Trip to Arizona

I have been updating the blog quite a bit, but I don't want you to get the impression like I am giving you our activities in real time... a lot of this stuff happened weeks ago and we are just getting round to putting it up. A friend just asked me today, "Where do you get time to go to Julian and do all this stuff AND blog about it in between work?" The simple answer is that I don't work. But the nuanced answer is that the stuff you see here on the blog is pretty spread out over time - and the interstices between blog entries is pretty much filled with your normal everyday activities. Digging up tubers. Shinnying up palm trees to gather coconuts. Laying in the hammock. You know, much like your own life.

But this latest post is pretty close to recent, April 28/29. I took a drive through the desert to Flagstaff AZ to visit my old friend Matt. It's a 7 to 8 hour haul, but long drives never bothered me much. I took I-8 most of the way, which runs out of the city, through the Laguna mountains, and then drops you down into the desert. The worst part of the drive is getting through Phoenix, but then it's a clear shot, about 3 hours to Flag.

We chilled at Matt's place the first night and I relaxed from the drive over burgers and beer. The next day we got a fairly early start, laying in provisions and making the drive up to Page, AZ. Page is right next to the Utah border, and the Glen Canyon Dam that forms Lake Powell. Basically, Glen Canyon used to be a dry canyon (and was breathtaking by all accounts). Then someone got the bright idea of diverting the Colorado river to fill the canyon and setting up a hydroelectric dam at the far end. So they flooded the canyon. We'll never get to see what it looked like in those antedeluvian days, but as a lake it's still pretty scenic.

We pitched our tents right on the shore of the lake (which would have been the edge of a mesa if it were still a canyon).

Views of the lake:

Meanwhile, back at camp...

Matt spent about a half hour gathering stones to make our firepit. A true outdoorsnerd. And he's available, ladies.

Our enjoyment of the surroundings was dampened by these two ass-hats who rolled in after dark. They camped right on top of us and proceeded to crank the boom box. Why is it that people take all this needless junk with them when they camp? Are they trying to assert their dominance over nature by playing crappy music in the middle of nowhere? At first I took small solace in the fact that they were at least playing some Zepplin... until jackass #1 started dropping all of his arcane Led Zepplin knowledge on jackass #2. There is nothing the world need less than classsic rock scholars. I missed this little tidbit, but apparently Matt overheard one of them proclaiming that he was glad to be here: he just had to get away from people. Irony!

The next morning, we caught sunrise on the lake.

OH GOD MY EYES! TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!!!

After a leisurely breakfast, we went to obtain a pass to hike into a slot canyon called Water Holes, located nearby. This canyon is on Navajo lands, so we needed to get permission to go in.

Hiking down into the canyon. Matt is indicating the wind direction so I can stay up-wind of his horrible farts.

At the canyon floor.


One of the canyon denizens.

We started climbing through this narrow branch...

And ended up back on top of the mesa.

Back down in the canyon.

We also found out why this canyon was called "Water Holes." As we progressed along its length, we were presented with increasingly challenging obstacles, water-filled depressions, to scramble over.

Matt pauses to drop a deucer in the hole. But not really.

Soon after the hike, we loaded up and drove back to Flagstaff. That evening we had an awesome Mexican dinner and then saw the movie Hot Fuzz. Good stuff! Then I tried to get some sleep - I would need to wake up early the next morning and get on the road by 6:00 for the drive back to SD. I promised Shannon I would help unload some science equipment from a research vessel docked in the harbor (the Atlantis) and I like to keep my promises.

I got up and underway without any problems. You may recall from a previous post that Phoenix is home to the closest Dunkin Donuts. This fact did not escape my notice, and I made a detour into town specifically to pick up a box for Pie Girl. It cost me dearly in terms of time and sanity - Phoenix is a godforsaken wasteland full of traffic - but I got the goods.


I arrived back in SD around 2:00 and we met Shannon and Gavin at the harbor - but that is a story for another post. This one is already long enough!