Vancouver International Airport (VYR)

It's the Friday night before we catch the ferry to Salt Spring Island. We've tried different options - the Sandman (previously the Delta Pacific and the Ramada Plaza) with the big water slide, the River Rock Casino, and the Coast Tsawwassen, but this year we found a good rate at the Airport Fairmount. It's fun to flirt with the travel scene - the hotel is located above the International Terminal - but a little strange to not actually be flying somewhere.

VYR is not just about flying to exotic places. It's also the venue for some neat First Nations art, including Bill Reid's The Spirit of Haida Gwaii. His overcrowded Jade Canoe is filled with a strange cast of characters with no clear destination or purpose. No life jackets, either, although many are good swimmers. Better they chose the canoe and not a small float plane.

There's a great new display - a double-facing totem pole and a blue-green sky, in the center of the airport where the skybridge from the new Canada Line enters the terminal. There is supposed to be a neat piece by Susan Point in the train terminal itself, but that is still a week from opening. Good reason to come back.

Seattle

Another cold, drizzly summer day in the Pacific Northwest. Well, not quite. SeaTac hit 103 late this afternoon, beating the old record by 3 degrees. The Davis weather station at our house reported 105.1 at 4PM. Today, Phantom Ranch was 107, not really all that much different.

Seattle, the new Phoenix!

South Rim

We spent a touristy day at the south rim - eating ice cream in front of the Bright Angel Lodge and staring down over the edge like everyone else (there were lots of everyone elses), checking out the IMAX, and taking the shuttle bus out to Hermit's Rest. We looked for glimpses of the river - from Pima Point we could see the tail end of Granite Rapid and all of Hermit, though they were an awful long ways away. It was neat seeing the Wen, one of the original Nevill's cataract boats, on display at the visitor's center, although I suspect we were mainly remembering riding in the Sandra with Greg during the previous two weeks.

Desert View

We had breakfast at Cameron, then headed into the park. The first view of the canyon was from Desert View, where we could see the broad bends in the river between Tanner and Unkar. I could see a couple rafts with my binoculars. D is not impressed - the distant views and the scenery just aren't the same as being down there.

Cameron

We left the north rim at dusk and drove back to our motel in Cameron in the dark. We stopped at Marble Canyon and walked out onto the bridge and peered down into the darkness at the river (470 feet below). We floated beneath this bridge just over two weeks ago (Navajo Bridge).

The Cameron Trading Post is perched above the canyon of the Little Colorado River, 20 miles or so above it's junction with the Colorado.

North Rim

We looped into Utah and over to Kanab and Fredonia, then back down to the North Rim for dinner and D's first view of the canyon from the top. It's nice to be back in the trees and more pleasant temperatures ( it was over 100 at the Glen Canyon Dam earlier in the day). We ordered pizza and ate it in front of the lodge - the view was better than from the dining room and the line was much shorter.

Page

After spending two weeks in the Grand Canyon, it is only reasonable to go back to the source - which in this case is the big concrete plug across the bottom of Glen Canyon. The dam is just 15 miles upstream from Lee's Ferry.

Lake Mead

Somewhere in Bridge Canyon around Mile 240 the river runs into Lake Mead, or at least it would if Lake Mead wasn't drying up. As it is, the lake is so low that there are new rapids forming 40 miles downstream, and we have to get to Pearce Rapid before we can switch to the jet boats for the ride out. We arrived at South Cove around 2 in the afternoon on Day 14 - five hours later we were back in Flagstaff. I hit the shower. D turned on the TV. We already knew Michael Jackson had died, but we knew little else -- like how D's fantasy teams were doing.

Grand Canyon 2009 blog
Gravel Beach, January,2008

Lower Canyon

Phantom Ranch and Bright Angel Creek are only 6 days into the 14 day trip. The best rapids are yet to come. The hottest temperatures are a week away. The best Bocce games are still to be played.

(Grand Canyon 2009)

Phantom Ranch

The sixth day of the trip brings a dose of civilization. Bridges, mules, lemonade, a toilet, and a phone. We even called M to let her know we were doing fine. After two hours we were back on the river, minus the six passengers who hiked out to the south rim. Temperature probably didn't even make it to 100 today.

Grand Canyon

14 days, 280 miles, 160 rapids. But more to the point -- 2 4GB memory cards, 8 superduper AA battteries, 2500 photos. I'm retiring the camera - it still works, but the lens is scratched and there's probably still fine red sand in the lens mechanism. D suggested, many times, that I should throw it into the canyon, but I resisted.

I've decided to spin off the Grand Canyon trip into a separate blog (Grand Canyon 2009) - realizing that there will be over 50 posts and that maybe it should stand alone. I'll still post a few more entries here, plus photos from our road trip afterwards. And eventually, I'll post stuff related to geology and beaches at Gravel Beach, too.

Redwall Cavern

Last year's ultimate Frisbee venue was at 11:30pm on the lawn in front of the Talkeetna Lodge as the sun struggled to set behind Denali (hshipman, July 2008). This year's ultimate Frisbee venue is sure to be Redwall Cavern, deep in the bowels of Marble Canyon. Small camps, fragile (and spiny) vegetation, and proximity to fast moving water precluded frisbee and football elsewhere, but both came out here. (Grand Canyon 2009)

Lee's Ferry

I wrapped up stuff at work - as much as it ever gets wrapped up. I wrote a note to the principal about the educational value of taking Devon out of school early (I'm sure he learned far more than he would have if he had stayed in Seattle those four days). We finished packing our bags. Lunch Tuesday was at LAX. Lunch Wednesday was on the river.

This is something I've wanted to do for decades - raft the Grand Canyon before getting too far past 50. D was excited - after all he got to miss some school. M wasn't as excited - so we left her at home. Not that we didn't miss her, and not that she wouldn't have enjoyed parts of it, but I suspect that given her enthusiasm for wilderness and hot weather, it might have been less than her perfect getaway. We'll have to find her something to take its place.

West Seattle

A gorgeous Sunday morning to celebrate M's birthday with brunch at Salty's, where they definitely serve too much food and we definitely felt obliged to get the most out of our visit. Next time we'll bring our roller blades and skate off the calories cruising down to Alki Beach. Wait, we don't have roller blades.

Alderbrook

It was an awfully busy week, but the workshop went great, and it was still possible to wander out to the beach now and then for a reality check. The weather might have been better, but occasionally the mountains peeked out and it only rained hard for a few hours. It just happened to be the few hours of the field trip.

Alderbrook was a pretty ideal place to host a workshop on Puget Sound shorelines, though I suspect it only worked because the economic crunch made a great group deal possible. I doubt M&I could ever justify coming back on our own at the regular rates! I guess we could camp down at Twanoh or over at Belfair, but it wouldn't be quite the same.