Grand Canyon and La Paz, Arizona

Colorado river valley

Well, we left the warm sunshine of Palm Springs and headed east, back into Arizona. Things have warmed up enough (Grand Canyon excluded) that we could explore the north western corner. We spent the weekend in La Paz, AZ. at the Buckskin Mountain State Park. It was so beautiful there. We camped right by the Colorado River in the middle of the mountains. We went for a hike up one of the mountains to an old mine. The kids enjoyed scrambling into caves that dotted the landscape....always wary of rattlesnakes as the weather was very warm. We also explored Lake Havasu which was crystal clear and full of fishermen...and Richard without his rod.
On Monday we headed to the Grand Canyon and today we spent the morning there. The kids were amazed. The only problem was that it was freezing cold with a stong wind. We did a little bit of walking and snapped some photos before the cold drove us back into the truck and home. Tomorrow we are heading to see the Hoover Dam by Las Vegas and also some canyons in that area.

The reward

Matthew trying to herd a chicken. It was quite obvious that Matthew was more afraid of the chicken than the chicken was afraid of him.

The girls chasing emus. Rachel won.

Joshua Tree National Park

Palm Springs

Well, I must say, Palm Springs has been keeping us busy. On Friday we went to take a look in Joshua Tree National Park. It was very beautiful and gave us a good glimpse of 2 different deserts. The first desert we went through was the Colorado desert which was desolate, mountains with only scrub mesquite, and other low plants but very, very dry. The Mojave desert had much higher elevation and the vegetation was completely different. This is where we found the Joshua Tree and other Yucca plants and lots of boulders. We found a beautiful campground in the middle of the boulders.

On Saturday we made it to the Date Palm Fair, one of California's State Fairs. They had lots of fun shows. Matthew loved the Monster Truck Show which also included lawnmower races ( in the States they will race anything) and off road race cars. We also enjoyed the concert in the evening featuring the 80's rock band Foriegner, it was great but very loud.

Sunday afternoon was spent with some friends from Victoria, we joined the Spiers, the Cupido's as well as the Koots for coffee and lunch after church.

Today we went back to the fair to go on the rides without waiting in line. When we went to see the ostrich and camel races the kids were chosen out of the audience to participate in the show. The girls all had to chase emus and Matthew participated in the chicken race which was hillarious. They all got a free ride on a camel for showing "outstanding bravery above and beyond in the face of flying feathers and blazing beaks." They were thrilled. They also rode on all the rides and got free rock climbing because the guy manning the booth was bored.

Horseback Riding

Giddy Up!!

Our cowgirls.

Today Richard took the two oldest girls horseback riding in the desert. The girls were over the moon of course. They rode along a dried up riverbed seeing lots of jack rabbits, quail (California's state bird), and lizards. It was a great afternoon for riding, nice and warm with a breeze. The horses weren't exactly tame in Catherine's opinion. Her horse started to go rodeo (bucking) on her when he was supposed to run. She held on though. The guide was very good, he showed them the local flora, one called Cowboys Shower which was really Wild Eucalyptus. Cowboys rub it on so they smell a little better. The guide said that there are tons of snakes and he sees a lot of mountain lions and bobcats. Did you know that the king snake which isn't venemous is the only snake that eats the rattle snake? After all the dust....Richard being at the back and eating the most, everyone jumped into the pool to cool off.

Palm Springs

We are enjoying our time here in Palm Springs. Our campground is in the middle of the desert and has natural spring pools. Every night we sit and soak in the pools, we have been loving it. We met with some friends from home and friends from Ottawa. Today we went on a hike to a desert oasis. It was surrounded by fan palm trees and straddles the San Andreas fault. The fault line is responsible for the oasis because the crushed rock from the earths' movement creates underground dams that bring the water to the surface. It was so beautiful to see this lake right in the middle of the desert.
We have been busy almost everyday going to markets and street bazaars....who knew Palm Springs was such a hopping place.

Wild Animal Park

Did you know that lions sleep for 20 hours a day!

Jenna is lucky she didn't get swiped by the blue, 18inch long tongue.

Catherine with her braids out.

Yesterday we went to the Wild Animal Park. We went on the Safari Walk to see all the animals we couldn't see from the train last time. The highlight of the day was feeding the giraffes. All the kids got a chance. Rachel was thrilled because the giraffe is one of her favorite animals (the other is the cheetah). We think that we have reached our quota of animal exhibits!!

San Diego pictures

Santa Rosa mountains

These are the amazing dunes we went through right at the Arizona/California border.

San Diego SeaWorld, Clyde and Seamore show.....very funny.

Playing at the pool

Wild Animal Park

Reminded Richard of some people back home.....I won't name names.

Today we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It was a hot day....30C so after the train ride and a little bit of walking the pool started calling us so we went home and decided to go again tomorrow. The two bottom pictures are of the kids feeding the lorikeets nectar.

San Diego

We are in San Diego, CA. We went through a bit of a culture shock coming from Mexico....no mangy dogs here. It was a real interesting drive through California. It started with huge sand dunes just past Yuma. The dunes were buzzing with quads and there were hundreds of trailers parked along the highway. It would be a fun to play on those dunes like that.....next trip. After a valley filled with farms we hit the Santa Rosa Mountains. They looked incredible, just piles of boulders. It looked like dump trucks have dumped load after load and then they built a road through it. We went 4150ft. up to the highest point and then back down again to sea level. We are staying at Campland on the Bay right on the water. The kids have had lots of fun playing bingo and dodgeball and the pool here are beautiful....Richard is partial to the hot tub.

We went to SeaWorld this past week. It was not busy at all.....just the way we like it. It was just like SeaWorld in Orlando except no big rides and a few less shows. We also went to the world famous San Diego Zoo. We will probably go back again this week as well as to the Wildlife Park....so much to do. We also have Legoland on our agenda.

Those of you who know Richard well will know that he is now chomping on the bit to get back home. He is ready for the next stage and excited to get home. So we are having this little tug of war going on between us.

On Saturday we drove up the coast to Oceanside. We watched hundreds of surfers. The waves were huge and they looked like they were having so much fun....but the water is COLD. Today after church we headed to the pool where we spent the afternoon. We are loving the 27C weather....more sunshine in the forecast and tomorrow we are headed to the Wild Animal Park.