Grandpa's Buying me Breakfast

Jacob's Reflection

Chicago Sunset Under Heavy Clouds

Not my best aerial photo but I like it anyway. I was flying from
Pittsburgh to Chicago on my way home and there were snow storms
everywhere but the sun made it through anyway.

Chicago is located on the sourthern tip of Lake Michigan. Winters
there are cold and windy. Despite this, Chicago gets it's nickname,
"The Windy City" from its politicians, not its weather.

Fat Smitty's

Mmm, burger good. This burger joint, located at the intersection of
Hwy 101 and Hwy 20 near Port Townsend, serves up a burger that won't
leave you hungry for more. But in a good way.

Waves of Sandstone

Cliff Dwellers

At one point along the Vermillion Cliffs there is a place where some
people decided to make some dwellings using rocks that had broken off
the cliffs and fell to earth. Maybe that is why they are not here to
tell us about it today...

Port Townsend Paper Mill

Doorway in Port Townsend

Moss on a Fence

Port Townsend Courthouse

Seattle

On the steps of the courthouse in Port Townsend.

Rainbow Tunnel

At O'Hare airport in Chicago.

Drake Rig

This is one of the land rigs that NOV manufacturers.

Colored Walkway

Chicago's O'Hare Airport

Sedona

Off Highway 17 just south of Flagstaff, Arizona is the town of Sedona. It is a tourist town nestled among these rock formations. Every corner you turn offers a view like this one.

Sedona Statuary

Wreck It Ralph

The movie so good they made a retro video game out of it.

Roaring Springs

The water supply for all 5,000,000 visitors to both the North Rim and the South Rim comes from Roaring Springs. Roaring Springs is a natural spring that erupts out of the side of the rocks where Roaring Spring Canyon Intersects Bright Angel Canyon. 

From there it is pumped 3,000 feet back up the canyon to the North Rim and is also fed into the transcanyon pipeline for delivery to the South Rim.

It is gravity fed down to the river where Bright Angel Canyon intersects Grand Canyon. From there it is pumped across the Colorado River and up to Indian Garden and then again up to the South Rim lodges. 

As for the name, you probably guessed by now that it is loud. 

We reached this point by 9:00 and were relieved to have water to pour over our heads and fill our water bottles.

Who's Working Hard?

The ladies, of course. Nice job ladies. You too Matt.

Shades of Orange

Petja in the Canyon

Looking back up Roaring Springs Canyon toward the North Rim. We are almost at
Bright Angel Canyon.

Jacob at Jacob's Lake

It turns out that Jacob's Lake is a puddle really. They sell t-shirts
that say, "I walked around Jacob's Lake". It would take about 5
minutes. Unfortunately for us we never found it. We took the wrong
road and after walking for over an hour ended up back at the motorhome
having seen nothing of the lake.

The significance of Jacob's Lake is that it is the gateway to the
North Rim of Grand Canyon.

Luigi's Flying Tires

Lower Roaring Springs Canyon

After passing through Supai Tunnel you can mostly see the rest of the
way down Roaring Springs Canyon to the intersection with Bright Angel
Canyon.

From here the trail hugs the left side of the canyon then crosses over
on a bridge and meanders into the sunshine on the right side.

Too Cool for School

Jacob sporting the 3D glasses for one of the rides at Disneyland.

Christmas Dinner

The Wallihan Christmas dinner in Port Townsend.

Supai Tunnel

Sometimes it is easier to go over, sometimes it is easier to go
around, and then sometimes it is easier just to blast a hole right
through.

The tunnel really marks the end of any notion of forest and the
beginning of desert. There are no trees to speak of below the tunnel
except for the cottonwoods that grow along any flowing water.

The Vermillion Cliffs (of Insanity)

I can hear Rebecca telling me the joke is stretched too thin.

Anyway it is hard to convey in pictures because it is really the time
spent driving past that makes the impression. This is an enormous
stretch of cliffs and anyone trying to get past would certainly feel
like they were going insane.

A good way to get an idea is to look on Google maps with the terrain
layer turned on. Here is a link.

https://maps.google.com/?ll=36.75649,-111.923218&spn=1.851691,0.95993&t=p&z=10

Highway 89A skirts the southern side of this plateau which drops off
suddenly, making the Vermillion Cliffs.

Signing the Hat

Donald Duck signing Jessica's Donald Duck hat.

Grand Canyon? Forest? What?

The trailhead is at 8,241 ft elevation so it is easy to forget that in
less than 5 miles you will be in a hot, hostile environment.

Being all downhill this first section goes by quickly too.

Coconino Sandstone

Grand Canyon is made of layers of sedimentary rock. The most
prominent as viewed from from the rim is the Coconino Sandstone.
Perhaps not as thick as other layers, it is definitely the most
distict.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconino_Sandstone