Idaho

Ok it has been a long time but I am finally at a library that will let me sit on their computers for a while and give you the update. We stayed three nights in Flagstaff AZ. We visited the south rim of the Grand Canyon. There were a lot of people there and felt more like Disneyland than anything else. The canyon was pretty but we had seen so many canyons that it wasn't too exciting. On the way back to Flagstaff from the GC we stopped at a scenic overlook which in my opinion gave us a much better viewing of a canyon created by the Little Colorado River.

Flagstaff was pretty cold at night but we survived with a campfire and lots of blankets. Last weekend we went to Sedona to meet up with a friend of mine. We ate cactus, walked around the town and sipped on some of the local refreshments. It was a good time.

We left Flagstaff the next day, crossed the Hoover Dam and headed to Las Vegas...this is where I must pause and tell you that I am not supposed to tell you what happened in Vegas but here are a few words anyway. Fruity drinks, scantly clad men, neon lights and $$$.

From Vegas we headed back into Utah and Zion National Park. We did a few short hikes saw some trickling waterfalls and saw the canyon from the bottom up. It was pretty nice. We were there for 2 nights then we spent another 2 nights at Bryce Canyon NP. That was much prettier. We opted to see the sites on horseback or in our case on muleback. We did an afternoon trot down into the canyon dropping 1000 ft in elevation. We went up and down viewing several hot spots of the canyon. I am still a bit sore from being on a mule for 8 miles but I am happy it was the mule doing the hard climbing and not me.

We left Bryce and decided to head north. We stopped just north of Salt Lake City at Antelope Island State Park. We camped on the beautiful island for one night and then hit the road for the Grand Tetons. The last two nights we were in the Grand Teton NP. Yesterday we went canoeing on Jackson Lake and then took a 6 mile hike along Jenny Lake and partway up Cascade Canyon. The lake was rough so we couldn't go too far out but we had a nice paddle anyway. After the hike we went back into town and stopped at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and sipped on some local brew. The bar is neat because the stools are all saddles. When we turned back into the campground Tempe was lucky enough to see a black bear in the rear view mirror. I didn't turn around fast enough so I missed it. (we are in bear country now so maybe I will have another chance to catch a peak of one before we leave) We also saw some moose, antelopes, deer and a pine marten.

Right now we are in Victor, Idaho where I just learned that the schools here get what they call a spud week off of school in October for the potato harvest. We will be here for a night staying with Tempe's cousin then we are off to Yellowstone. We should be there for 3-5 nights and then we will head further north to Glacier NP. We are aiming to be back to TN the 1st of July.

I guess that's about all for now. I have to go look for some more books on CD so we can reload the Ipod. we have listened to 5 rather crappy novels so far.