Wald's World On Wheels: April 2014

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Play time!

We were so excited to make it to Las Vegas. If for no other reason we had great weather and the forecast was calling for some nice hot weather. Most of our time traveling across the southern U.S. during the months of February and March met us with un-seasonally cold weather. For almost a 6 week period we didn't even make it to 60 degrees. The forecast for Las Vegas was calling for high 80's and low 90's which we couldn't have been more thrilled about.

On the first hot day we had at the park the kids organized some outside activities playing with some of their toys that we had in the storage compartment as well as fun water game.

For the water game they setup two teams, the oldest vs. the youngest, and the goal of the game was to scoop water from one bucket and fill up a bucket at the other end of the driveway. The catch, their cups had a whole in the bottom so they needed to run as fast as they could before the water drained from the cup. Oh, and to make it fun, they had to carry the cup over theirs heads.

We didn't always have this much space at the resort, but in between visits from other RV's we used the space to spread out a little.

Helaina and Izabelle playing outside. Note the two Chihuahua under the table. Those are not our dogs, but loved the kids and would swing by to visit.

Helaina tried not to get wet during the game, so I came in to help her cool down.

Enjoy the Ride!

Seth and Katherine

Monday, April 7, 2014

Grand Canyon National Park

It's not a Griz-Wald family vacation without a trip to the Grand Canyon! Katherine and I visited the Grand Canyon 19 years ago for the first time. Coming back with the kids was a blast. Maybe I didn't appreciate it before, or maybe I just forgot how massive this canyon is, but it was just an awesome view.

What an amazing work of art that is right in America's backyard. The Grand Canyon is the number one most visited park in the entire parks service...and it shows. The crowds at the park were almost reminiscent of our trip to NYC! The diversity and number of visitors to the park on a daily basis is a true testament of this uniquely American destination. People come from all over the world to see the Grand Canyon. On the day we visited there was barely a parking spot at the visitor center and we had to wait in line to get pictures from some of the more popular lookout points in the park.

In addition to all of the hiking trails available in the park, there is also a very well run bus system to take park visitors out to the various lookout points to get different views of the canyon. We took a bus from the visitor center to Hopi Point and spent about an hour exploring the different views from there. We then hopped on the bus back to Mohave Point and walked the south rim about 3 miles back to the visitor center at Mather Point.

The Grand Canyon is a mile deep, which I didn't realize. That means the Empire State Building could fit end to end three times before it reaches the rim of the canyon...that's one big hole! At roughly 7,000 feet above sea level it also gets pretty cold there year round.

The kids getting their Junior Ranger books signed.

Getting Sworn in as a Junior Ranger.

Getting their badges. Izabelle is very excited.

One heck of a view.

You have to love sisters!

I think she sees the Colorado River.

This is what happens when you complain about a blister...Katherine makes you carry a kid!

At the end of a long day at the Grand Canyon.

"Jesus, it's only the biggest damn hole in the world"

-Clark Griswold

Enjoy the Ride!

Seth and Katherine

White Sands National Park, New Mexico

White Sands National Park was another surprise on our trip. We didn't know much about this destination, but everything we read about it inspired us to make the trip to Alamogordo, NM.

The drive from Carlsbad to Alamogordo took us down a sparsely traveled two lane highway. As a matter of fact, it was so lightly traveled, we almost became convinced that it was a dead end road at the other end. Along the 150 mile stretch of highway there were signs every so often warning us that tractor trailers were restricted from traveling along this road and they needed to take an alternate route. At a minimum we understood why there were no semi trucks on the road. This however didn't lesson our concern. If I'm as tall and long as a semi truck, then maybe I shouldn't be on it either!

Nonetheless, we pushed forward with a little anxiety and blind faith in our Rand McNally GPS.

As we bumbled along the highway from Carlsbad to Alamogordo we climbed to an elevation of 8,600 feet above sea level. This, by far was the highest we have been since starting our adventure. This also explained the reason for semi truck restriction because as we all know: What goes up, must come down!

At the peak of the Sacramento Mountain range there is a wonderful little mountain town by the name of Cloudcroft that sits at the top, some 8,600 ft above sea level. Once at the top it is a 15 mile descent down the mountain into Alamogordo. I have driven mountain passes many times before, but with a fifteen thousand pound camper, this would be a first.

We traveled the 15 mile switchback at about 35 mph, even slower at times, finally arriving at our destination in Alamogordo. (Walmart, of course). Katherine was a nervous wreck during the entire stretch, but me on the other hand, I was confident that the runaway truck ramps would be sufficient if we ran into any problems along the way. We stayed one night longer just to get caught up on some work and other chores around the camper and ended up boondocking in Walmart for two nights while visiting the White Sands National Park.

White Sands was a treat for everyone. We rented two sleds from the ranger stations (at a premium of course) and found a quiet little pull-off in the middle of the White Sands to setup camp for the afternoon. It was only in the mid 60's during the day, but in the midst of all the white sand and no cloud coverage it could have passed for about 90 degrees that afternoon.