Chasing Shade...Already!

Brain cancer is...

 ...chasing shade. So soon!

We thought that today's story would be the color of the day.* But then the story changed.

I chose Carbon Canyon for our walk today.  Carbon Canyon includes our most exposed, hottest trail.  That would have been fine, but I got caught up in work, and by the time we got to the park, Darrell's Optune unit was heat alarming.  Above you see him shade chasing...so early in the year! 

We left Carbon Canyon and finished our walk at Craig Park.

As you see, Darrell was successful in catching the shade.

Happy Sunday, Team D!

*By the way, the color of the day was...

...green.

Settling In (and Trip Videos)

Brain cancer is...

 ...back to beloved routines.

As Darrell handed me coffee this morning, he invited me to breakfast at the park.  Delicious.

We settled into our Fullerton routines.

We also finished three videos from our Canyon de Chelly trip, found here and in their respective posts as updates.

• Canyon de Chelly Jeep Tour (4/03 a.m.)
• White House Trail hike (4/03 p.m.)
• Last Day in Arizona (4/04)

Some background information:  Navajos typically prefer that people not take photographs of them or their homes.  Therefore you won't see many pictures of the locals or their hogans.  The images you do see we took with permission.  

We have one more video we want to create:  Canyon Rim Overlooks drive tour.   Maybe tomorrow.

Happy Saturday Team D!

New Adventures until the End

Brain cancer is...

...wise.

I woke up sad today that we were leaving for home right after breakfast.  Darrell spoke wisely (yet again): “That doesn’t mean vacation is over. You’ll see plenty of new things today.”

He was so right!  Our travels rarely take us east, through the Mojave Desert, and driving it west was doubly fresh.  Some of the things we know intellectually we seldom have the opportunity to know through lived experience.

Here are some of our final vacation adventures today.

Back to the beauty of the desert:

We enjoyed crossing that jaggedy edge on a California map:  Our state's low-eastern border, the Colorado River:

We saw our first non-raven in four days:

  

 Springtime in California's Mojave is so green:

I missed the picture because I was busy staring, but we drove through lava fields with extinct cinder cones.  (Here's a link to a picture if local volcanoes are new to you too.)

Thank goodness for social media and review sites.  On Trip Advisor, we found diNapoli's Firehouse Italian Eatery:

We had great pizza there.  It's our place now, for whenever we dine in Barstow.

Even the 57 Freeway in Pomona looks beautiful on vacation:

 

We are back home after an incredibly satisfying vacation.  Thanks for coming along.  

Keep pics and stories of your adventures coming, Team D!

Arizona: One Last Look

Brain cancer is...

...happy for one more day in Arizona.

Not happy for another day without WiFi to stream our day’s video, but happy for one more day on a beautiful vacation.  One last look at Arizona will be...one other day.

Above you see us at D3, the Diamond Desert Distillery.  We had to go because Trip Advisor lists the Distillery as the number one thing to do in Kingman.  What we learned is that, unlike wine, distilled spirit tasting pours are less than one ounce...for a reason.  What a calorie savings!

Updated 4/06/19:  Here's a link to One Last Look video.

Thanks for joining us on a Southwest spectacle.

Happy almost Friday, Team D! 

Big Canyon. Big day.

Brain cancer is...

...planning on sleeping well tonight.

We wrung every second out of our canyon day. We can’t stream video here, so here are photos of our three adventures. Videos to follow later.

We toured the canyon bottom by Jeep for three hours. Petroglyphs from several civilizations.  Ruins.  Tours must be led by Navajo guides.

Can’t wait to show you more from the tour.

Updated 4/06/19:  Here's a link to the Tour Video.

Next, Darrell and I hiked from the rim to the bottom (and back) on the only trail that does not require a guide: White House Trail.

Updated 4/06/19:  Here's a link to the hike video.

Finally we finished visiting all the outlooks: three more on the south rim and three on the north rim for a total of ten.  This is the very special Spider Rock,  on the south rim.

What a canyon. What a day.

To the Canyon!

Brain cancer is...

...arrived at Canyon de Chelly.

We left Kingman, enjoyed lunch in Winslow, and arrived at the Canyon in time to explore the South rim before sunset. Wow!

Here’s a link to a slideshow of the day.

PS...We have limited Internet access here.  Sweet.

Kingman, Arizona

Brain cancer is... 

...passing through the turquoise capital of the world.

We are on our way to Canyon de Chelly. Hurrah! (Click here for the park site).    

Why Canyon de Chelly?  Several years ago, with Roene's connections, Roene and Andi worked with teachers in the Navajo Nation.  Roene treated Andi to a jeep tour of Canyon de Chelly.  It was such a magical, memorable experience that Andi has wanted to show it to Darrell ever since. Now is the time!  And having LuAnn on a trip?  Always a plus.

Lunch was at the golf course in Needles.

Yes, this is how the golf course looks in Needles.  The iced tea was great, the sever was nice, and we had fun.

According to LuAnn, these are the needles of Needles:

Breakfast in the morning and then 5 hours or so to the canyon!

(PS...Need more about turquoise?  Click here.)