I started blogging a few years ago when I made the cross country trip from Los Angeles, California to Wake Forest, North Carolina. Blogging turned out to be a fun experience, so now I continue to blog about all of my travels. I try to make it interesting for everyone and hope that people can travel with me through my blogging. To learn why I started blogging in the first place, just continue reading and the next paragraph will explain how it all got started. So sit back, read the post, view the pictures and travel with me via my blog.
One of my dreams ever since I can remember was to take a cross country road trip to see America. Never in a million years did I think I would realize this dream. My dream was set in motion when I answered the telephone and my son Chris (who lived in Los Angeles at the time) called to tell me he had accepted a job in New York City. He went on to say he would not be taking his car with him to New York but would be driving his car from California back to North Carolina. Light bulbs went off in my brain at that point, so I told him I would fly to Los Angeles and ride with him back to North Carolina. Thus my great road trip adventure came to be. But this is only the beginning as it hasn't started yet. We are in the planning stages of where we are going to stop along the way and what we want to see. We only have 10 days to go from west to east and so the planning begins. I hope you will follow me as I blog my way across America. I'm new at blogging so please be patient. I hope to blog daily and post pictures along the way. Thanks to Chris for making it happen and to Julie for telling me to "go for it" and to seize this "once in a lifetime opportunity". I'm glad I did!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Here are some of the pictures we took while at the Grand Canyon National Park. These pictures do not present the canyon at it's grandeur because the day we was there it was very cloudy and cold. When I stated earlier that the canyon literally took my breath away it was because at 7000+ feet the oxygen in the air is not as saturated as in lower elevations so I was having a hard time breathing. When we reached the visiter center I mentioned this to the ranger and she said it was not uncommon for visitors to the park to complain of breathing problems. The ranger said to just take it easy at first, drink plenty of water and let your body get acclamated to the lack of oxygen in the air. My breathing did improve and we spent a full day exploring the Grand Canyon. They have shuttle buses with different drop off points for visitor's to explore the park at their leisure. There are three different shuttle buses: green, blue and red routes. We did the blue (village route)and red (hermit's rest route) shuttles because those two routes had the most drop off and pick up points. The shuttles run every 15-20 minutes throughout the day. The Grand Canyon is 277 river miles long and averages 10 miles in width from rim to rim and is over 1 mile deep at it's deepest point. While in the park we did see deer and elk. On the way out as we were leaving the park I spotted a 1950's - 1960's icon: Smokey the Bear and I couldn't wait to get my picture taken with Smokey. The story behind Smokey (for those of you too young to know about Smokey) is that there was a big wild fire in a national park and after the fire was extinguished a ranger found a bear cub clinging to a tree unharmed by the fire. The ranger named the bear cub Smokey and the bear cub became a mascot of sorts informing people of the hazards of fires and how to prevent them from happening. The slogan in the commercials and advertisements was "only you can prevent forest fires." Well that's the blog for tonight. Tomorrow I will share photos about the Petrified Forest and The Painted Desert. So until then good night all and remember only you can prevent forest fires.
Great pictures Ann. I know you are having the time of your life. I am so happy for that you got to fufill this dream. Enjoy yourself and have a little fun for me.
so, Ya had a date with ol Smokey Bear, Did ya say "We wuv you Mokey Bear!!! Have a wonderful time Annie!!
ReplyDeleteyeah, she is living her dream!! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures Ann. I know you are having the time of your life. I am so happy for that you got to fufill this dream. Enjoy yourself and have a little fun for me.
ReplyDeleteYes E how did you know that I told that to ol' Smokey.
ReplyDeleteYou're right Julie it is one of my dreams and now I can take it off my bucket list.
Deb...I am having enough fun for the both of us. Trey told me that Sammy was at home and that you didn't want me to get to cozy with Smokey.