Hey! Welcome back... hope you enjoyed the time away. I know we did.
Jo and I spent the Christmas weekend in a small cabin on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. On Thursday we got up and had breakfast before heading out of town. We dropped off Bianca to stay with some friends and began our 5 hour journey to the Grand Canyon. The drive was pretty dreary; there was a lot of rain and fog, and snow once we hit about 6,000 feet in elevation. We arrived at the park around 5:30 and drove to Bright Angel Lodge to check in to our cabin. It was a snowy, windy mess of a night and we slogged our way from the car to the cabin, fighting the stinging sleet that was hitting us in the face. Once we settled in we went to the El Tovar Lodge (the most famous lodge on the rim) for dinner. We were a bit disappointed because the restaurant was only serving their Christmas Menu and it was none to appetizing. Although we wanted the "fancy" dinner we decided to opt out and head back to the Bright Angel Lodge restaurant and have a more Perkins-style dinner. After dinner we settled in for the night, hoping the weather would be better on Friday.
We woke up on Friday to find that the weather was indeed better. I was able to get a clear picture of our view from the cabin door. We ate a quick breakfast and got all bundled up and ready to go hike the South Rim. Hiking on the South Rim is extremely different from hiking on the North Rim. The South Rim has one major trail, the Rim Trail, that runs for roughly 18 miles from Pipe Creek Vista in the east to Hermet's Rest in the west. We decided to catch the shuttle from the lodge and head to Mather's Point (Jo's picture here) and the visitors' center to get some advice on where to hike and what the weather was supposed to do.
One of the rangers was fairly pessemistic about our chances of hiking any of the Rim Trail. They were expecting a storm to roll in around noon and dump another inch or so of snow and he figured we couldn't make the four miles or so back to the lodge before the storm hit. The other ranger at the center was more upbeat and told us he had hiked in from the market center and, though a bit slushy, the trail was in good shape. We decided to take the risk and hike the trail back to our cabin. It ended up being a beautiful hike. The weather stayed nice and we were able to enjoy the canyon. The Rim trail is set up for tourism, so every major vista had a parking lot or gift shop attached to it. Jo and I stopped and enjoyed those scenic overlooks, but we found other areas on the trail, off the beaten path, that were far more beautiful and far less crowded.
About half way to our cabin we took the off-shoot trail to the Village Market Center and stopped at the Yavapai Lodge cafeteria to have a warm drink, read the paper and eat a bit of trail mix. we then headed back to the Rim Trail and stopped off at all of the visiting areas on the way back to the cabin. We made a side trip to the Kolb studio to get on the list for the next day's tour of one of the canyon's more unique and historic sites. We took advantage of our westward view of the canyon and watched the sunset as it hit the north rim before heading out of the cold and in for dinner and relaxation.
On Saturday we decided to hike from our cabin westward to Hopi point and back before our 2 pm tour of the Kolb studio. It was much warmer out and we could tell by all the people on the trail as well as the wildlife. The Hermet's Rest portion of the Rim Trail provided some beautiful views of the interior of the canyon as well as an amazing view of the Bright Angel Trail; the most famous of the two trails leading into the canyon. Once we made it past the first major overlook we were pretty much alone. We chatted and stopped and looked into the canyon, but most of this hike was spent enjoying the sunshine and the peace that comes with being away from the crowd. We made it out to Hopi point in plenty of time and headed back via the Hermit's Rest road. We noticed that the plow trucks were running up and down the road and were suprised to return to the village to see the road open to traffic. What we thought was a crowd on Friday had truely turned in to a crowd. The one way road around the village was backed up with traffic and tourists were crawling all along the rim.
We went to the tour of the Kolb studio at 2 pm and really enjoy the story of Ellsworth and Emory Kolb. I suggest you google them and read up on these two unique and eccentric brothers. After Kolb studio we decided to catch the shuttle to Pipe Creek Vista and hike back to the visitors' center along the Rim Trail. By this time the park had become extremely crowded and the busses were running behind. What should have been a thirty minute trip took us about an hour. We were crammed on to the busses and had to deal with a ton of people who avoided the canyon on Friday because of the ominous weather report.
Once at Pipe Creek Vista we quickly set off along the trail to get away from the crowd. We were rewarded with our own personal view of the sunset. We arrived at Mather Point just before the sun went down and were greeted by a far different scene than we saw on Friday. The point is the first major stop for tourists in the canyon and they were now out in full force. We loaded the bus, stopped off at the market to get dessert, almost froze to death waiting for the bus again, and went back to the cabin for dinner.
On Sunday we set the alarm to get up and watch the sunrise. We hit the road around 9 am after breakfast at the Yavapai Lodge cafeteria and were home by 2:30 a bit tired but feeling rested and ready for the week ahead.
To see all 150+ pictures from this trip go here.
Peas!
Cory
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
'Sno Joke
We may be in the Southwest, but it wouldn't be winter without a bit of snow! We'd heard there was a chance of snow today, and we walked the dogs in minor snow flurries this morning, but the snow just got heavier and bigger as the day progressed, particularly on the west side of town, which is where I work. We got nearly two inches of snow outside of my office window, which wouldn't be big news anywhere else I've lived in the United States, but it was huge news today!
Dreaming of a white Christmas ~
JoAnna
Here are a couple of pictures from right outside my office:
In a city that sees minimal precipitation, let alone any snow, today was a big deal. Kids were pulled out of school to play in the snow, people stopped on the side of the road to take pictures and throw snowballs, and work was let out early. And without any sand or road salt to melt the ice on the sidewalks, our facilities guys at work took a box of table salt and sprinkled it lightly across the concrete. This is certainly not the Midwest!
The strangest part of this whole thing? The palm trees!
Dreaming of a white Christmas ~
JoAnna
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Frickin' Sweet!
Yuletide greetings gentle readers!
It has been a very productive weekend in the Haugen House. Much cleaning, grading of papers, and writing has been accomplished. More importantly, we christened the first Holiday season in the new house by making Holiday goodies!
Jo and I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought all the accouterments to make fudge(chocolate and peanut butter), peanut brittle, snowballs (think round sugar cookies with coconut and orange peel), and white chocolate pretzels with peppermint sprinkles.
Jo valiantly took on the task of hand dipping each individual pretzel over a hot homemade double boiler.
I worked on the fudge and the cookies as well as the peanut brittle. Note the rock hard abs and marshmallow fluff. Don't stare at the goods, thanks.
After much hard labor, Jo rested with the dogs and I took an artsy picture of all the tasty treats.
After a dinner of pizza and beer we loaded plates for the neighbors. Behold the glory that is Holiday treats!
6-8 pounds of fudge, 1 bag of pretzels, 1 jar of corn syrup, 1 16 oz jar of peanuts and 21 snowballs later and I will be taking plates to work as will Jo. Here is to hoping all our friends' teeth don't fall out!
Happy Holidays!
-Cory
It has been a very productive weekend in the Haugen House. Much cleaning, grading of papers, and writing has been accomplished. More importantly, we christened the first Holiday season in the new house by making Holiday goodies!
Jo and I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought all the accouterments to make fudge(chocolate and peanut butter), peanut brittle, snowballs (think round sugar cookies with coconut and orange peel), and white chocolate pretzels with peppermint sprinkles.
Jo valiantly took on the task of hand dipping each individual pretzel over a hot homemade double boiler.
I worked on the fudge and the cookies as well as the peanut brittle. Note the rock hard abs and marshmallow fluff. Don't stare at the goods, thanks.
After much hard labor, Jo rested with the dogs and I took an artsy picture of all the tasty treats.
After a dinner of pizza and beer we loaded plates for the neighbors. Behold the glory that is Holiday treats!
6-8 pounds of fudge, 1 bag of pretzels, 1 jar of corn syrup, 1 16 oz jar of peanuts and 21 snowballs later and I will be taking plates to work as will Jo. Here is to hoping all our friends' teeth don't fall out!
Happy Holidays!
-Cory
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The Big Finish
Hello gentle readers,
(From Cory:)
It is with some muscle stiffness and a touch of chafing that I bring unto you the story of our day. But first we must go back in time; back all the way to September and Labor day weekend when JoAnna suggested we do the Las Vegas half marathon. We started training that next week. We ran 3 days a week, alternating between 3 and four mile runs on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and doing larger runs each weekend. By the time all is said in done we ran 195 miles in preparation for today's 13.1 mile odyssey.
Because the first 5 miles of the race ran down the strip, the start time was 6:07 am. This, my friends, means we were up at 4 am and on the road at 4:30 am. parking was a mess, as usual, but we managed to get to the starting line with about 5 minutes before the buzzer. It was surreal to hear Robin Leach welcoming us to the race. As we took off the casinos let off fire works and we were surrounded by Elvi (plural for Elvis, note the shiny cape in the picture to the right.)
We split each mile in half; the first half we walked briskly the second half we jogged. As we walked by the starting line at Mandalay Bay we saw they were wishing us good luck.
(From JoAnna:)
At other races I've been in there have always been more spectators, but with us taking off in what could arguably be considered the middle of the night, we were happy to at least see many of the casinos wishing us the best of luck. They actually closed Las Vegas Boulevard for a few hours, which probably explains why we started so early in the morning. As we made it down The Strip, the few people out cheering for us appeared to have been up all night in their uncomfortable dress shoes, still sipping bottles of beer.
I love to see the get-ups people put together for these things. In addition to the plethora of Elvi, we saw some people wearing remnants of costume from the Santa Run (held yesterd
ay), a handful of folks in holiday-related gear (like reindeer antlers and hats with mistletoe), a woman in a sparkly red dancer costume, people in flamingo and Nemo hats, and a woman dressed in some goofy clothes wearing white strappy platform heels. There were a lot of people running for charities or in memory of people, and I always like to read the t-shirts the people have made for these races filled with funny and inspirational messages about why they're running. I read an article once about how marathons should be kept sacred for elite runners because "the common man" has tainted this sport that is about athleticism and endurance for something it isn't: fun, achieving unsurmountable odds, doing something good for other people. Cory saw a shirt today that said "If it was just about running, I wouldn't be doing it." It's a philosophy that keeps so many feet plodding on ... just one more step. It is truly inspiring to see so many people who clearly aren't "runner shape" complete a 13.1- or 26.2-mile foot race.
If it wasn't fun, why would we do it? In the city that is Las Vegas, what would a marathon be without a place to stop and get married? In addition to the folks in Elvi gear, there were women in veils and guys wearing tux shirts who stopped ever-so-briefly around mile five to get hitched. If we'd known, we would have renewed our vows for our fifth-year anniversary. Only in Vegas ...
The sun never came out in the city today, so it was a little chilly, but it was decent weather to run in. Once we turned a corner around mile seven in downtown, we started heading back along Industrial and Frank Sinatra, the roads that run parallel along the western side of The Strip. We conserved our energy throughout the race, so we brought in the last half-mile at a really strong pace. By our clock, we finished in about two hours and thirty-six minutes (this accounts for time running and not stopping to take pictures, so our official time was a little longer).
We had a blast doing this together, and though we could stop here, we're now considering the options of running others located in other locations near ours. Who knows where our next adventure will take us?
Stiff hips and happy smiles,
Cory and Jo
(From Cory:)
It is with some muscle stiffness and a touch of chafing that I bring unto you the story of our day. But first we must go back in time; back all the way to September and Labor day weekend when JoAnna suggested we do the Las Vegas half marathon. We started training that next week. We ran 3 days a week, alternating between 3 and four mile runs on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and doing larger runs each weekend. By the time all is said in done we ran 195 miles in preparation for today's 13.1 mile odyssey.
Because the first 5 miles of the race ran down the strip, the start time was 6:07 am. This, my friends, means we were up at 4 am and on the road at 4:30 am. parking was a mess, as usual, but we managed to get to the starting line with about 5 minutes before the buzzer. It was surreal to hear Robin Leach welcoming us to the race. As we took off the casinos let off fire works and we were surrounded by Elvi (plural for Elvis, note the shiny cape in the picture to the right.)
We split each mile in half; the first half we walked briskly the second half we jogged. As we walked by the starting line at Mandalay Bay we saw they were wishing us good luck.
(From JoAnna:)
At other races I've been in there have always been more spectators, but with us taking off in what could arguably be considered the middle of the night, we were happy to at least see many of the casinos wishing us the best of luck. They actually closed Las Vegas Boulevard for a few hours, which probably explains why we started so early in the morning. As we made it down The Strip, the few people out cheering for us appeared to have been up all night in their uncomfortable dress shoes, still sipping bottles of beer.
I love to see the get-ups people put together for these things. In addition to the plethora of Elvi, we saw some people wearing remnants of costume from the Santa Run (held yesterd
ay), a handful of folks in holiday-related gear (like reindeer antlers and hats with mistletoe), a woman in a sparkly red dancer costume, people in flamingo and Nemo hats, and a woman dressed in some goofy clothes wearing white strappy platform heels. There were a lot of people running for charities or in memory of people, and I always like to read the t-shirts the people have made for these races filled with funny and inspirational messages about why they're running. I read an article once about how marathons should be kept sacred for elite runners because "the common man" has tainted this sport that is about athleticism and endurance for something it isn't: fun, achieving unsurmountable odds, doing something good for other people. Cory saw a shirt today that said "If it was just about running, I wouldn't be doing it." It's a philosophy that keeps so many feet plodding on ... just one more step. It is truly inspiring to see so many people who clearly aren't "runner shape" complete a 13.1- or 26.2-mile foot race.
If it wasn't fun, why would we do it? In the city that is Las Vegas, what would a marathon be without a place to stop and get married? In addition to the folks in Elvi gear, there were women in veils and guys wearing tux shirts who stopped ever-so-briefly around mile five to get hitched. If we'd known, we would have renewed our vows for our fifth-year anniversary. Only in Vegas ...
The sun never came out in the city today, so it was a little chilly, but it was decent weather to run in. Once we turned a corner around mile seven in downtown, we started heading back along Industrial and Frank Sinatra, the roads that run parallel along the western side of The Strip. We conserved our energy throughout the race, so we brought in the last half-mile at a really strong pace. By our clock, we finished in about two hours and thirty-six minutes (this accounts for time running and not stopping to take pictures, so our official time was a little longer).
We had a blast doing this together, and though we could stop here, we're now considering the options of running others located in other locations near ours. Who knows where our next adventure will take us?
Stiff hips and happy smiles,
Cory and Jo
Saturday, December 6, 2008
He's one bad mother...shut your mouth!
It has been slightly over a week since we all stuffed our faces with Turkey Day Cheer. I was fortunate enough to not only avoid a turkey induced coma, but also have my motorcycle delivered by Leland on the eve of the bird carcass-filled festivities. We spent all day Thursday working on getting the engine guard or "crash bar" put on the bike. This entailed some drilling, basting of the bird, more drilling, cussing, more drilling, more basting, and finally a trip to Home Depot. By Friday I was ready to ride. Leland was kind enough to take pictures of my maiden voyage.
I now officially have 100 miles under my belt. All of which were gained driving to and from work as well as running a couple of errands. I filled up on gas again yesterday to get an estimate of my miles per gallon and am pushing 64 mpg. That should bring my gas bill to about 6 dollars a month.
As for the hair, Rebecca, what started out as laziness this summer (not feeling the need to cut it) has turned in to a goal. I am growing it out to donate to Locks of Love. So there!
Peas,
Cory
I now officially have 100 miles under my belt. All of which were gained driving to and from work as well as running a couple of errands. I filled up on gas again yesterday to get an estimate of my miles per gallon and am pushing 64 mpg. That should bring my gas bill to about 6 dollars a month.
As for the hair, Rebecca, what started out as laziness this summer (not feeling the need to cut it) has turned in to a goal. I am growing it out to donate to Locks of Love. So there!
Peas,
Cory
Monday, December 1, 2008
A Full Four Days
'Tis the season to get in the holiday spirit.
My parents came into town for Thanksgiving, and the 4-day weekend went by too fast. Cory made a fantastic dinner. It was by far the easiest and fastest Thankgiving dinner I've ever seen put together. For the first time in my life I watched the entire Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and I followed that up with the Purina dog show.
Mom and I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving - what a zoo! We were really on the hunt for a new dishwasher ... happy holidays to us! Luckily there are even sales on appliances the day after Thanksgiving, and we can stop washing by hand in just a few short weeks. We also got to introduce Dad to REI.
I was really excited to put the Christmas tree up this year. Our new house has an exceptionally high ceiling so we decided to get a bigger tree than the 6-foot tree we've been putting up s
ince college. We decided to get a 7.5-foot tree with pine cones and berries on it, and we strung lights up and down every branch. Fast fact: Our tree has 600 lights on it. Another fast fact: Our cat, Toby, thinks he can eat the berries.
We did a little bit of the tourist thing and went down to the Strip to watch the Bellagio fountains one evening. The weather was beautiful and it was a great evening to walk through some of the shops and watch the dancing water.
We closed out the week with a hike up at Red Rock. We haven't been there since last spring, and we had a fantastic time. We took the Pine Creek Canyon trail and stopped to watch some rock climbers spider their way up the rock face. We love to go hiking with Dad. Our next big group hike? Rim to rim of the Grand Canyon next spring.
Busy and festive ~
JoAnna
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