Lake Arrowhead, CA–Snow Valley, CA We woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day, snow covering everything. A perfect day for skiing! We slathered on the sunscreen and headed to Snow Valley. After the eternity it took to rent equipment, we were finally on the slopes. Unfortunately, Carol Ann had to work all day teaching little kids how to ski, so Berck was stuck with me. It has been nine years since I skied last, and while I was pleased to see I hadn’t forgotten how, I couldn’t figure out how to tell Berck how to do what has…
Virgin River Canyon, UT–Death Valley, CA We stopped by the Hoover Dam today. What a zoo! There were as many people there as at Disney World. And you have to go through a police checkpoint now to drive across it. The policeman was basically just waving everybody through, I suppose looking to see if you were white first. The last time I saw the dam I think there was only one other family there. Before that, we drove though Las Vegas, stopping at an In-N-Out Burger for breakfast. In-N-Outs are only in the California area. They have six items on…
Somewhere in Texas, Berck and I realized we were both staying pretty chronically dehydrated. We always made sure we had two big bottles of water with us, but the desert water doesn’t taste good. And since we’re not hot, we forget to drink. We needed to do something about the problem. So we bought a container of Country Time Lemonade powder and mixed it with in one of the water bottles. Does the sugar content of the lemonade outweigh whatever benefit we gain from drinking more fluid? We don’t know, but we’ve now been drinking a lot more and feel…
Arches National Park, UT–Grand Junction, CO We spent last night at Arches National Park. We got to Moab in time to buy some supplies from an overpriced yuppie “market” that specialized in organic trail mixes. They also had a nice selection of local beers. Brands included Squatters, who makes Provo Girl (with a picture of a beer maiden on the label) and Full Suspension (a bicycle). We got a good laugh out of those until we saw another local brand, who makes Polygamy Porter (“Why have just one”). We ended up with two large bottles, one a rather stout stout…
Bryce Canyon, UT–Southeast Utah It’s Sunday morning and all the Mormons are in church. Yesterday we did Bryce Canyon, then camped in the Kodachrome Basin State Park, only a few miles away but two to three thousand feet lower in elevation. Which is good, because Bryce Canyon National Park was covered in a couple feet of snow. Bryce Canyon is known for its brightly colored, dramatic spires of rock that point into the sky in row after row. They’re called hoodoos, and they’re caused when the bottom layer of sandstone is softer than the top layer of rock. Our campsite…