5 hour butt, and a 6 hour drive.

We've landed in Amarillo, TX, at the Sundown RV Park. Some very friendly men in the RV next door offered to help me hook-up the rig tonight. Thank goodness I was almost done. OK, maybe they were just being nice, but it was dark, and I was a bit weirded out. However, this little park DOES have wi-fi internet, so I was able to add a few pictures to a past blog, and hope to make tonights blog a bit more interesting. :)

Poor little Hailey, she is the reason for the funny title to the blog tonight. From the day she arrived, she hated to be in the car. Finally around 6 months old, she was able to tolerate it for short rides, and her acceptance of long rides has definitely grown! For the past several months, she has what Scott and I called a 30-minute radar. Once we are about 30 minutes from our destination, the sirens will open up, and Hailey will howl until we are done. Needless to say, this makes the last half hour of any trip quite tiresome, and can take the joy out of getting where we were going.

I've discovered, that she has a 5 hour limit to the amount of time her little rear will be patient enough to sit in the car seat. Since most of our long driving days are 6 hours of driving - not counting traffic - the girls and I have had to endure Hailey's screams for the final hour of most of our full driving days. I had to laugh tonight, when Hailey opened up, and the "Bigs" (Katelynn and Emily) just asked me to turn up the volume on the Adventure in Odyssey we were listening to. No sympathy from that corner, Hailey!


Now to go into more details about our own adventures at the Grand Canyon. What fun we had!!! We pulled into the Trailer Village inside the National Park about 8pm, MST. As I passed the registration booth, I noticed a little sign that said "Water pipes may freeze at night". Hmmmm. The girls and I had been watching the temperature drop as we drove North on Route 64. I glanced up at the thermometer, to read that it was approximately a chilly 28 degrees outside. Sure enough, as I hooked up the trailer to the electrical power, I tested the faucet nearby. Nothing. No showers on Saturday night, and bummer - I couldn't wash the dinner dishes either.

The girls and I slept in on Sunday morning, and woke to a beautiful day!!! It was cold, but sunny and clear. We all bundled up and prepared for a short hike into the Canyon. Yes, you read that right, I took all four little girls down the Bright Angel Trail. They were so excited to be INSIDE the canyon. Hailey rode on my back in our Kelty backpack carrier, and I gripped Beth's little hand in mine. We cautiously made our way down the beginning of the trail, over patches of ice and snow. Beth was thoroughly disgusted at the "Mule Poop" and proceeded to "eeeeewwwwwww" at every new pile we encountered. She was very concerned when we had to walk through a mud puddle, as she didn't want any mud on her shoes. This is the girl who routinely uses her shirt as a napkin or kleenex, go figure!

In reality, we only hiked about 20 minutes down the trail. It was wide and easy to move down. Once it began to narrow and become more shaded, in other words, more icy and slippery, I decided to head our little group back up to the rim. We enjoyed a hot lunch at the restaurant inside the Bright Angel Lodge, and headed back to the campground to rest and play. I rested with the "Littles" (Beth and Hailey) while the "Bigs" found a few friends in the campground. It was fun to hear them make friends so quickly with two little girls who lived there.

Monday began in much the same was as Sunday - sunny but cool. We packed a lunch and some snacks and got ready for a hike along the South Rim. We loaded up the dogs this time and drove to the Grand Canyon Village. Once we finally made it to the Bright Angel Lodge, we headed west. Emily and Katelynn were pushing Beth and Hailey in the stroller, while I kept a tight leash on the dogs. (I realize that not everyone wants a Golden nose in their crotch, even if the pups mean it in the kindest way possible.)

We quickly realized that this arrangement was not going to work. The rim trail from Bright Angel Lodge toward Hermits Rest Point is much narrower and has many hills to travel, unlike the relative level trail between Mather point and Yavapai Point which we had hiked in November with our friends the Beane Family. So, Emily held onto Eli, Katelynn held Abbey, and I wrestled the stroller full of 55 pounds of girl up and down the roughly paved trail. The dogs were a hit! Many people stopped to pet them, including a rather large school trip of middle-school kids. I received numerous comments along the lines of "You've got your hands full".

Eventually we made our way to a great location for a picnic lunch. We parked the stroller, hooked the dog leashes onto a tree branch and ate PB&J sandwiches right near the edge of the Canyon. God sure has created some gorgeous scenery, just for the sheer pleasure of it!


We pulled out of Trailer Village on Tuesday morning, sad to be leaving the beauty and majesty of the canyon, but eager for what lay ahead. We stopped in Flagstaff, AZ for a Barnes and Noble bookstore fix - I had left my cookbook "Saving Dinner" at home, open to the page for this weeks menus, and Katelynn was already running out of some of her reading material. A quick run into WalMart, and we were on our way again.

There was little interest in stopping to admire the Petrified Forest National Park, so when I began to see signs for the Meteor Crater, I scrapped the original plans. After paying an exorbitant amount of money, we were able to climb out to see another big hole in the ground. :) The girls were impressed, but wanted to see the actual meteor. They enjoyed the telescopes situated around the viewing areas, but quickly ran out of "oohs" and "aahs".

We continued on, and eventually pulled in the KOA Kampground in Gallup, NM last night. It took us FOREVER to get out of there this morning. Beth was being her usual graceful self, and I had to stop pack-up preparations numerous times to doctor her various cuts and bruises. I'm thankful I packed 6 boxes of bandaids. I think I'll be using most of them.

Tomorrow we'll land in Edmond, OK, with our good friends, the Scotts. There has been some confusion on Beth's part, as we had to explain that we would not be going to Daddy's house tomorrow. So when I tucked her in bed, she clarified that "We go see Scotts 'morrow. But NOT Daddy's house, 'kay?" Katelynn and Emily remember our special time with Cooper, Abbey's son, and are eager to see him tomorrow - as the Scotts were the family to adopt him. I'm eager for some adult conversation, and a hot shower not limited by a 6 gallon water heater. :)