Category Archives: California Dreamin’

A chronicle of our escape from the brown leaves and gray skies of winter.

All the leaves are brown . . . and the sky is gray.

Winter came to North Carolina last week.  7 inches of snow!  Too much!  So off we go to California searching for spring.

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Heading west to Arizona and California!

We’re getting ready to hit the road. Over the next few weeks we’ll be traveling in Arizona and California. If all goes according to plan, we’ll follow the itinerary posted below. We hope to provide daily updates on our progress … Continue reading

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OMG! Airport Security

If our trip through security was any indication, this is going to be a GREAT trip. We were standing in an unusually long line in the switchback, cordoned corridors of security hell when we were approached by a TSA officer. … Continue reading

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Day One – Phoenix & Scottsdale

We arrived in Phoenix with only minor airline related delays and headed off to check-in to our planned Airbnb accommodations. For those of you not yet familiar with Airbnb, it is an online social network that puts people with available … Continue reading

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Night One – How many ways can an Alarm Clock wake you up?

Why is John posting a picture of an alarm clock? To fully appreciate this alarm clock, you need a few pieces of background information. Fact #1 there is a two hour time difference between our home in North Carolina and … Continue reading

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The nearer your destination the more you’re slip sliding’ away

At the Desert View Watchtower we had our first serious opportunity to slip and fall into the depths of the Grand Canyon. While I was scanning Canyon views, Betty was admonishing me to “stay way from the edge” and “be … Continue reading

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Watchtower Whimsy

Shortly after leaving Cameron Trading Post we had our first encounter with the Grand Canyon at Desert View Watchtower. To our seacoast-trained eyes, the watchtower looked like a long-abandoned lighthouse set to warn travelers down the Colorado River that ‘here … Continue reading

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Heading across the Navajo Reservation to the Grand Canyon

Saturday morning we headed out of Sedona to the Grand Canyon. Along the way we stopped at the Oak Creek Overlook so that we could look back down the mountain at the switchback road that we had just traveled. At … Continue reading

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Kaibab Trail down into the Grand Canyon

Sunday morning after breakfast we headed to the Kaibab trailhead. The trail takes hikers down into the canyon for over seven miles. There is no water along the trail. In places the trail is steep and it is easy to … Continue reading

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Bright Angel Lodge on the Rim of the Grand Canyon

We arrived at Bright Angel Lodge in Grand Canyon Village around 4:00 and checked into our cabin. The cabins are historic and formerly “rustic.” They are extraordinarily small by today’s MacMansion standards. Fortunately the bathrooms have been updated to 21st … Continue reading

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