Melissa & Shane

We arrived at Lake Havasu late Thursday night and were informed by our hosts that there were scorpions in the house that day! Luckily Scott and Maryam were able to get a pest-control person out to remedy that particularly unsettling situation. Renae still chose the taller of the two air mattresses and we all thought it best to wear our “Scorpion Shoes” (aka Flip Flops).

Shane, Scott and Claye got up early on the 4th to launch the boat before the parking lots filled up. The rest of the crew joined up around noon and we all spent the day in a wonderfully cozy little cove known as “Mallard Cove“.

We managed to find a place to dock the boat in the canal and headed off for dinner at a really good Mexican food place. After dinner we cruised out onto the lake to watch the fireworks, it was a really good show.

The next day was spent cruising up the river and just generally relaxing while floating about. When we made it up to Topock we set up the Easy-Up and some chairs and spent a couple of hours napping and playing in the river. At some point Austin was bitten by what Shane thinks was a Dragonfly Larvae (image). Claye was able to capture it in an empty water bottle, he referred to it as his “science experiment”.

We decided to get off the water before it was too late so that we could head back to Scott and Maryam’s to get the grill going. When Shane was retrieving the truck from the parking lot, Scott found the very last water bottle in the ice chest and without any reservation he took a great big gulp from what turned out to be Claye’s “Science Experiment” water bottle! Ha! Scott then proceeded to completely flip out! He threw the bottle, his hat, sunglasses and shoes and leapt off the boat into the lake. Needless to say, Renae and I were wondering what exactly he was up to. Once we found out what happened, we fell down laughing! Luckily though, upon later inspection of the water bottle I found that the mysterious creature was still in it, not in Scott’s stomach.

A big thank you to Scott and Maryam for their gracious hospitality at Lake Havasu. We survived the scorpions, mice, heat and drunken fools. Click on the picture below to see some pictures from the trip.

P.S. I think I am more of a Lake rat than a river rat.

We had an amazing trip to the Grand Canyon! We left on a Thursday and returned on a Sunday. We camped in Mather Campground and had a wonderful time. We cooked a number of wonderful meals over hot coals from our campfire, even a burridillia (a combo burrito/quesadilla). The canyon is absolutely breathtaking. Next time, we will definitely want to take a mule to the bottom (or hike if we get in REALLY good shape!).

Our most recent jaunt was to the Sequoia National Park. We drove up to within an hour of the park and stayed at Melissa’s Grandmother’s house for the evening. After visiting with her and having brunch we headed North-East towards the Sierras. Upon entering the park we learned that their was a bit of construction under way on the main road through the park. Luckily the National Park Service had coordinated a simple and well executed plan for getting the visitors through the park. Our plan was to stay at the Lodgepole campground, but it was full so we had to press on to Grant Grove. The temperatures in the park were a very welcome 70°F during the day and down to 40°F at night. After this summer’s 100°F+ temperatures it was a bit of a relief to actually be cold! To see a map of where we stayed and the main attractions of this park, click here.

Our primary goal for this trip was, of course, to see the Giant Sequoias. These trees are absolutely phenomenal. While visiting the various groves of trees in the park we saw the most massive organism on the face of the earth. The tree known as General Sherman is awe inspiring. One of the most amazing features of the tree is a branch, some 100+ feet off the ground, that is larger than most of the other regular pine trees in the park! Absolutely amazing.

After visiting this park and spending a couple of nights there, we have decided to try and visit all of our country’s National Parks. These are amazing resources to be treasured and enjoyed. One of the things that we noticed was that the majority of the park’s visitors were foreigners. While we think it is great that these treasures are shared with people from other countries, we are a little saddened that the rest of us don’t take a few moments out of our busy lives to enjoy these phenomenal places.