Utah

Best Friends; Maqui Cave; Little Hollywood (Hitch-N-Post RV Park – Kanab, UT)

2015/10/18 davidhobden@mac.com

We did a lot of running around again today (Saturday), so brace yourself for lots of pictures. Remember – this blog serves the dual purpose of being our personal ‘photo album’ to look back on in our later years. Plus – You know what the say; “A picture is worth a …”

We left little dog “Coach” in the Coach and headed over to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary (←link here) a few miles north of Kanab. We heard it was best to not bring a pet along on the sanctuary tours.

Sign on the side of the highway for the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

A couple of Quick Facts from their website: best friends.org

In 1984, the founders of Best Friends Animal Society break ground on their no-kill animal sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. It becomes the nation’s largest no-kill sanctuary and Best Friends becomes the flagship for the no-kill movement.

Nearly 30,000 people visit every year to meet the animals and tour what has become the nation’s largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals.

The sanctuary is on 3,700 acres (15 km2) with an additional 33,000 acres (130 km2) leased from the United States Bureau of Land Management near Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Lake Powell.

There was only one problem when we arrived – the sanctuary only has four “General” tours daily and they were already full 🙁

They also have a number of “Special” tours, i.e., Parrot Garden; Wild Friends; Horse Haven & Piggy Paradise; Bunny House; Behind-the-Scenes; etc., but these tours also require prior coordination and are mostly early-morning tours.

So we signed up as “standbys” for the last “General” tour of the day at 2:30 PM and left to go check out some other local attractions.

We went north on 89 for a mile or so and came upon the Moqui Cave.

The Moqui Cave was once used by Anasazi people as a shelter or food store, according to archaeological digs in the area. It was rediscovered by white settlers in the 19th century, and served as a speakeasy in the 1920s during Prohibition. In 1951, the cave was purchased by Laura and Garth Chamberlain, who opened a tavern and dance hall the following year, and it became a tourist attraction and museum. It currently contains a substantial rock collection, including many ultraviolet-fluorescent minerals, fossils, pottery, spear points, American Indian artifacts and art, dinosaur tracks (estimated to be over 140 million years old), and displays about the Anasazi. There is also display about the Ancestral Puebloan and a gift shop. (ref: Wikipedia®)

The Moqui Cave was pretty cool and the entrance fee was a reasonable $5 per person. And – we got a $1 military discount off that. Worth the stop if you’re in the area. Stilla wasn’t even claustrophobic which is usually a concern at places like this.

We headed on up 89 (north) to the town of Orderville…

where we passed by the cool looking “Rock Stop”…

and then we found the German Bakery that a couple people told us about:

We enjoyed a quick lunch and Stilla stocked up on bread and a couple sweet treats. The lunch was good and I stole one of the kirsch tortes from the “to-go” bag before we left. No dessert for me later. 🙂

We decided to head back south so we wouldn’t be late for our 2:30 tour at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. But first, I wanted to check out Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park (←link).

View heading south on 89 going towards Kanab.

The sand dunes are about 15 miles off 89 west of Kanab. We figured we had enough time to check it out for future reference before our sanctuary tour. You never know – we might want to bring the ATV back here sometime in the future.

We found a large parking area just before the entrance to the state park with lots of rigs, ATV’s, and other off-road vehicles. We could see the beginning of the dunes in the distance. Since we were short on time and didn’t want to hassle with an entrance fee to just check out the park, I just snapped a couple pics:

We’ll definitely have to come back here with the ATV. The website says that 90% of the dunes are available for riding. Day use fees are only $8 and the main campground is $20.

We got back to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary just in time for the 2:30 tour and found out that our “standby” status was upgraded to “full-tour members” 🙂

We had to wait for some wild turkeys to cross the road on the way to the Welcome Center.

The Best Friends Welcome Center.

We watched a documentary in the theatre with the other members of our tour group.

And then our group was split up into two shuttles.

This place is huge… our tour-guide/driver took us around the sanctuary and pointed out the many buildings. We stopped at one of the areas where they keep the cats:

In one of the mesh-enclosed outer rooms, the cats even had ramps so they could hang out in the rafters.

These cats are currently up for adoption.

The only other place we got to stop at was one of the nice octagon-shaped buildings to visit the older dogs:

We got to visit with a few of the dogs after a tour of the kennels.

There are lots of volunteer opportunities here. The sanctuary is home to around 1,700 animals. They even have guest cottages and an RV park for guests/volunteers. We toured the RV park on our way back out but only saw two sites along a dirt loop.

Some ponies.

They even have a couple nice pet cemeteries here for the animals that passed (due to sickness, accident, or other natural causes). They don’t put any animals to sleep here at the sanctuary unless it’s for humane reasons.

The canyons and area inside the sanctuary grounds have been used as the backdrop for some “B” western movies. “Headin’ ’em off at the pass!” was filmed at Ambush Pass on the dirt road through the sanctuary. The iconic scene, “Hi Ho Silver Away!” from “The Lone Ranger” was filmed here along with scenes from “One Little Indian” (The old barn still in use here is actually a movie set) and scenes from “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” (ref: TripAdvisor)

After our free ~90 minute tour of the animal sanctuary was concluded we headed back into the town of Kanab to check out the Little Hollywood Museum (←link).

We walked through the gift shop to take the free tour of the Western movie sets behind the building.

We watched some of the video presentation inside one of the buildings.

And then we walked through the movie sets as it started to drizzle again.

The “Outlaw Josey Wales” homestead set:

Barn used in the movie “Outlaw Josey Wales”:

Tack & Feed building from “Black Bart”:

And what tour is complete without a visit to the gift shop !?!:

The Little Hollywood restaurant (←link).

We decided to call it a day and drove back through town to our site at the Hitch-N-Post RV Park.

Today (Sunday) we’ll head on over to Saint George, UT which brings us a little bit closer to Las Vegas, NV where we will meet our son William on the 22nd.

William just got in from Germany last night. Stilla’s excited! He arrived in Colorado Springs with his girlfriend Jasmine to stay at our daughter Joleen’s house for a few days. Then they’ll rent a car and drive out to Las Vegas to meet up with us later next week.

Also, my brother Steve, his girlfriend Cheryl, my Mom, and Stepdad Jim will come up from Casa Grande, AZ in week or so to meet us as well!

We’ve been to the Elks Lodge in Saint George before and are looking forward to a few days there. Stay tuned… don’t let all the pictures scare you away 🙂

Arizona, Utah

Grand Canyon North Rim (Hitch-N-Post RV Park – Kanab, UT)

2015/10/17 davidhobden@mac.com

On Friday the weather outlook called for rain later today, and the forecast doesn’t look good for the next three days 🙁

So much to see and do in and around Kanab, check out this website (←click here) that highlights three pages of attractions.

Here’s a brochure we got from the campground office:

We decided to start off by driving the Silverado over to the Grand Staircase-Escalante Visitors Center which is within eyesight of our campground. This is the place that holds the lottery for a 6-mile hike to see “The Wave“.(← click here).

This is a picture of “The Wave” below: (photo courtesy of NationalParkTourz.com)

In order to hike “The Wave,’ you must have a permit. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) limits access to the North Coyote Buttes WIlderness Area to just twenty permits per day. Ten of the permits are available in advance by an on-line lottery that is conducted four months before the month for which the permit is sought. The remaining ten permits are made available by lottery the day before ones intended hike. Year round the lottery is held at the ranger station on the east end of Kanab. The lottery for the walk-in permits takes place at 9:00 in the morning. (ref: NationalParkTourz.com)

The lottery is held behind these doors (below), we were too late to try our luck. I don’t think my hip replacement would like a 6-mile hike anyway 😐

Here’s a few more photos inside the visitors center:

We decided, that since rain is imminent for the next few days, that we would try our luck at visiting the Grand Canyon North Rim while the sun was still shining (off and on). The other attractions that are nearer – or even in Kanab can wait until tomorrow or ?

So we put our little dog “Coach” into the Silverado and headed south to the North Rim (~80-90 miles one-way) to try and beat the rain.

Road sign (below) as we got closer to the North Rim.

We stopped at the North Rim Country Store to get some snacks because we heard the concessions at the North Rim were closed for the season and also, we forgot to pack lunch.

And finally we arrived at the park entrance. It was 80° when we left Kanab and is now in the mid-to-low 40’s.

I was able to use my disabled veteran access pass to get free entry.

Some of the leaves haven’t fallen off the trees yet.

One of the nice campground host(s) back at the Hitch-N-Post in Kanab told us that most people only go straight to the lodge and miss out on a lot of scenery. She recommended that once inside the park, we should take the road south to Cape Royal to see Angels Window. So we followed the tip and drove ~15 miles to the viewpoints.

Cape Royal is the southernmost viewpoint on the North Rim, and it has the widest panorama of any Grand Canyon overlook – the great gorge occupies about 270° of the horizon, from Marble Canyon in the north, south over Palisades of the Desert, and westwards for many miles towards the main South Rim visitor area around Garden Creek. (ref: AmericanSouthwest.net)

Our first view of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim:

We finally reached the parking lot and took the path(s) to the Cape Royal Pt. and Angels WIndow viewpoints:

Angels Window. Notice the people on top – we’ll be up there soon.

Stilla in front of Angels Window at the Grand Canyon North Rim.

We chose the path on the right first to see Cape Royal Pt. The sun was just starting to go behind some clouds…

Here you can see the clouds rolling in (below).

We walked back up the path after taking a lot of pictures and then went out on top of Angels Window for some more awesome views.

Stilla on top of Angels Window at the Grand Canyon North Rim.

Rare photograph of myself – on top of Angels Window at the Grand Canyon North Rim.

We drove back to the main road and went down to the main North Rim Visitor Center where the lodge is located. It started raining on us 🙁

We toured the visitors center quickly… it was 15 minutes before closing time at 5 PM (Arizona time).

Whiteboard on the wall (below) at the Visitors Center with the weather outlook.

A shot of some of the cabins situated around the visitors center.

We didn’t go down to the lodge or any of the viewpoints here because it started raining heavily by now. Here’s an information board in front of the visitors center regarding the lodge.

We plugged our campground into the GPS that I remembered to take out of the RV for our trip today and headed back to Kanab through the rain. We ended up putting about 200 miles on the Silverado by the time we returned.

And that was our Friday… it’s still raining off and on this morning (Saturday) but the sun is trying to peek out. Maybe we’ll try to visit the Animal Sanctuary and Little Hollywood today… stay tuned 🙂

Arizona, Utah

Pack-Up & Travel Day (Hitch-N-Post RV Park – Kanab, UT)

2015/10/16 davidhobden@mac.com

We took our time on Thursday leaving Wahweap RV Park & Campground. We loaded the Harley and bicycles, dumped and flushed the tanks, and raised the jacks to hit the road sometime between noon and 1 PM. We drove an uneventful 70 miles on US-89 to Kanab, Utah.

A few pictures along the route:

We pulled into the Hitch-N-Post RV Park because our online campground searches indicated it was the most affordable of the several campgrounds in or near the town of Kanab.

The nice campground owner showed us a few spots that were still available for the next two nights. We chose one with the least amount of tree coverage so we might be able to get a satellite signal for the TV. We weren’t successful 🙁 Oh well, we have enough recorded shows on the DVR to keep us entertained anyway. We paid ~$65 for two nights with full hookups and 50 Amp power.

We drove the Silverado around town to familiarize ourselves with the area and saw another Alpine Coach towing a pickup in a grocery store parking lot. I pulled into the lot and introduced myself and Stilla. We met Van L. Dossey from Placerville, CA. He and his wife (who was inside shopping) have been touring the area. I told Van about our recent Lake Powell Rally and also about the upcoming Quartzsite and Lake Havasu rallies next year. He mentioned that they had recently met Mike & Michelle Collins who were just at the Alpine SoCal Rally. We exchanged cards. Hopefully they’ll be able to join us in the future.

We found a chinese restaurant nearby for dinner and then walked around the campground and adjoining streets before turning in for the night.

This campground happens to be home to Utah’s rare white bees:

Cute, eh? 🙂

The town of Kanab is situated in the “Grand Circle” area, centrally located among Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Bryce Canyon National Park, the Grand Canyon (North Rim), Zion National Park, and Lake Powell. Other nearby attractions include Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, the privately owned Moqui Cave, and the largest animal sanctuary in the United States, Best Friends Animal Society. (Ref. Wikipedia®)

Locals refer to Kanab as “Little Hollywood” due to its history as a filming location for mostly western movies and television series such as Stagecoach, The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, Daniel Boone, El Dorado, Planet of the Apes, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Sergeants 3 and WindRunner: A Spirited Journey.

Hopefully, we can check out some of these attractions while we’re in the area… stay tuned to find out.

Arizona

Alpines Leave & Hanging Garden (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/15 davidhobden@mac.com 2 Comments

It’s been a great rally! It was sad to see all the Alpines leave this morning (Wednesday) 🙁 There were many, many hugs and ‘see-ya-laters’.

Some of the Alpines passed by as we finished taking down the EZ-Up Tents, and packed up the tables and chairs to take them back to the rental place in downtown Page.

This time we switched it up and put the round tables in my truck (above) and the chairs in Daves’ (below).

By-the-way, is anyone missing their lawn ornament? This one (below) was left in site 22. Yes – we know who you are (Mike & Donna). We were thinking about holding it for ransom. If you want it back, just contact the Guhsés’ who may deliver it to the next rally for a fee 🙂

After finishing up with the rally clean-up, Stilla and I took the Silverado to Hanging Garden. We’ve passed by the entrance sign many times on our travels between Page and the campground.

Some of the other Alpiners stopped by here during the Rally and told us it was worth seeing. We turned just after the Glen Canyon Bridge at the sign (above) and went down the gravel road to the parking area. When we saw that the road continued on down towards the lake after the parking area, we decided to see where it went. Here’s the view back to the Glen Canyon Bridge from the road.

The gravel road ended in another parking lot overlooking the lake. We parked the truck and walked down closer to the lake.

After checking out the cool rock formations, we drove back up to the Hanging Garden Trail parking area.

The informational placard says it’s a 1-mile round trip.

View (below) of the massive rock formation near the parking area that we had to walk around to get to the Hanging Garden.

We started down the trail with a full bottle of cold water.

And we kept walking…

and walking…

and walking.

When the trail wasn’t easy to see; we just followed all the rocks lined up along the sides.

Stilla posed for a picture in front of some neat looking sandstone formations.

And we just kept following the rock-lined trail.

We were completely alone so far on our hike and almost began wondering if should have waited for the 5 PM ranger-guided tour… what if we took a wrong turn?

We pressed on and kept following the trail over hard rock…

and through soft sand…

until we finally saw from a distance, what looked like it could be a Hanging Garden (below).

We hiked up the hill towards the shady alcove.

View of the lake behind us.

And finally! Here it is – the Hanging Garden.

We had it all to ourselves.

I’ll bet these flowers (below) look really nice when they bloom.

Another view back toward the lake from the Hanging Garden (below).

We took a few more pictures and started our hike back to the parking lot. Another couple finally showed up after we arrived, so we were no longer the only ones on the trail.

Our water bottle was empty by now and the sun was cooking us slowly.

One last picture of the Hanging Garden on our way out.

We were glad to be back at the truck where we had another bottle of water. The Hanging Garden was definitely worth the hike. Check it out if you’re in the area 🙂

After a stop at WalMart in Page for a few groceries, we made it back to the campground to relax for the rest of our last evening here at the Wahweap Campground.

We found David & Nicole back at their Coach – just relaxing after their tiresome tour-of-duty as wagon master(s).

We’ll say our farewells before we pack up and head out this morning (Thursday) after I get this post published. They are going to stay a couple more days to try and see some of the local sites that they didn’t have time for while performing all their wagonmaster duties.

We’re thinking about heading over to Kanab, UT today. We heard there’s some good attractions there. And it’s conveniently along our route to Las Vegas NV, where we want to be on the 22nd to meet our son William who’s coming in from Germany to visit for a couple/few weeks 🙂 Check back on us…

Arizona

Colorado River Float Trip & Alpine BBQ Dinner- Alpine SoCal Rally Day 7 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/14 davidhobden@mac.com 2 Comments

Day 7 of the Alpine SoCal Rally in Lake Powell started like most others with nice weather and an even-nicer breakfast spread. I think it’s safe now to grade our wagon master(s) David & Nicole Guhsé on their performance – I’ll give them an A+ ! And I think everyone here would agree; they’ve set a high standard for future rally wagonmasters to attain 🙂

Stilla and Nicole setting up the table for breakfast.

Fruits…

Yogurts…

Bagels… which David toasted on the grill per each customers request.

Stilla even patted the hard-boiled eggs dry after David finished boiling them… now how’s that for attention to detail? 🙂

Our last breakfast together…

And here’s one last look at our week-long rally agenda for your viewing pleasure:

After breakfast, everyone that had signed up for the Colorado River Float Trip, headed over to the Colorado River Discovery (CRD) Rafting Headquarters office in downtown Page. Click link HERE for their website.

Thirty-one of us gathered in front of the CRD office for a quick briefing from a tour-guide before we boarded the bus.

We all boarded the Colorado River Discovery bus. Our box lunches were waiting for us on the bus.

Our tour-guide explained how we were going to get to the bottom of the dam through a 2-mile long tunnel.

There was security at the entrance to the 2-mile tunnel.

We drove into the 2-mile long 22″- 6″ tall tunnel.

The tunnel was dark except for an occasional side-shaft that opened to the side of the canyon to let in a little light every so-often. This is the part that Stilla didn’t want to experience, therefore she stayed back at the campground today to hang out with our little dog “Coach.”

And here we are coming out at the bottom of the Glen Canyon Dam (below).

View of the tunnel we had just came out of (below).

We all got off the bus, put on hard-hats and walked down the long ramp to our waiting boats.

Here we are at the bottom of the ramp. They split us up into two groups, each with our own boat.

Here’s the group on my raft…

and here’s the other group heading down the river in front of us.

Information on the rafts is available at the CRD website: “Colorado River Discovery utilizes inflatable, motorized pontoon rafts. Comfortably carrying a maximum of 22 passengers and piloted by an experienced guide, these rafts are ideal for navigating the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lees Ferry, Arizona.”

Views of the dam and bridge from our vantage point in the raft:

That’s the Carl Hayden Visitors Center (below center) perched on the edge of the cliff. We visited that on Sunday when we took the dam tour. Click HERE for that post if you missed it.

The spillway (below). Hope no one opens that while we’re down here 😐

We headed down the river. Our destination for the day is supposed to be Horseshoe Bend. Then we’re going to turn around and motor back up to our waiting bus again. I wrote about our visit to the Horseshoe Bend overlook in a previous post. Click HERE if you missed that. We’re also going to stop along the way to check out some petroglyphs.

We rounded the first bend and could no longer see the dam and bridge behind us.

The cliffs were amazing to see from below.

We passed a little waterfall.

Some fishermen in a boat we passed had just hooked a fish. We floated past quickly and didn’t get to see him pull it in.

Alpiners – Orville & Mary Ann. Remember them from my first posting at the Page, AZ Elks Lodge when we first got here last week?

Beth Cannon taking a picture. One of many.

Reginald Bodeaux (on the left). One of our newest members.

We passed a couple of birds on our float, I think I heard someone say this a Great Blue Heron(?)

Yup… those are my feet…

Our boat-driver/tour-guide pointed out things along the way.

At times, you could see to the bottom of the river.

We eventually floated around a bend and saw other boats beached near the petroglyph site.

We pulled in next to the other boats and met up with the others in our Alpine group.

We hiked a few hundred yards up a path to view the petroglyphs.

Group photo of the SoCal Alpine group at the Petroglyph site near Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River.

The petroglyphs:

Informational placard on the petroglyphs:

When we returned to the boats after viewing the petroglyphs, we found Bill Figge had just taken a dip in the river.

Brrrr… I don’t think he’ll do it again soon.

Yup… those are my feet again 🙂 The water is reportedly a consistent 47° because it comes from the bottom of Lake Powell through the dam.

We boarded our respective boats again to head down the river a little farther to Horseshoe Bend:

And here we are coming around Horseshoe Bend…

If you look closely, you can see the people at the top looking down on us from the cliff edges…

We rounded Horseshoe Bend. This is the view to the west.

Shortly after rounding the Horseshoe Bend, we turned around and motored quickly back up river…

Here’s the north looking view of Horseshoe Bend after we turned around. The tourists are on the cliffs to the right side now.

We motored past the petroglyph site.

And finally we could see the dam again.

Both of our boats paused below the dam for a bit while our respective tour-guides gave us a little more information about the area and answered questions.

We thanked our tour-guides, disembarked from our boats, and walked back up the long ramp to the bus. The bus took us back out of the canyon through the 2-mile long tunnel again.

I highly recommend this raft trip to anyone visiting the area. The only thing I wish we could have done, is to float all the way down to Lee’s Ferry and then bus back from there. Remember my post about our drive to Lee’s Ferry? Oh well, we have to save something for next time, right? 🙂

View of the bridge from above. Our campground is on the horizon to the right in the picture below.

When we retuned to the campground, it wasn’t long before it was BBQ time! Everyone broke out their grills and set them up at our get-together site. Do you think we have enough grills? 🙂

The grills were all lined up dress-right-dress.

It wasn’t long before the table was filled with everyone’s favorite dishes:

And the grills were fired up:

I didn’t hear anyone complain… especially since we all cooked what we brought ourselves 🙂

Another beautiful sunset for our final day of the rally…

We continued socializing after dark with the help of Orville & Mary Ann’s ‘Bonfire in a Can’. Link HERE. Yes, we bought one too 🙂 Thanks Mary Ann!

And another fine Alpine Coach SoCal Rally is in the history books!

Now all we have to do is pack all this up again… uuggh 🙁 We decided to stay another day (Wednesday) to help Dave & Nicole clean up and return the tables and chairs… but I’ll save that for my next posting.

Stay tuned for our next adventure…

Arizona

Lake Powell Party Boat – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 6 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/13 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

The Alpine SoCal Rally continued on Monday with a “Free Day” – there were no scheduled events other than our usual 5 PM “Social Hour”.

Everyone did their own thing today. Our ‘thing’ was to rent a party boat and cruise around Lake Powell with 4 other couples. The couples were: David & Nicole Guhsé, Bill & Patti Figge, Norm & Beth Cannon , Bob & Connie Bowers, and of course, ourselves. Our wagon master for the Rally, David Guhsé arranged the rental.

We left for the Antelope Point Marina (←link here) at 7:15 AM.

Everyone packed lots of food, snacks, and drinks. The Marina staff piled our bags into the shuttle service vehicles that were waiting for us at the entrance.

(L to R) Nicole, Patti, Beth, and Connie.

The staff transported us down to the docks.

Here’s David securing the rental boat for us at the rental office / boat.

We walked down the dock between all the house boats and party boats to find our ride for the day.

And here it is.

We inspected the boat.

We got operating instructions…

and some location tips.

It even comes with a water slide 🙂

We maneuvered away from the marina…

past the other rentals and private house boats…

and out into the lake we go…

Norm made awesome Bloody Mary’s with all the fixin’s to get us started. Mine was a virgin 😉

Looking down from the upper deck.

Our route for the day would take us into Navajo Canyon.

Now take a deep-breath and follow along on our tour with this collection of photos:

Stilla on the upper deck.

Aaah… Life is Good!

We stopped a few times throughout the day to jump in the water. Here’s the first time I went in.

Bill on the water slide. I took my turn next. Bills wife Patti also took the challenge.

Bill and I in the water. It wasn’t cold at all – quite pleasant.

It wasn’t long before we had pre-lunchtime snacks spread out on the kitchen island.

David & Nicole Guhsé.

Rare photo of us.

David and Bill lounging on the upper deck.

Norm takes a turn at the helm.

And Bill takes his turn.

Stilla on the upper deck.

Stilla lounging on one of the bench seats.

We stopped again for another swim. A couple of the girls got into the water.

I swam over to a rock island (below).

Bill joined me on my rock island.

We carefully picked our way back off the island and into the water.

And then we fired up the BBQ and cooked hot dogs. We also reheated some fried chicken and wings.

(L to R) Stilla, Connie, Bob, and Patti.

Bill really dressed up his hot dog… it was worth a picture.

Norm & Beth Cannon.

There was lots of pointing going on all day by pretty much everyone… the scenery was magnificent.

Bill and I jumped in the water one last time and swam over to the cliff edge. Why, you ask? Because we could.

We headed back to the Marina to meet our 4 PM rental return deadline.

Check out this triple-decker with two water slides.

View back up to the Marina office from the docks.

We pulled into the fuel station to top off our diesel tank at exactly 4 PM. Our fun-time was over 🙁

What a great day! After tallying up the fuel costs and splitting the rent for the day, each couple paid ~$130. Not bad for a full day of fun, eh? 🙂

We got back to the campground just in time for “Happy Hour”.

Everyone we talked to had a great “free day”. Some couples went fishing, others went hiking, etc.,

When the sun went down, Orville & Mary Ann demonstrated their Bonfire in a Can. Don’t forget to check out the link.

And so ends another fine Alpine Coach Rally day! Stay tuned tomorrow for a recap of our Colorado River Float Trip 🙂

Arizona

Glen Canyon Dam Tour – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 5 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/12 davidhobden@mac.com

Day 5 of our Alpine SoCal Rally at Lake Powell consisted of a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam.

The tour of the Dam was not an organized “pay-in-advance” tour like the other activities during this rally. Anyone who wanted to go, simply went over to the Visitor Center at their convenience during the day and paid the $5 entrance fee. Although, most people found out that the earlier they went – the better chance they had of getting on a tour.

I left a little after 8 AM on the Harley and arrived by 8:15. This was still too late to get on the first tour of the day, so I had to hang-around inside the Visitor Center and wait for the 9:30 tour. Some of the other Alpiners at our Rally weren’t able to get on that tour, so they made plans to do it later, or on another day. Stilla decided not to go on the tour at all and stayed back at the Coach with our little dog “Coach”. She was afraid the elevator or small passageways would be too claustrophobic for her.

Here’s a picture of the Carl Hayden Visitor Center which is also the Glen Canyon Dam Tour entrance.

The Glen Canyon Bridge:

Inside the Visitor Center:

The lobby had an awesome terrain model of the Lake Powell area:

I watched one of films that was running in the auditorium until they announced the 9:30 tour.

Everyone had to go through airport-style screening and then we got on the elevator to take us to the top of the dam.

Once we got on the top of the dam, our tour-guide showed us one of the original concrete buckets used during construction.

Follow along on the rest of the tour:

Looking down at the spillway. Notice the tiny blue rafts in the picture below, we plan on taking one of those for a raft trip on Tuesday.

Going down inside the dam:

View of the Visitor Center from the bottom of the dam.

Back on top of the dam, heading back to the Visitor Center.

I saw this flotation ring cabinet on top of the dam… Good thing we didn’t have to use this, eh?

Little lizard running around on top of the dam.

I brought Stilla back later for a tour of the Visitor Center and then we rode around town on the Harley for a little while. Lots of fun,

Back at the campground, there was a gathering for Jim Archer’s birthday… ice cream and cake, yummy!

Happy Birthday Jim! Jim is in the center of the pic below, and on the left in the pic above.

Later on, we all gathered again at our get-together site for “Social Hour” which went long… I think we socialized for several hours…

Alpine ladies arrive together for “Social Hour”…

Another great day with the Alpine SoCal group… check back tomorrow to see what we get into 🙂

Arizona

Gearhead Session & Dinner Cruise – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 4 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/11 davidhobden@mac.com

Saturday started off with yet another great breakfast spread courtesy of our wagonmaster(s) David & Nicole Guhsé. They’re still on track to receive an A+ grade for their performance so far 🙂

Our rally schedule for the day called for “no organized day time activity” until our Dinner Cruise aboard the Canyon Princess at 5 PM. Agenda below:

However, before we did nothing for the day – we set up an impromptu “GearHead Session” after breakfast.

A “GearHead Session” is simply a forum for members to discuss anything related to our beloved Alpines – usually of a mechanical nature. There is a always a wealth of information to be gleaned from our members. Subjects discussed during the session included, but were not limited to; tow bars, tow bar breakaway switches, receiver hitches, dual-pane window fogging, lubricants and sprays for steps & slideouts, water tank dump valves, and more. It was a good session.

The rest of the day was pretty much a hang around do-nothing day that I used to finish up yesterday’s blog post.

At 4:30 PM all the Alpiners headed over to the Marina to get ready for our scheduled dinner cruise.

A couple of our members showed up in the exact same shirt which got a good laugh.

We hung around in the Lodge lobby until it was time to go down to the dock.

That’s our ship on the lower left in the picture below.

Some of us took the courtesy tram down to the ship…

while others walked down…

and here she is – the Canyon Princess: The website says the following about this tour: While relaxing aboard the Canyon Princess, you will enjoy the breathtaking sunset on Lake Powell. This dinner cruise combines spectacular Wahweap Bay scenery with a delicious dining experience. The Canyon Princess Dinner Cruise includes a delightful menu made up of salad, breads, a variety of entree options, and choice of dessert. Your favorite beverage is available for purchase at the bar. This two-hour dinner cruise aboard the Canyon Princess is sure to provide you with special memories of your trip to Lake Powell.

We boarded the ship for our two-hour tour… uh oh, did I say two-hour tour? Hmmmm… sounds familiar somehow 🙂

Lots of carp and some stripers were hanging out around the dock.

We were all seated in the dining area and pretty much had the entire boat to ourselves except for a few other couples.

Our menu:

The dinner was great!

Now – enjoy some pictures of our evening dinner cruise:

We returned to the dock all too soon. It was an awesome evening!

Back at the campground we walked around the campground loop with little dog “Coach” and stopped to admire Greg & Marcy Vaughan’s light show…

It was a warm and pleasant evening. Later, we hung out with a small gathering of our Alpine friends outside one of the Coaches until it was time to call it a night.

Check back tomorrow for a recap of Rally Day 5 which includes a tour of Glen Canyon Dam.

Arizona

Presidents; Horseshoe Bend; & Lee’s Ferry – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 3 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/10 davidhobden@mac.com

Thursday was Day 3 of the Alpine SoCal Rally at Lake Powell and it started off with another awesome breakfast served by our Wagon master(s) David & Nicole Guhsé! Stilla and I got up early and went over to the get-together site to help set things up. Breakfast was a home-run and went off without a hitch thanks to the rally team.

After breakfast we had our Alpine SoCal Member meeting consisting of the usual stuff; old business, new business, future rally dates, etc., and then we voted on the nominations for our officers which was a no-brainer because all the leadership positions, except for the president, would be filled by incumbents that (as-always) have been doing an excellent job.

And now for the big news: Since our current SoCal Chapter President (Joe Darling) has been experiencing some health issues including a recent back surgery, 🙁 he is unable to continue in this role.

Joe and Micki Darling — Get well soon Joe!

Therefore the nominating committee contacted members recently to find someone to fill the position. Of course, no one can replace Joe – only follow in his footsteps. I kept it to myself until now, but I was nominated and it was voted on in this morning’s meeting. I will take over Joes’s duties beginning January 1st. I am humbled by the chapter members confidence in me and hope I can live up to expectations and Joe’s legacy.

After all the meeting fuss was over, 🙂 Stilla and I took little dog “Coach” in the SIlverado and we went for a day-trip since today was a “free day” until our scheduled “La Familia Spaghetti Dinner”.

We drove back out towards the South Entrance of the Lake Powell Resort & Marina and stopped at some of the scenic viewpoints:

We exited the Resort & Marina area and headed back through Page…

Sign as you exit the South Entrance to the Lake Powell Resort & Marina (we turned left)

to another viewpoint at Scenic View Road:

We parked and walked down to the view point:

After negotiating the many slippery steps, we got a good view of the Glen Canyon Dam and the bridge.

Wish we could be in that boat (below) 🙂

We walked back up the path / steps to the parking lot.

In the parking lot, we met this nice couple from Germany. They are traveling around the US and even plan on going down to Argentina! We talked for a bit, because as most of you know, Stilla is also from Germany. They shared their blog address with us (below) so if you’re interested, give it a look. Once again, I have to say – we get to meet the nicest people in the RV world 🙂

We moved on over to Horseshoe Bend. Here’s the view of the first part of the path from the parking lot.

And here’s the view after you get to the top of the first hill. See the little people heading down the trail to the cliff edge?

We put little “Coach” in his doggie back-pack.

Lots of tourists at the edge of the canyon.

Stilla on the edge 🙂

Horseshoe Bend.

See the little boat down there?

Wish we were in it.

Picture of us in front of famous Horseshoe Bend, courtesy of some nice asian tourists.

The sun beat down on little “Coach”, he didn’t like walking in the hot sand.

The view back down to the parking lot (below). A few buses had arrived full of Asian tourists that we shared the trail with.

We continued south on 89 to Lee’s Ferry which looks like its only a few miles straight line distance from the campground when you look at a map, but it’s 100 miles to drive. We took 89 south and then got on 89A north to get there. Here’s the view (below) coming down the mountain south of Page.

We stopped to check out the view at a turnout and Stilla browsed the Indian jewelry vendors.

At the bottom of the mountain we turned right towards Marble Canyon (sign below).

When we got close to the turn for Lee’s Ferry, we crossed Navajo Bridge.

We pulled into the Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center. Normally, I would expound on this and other locations we stopped at, but I’m pressed for time to get this blog post published, so please don’t forget to click on the links embedded in the (green-colored) text to learn more.

After Navajo Bridge, we turned on Lees Ferry Road into Marble Canyon (←link here).

Here’s the entrance fees:

Information placards:

We drove down the scenic road to the Ferry site:

Antelope Slot Canyon – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 2 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/09 davidhobden@mac.com

Welcome to Day 2 of the Alpine SoCal Lake Powell Rally 🙂

Warning! – Picture heavy post again today… consider viewing on a laptop or desktop computer since mobile devices often have trouble downloading the pictures. Hint: If an image doesn’t load, try refreshing your screen.

We started off our day (Thursday) with a fine Alpine breakfast…

courtesy of our wagon-master(s) David & Nicole Guhsé. Here’s David boiling up some eggs to add to the already huge spread consisting of yogurts, fruits, muffins, croissants, etc.,

Nicole put the finishing touches on the spread…

and Lorraine Foster helped prep the tables.

And then the hordes attacked 🙂

Some folks (below) took advantage of the limited time after breakfast to detail their Coach before our first scheduled activity of the day.

Bob & Helena Mazzocco. (Bob seems to be doing a fine job supervising) 🙂

Our agenda for the day (below) has us meeting at the Slot Canyon Office for a tour of Antelope Slot Canyon (←click link to see more).

Everyone piled into their cars for the ~10 mile drive over to the Slot Canyon Office in downtown Page for our 10 AM tour.

We got an extra treat while waiting for our tour to start with an Indian hoop dancer:

After the entertainment, we all piled into the modified pickups for an exciting drive to the canyon…

It took three of these pickups to transport our large group of Alpiners.

We drove through a long semi-dry wash to get to the entrance.

These rigs must go through a lot of springs and shock absorbers to keep them running smoothly over the rough terrain.

When we arrived at the entrance to the canyon, we all piled out of the pickups… no worse for wear and tear…

and walked to the mouth of the canyon where our driver then took over duties as tour-guide. Each group of ~12 people had their own driver / tour-guide.

We entered the canyon…

and everyone said ooh and aah numerous times…

Antelope Canyon was formed by erosion of Navajo Sandstone, primarily due to flash flooding and secondarily due to other sub-aerial processes. Rainwater, especially during monsoon season, runs into the extensive basin above the slot canyon sections, picking up speed and sand as it rushes into the narrow passageways. Over time the passageways eroded away, making the corridors deeper and smoothing hard edges in such a way as to form characteristic ‘flowing’ shapes in the rock. Click HERE to learn more about this place from my friend, Wikipedia®

Our tour-guide / driver turned out to be quite an expert on taking photos in the canyon. It didn’t seem to matter if it was an iPhone, Android, or expensive digital camera… she would take your picture-taking device and change the settings for the best picture. She even took many of the cameras or phones from people and took the pictures herself.

It’s hard to do this awe-inspiring place justice with pictures. Everyone took lots of photos (us included), here’s a sampling:

If anyone would like to see more pictures of the awesome place, simply send me a message and I can email the full-size originals.

Our tour-guide gathered us all together for a couple great pictures inside the canyon:

Alpine SoCal group in Antelope Slot Canyon. (Lake Powell, AZ)

We exited the canyon at the opposite end and took a short break in the sunshine while one of the Indians played a flute.

Bob & Helena Mazzocco soaking in some sun after the cool canyon.

We backtracked through the canyon to the entrance and squeezed past the many tourists that had come in behind us. Our nice guide made sure she didn’t lose any of us on the tour and saw us back into our seats for a return trip back to the office.

Many of the Alpiners then made the short drive over to Big John’s Texas Barbecue for lunch:

The rest of the day was basically ‘free time’ with no scheduled activities until we all gathered again at our campground for “Social Hour”. We had some leftover pizza and garlic bread from yesterdays dinner along with assorted snacks that folks brought over.

We closed out another fine rally day with good conversation. We also welcomed new members; Frank Krauland and Reginald & Karen Bodeux. It’s always good to get new members and important for the future health of the association in order to remain strong and viable.

I hope you enjoyed today’s tour… stay tuned for more adventure on Day 3 of our SoCal Alpine Coach – Lake Powell Rally 🙂

Urban Escape Vehicle .com

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Lake Powell Party Boat – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 6 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Glen Canyon Dam Tour – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 5 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Gearhead Session & Dinner Cruise – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 4 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Presidents; Horseshoe Bend; & Lee’s Ferry – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 3 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Antelope Slot Canyon – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 2 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

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