Wackadoodle day!

Apr. 11 - Apr. 17, 2013 Trailer Village - (Part of Grand Canyon Park), AZ

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RV LIFE: 

What a weird day I'm having! It's not what I expected.

First, Devin wakes me up at 3:30am. He had to go out. He's been a pooping machine lately. We're not feeding him anything different. At 3:30am it is 31° outside. Brrr! That sure woke me up. No going back to sleep now.

Time flies while on the computer in the wee hours of the morning. Somehow 7:30 arrived and it's now 29° outside. Our propane RV heater, and 2 electric heaters are keeping the RV toasty. 

Since I only had about 4 hours sleep, Scott asked me if I still wanted to hike the Bright Angel Trail. 

I told Scott it didn't matter. If he wants me to go with him, I'm fine with that. He actually said he'd prefer to go alone. That way he won't have to worry about me falling off the path, over the edge! He was concerned I may not be as alert as I should with so little sleep. So, I opted out of hiking today. I'll just enjoy a virtual hike of Bright Angel Trail.

I thought I might have another "down" day. Especially being so cold, I'll just snuggle under the afghan. Unlike yesterday, I did get out of my jammies and into street clothes. I walked the dogs about 1/2 mile to the US Post Office that is right here on the Nat'l Park grounds in the Market Plaza.

So just as I begin to clean up the kitchen and get ready to settle down to read, it starts snowing, well barely snowing, but I did not expect this out West in April. But I guess at 7000' high, it's a different climate than lower down.

I know it's not much but still seemed odd to me.

So as I'm outside trying to take photos of the snow, I almost walk into....An Elk, or 2! Actually there are FOUR Elk just grazing all around our site. Cool! I'm glad I didn't go on the hike. I would have missed the wildlife show!

Next thing I hear is our African Grey Parrot growling and spreading his wings. Yes, our parrot growls. He growls when he sees a strange animal (usually a foster dog). The parrot is growling, Devin is barking, poor Lyla who is deaf can sense something's going on and is just looking at me for reassurance. Ok, ok kids, calm down. What the...? Trot, trot, trot....

This is looking out our back window!
Holy crap, we're surrounded!

Devin's keeping an eye on those huge "dogs". They don't look like they want to play. Devin is staring at the Elk behind this tree on the left. You can barely see if. He's in between the white trailer and the tree.

The Elks seemed to graze in pairs. So there's the one pair that Devin is watching, where are the others? I go to the front door to see if they are on the other side. Holy double crap!

He's at my door!

Woo hoo! What a great experience! I'm thrilled!

Beautiful

It's only 2 in the afternoon. What other adventures await just sitting in the RV? Maybe Scott will have some stories about his hike.

SIGHTS:

The other day we planned on taking the dogs along the "Trail of Time". We walked from the campground to the trail. Lyla & Devin were enjoying all the smells. I made sure I had a good hold of Lyla while walking along the rim. I don't want my nightmares about her chasing something over the edge to come true.

We walk about a 1/4 of a mile on the trail, when Scott & Devin lag behind. What's up? Lyla is a senior and I'm not in very good shape any more. I turn around and there is Scott struggling with Devin to stay on the trail. Is Devin afraid of heights? Does Devin know he could fall off the edge? Nope. Devin is afraid of children. This was a Sunday afternoon and many kids were jumping, skipping, oohing and ahhing, complaining and just generally making kid noises. Devin was pulling as hard as he could to get away from them. He just wanted to hide under a tree. We have no idea why he is like that. Sad. Instead of struggling and instead of making Devin go through this panic state for the next 2-3 miles, we opted to go back home. We'll do the trail minus dogs another day.

Another day came (what a surprise) and we did walk the "Trail of Time" just Scott & Debbie. I tried to take in all the info along the trail. Signs explaining what layer of rock, mineral, whatever was formed at that time. The trail starts at present day and goes back 100 million years or so. I gave up on taking in all the info at 14 million. It just all blended together into mush in my brain. It is an easy, paved fairly level trail. 

There are big chunks mounted on cement of whatever substance layer was formed at the time along our walk.

Scott on South Rim

Ther are many campers who only stay a day or two here. I guess it's just enough to say "been there, done that" or "check that off my bucket list". Many Cruise America Class C rentals in the RV park. I did see a unique "RV" rental. It's called Jucy rentals. 

 The top is called the "Penthouse". It is not just a car top carrier, it's a...

sleeping quarter. It literally is a car top carrier made into a bed. Whatever works.

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COFFEE REVIEW: 

Major Dickason's Blend, by Peet's

My rating 5 out of 5

When living in NJ, I used to mail order this. You couldn't find it locally. This company started out as just a coffee house in California, and kept expanding their coffee sales. Now you can find Peet's Coffee fairly regularly in major grocery store chains.

I purchased the Whole Bean bag and then Espresso ground it at the in store grinder. 

Flavor Notes from their website, "Rich, smooth, and complex, with a very full body and multi-layered character." I think that describes this blend perfectly, although I don't know what multi-layered means.

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AUDIO BOOK REVIEW:

Listening is an Act of Love, by Dave Isay

My rating 4 out of 5

This is an interesting concept. These stories are non-fiction.

Story Corps is a non profit organization that has recording studios both in stationary buildings and in a traveling Winegabo. You reserve recording time to record YOUR story, whether it be a fictional story you created or the story of your life and experiences. Listening is an Act of Love is a sampler of those stories.

Publisher's Summary on Audible " Drawn from the work of StoryCorps, the largest and most ambitious private oral history project in American history, comes this tapestry of the stories Americans have been sharing from their lives to leave behind to their loved ones."

What I listened to was a younger relative asking a senior relative about their life and memories. It is a great way to not only remember your family, but also to record life as it was and as it is now for future generations. These books I don't think are private. There is a copy kept at the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress.

I found it very interesting listening to how things were in our grandmother's time. I think a great idea would to be record your story of going through a struggle and how you are dealing with it. That would be a help to others going through similar problems. 

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WHERE WE'RE GOING:

Apr. 18 - Apr. 24, 2013 Meteor Crater RV Park - Winslow, AZ

Apr. 25, 2013 (Tentative) Calizona RV Park, Needles, CA

Apr. 26, 2013 (Tentative) Sierra Trails RV Park, Mojave, CA

Apr. 27 - May 5, 2013 (Tentative) Sequoia RV Ranch, Three Rivers, CA
June 14 - 24, 2013 Armitage County Park, Eugene, OR 

NV, CA, OR, ID, WA, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/2014