Gold (or maybe Yellow) Fever

We finally made it to Alaska! Yesterday was nearly a full day of travel but thankfully everything went well and we didn't even arrive at the hotel all that late. Of course, by the time we went to bed it was still past 2 AM EDT so it was a long day. Unfortunately, it was only 10 PM here and that meant it was still very sunny and bright when we turned in.

We were both up by 5 AM and we didn't have to meet our group for breakfast until 8 so after getting ready, we took a walk outside by the river. Even at 7 AM, the mosquitoes were out in full force which foreshadowed what we'd see later in the afternoon.

At 8, we went to breakfast and met our tour guide and some of the group. As expected, it turns out that except for one kid traveling with his grandparents, Jess and I are the youngest on the trip. Everyone is very nice though and well traveled so it is good to hear stories. It turns out many of them have kids our age so we definitely stand out.

Our first stop of the day was Gold Dredge 8. I will say it's nice to just be outside at a certain time and the transportation, tickets, meals, etc. are already taken care of - they just point you in a direction and tell you what time to be where. When we arrived at the dredge site, we had a few minutes to look at a section of the Alaska Pipeline which is a pretty impressive feat of engineering that winds 800 miles across Alaska. After boarding a train to go to the dredge site, we were finally ready to pan for gold.

When you exited the train, you were given a bag of pay dirt and then you got to pan it and collect the gold. There's definitely a technique to it and I was not being aggressive enough at first but Yukon Yolanda helped and soon Jess and I had our gold flakes collected. When they measured it, Jess had $21 worth and I had $18. I'm going to assume this is all real and therefore in about 5 minutes, we pulled almost $40 out. Basically, it'd be stupid for us not to move here and become gold miners, especially since we know what we're doing now. The rest of the dredge was pretty neat too and they had free cookies so for a first stop, it was great.

Remember how I mentioned that we were the youngest ones on the tour? The unexpected downside is that everyone seems to remember our names because we stand out. I'm terrible with names when I meet a bunch of people at once but thankfully they gave us name tags during the day so it's a little less embarrassing now.

The afternoon was spent on a sternwheel boat that cruisesd a few hours on the Chena River. We ate lunch at the place where we loaded onto the boat but the interesting part is that they had a "-40" room that simulated the cold that you typically feel in the winter here. We had light jackets on and it was certainly cold but it wasn't so bad. That said, Jess disagreed and said it was horrible (no argument there though since even +40 can be too cold for me now).

The boat cruised down the river and we saw some houses, the old pump station that's now a bar and a bush pilot demonstration. We then stopped by one the kennels for the sled dogs and they did a demonstration which was fun to watch. Finally, we stopped at a replica village that showed some of the native life. This part of it was fine, but it felt a little cheesy (plus we were losing steam at this point so fatigue probably played a factor, along with the light rain). There were also a ton of large mosquitoes around too which I'm sure bit us up. It was also great when we were listening to a talk and Jess smacked me in the head to get one off of me and hit me harder than intended. At least the lady behind us thought it was hysterical. The other neat part is the woman doing the dog demonstration along the river brought some to a pen there and you could pet them. Even the old dogs they had seemed to have a ton of energy, unlike CT who gets mad if you wake him up and make him go outside.

We then got back to the hotel before heading to a wine tasting dinner. It was ok - the fish and steak were good but I am not into wine at all so that part didn't do anything for me. I'll be looking forward to a good night's sleep since we have to get early to have our luggage packed by 6:30 AM tomorrow.

As the gold miners say, "Gold is easy to get so quit your job and start prospectin'!" Note: They don't say that, but I'm seriously considering it anyway.

Hockey Season is Here

Today is the last real day of our trip and it started for us in the Grand Canyon. We had a room for two nights - the first time the whole trip we stayed in one place for consecutive nights. By getting up early, we were up as the sun rose and the best part was we could sit in bed and watch it out or window (and given that it was still cold, though not as windy, that was a huge bonus). After getting ready and packing up, Jess and I went out to walk along the rim and take some pictures. Again, it was absolutely beautiful and while we're ready to get home, it was still sad to leave.

On the way out, we stopped at the entrance sign to take pictures since we missed the one coming in from the east. We also had to fill one of our tires since it was really low as it probably has a slow leak that we've been dealing with for a few days.

The next stop was lunch in Sedona. I know people have said to hike along the red rocks but after seeing the Grand Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs, it was still nice but not as awe-inspiring. We ate a nice lunch in Sedona (which was very busy) before moving on to our final National Park site.

Montezuma Castle National Monument is another ruins site but this was has a multi-story building that's still pretty intact. It was a brief stop - the trail is short and there's not much to see there - but they charge $10 a head to get in. I was surprised at how busy it was there (even for a Saturday) and it was a place like this that made me glad we have a Parks Pass that gets our whole group in without paying anything additional. Plus, I didn't lose our pass this time which will come in handy for Washington and Alaska next year...

The final destination on our trip is an Arizona Coyotes hockey game. It may only have been preseason but it was our first hockey game of the season and I'm pretty sure every trip we take has to have a sporting event in there somewhere. Luckily we could walk to the game from our hotel so it didn't take long for us to walk back after they lost (which angered me because I really wanted the Coyotes to win for, uh, monetary reasons, and they blew a 3-0 lead). And with that, we're ready for the Canes to let us down all winter long.

Tomorrow we're just heading to the airport in the morning to fly home so our trip will officially be over. I think everything went pretty well and everyone had a good time and we were able to see everything we had originally planned to see. The weather held up nicely and no one fell off a cliff. All in all, that's a successful journey.

As they say at the Coyotes games, "I think we can win the Cup this year!" Note: No one says this.

Shortbread Reward

Today was the day we've been looking forward to over a year now - we were going to hike partly down into the Grand Canyon along the South Kaibab Trail. We didn't really know what to expect because although we knew the distance and elevation change, there's no way to really prepare for it around Raleigh and we hadn't done something like this before. Over the last year, we did our best to get into better shape and we just hoped it would pay off.

Originally we had planned to get up really early and get going just after sunrise. Of course, that plan didn't quite work out for two reasons: first, while we were glad we saved the highlight for the end of the trip, we also had been moving hotels every day and driving an average of 6 hours a day so we were getting tired. The other reason was more practical because our original plan assumed it'd be warm and that was definitely not the case. It was still very windy and the morning was cold with temps near freezing. My blood has thinned and that was too cold for me to enjoy the hike so we ended up trying to get our there for 9 AM instead. The shuttles we had to take took some time to get us there so we really didn't hit the trail until 10 AM.

Immediately, it was pretty steep with a bunch of switchbacks and loads of mule poop. That alone was irritating since the rules clearly state I couldn't poop on the trail yet the mules are held to a lower standard. If they want equality and I think they do, we should all have to hold it or put it in a bag and pack it out. Even though the descent was quick, it didn't feel bad and the views were amazing.

At the first point (roughly a mile in), we were all feeling ok and stopped to take some pictures. The only problems to that point were a squirrel that tried to get in our bags and a lady who just walked into the pictures we were taking after everyone had lined up to wait to their turn. The next stop was 1.5 miles down total and that's where we stopped for lunch and took in the sights. It was beautiful and peaceful, except for the constant jackhammering that a park crew was doing to break up some rocks to repair the trail.

It got a little dicey going up. Even though it was higher elevation than any of us had ever hiked before and it about 900 feet up in 1.5 miles, we did it with minimal stops. It was easier than I had anticipated and it's definitely something I would like to do again. Once we got to the top, we met a nice 70-year-old named Patricia who was from Scotland and was with a tour group who just hiked up the trail themselves. She was chatty and as we got to talking, she offered us the best shortbread I've ever eaten (the secret ingredient, she told us, was lots of butter). She then told us where to travel to in Scotland before we said good-bye.

At this point, there were still some sights along the Rim Trail (which is relatively flat) that we hadn't seen so we continued our hike back to our hotel right along the whole rim. All in all, we walked about 10 miles and by the end of the day, we were exhausted but felt pretty good otherwise. Dinner was at the same place the night before since it had the best quality (proximity to our hotel) and then we went back to our rooms. Jen and I did go back out to see how the stargazing was and while not quite as incredible as Yellowstone a few years back, it was pretty good and you could see the Milky Way pretty clearly.

The day was pretty great and it was nice to stay in the park all day and not get in the car once. Seeing the canyon from a bunch of different angles was worth the effort and is something none of us will ever forget.

As they say on the trail, "Mules are people too." Note: No one says this.

Just a Little Breezy

After a less than ideal night's sleep, we got up very early so we could see the sunrise. Given that by the time we arrived we couldn't see the canyon at all, this would also be the first time we saw the Grand Canyon. It was also a lot nicer around there when it was actually light out and we even saw three mule deer right by our cabin. We've been lucky with the weather so far and despite it being dry, it turned chilly and very windy the day we got there.  At that time in the morning, it had to be in the 30's with the wind chill. Luckily, the sunrise was fantastic and it was great seeing the canyon for the first time. We did a little hiking before packing up the car and heading out for some scenic drives.

We originally wanted to do some longer hiking but given the weather and our fatigue, that probably wasn't going to be a pleasant journey so we decided to do some smaller hikes along the drive. Those ended up being great too and the views from Cape Royal and Point Imperial didn't disappoint. We did have 50-60 mph gusts as we were up higher and each us nearly lost our hats into the canyon at least once.

The day ended with the long drive to the South Rim (20 miles from the North Rim but a 4+ hour drive) and this time we were smart enough to arrive in daylight. Our hotel in the South Rim is right on the edge of the canyon and we can see part of it from our window. There's also not much parking but Matt luckily found a spot right near our hotel so things were already looking up. A nice dinner later, we were in bed early and getting ready for our big hike on Friday.

As they say in the North Rim, "Don't let the bed bugs bite!" Note: It's quite possible they say that to many guests.