Whelan's Wheels (go round and round, round and round): A Grand Canyon High (sort of like a Rocky Mountain High but different)

Thursday, May 15, 2008

A Grand Canyon High (sort of like a Rocky Mountain High but different)

So we finally did our Grand Canyon helicopter tour - and what a Grand tour it was. I took 233 pictures - Rick always tells me I'm wasting film!! Thank goodness for digital cameras! I can only seem to post five pictures to each blog post (probably some people are breathing a sigh of relief over that one), so of course I will upload a new album on the picasa site of our tour. Anyway, here we are getting ready to go .... go .... go...

Above is the Hoover Dam pretty amazing project. Note on either side of the dam is the new bridge (Hoover Dam Bypass) that was started three (or so) years ago - the thought of going over that thing scares me more than driving over the dam! Check out that link to the bypass - there are web cams of the project - Chester you will love it!

Above is Lake Mead and the Virgin River flowing into it. I think this picture is a good view of the water level that I had mentioned in an earlier post - as you can see from the white on the mountains surrounding the lake the water is very low - still beautiful but low low low.

And here we are over the West Rim of the Canyon. At this point we were above 5000 feet. It was about 7:00 in the evening and the sun was starting to go down so I got some great sunset pictures on the return to the airport - which, you guessed it will be on the picasa site.

We had a great tour and I am so glad we did it. Words really can't describe it. The helicopter pilot was great with historical facts and stories along the way. At one point we flew over the

Sky Walk that the Hualapai Indians built. It sure looked tiny and unimpressive from where we were! I had wanted to go there but found out that I couldn't take my camera on it so decided not to go.

For our next adventure..................... we are talking about renting a boat and touring Lake Mead by ourselves .... Arlo needs to go swimming in Lake Mead, not play at the mucky beach at the boat launch he went to.

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This is our story ~ and we're sticking to it.

Our attempt at a blog - quite scary isn't it?

We left MA in early October, 2007 after I (Tracey) retired September 5 as an executive assistant for a software developer and Rick retired from his job on October 1. We passed papers on our house September 28th and off we went. We traveled down the east coast to the Florida Keys ~ where we planned to spend three nights but 17 nights later had to leave our site because someone had reserved it a year prior! We then stayed in northern FL for another month and headed off to meet our Marine returning to the San Diego area after his second tour "over there". We spent several wonderful weeks realizing why grandparents get tired easily! After the San Diego area we headed to the "low desert" (certainly a new phrase for us) of CA and into western AZ .. and decided it was finally time to start the blog we'd talked about since August or so!!

So many wonderful things we saw along the way. And the people, oh the people. I have said so many times to Rick the best part of this journey has been the people. So, so many people with so many interesting stories. Think about it - think about the stories YOU have and multiply that by the many many people we must have met along the way ~ particularly a social person like Rick .. we met a rattlesnake milker in Sweetwater, TX, we met the camp hosts in the Keys who summer back in NH ~ talk about the best of both worlds! We met the female police Sgt. at the Sweetwater Elks whose son was also in Iraq at the same base as my son. We met people in Slidell, LA who survived Katrina and had a great attitude and a smile on their faces and were proud to share their local cuisine with us. We saw the Blue Angels, purely by chance, in El Centro, CA. Or the "campground" where within an hour of arriving our house had been hit three times by golf balls! Or the Elks lodge in Indio ~ the sweetest, bike riding, bartender ~ I just wanted to pack her up and bring her along on our adventure. Not to mention the aerial tram while we were there, the warplane museum for Rick who does NOT do aerial trams! The Salton Sea ~ WOW just WOW. We stayed in the lovely little town of Wilcox, AZ - there was just something about that town. How about Pensacola, FL where the Elks Lodge on the beach is now built high, very high, off the ground! Or what about Huntington Beach State Park in Murrels Inlet, SC - talk about beautiful. What a great place that was to spend our first Thanksgiving on the road with good friends - that was something to be thankful for, for sure. Our first Christmas and New Years in the Keys!! WOW. The love and support of a dear friend in FL while Rick had to fly back to Boston and we dealt with all that entailed with unexpected follow ups back in FL .. how fortunate were we through all of that. Not to mention having the new trailer outfitted in Myrtle Beach and staying at what a week or two a year is the Broken Spoke? Or the kind and soft spoken LA Police Detective who is on the gang unit? So many people, so many stories. And there is so much ahead. The people .. did I mention how wonderful the people have been - all different walks of life .. so many personalities, so many stories! I have said many times ~ I need to pinch myself every morning to be certain it REALLY is happening to US! We are so grateful.

Click here to see our pictures on picasa