El Grande Canyon!

Mom's notes:

The first part of our day in the Grand Canyon was spent hiking the South Rim---and I do mean the actual rim. One slight of step and you are toast! There were a few tense moments when we thought we may not be able to experience the grandeur because of Logan's fear of heights. But she amazed us all as she persevered, dug her claws into Mom and/or Dad and hung on for dear life. I cannot even begin to describe the works of God's awesome creation! You have to stand at the rim and gaze at the depth and height and breadth of the canyon all at once to feel the magnificence. It is truly breathtaking!!! We ate lunch at El Tovar (a 100 year old, 4 star restaurant). Their desserts were almost as breathtaking as the canyon!

We viewed the Imax film about the Grand Canyon then headed back to town to devour the famous mile high pies at the Pine Country Inn. (We met a ranger at the park from Anderson South Carolina, where I lived from 1977-1981, who gave us the 411 on all the "good eats" in the area.) So, needless to say, we felt compelled to have those culinary experiences.

The next day we got up at 3 am to go back to the Grand Canyon and view the sunrise. That was definitely a spiritual highlight of our trip!

(It was freezing!)

On our way to Hurricane, UT to visit my sister Bonnie we had some interesting experiences at the Navajo Bridge and Jacob Lake. We were able to place a Book of Mormon with our new friend Bob. Elder Cox, Logan's all time favorite missionary, gave us a challenge and we are heaven bent on doing it!

May 1st, Madi's 13th birthday, we spent with the Barnums in Hurricane. Aaron had just gotten his cast off and we went to his baseball game---Go Red Sox! We also sent Madi on a treasure hunt before eating ice cream cake.

The next day we headed for the Hoover Dam and, due to extenuating circumstances, ended up spending the night in Las Vegas after touring the Dam.

On Saturday we spent most of the day in Death Valley, CA. It was actually a very beautiful and desolate place. We went to Badwater (the lowest point in the western hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level). That was pretty weird standing there and looking up at the huge mountain in front of us that had a marker to show just how far below sea level we actually were. We worked hard to keep hydrated and to keep our engine from overheating as we shifted from high elevations to areas below sea level at Death Valley National Park with its extreme temperatures. Mom took a taste of the earth on one of the many salt flats. But that's no big surprise since she always craves salt when she's pregnant! We barely missed a head-on collision that happened around one of the curves. We also climbed some sand dunes. We were amazed at the variety of colors on the mountains.

We spent that night in Ridgecrest, CA where we attended church the next morning. We had a long journey ahead of us and were just going to stay for fast and testimony meeting but the kids were begging to stay for all the meetings. How can you resist your children begging to keep the Sabbath Day holy? So we stayed and, guess what? The Sunday School lesson was about keeping the Sabbath Day holy! We are loving going to a different ward each week. We may just decide to become mormon gypsies for life!

Right now we are on our way to the Pacific Ocean but are stuck in a massive traffic detour because a windmill caught on fire. These windmills are amazing! Where we are now, there are easily more than a thousand of them. It's quite a sight! We stopped in San Luis Obispo to get some shut eye. We are halfway through our journey.