Long Weekend - Grand Canyon

Travel is my passion. Sometimes, I feel a little like I have clipped wings with two kids in middle school. So I am always looking for something fun, cultural and even a little exotic when one of those three day weekends hits the school calendar. Of course this also means that we can't venture too far from home as most of the weekend would be eaten up by travel time.

I think I came up with one of those perfect trips this year, over the Martin Luther King weekend. We went to the Grand Canyon! It was near enough to not spend a lot of time on an airplane, yet we were reminded we were not in LA anymore.

Now first off you may think of Grand Canyon as a summer destination. Honestly, given the choice I would rather do it the off season. First off we had no crowds, we could park the car, spend time not pushing our way for a piece of the view and getting in to eat when and where we wanted to. These things do NOT happen in the middle of the summer! Also given the choice of the blistering hot summer weather or the little bit nippy winter weather, I choose the later! I also learned the air quality is much better in the winter and therefore the views are much crisper and there is no summer haze to ruin the view.

The bad news in winter is that from time to time you can hit a winter storm, freezing temps or rain, snow and sleet. I have to admit that the weather gods were with us as our day time temps were about 45 to 50 degrees and we had clear, crisp skies all weekend.

Horizon Airlines has started nonstop service from LAX to Flagstaff and to promote the new route they offered some great fares - $59.00 one way. We jumped on the offer. The flight is a prop Dash 8 and left at 9:00pm at night. You land in Flagstaff at 11:30pm. The service was good and friendly. They allowed Patrick to do the safety demo for the plane! Because of the late arrival you will need to find a hotel room in Flagstaff. We stayed at the Embassy Suites. It was new clean, nice big room and huge breakfast buffet. I can't complain as the rate was only $95.00 per night.

The next morning I promised the kids we would stop at Snow Bowl to get a little boarding and skking in. Snow Bowl is not the type of place you would make a destination. It's very local in feel. But the weather was warm and the kids skied in their undershirts. The lift lines were a bit long, but not unreasonable. Overall the kids enjoyed the sun and snow and not many kids can say they flew to Arizona to go snow skiing.

We piled in the car and headed north to Flagstaff. On the way we stopped at Bedrock Village for some campy fun. This is a replica of the town that Fred, Barney, Wilma and Betty live in. It's a bit worn down, muddy grounds and very hokey, but it is the kind of place we all can enjoy and laugh at the uniqueness of the place. It was a bit of Americana off the highway and that is fading fast in our county.

It's a lonesome road up to the canyon in winter, traffic is light and you seldom see another car. We arrived, paid for our park pass at the gate and headed to our hotel in the village - El Tovar the gem of the Grand Canyon, home to the Harvey girls!

I love El Tovar, it's special in every sense of the word. It was built in 1905 on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It's an old lodge with dark wood, animal heads and Native American blankets on the walls. Very little has changed in over 100 years and you can still feel 100 years of eager tourists in the lobby. Our room was on the second floor (no elevators) and was a large deluxe double. We had a huge balcony at the front of the hotel with a view of the canyon. The room was only $140.00 in the off season, but best of all it was available. In the summer months rooms at El Tovar sell out a year in advance. In the winter you can pick up a reservation almost at anytime!

There are plenty of things to do in the winter. Yes, a few snack shops are closed for the season, but overall most things are open. There were ranger programs galore and the kids and I took a geology of the Grand Canyon walk around the rim. It was interesting and we all left knowing more about the Grand Canyon.

I discovered the architecture of Mary Jane Colter who did things like Hopi House, Bright Angel Lodge and Lookout Studio. I found her work to be inspired as she kept close to the natural beauty and her work never distracts from the nature around it. I also love the idea of a female architect working in the Grand Canyon in 1905.

But mostly we just walked, we walked and looked, walked and look. You can never get tired of the views. Each time of day the colors change, you notice a new rock formation or you just relook at a place your eye has been before. I took a ton of photos, but no photo can do the Grand Canyon justice. You need to be standing there, looking at it.

So we had a wonderful three day weekend. We didn't go far, but we were a million miles away from the hussle and bussle of LA. We were somewhere new and even exotic. We were at the Grand Canyon in the dead of winter and I have to say it's my favorite time of year to be there!

Text Book Ditching

Chris is in New York today. He is flying home this evening, but is trying for an earlier flight. CNN is on in the background. Sitting on the computer in the next room. BREAKING NEWS they say, special music. Anchor comes on. There has been a commercial plane crash in the Hudson River by a plane departing New York City. Your heart sinks. For just a moment you wonder. Then it doesn't fit - it's USAirways, it's from LGA and it's going to Charlotte. But for a moment, just a moment you wonder.

Pilot and crew did a fantastic job. It appears to be a bird strike. They did a textbook water landing. They were the last to leave the plane. They saved everyone. No panic, just talent and calm. I hope Obama gives these pilots some type of award. They are real heroes. This is what they train for - this is what you think will never happen. They trained for years and it all came down to today in New York.

Happy New Year - 2009

2009 already. Where does time go? It seems like only yesterday we were all worried about the millennium bug and the big change from 1999 to 2000. Here we are nine years past that, well into the moment. It does make one a little nervous to look at your life and see the majority of behind you and those years towards the end of it, just being fewer and fewer. It makes you panic and question the things you still need or want to do.

We spent the first days of 2009 in the mountains of Colorado. It was Patrick's birthday trip (a family tradition). Patrick always picks something that involves sport - this year Winter Park. I didn't ski this year. It really isn't that I am too old. I just hate all the equipment, getting it on, walking around like cement blocks are on your feet, standing in line, putting it on, taking it off. I don't like the cold. I am old enough now to know what I like and those things that I don't like.

The condo unit was expensive and cramped, I got altitude sickness, the food is town is just mounds of carbs and there wasn't that moment of sitting by the fire, drinking a hot toddie. It was pretty plain. Neither Chris nor I could sleep a wink in the condo and I had a headache the whole time. However, when you see Patrick's need to run to the mountain, his smile, his unwillingness to leave and the pride he had in his snowboarding improvement - every moment was worth it. That is what parenting is, living through someone's eyes and their joy.

Breana is a little bit more like me. She picks warm, sunny beaches for her trips and I can get into that a whole lot more. I am sure next January Patrick will pick another chilly mountain to swoosh down. I will be cold, I may have that same altitude sickness and we may stay in another shitty condo - but if Patrick loves it, we will love it too!

Well 2009 is here. Seven more days of Bush and even though the economy sucks, I have hope that this year holds promise. Things will get better, we have someone in office who cares. There is hope for this year. I don't know what it holds, but like most years a mixture of good and bad I am sure. Bring it on - make it a good one! Happy New Year!