they called it a day. Alas, this is their last tourist day in the Bay area.

Tomorrow they will kick back and relax a bit before heading off on their next adventure.

Coastal Highway and Redwoods

The road through a redwood grove



Sasha showing Larry around a state redwood forest



A beach on the costal highway



The rugged Marin County coast



Sasha "Watch out! The water's totally cold. I'm not getting wet, duh. Like I'm out of here."



On Sasha's advice, Marsha merely dips a finger tip in the Pacific Ocean




Date: Sunday, June 20th
Day: 37
RV Miles: 3,894
Location: Petaluma, CA
Elevation: 71 ft

Had a real neat day today – we all piled in the car and took a drive towards the coast through some beautiful and dense redwood forests. Then down Route 1 along the coast toward San Franciso.

The redwood forests were totally bathed in shade. Virtually no sunlight makes it to the forest floor because the trees are so high (up to 300 feet). Along with the shade comes a cool damp feeling along with a quiet silence that even calmed Sasha down. Very peaceful.

Marsha went bonkers when we got to the coast and she had a few more blondillium monents before Larry could get the car down to a beach. The temperature along the ocean was in the high 50’s low 60’s and the ocean was very cold; notice the coats in the pictures. Marsha was going to stick her foot in the Pacific but she whimped out and only put the tip of one finger in. As you can see, Sasha didn’t want to have any part of a soaking due to a wave coming in.

San Francisco Part 1

Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Headlands



Golden Gate Bridge from the Golden Gate Bridge



A San Franciso cable car in San Franciso. Imagine that!X


Date: Saturday, June 19th
Day: 36
RV Miles: 3,894
Location: Petaluma, CA
Elevation: 71 ft

Oh brother has a lot happened.

We are now in the land of fruits and nuts – just North of San Francisco and just West of the California wine country. The weather here is unbelievably nice. Sunny skies and a daily high of perhaps 75 degrees with no wind. After what we have seen in the desert, this is like heaven.

So far we have taken a driving trip of San Francisco and spent two days doing wine tasting. Larry was posted in San Francisco when he was in the Navy so he didn’t have too much trouble showing us around. He did get upset a few times when they apparently changed the downtown traffic patterns or something over the past 40 years without telling him. He took us to the Marin Headlands to get a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge and then downtown through the Presidio right on to Lombard Street to the “crookedest street in the U.S.” We followed the path of the cable cars down to Fisherman’s Warf and then swung over to Golden Gate Park. Larry called this a scouting expedition and he was right. Now Marsha wants to go back and “do” Fisherman’s Warf. Larry told me this might get expensive.

The next day, Larry and Marsha flipped a coin to see who was going to be the designated driver for the wine tasting trip and Marsha won. Sasha and I waited in the back seat of the car while they went in and tasted wine. We did three wineries: Chateau St. Jean, Kenwood and Benzinger. The next day (Saturday the 19th), Larry drove and Marsha got tipsy tasting wine. We only got to see two wineries Korbel and Kazanski. (Polish winemakers? Never heard of such a thing.) Larry felt that Chateau St Jean had the best wine and Kenwood was the worst with all the others in the middle.

Today, Sunday we are going to drive up the cost to see if we can find a redwood grove and perhaps let Marsha dip her toe in the Pacific. Monday will be something else. . . .

Yesterday, Larry and Marsha took us to a snooty Doggie Day Care Resort and Spa to be evaluated to make sure Sasha and I were good enough to be considered customers. They even put us in a room with about 40 other of their “approved” customers to see if they approved of us as well. Well, as it turns out Sasha and I passed muster with the owners and the other customers. This is all in preparation for Monday. On Monday, Marsha is going to “do” Fisherman’s Warf while Larry tags along. Sasha and I are going to spend the day at the Doggie Day Care Resort and Spa. La di da! Or as Sasha would say, "Woofity, Yipp, Rrrufff-y." Only in California !!!!!

Yosemite

Waterfall - First Blondillium Attack




Bridal Viel Falls - Second Blondillum Attack




Yosemite Falls - Third Waterfall



Lower Yosemite Falls - Fourth Waterfall



Picnic at Yosemite


Date: Monday, June 14th
Day: 31
RV Miles: 3,624
Location: El Portal, CA
Elevation: 1,256 ft

Note: Please forgive the gap in the blog. We were near Yosemite and there was absolutely no phone and no internet available.

Today, Larry’s quest to see a waterfall came to an end. He found one, but not without incident. So you can understand exactly what happened I will need to digress and make sure my readers are up on the latest brain research.

Current theory indicates that within the female brain there is a very primitive area referred to as the blondillium. At the heart of the blondillium is a black hole centered on an infinitely small (and therefore infinitely useless) neural synapse of nearly infinite mass. For some reason the blondillium is generally very active in women with blonde hair. (For those insightful readers who see a correlation here, let me say that linguists have been arguing for years whether the hair color blonde came from the term blondillium or vice versa. The fact is no one knows for sure.)

At random times the blondillium gets triggered and when that happens the black hole opens up and sucks all intelligent thought out of the skull leaving behind a perfect vacuum. In some blonde-haired women, there is a temporary rush of air in though the ears and scientists have observed winds speeds in excess of 90 knots in some subjects. This air rush is a partial explanation for the wind-blow hairstyles we see on some blondes.

Due to the unique shape of Marsha’s blondillium, when it is triggered it emits a high-pitched squeal, “AhOhEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” of about a half second duration. Larry incorrectly assumes that this is a verbal squeal, but in fact, it is the sound of her last coherent thought getting sucked down the black hole.

On the male side of the equation, evolution has trained the male hypothalamus, the most primitive part of the brain responsible for the fight-or-flight response to respond instantly to a triggered blondillium. This is appropriate since any male in close proximity to a triggered bondillium is in mortal danger.

With that out of the way, we can get back to Yosemite. Larry was driving us into Yosemite with Sasha and me in the back seat and with Marsha in the passenger seat doing her imitation of a bobble-head. There was a lot to bobble-head about because the tree-lined narrow winding mountain road was absolutely beautiful and idyllic.

Larry, really into the scene was driving slow, and his adrenaline/stress meter was reading absolute zero. Then it happened. From the passenger seat, “ “AhOhEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! “

Larry’s head snapped right, then left, his pupils dilated, his face turned pure white and his adrenaline/stress meter shot right past DANGER and came to rest on LEAVE THE PLANET IMMEDIATELY. Later Larry confided in me, that he was sure something terrible had happened and that he must have just run over Smokey the Bear without realizing it. (Bear in mind that such irrational thoughts are common in men suffering from a severe blondillium reaction.) All Larry could mutter was, “WHAT?”

“AhOhEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! “

“Oh my God, something terrible has happened. There is no place to turn around. I must have run over a gaggle of nuns.” Larry thought before adroitly inquiring of Marsha, “WHAT???????????”

“AhOhEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! “

“It’s worse than I thought,” thought Larry, “I must have run over a gaggle of blind nuns with eight orphan children being escorted across the road by Smokey the Bear.” Larry then did the only thing he could. He slammed on the brakes, turned to Marsha and inquired, “Dammit, Dimmwit, WHAT?”

To which Marsha replied innocently in a small little girl voice, “Waterfall.” (See the first picture above.)

To make a long story short, Larry got the car turned around so Marsha could oooh and aaaah over the waterfall. A mile or so down the road, this situation repeated itself. (See the second picture above.) After this the second incident, Larry made Marsha drive so she couldn’t bobble-head anymore and without incident they found a third and fourth waterfall. (See the third and fourth pictures above.)

After that there really isn’t much to say except that we had a really nice visit picnic in Yosemite and a the remainder of our visit was nice and quiet.

Sequoia National Park

General Sherman Tree - The largest tree in the world. Marsha is standing a good 100 feet in front of the tree.



General Sherman Tree Again. Marsha is standing to the right of the picture and this picture was taken a good 200 feet from the base of the tree.



Picture provides some perspective on the size of the trees.



This was a "small to medium" sized tree that got toppled and the cut a walk way through it.




Date: Sunday, June 13th
Day: 30
RV Miles: 3,315
Location: Visalia, CA
Elevation: 378 ft

Sasha and I didn’t get to see the big trees in Sequoia National Park. Larry and Marsha parked us at a kennel again. Bummer! From the pictures they brought back, it looks like there were some real awesome trees there. I could have spent hours sniffing just one of ‘em.

If you remember, Larry said at Bryce, everything was down. At Zion, everything was up. At Sequoia he is saying everything is enormous and up. Made him feel like a midget. Again he was worried that none of this would come through on the pictures. He said his mind played tricks on him due to the scale of things that make you lose your depth perception. It seems the trees look huge but not that huge until you realize you are standing twice as far away from the tree that you think you are.

For example, the General Sherman Tree is over 40 feet wide at the base. It looks big, in the first picture above, but Marsha is standing about 100 feet in front of it. In the second one, the picture was taken a good 200 feet from the base of the tree. These brutes are huge!

The road into the parks was a bear. In the last 17 miles the elevation rose from 800 feet to 6,900 feet with 8 to 10% grade switchbacks and the temperature dropped from 93 to 76 degrees. That last 17 miles took an hour to drive and the campground was an hour from there. As a rule, there were no guardrails on the road and in several places, all you could see off the edge of the road was sky. Marsha, the trooper she is drove up, however she did make Larry drive down.

Larry was a bit upset about the park management. Seems the quality of the information provided at each National Park varies widely. At Zion, for instance, the park guides were well organized and provided all of the information you would need at a glance. At Sequoia, the guides were almost useless and provided very little useful information.

Tomorrow (Monday) is going to be a do-nothing day and then we are headed North for our next three-day stop. It is very likely that we will not have any phone or internet service during that period so I may be Saturday before we are back in range.

Vegas and Yermo, CA

A scenic view in Yermo, CA



Marsha says Larry was enjoying this a bit too much



Las Vegas Strip at Night






Hoover Dam





Date: Saturday, June 12
Day: 29
RV Miles: 3,315
Location: Visalia, CA
Elevation: 378 ft

Wow, that was a long stretch of road from Glendale, UT to here, literally and figuratively: from the backwaters of nowhere to the rich agricultural lands of California. They even have grass and real trees here. Except for a few days in Williams, Arizona near the Grand Canyon, Sasha and I haven’t seen a blade of grass in 4 weeks.

After leaving Glendale we stopped off in Las Vegas – a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live where the temperature was 100+. Larry took Marsha on a tour of the local sights at Larry speed. We got to Las Vegas about 3PM and before they went to bed they had: taken in Hoover Dam, had a dinner, did a show and toured the strip after dark. We hit the road bright and early the next morning.

After a leisurely four-hour drive we landed in – well let me set this up. The Marine Corps has a tendency to find the worst, most God-forsaken hellholes as locations for training bases. Well, the only claim to fame for the town we landed in was that it was in the middle of the Mojave Desert and it had a Marine Base. I am sure you will recognize the town’s name – Yermo, California. What? Never heard of it? Well, you couldn’t miss it – it was the first town in a hundred miles of desert that had a gas station.

On Saturday, we left the garden spot / sand box named Yermo and headed to Visalia, CA. Now this place is a garden spot: calm, cool and green. Larry told me this will be our base of operations for visiting Sequoia National Park.

Glendale and Zion National Park

Doggy Dude Ranch for Max and Sasha



Weeping Rock Waterfall - Their first quest for the day



Emerald Waterfall - Second Quest and Almost a Waterfall



Everything in Zion is UP



Marsha on the Virgin River



Zion is Spectacular




Date: Tuesday, June 8th
Day: 25
RV Miles: 2,719
Location: Glendale, UT
Elevation: 5,974 ft

Today was pretty much a non-event. Larry got the oil changed in the RV and we drove to Glendale, UT which is about 15 miles East of Zion National Park. Larry wanted to go to Springdale, UT which is on the West side of Zion but the temperature there was 104. I talked him into Glendale after explaining to him the benefits of a high elevation relative to temperature.

This is a sleepy little town and a sleepy little RV park run by Ma and Pa. Actually it looks like Ma does all the work and Pa sits back in the corner on the couch and provides color commentary on what’s going on. After dinner Larry and I went into the campground office to see if they had a current newspaper we could purchase. Larry asked, “Do you carry newspapers?”

“Naw, we outlawed news around here about 20 years ago,” replied Pa.

“Well, George I can’t remember the last time we saw a newspaper. My gosh it must have been . . . over a year ago when we went into the Junction,” commented Ma.

”Don ‘t watch no TV neither,” added Pa.

Larry paused to count the negatives in Pa’s reply so he could figure out if they did, or did not watch TV and then replied, “Well I was just wondering if they ever got the oil leak in the Gulf plugged yet.”

“What leak?” they asked in unison.

“Doesn’t matter and it would be illegal here abouts if it were,” replied Larry as he walked back out the door letting the wood screen door slam behind him.

Honest, that conversation happened. I’ve been telling you humans are none to smart.

Anyway, I would say we were in a backwater town except there ain’t that much water in Utah.

**********************************************************************************

Zion National Park


Date: Wednesday, June 9th
Day: 26
RV Miles: 2,719
Location: Glendale, UT
Elevation: 5,974 ft

Hi this is Sasha. This was an awesome day, for sure. Like Larry and Marsha took Max and I to this cool doggy dude ranch so they could go to Zion National Park. The doggy dude ranch was totally the bomb – like there were bunches of other dogs I got to play with and the lady there fawned all over me all day long. She even washed my paws because they were like all grey and groady from all of the desert dust.

Like now Max wants the keyboard. Gross! Here whatever.

Told you Sasha was going to be trouble, the little twit!

Yesterday I left off talking about water. Well Larry and Marsha have discovered something they forgot about – cold water. With all the desert camping we have been doing they haven’t even seen cool water since they left home. On the RV the water comes in via a 25 foot hose that lays coiled up outside the RV and the sun beats down on it all day or the air heats up the water. Sorta like a solar hot water heater. At one place we stopped, can’t remember which one, they forgot to turn on the hot water heater and no one noticed. Well here in Glendale they got a real rude reminder about cold water since the water here is from a natural spring. It is not cool; it is COLD. Should’a heard Marsha scream when she went to get in the shower.

Anyway, as Sasha indicated we had a great day. While Sasha got to go play with the “little dogs” I got to go run with the big boys in this huge pen about 200 feet on a side. We ran and played all day. I haven’t had this much fun since Sasha had to go to the vet for the whole day.

Larry told me about their trip into Zion and it seems that they walked their legs off looking for a waterfall in Zion. Now, let me remind you that Zion is still considered a desert and if you remember the last time they went looking for a waterfall in the desert you would have guessed they learned their lesson. They had a little more luck this time though.

On their first hike to Weeping Rock (their first waterfall quest for the day) they were on a trail described as steep with moderate drop-offs. Larry described the trail as about 3 feet wide cut into the side of a mountain / cliff. The moderate drop-off was somewhere between 100 to 200 feet. Marsha didn’t like the steep part or the moderate drop-off part and it got her quite excited. Larry indicated that her excitement was something only a guy would notice.

On that hike they learned the hard way that the low humidity, the altitude and the exertion takes its toll and dehydrates a person in a very short while. To combat this they went back to the Lodge and bought a camel pack for Larry to wear. A camel pack is a backpack that has a bladder to hold water and a hose that clips to the front of the pack. Whenever you want a drink of water, you just take a sip of the hose. Larry told me he wanted to get one for Marsha but she said she didn’t want one so as Larry put it, Marsha was sucking on his hose the rest of the day.

Larry also commented that at Bryce Canyon everything was down. At Zion everything was up. The bottom of the Zion canyon is not very wide and the cliffs rise 2 to 3 thousand feet almost straight up so it is hard to get a good picture because you can’t get far enough back get something that has perspective. Non-the-less, they took over 180 pictures of mostly rocks. You would think that after Bryce Canyon they would have enough rock photos.

Tomorrow we set off for California via Las Vegas. We will be on the road for three days to get to our next National Park. Larry said I would like it because it has lots of big trees.