Home sweet home

After a fun day in New Orleans, including eating beignets, riding a steamboat up the Mississippi, and having a creole dinner, we headed home! We initially planned to do a rails to trails path in Alabama but, after a blown tire and a dysfunctional one on the camper, we decided to just get those fixed and head home. We've had an incredible adventure with many highlights, but we are glad to be in our house, with our fully equipped kitchen, in our big grown up beds. I am looking forward to returning to work with lots of fun projects in process, while David and the girls have a couple more weeks off until school starts. They also will be heading to Florida in the near future, after they recover from the travel!! Love to all - and go have the adventure you have always dreamed of!! Love, jennifer, david, brooke, and madison

 Pat O'Briens for a drink

 Beignets!!

 Cruising the Mississippi!

 Oh yes, beignets on the Mississippi!

 

working our way home

We've been slowly heading back east, but taking full advantage of the diverse places we are traveling through. We spent some time in Austin. Checked out the music scene, had to die for BBQ ribs on the Texas BBQ Trail, and then spent a great afternoon in Lady Bird Johnson's Wildflower garden park. We are now in New Orleans. Last night checked out the coast in Mississippi - the booms stretched across the bay as far as the eye could see. No oil on the beach there, so that was some good news. The seafood place we ate in though said they were really hurting - limited seafood items and even less customers. We did our part to help their business another day - the soft shell crab was delicious. Today we are heading into the heart of the city. We haven't been here since Katrina - it will be interesting to see what has been rebuilt. Hopefully alot.

 Coyote Ugly on the Austin strip - no, we did not take the girls there

 Longhorn stadium

 Taylors' Cafe on the Texas BBQ Trail

 They were incredible ribs!

 Beautiful gardens - David was a little hot!

 If you look close, you can see the red line of boons protecting this bay

 Exploring the shoreline - they seem to be just starting to recover from Katrina - and now hurting from the oil spill too.

Winding down in the West

We were lucky enough to spend a couple more days with my parents exploring the west. We hit a diverse group of sites - everything from the desert to the caves - all of it incredibly beautiful and interesting. All of our feet have blisters from so much hiking, but it has been worth it. The memories made will be with us always! Next, we'll head through Texas and spend a little time on the gulf coast. 

 Painted Desert NP

 Madison spying the petroglyphs

 looking out over the Petrified Forest 

 Brooke with petrified wood millions of years old

 Gila Cliff Dwellings

 Gila

 Madison checking out the Gila Cliff Dwellings

 Brooke talking with the ranger at Gila

 Last day with my parents in Carlsbad Cavern

 Exploring Carlsbad Cavern before the bats emerge!

The Last Few Days

Wow! We have seen some incredible places in the last few days! Since Bryce, we headed south, stopping at several places like Wapatki NM (some of the oldest pueblos) and Volcano Crater NM (yes, there really were multiple volcanos in the west) on the way to our campsite in Flagstaff. We also went into Sedona, an adorable little town right next to us, with incredible scenery. And then, we went into the GRAND CANYON!! The words immense, breath-taking and beautiful do not adequately capture it. In fact, that is our constant discussion - what words really can describe the sites we are seeing? All of them fall short! We did a 6 mile hike into the canyon which was by far the hardest thing we have ever done. 6 miles doesn't sound far, but when you go down 2000 feet, and then have to hike back up it, you realize just how far it really is. The picture on the girls' face tells how hard it really was. Of course the ice cream at the end of the hike served as a strong motivator to keep going, and it sure did taste good! From GC, we have now headed south - stopping first at Walnut Canyon NM and of course Painted Desert/Petrified Forest NP. The last time we were there it was 115 degrees. Thankfully not that hot this time, but still surreal looking.

Wupatki

 Wupatki

 Volcano Crater

 Volcano Crater

 Sedona

 Grand Canyon

 Grand Canyon

for some reason the pictures are taking a really long time to load now - so I'll put more up later! Now, off  to the Gila Cliff Dwellings!

ok, here are some more pics...

 hike down

 down we go

 the end of the road - Skeleton Point

 lunch with a view

 breathtaking

 the look when the girls realized we still had a mile up to go

Bryce Canyon

Wow, what a day in Bryce! It was so fun and tiring that I had to have a day of rest before posting. The scenery is so spectacular, the pictures do not do it justice. Even so, we tried! In addition to hiking, we also rode horses down into the Canyon itself. There was a 1000 foot descent to the floor, and then around trees that were nearly 2000 years old, and hoodoos as far as you can see. We couldn't get my mom to ride with us, but my dad was a trooper! Today we headed down to Sedona, AZ and then off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow!

Zion

We headed to Zion today, and boy was it spectacular! We did one of the most difficult hikes we've ever faced - going up nearly 2000 feet on the edge of the cliff. David went out on the point that we thought was a little too unsafe for the girls, and we were right. He had to hold on to railings bolted in the rock to stay on the path. Yikes. But, the girls were so proud of themselves for what they accomplished! The ice cream as a celebration was well worth it!