The Mighty Colorado

 Arizona 100 degree plus weather + 45 degree water + the mighty Colorado River + 1500 ft deep canyon + meu amigao Andrew = One of the most amazing trips of my life! 

We decided last minute to make this trip to Page, AZ and float the Colorado River from the Glen Canyon Dam to Lees Ferry. I have dreamed of doing this float trip since we visited Page in May and went to the Horseshoe Bend lookout. It wasn't until about a week ago that I learned it could easily be done. We even ended up camping at the bottom of Horseshoe Bend and surprisingly were the only ones there.

one the road...

We started the trip off the right way... with Taco Bell.

A raft shuttle took us up river from Lees Ferry to the bottom of Glen Canyon Dam.

Andrew, enjoying the tent sauna

"THE REST IS HISTORY!"

Page AZ Part 3 - Horseshoe Bend

One of the coolest parts of our trip was Horseshoe Bend. It is an overlook of the Colorado River at the start of the Grand Canyon. It is amazing what the power of water can do over time. In this case it has created one of the most beautiful scenes that I have ever seen.

 People come from all around the world to see this site, even guys in skirts from Scotland.

 I did not feel as confident with Nolan on my back so I kept my distance from the edge. 

 It is hard to capture the magnitude of this scene in a photo. Look at the white spot on the bottom of the photo in the river. Realizing that is a boat helps give it perspective.

You can see the same boat in this photo as well further down the river to the left.

Page AZ Part 1 - Water Holes Canyon

This last weekend we took a little trip to Page AZ to celebrate our 5 year anniversary! I was a ton of fun and the weather was perfect. We stayed at the Lake Powell Resort which has to be in one of the most beautiful hotel settings in the country. The highlights of the trip were, Water Holes Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Canyon King Pizzeria (which is an old retired dinner cruise boat that used to be on Lake Powell but is now a restaurant on land), and the hotel pool overlooking Lake Powell. Here is the first set of photos (Water Holes Canyon). I am working on the rest and will post soon.

Nolan had so much fun playing in this giant natural sand box at the end of the canyon, he put up a big fight when it was time to leave. 

After about 2.5 hours of hiking, Nolan was spent. Who cares about his dad that carried him the entire way. Stay tuned for the rest of the trip.

Cliff Lake, MT Camping Trip (July 16th & 17th, 2010)

This last weekend we went camping at Cliff Lake/Wade Lake in Montana. It was Nolan's first camping trip so we were a little nervous but he ended up doing great.  

We bundled him in a warm bear suit to keep him warm at night and he slept just as well as he does at home, maybe even better. He looked and felt just like a little bear cub. He was even making little bear grunting noises.

Nolan testing out my new kayak.

Andrea Marie Hudson and our friends Bobby and Sam came with us.

The water looked as blue as Hawaii but was a little colder.

We bagged and taped Andrea's broken foot so that she could play in the water too.