Things to Do - Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip

A Day of Nothingness

August 4, 2009 by Mary Cardwell

Welcome to Buffalo National River

One of the many claims to fame of the Buffalo National River area is the lack of modern development. There are no hotels or chain restaurants in the immediate area. Nature is the most important resident and for people who want to enjoy the great outdoors, this is the place to be! The trees and brush were such rich shades of green. The trees were so thick and dense that Dennis wouldn’t even send the boys into the woods to get firewood, knowing they’d return with nothing but ticks and jiggers…if they returned at all!

I thought about many ways for us to pass the time in Arkansas. We could visit this quaint little village we passed about ½ hour outside the campground. There were several hiking trails for us to explore. The boys wanted to fish ever since we missed our opportunity in Montana. Our campground neighbors told us the best fishing was just off the bridge about 5 miles down the road. I must have been really tired that morning because 5 miles seemed so far away! The fact of the matter is that neither of us really wanted to drive anywhere. I was tired of hearing that one can of baked beans hit the cabinet door with every corner. With 85% of the trip done, we had clocked an unbelievable 6500 miles but that extra 5 miles just seemed over the top. We really wanted to do absolutely nothing. So that’s what we did – nothing!

Floating on the lazy river

Our campsite was only a stone’s throw from the river’s edge. Dennis took the boys, the chairs and the fishing gear to a small beach area right around the corner. I took my time, pretending to do something productive like read or write but it was 85 degrees and humid. I’m no dummy. I put everything away, put on my bathing suit and met my men for a day of nothing. The river was calm, the sun was hot and the water was refreshing. For a while, we had the whole beach to ourselves. The kids were in their glory to break out the fishing poles one more time. After an hour of trying their luck the traditional way, the boys channeled their inner Survivorman and tried to catch fish with their hands. One guess on how that turned out!

My seat

The rest of the day was just more of the same – swimming, fishing, snacking, chatting and sunning. Repeat. By late afternoon, we were so relaxed we knew we had to move soon or we’d never have the strength to make it back to the camper. We took the traditional slow pace of the south to a whole new level. It took us at least 4 hours to shower, dress and have dinner. As we all know, the only way to top off a day like this was with a campfire, s’mores and a bottle of wine. We were nearly comatosed by 9 o’clock. When the boys went inside to play video games, the contentment level of the family had peaked. Still committed to our nothingness, Dennis and I stayed in the same spots we planted out butts after dinner. The night was so dark it was impossible to see 2 feet beyond the fire. The sounds of the tree frogs and crickets played like background music. I closed my eyes to take it all in when suddenly I heard a noise like I’ve never heard before. Now, I have not been face to face with a mountain lion or cougar or any big, ferocious, wild cat that could rip you to shreds with one swipe of a paw but trust me when I tell you the sound is unmistakable! It was loud. It was close. It was pissed off. And I was outta there! The past 12 hours of pure relaxation were erased in seconds flat as I flew off my ass and hauled to the safety of the RV.

As a teen, I was a huge fan of the slasher movies, not for the fear factor but the absurdity of them made me laugh. But for the first time in my life, I could relate to the useless victim who tripped 5 times running into the barn or the guy who couldn’t turn the car keys in the ignition before the hatchet hit. In less than 5 feet, I almost knocked over a chair with Dennis in it, hit the picnic table, tripped over the extension cord and fumbled miserably trying to open the RV door. True to the horror movie ritual of my youth, there was a least one audience member laughing their way through the whole scene. Still cracking up when I reappeared from the RV a couple minutes later, Dennis told me he had never seen me move that fast! We heard the cat roars in the distance a few more times but there was no recovering. I spent the rest of the night inside with the kids. Dennis enjoyed the fire just a bit longer before it started to rain. It rained all night and well into the morning. Packing up in the rain was no fun. Our day of nothingness was officially over and it was time to head out to Tennessee.

Leaving the desert behind

July 26, 2009 by Mary Cardwell

The time had come that our travels would start to take us back East, closer to home. I’m not sure what it was that changed the energy just a bit but you could sense something was different. Maybe it was that we were starting to lose an hour with each time zone we crossed instead of gaining one? Maybe it was because we had started to recognize time as days left instead of days to go. Maybe we were just too darn hot!

Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona

Our New England bodies weren’t adjusting to the 100+ degree temperatures quickly. Most likely, the energy shift was because we knew we had three days of driving in front of us with very little sightseeing and R&R along the way.

Our drive north out of Arizona was lovely. Climbing into the mountains with the red rock in the background gave us the last look over Sedona as we left the city limits. We decided we would “stop by” the South Rim of the Grand Canyon because it was only 2 hours out of our way. What’s another 120 miles between family?! Our drive by Mather’s Point brought to light two good decisions we made. First, seeing both the North and the South Rims was worth the drive. Both were very different, both beautiful in their own way. Second, I’m glad we camped in the North Rim. The number of visitors and volume of traffic in the South Rim was 10x more than we experienced in the North Rim. We had lunch on the east banks of the South Rim before we continued our journey east. It was goodbye to another treasure of the desert.

Four states at once!

Up next was the lamest tourist trap of them all and I was so excited to finally go there in person! When planning our trip, we had a few must see stops and the Four Corners was #1 on all our lists! The Four Corners is the only place in the country where the four right angles of four states, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah meet at a central point. It’s the only place in the country where one person can stand in four states at the same time. Recently it was discovered the monument about a mile off the actual spot, making it even more fabulously lame. It costs $3 per person to experience 5 minutes of vacationer paradise. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world! I even got in the picture for this one-Luke in Utah, Den in Arizona, Cam in Colorado and me in New Mexico. Before the flock of wild Girls Scouts swarmed into the area, the boys and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to physically touch four states at once. Like their mother, they can now tell people they’ve been in Colorado even though it was just one foot!

The next camping stop wasn’t until Arkansas, several hundreds of miles away. Three days of driving brought us through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas before we hit the state line for the Clinton’s home state of Arkansas. Most of the drive was uneventful, long straight roads with little descriptive scenery. A few highlights were the ancient Indian ruins perched high in the hills throughout New Mexico and parts of Texas.

Shiprock Pinnacle

You can only imagine the history that lies in the doorways of the towering rock formations. In hind sight, I would have set aside time to visit and learn more about this fascinating culture. At another point, Dennis and I reminisced about the past when we passed Shiprock Pinnacle, most likely the inspiration for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, even though the real New Mexico fixture holds deep spiritual solace for the faithful believers.

Regretfully, Route 40 East passed through several poverty stricken areas and hundreds of unusable acres of Indian Reservations in New Mexico and northwest Texas. I’m sure our limited perspective isn’t indicative of the entire area but it wasn’t until eastern Texas that dry, barren fields were replaced with cattle roaming green fields and seeking shelter under a single shady tree. It was easy to say goodbye to that facet of the desert but will be hard to let go of the images.

We ran into some of the worst weather of the trip on the Oklahoma/Texas border. Driving directly into a lightning storm ahead, my imagination ran wild with thoughts of tornados throwing cows and trucks through the air! I watched “Twister”, I know what I’m talking about. Trailers and RVs are always the first to get hit! It was a rough but short lived storm and we made it through untouched. We spent the night in a skin-crawling, nasty Days Inn in Elk City Oklahoma and were up and out very early the next morning. We slept with one eye open that night but at least it gave us a chance to charge up all our electronics before our next stop.

Southern Missouri

Buffalo National River was just outside a small town called Yellville. It was only about a 5 hour drive from Oklahoma but we took a planned detour into Kansas and Missouri so I could cross them off my list of states visited! In the three days of driving, the most beautiful views came from this stretch of the trip. I never expected southern Missouri and northern Arkansas to be so clean, lush and filled with rolling hills and farmland. I guess I never really thought about it and after the desert it was a welcomed change. We made it to our campsite early evening. It should have been sooner but I gave Betty a bum steer as to the location of the campground and actually programmed in the business office three towns over! Thankfully the ranger set us straight and we arrived at a well kept, clean and spacious site alongside the Buffalo River before dark. Juicy steaks on the grill, BBQ chicken, baked potatoes and veggies never tasted so good! Four happy yet tired campers turned in for a wonderful night sleep with the promise of a sunny 85 degree day ahead of them!

A Sedona Vacation Junkie

July 24, 2009 by Mary Cardwell

Slide Rock National Park

There is no shortage of things to do in the Sedona Arizona area. If you love to over-indulge in your favorite guilty pleasure, Sedona is happy to be your co-dependant source. Shopaholics can choose from clothes to traditional Indian goods, jewelry to crystals and never get their fill of variety. Foodaholics will be satisfied with dishes that include Mexican, BBQ, fine dining and fast food. Chocaholics can sample fudge and other confectionaries at the many candy shops in the downtown area. Adventure junkies and backcountry hikers can tour the desert on foot or off road vehicle and flirt with the Diamondbacks. Sedona can even handle my addiction, the I-want-to-see-and-do-everything-possible-in-a-short-period-of-time-aholic, while minimizing our spend, of course.

We were up and out early on desert morning two. Granted, after 2 ½ weeks of vacation, our early mornings have been pushed back from our original 5am start to the new 8am rise and shine. Donning our bathing suits and towels, we headed about 10 miles north to Slide Rock National Park. A consistent “You’ve got to go there!” from our friends put this on the top of our stops for the day. Our campground host recommended an early start because the parking lot fills up quickly and she was right. Fascinated by the rising red rock that surrounded our every perspective, we became more and more intrigued the closer we got to the swim area. The park was clean and well marked and starting to fill up with curious families like us ready to enjoy nature’s playground.

Plotting the strategy

Finding the ideal stop near the mouth of the slide and semi-high up to see all the fun, Dennis and the boys watched, plotting their strategy. I was still on the fence about whether or not I was going to partake, but once my men hit the water, my decision was clear.

The guys worked their way to the mouth of the slide to patiently wait their turn down the rocks. Luke was the first one to hit the water, literally. Slippery rocks were not limited to the slide! Down again and again he went, each time getting up in triumph that nothing was broken! It was actually Cam who was the first one down the slide. There was a slight look of pain on his face from the extremely cold water.

Luke hits the water

Already wet from falling a couple times, Luke ventured down the slide but the water temperature still took him by surprise when he was fully immersed. Finally Dennis made his way down the slide, each new splash offered a continuous reminder of just how cold the water was against his flesh. Yeah, I didn’t go in. In hind sight I regret the decision. I was assured by the boys that the cold dissipated quickly and only the fun remained. The boys returned down the slide dozens of times, trying new angles each time – front, back, bum, belly – enjoying every inch of this unique mountain stream natural water park.

Cam’s adventurous side started to show through. He located an area where folks were cliff jumping into a deep area of the river. It was about 20 feet in the air and kids half his age and size emerged without a scratch so it must be safe.

Cam's jump

On his third jump, he convinced Dennis to join him. Not one to back down from a challenge from his kids, Dennis jumped in perfectly straight like an old pro. The kids teased him that he flapped his arms like a bird on the way down, but that’s not how I saw it.

Den's jump

After a couple hours of sliding, laughing, swimming and picture taking, we headed back to the RV to change into dry clothes for a little hiking.

With a tip from our campground friend Joanie, we took the back roads to Cathedral Rock after a quick stop at the Chapel of the Holy Cross. Cathedral Rock is a beautiful structure on the west side of Sedona. We parked only .8 miles from the heart of mountain. We geared up and grabbed the water bottles and headed up the path to climb Cathedral Rock. We were probably about .0001 miles away from the RV when it started…”It’s so hot!”, “do we really need to hike?”, “why do we have to do this? It’s 100 degrees!” It was actually 116 degrees that day and quite honestly I didn’t want to be all kinds of sweaty for the rest of our day sightseeing.

Cathedral Rock

We made it up .5 miles, right before the steep climbing was required, we waved hello to Arizona and turned back around for the RV. Semi-disappointing to cut it short but in the long run, it saved us lots of unpleasant odors to deal with as we made our way to Jerome AZ for a very late lunch.

South of Sedona, Jerome was an old miners’ town that, back in its hay day in the early 1900s, sold $1,000,000 of cooper per month. It was known as the toughest town in America, filled with miners, ladies of the evening, saloons and gun shops. In the 1940s, everything changed and with only 150 residents Jerome couldn’t survive. Several decades later, local artists bought out much of the town, turning the historical buildings into galleries, restaurants and gift shops. It is widely believed that Jerome is haunted, a theory supported by most of the 400 plus residents of today. Four different people recommended the “Haunted Hamburger” for a delicious lunch with tasty beverages and it delivered. My Prickly Pear Margarita hit the spot! Perched on the highest of the mountain side roads, our outside table offered views clear across the state, ranging well into Flagstaff and beyond until our favorite black cloud rolled in again!

Jerome Ghost Town

We finished our yummy meals without any signs of the paranormal and decided to head out before the storm hit. It’s more me than Den, but being in an over-sided beast on narrow, twisty-turning mountain road in down pouring rain with thunder and lightning is not how I wanted to end my day! As always (or most of the time, at least) Dennis obliged and we headed for the comforts of our campsite.

North, south, east and west, we certainly did get a good sampling of this scenic Arizona setting in our three short days. Many people told us Sedona was the worth the stop and now we will tell you, too, Sedona is well worth the stop, no matter what type of vacation junkie you may be.

To see all our photos from Slide Rock or sightseeing in Sedona, visit Snapfish.

Sunset to Sunrise at the Grand Canyon

July 19, 2009 by Mary Cardwell

Checkerboard Mountain

There were two ways to reach the North Rim of the Grand Canyon from Zion National Park. You could exit the park at Springdale and back track about an hour to the last main road junction and then take a left onto 89A or you could pay a $15 fee and take the 1920’s built 89A bridge out of the canyon and save yourself about 90 minutes of driving. With more than 2100 miles under our belt and countless hours behind the wheel, the $15 seemed like money well spent. Pardon my Boston accent but it was wicked cool! The tunnel fees covered the cost of an escort to make sure no one was coming in the opposite direction so large vehicles like our beast could drive in the middle of the road in order to fit through the tunnel. Not getting stuck in a tunnel or hit by oncoming traffic was worth the money right there but when we saw the views from yet another perspective, Zion was even more breathtaking. Just another reminder that going off the beaten trail has big rewards.

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon was only 3 hours away and we relished in the idea of getting to a destination by lunch time. I was so happy that I even let Dennis listen to country music again. As we cruised along, a song that quickly became his new favorite came over the radio. We had to listen carefully to make sure we heard it correctly. It was a love song from the perspective of a starry eyed man praising his new love. It was called “She was Rocking the Beer Gut.” I’m not lying.

The rest of the ride to the North Rim was mostly forest. We saw the remainder of a fire that we later learned happened about 3 years ago. It started as a lightning fire that the Park officials watched carefully but a strong wind spread the fire too quickly and 60,000 acres were lost.

North Rim Canyon

Everything about the North Rim was welcoming – friendly and informed Rangers, hot showers, General Store with cold beer and large clean campsites. Before we even unpacked, we rushed to get our first glimpse of the canyon. We had the boys cover their eyes and walked them toward the edge. On the count of three, they opened their eyes to the most famous natural phenomenon in the United States! Their reaction was priceless. After seeing nothing but rocks and trees for days we weren’t sure how they’d feel about a hole in the ground but the surprise element was just the trick!

Bright Angel Point, North Rim

We went down to the lodge and followed the path to Bright Angel Point to get the best view from the north. Den and the boys loved the adventure and the incredible views. I hugged the inside, ready to drop to my knees at any moment. Granted I don’t like heights but never did I expect my legs to wobble so much. Trying to be brave I would say “be right there” and wave. I never made it all the way out but they tell me it was amazing. A few days later, we drove to the South Rim after visiting Arizona. I wanted to see if it was much different. They were as different as my twins – you know they were created at the same time but it’s hard to find the similarities. The North view gave you more crevasses and turns where the South Rim gave you a much broader scope of the size.

Mather Point South Rim

If you have the time to see both, it’s worth the drive.

Luke and I were happy to find free WiFi at the General Store. Dennis was so kind and offered to finish the laundry so we could blog. After everything was posted, supplies and firewood loaded we settled in for the rest of our stay. A very lovely English couple stopped by to ask Den how to build a “proper fire” since it was their first time camping. They were on a 6 month world-wide tour and the States was their last stop. He helped them out and told them if it didn’t work out to join us. I was thrilled when they popped over and joined us for wine and s’mores and told us about adventures around the Globe. There was no shortage of conversation and the kids enjoyed getting to know someone from the UK. At the end of our visit, we gave them our contact information to keep in touch. Hello, Adrian and Louise. Hope you are safe!

There are moments that remind us why we fall in love with our significant others. My latest reminder came at 5:10 AM. I heard the sunrise over the canyon was not to be missed. I woke up and looked at the clock with every intention of sneaking out to greet the morning.

Sunrise at the North Rim

With one eye open, Dennis said “Are you really going to go? I’ll go with you” and without hesitation he got out of bed, put on his shoes and we were out the door. Why he indulges my crazy whims is beyond me but I’m so lucky he does. I wasn’t sure which way was east so we got to the edge of the canyon and followed the trail looking for the sun which was due to rise at 5:40. It took me a bit to figure out we were facing south and missing the sunrise but we kept walking anyway in hopes of seeing something. It was beautiful and peaceful but no sunrise. Ultimately, we took the wrong path back to camp but luckily it ended up on the east side of the canyon where the sun was just coming up. I learned the next day, my clock was set to the wrong time zone and we were actually right on time to see one incredible sunrise. I wouldn’t have wanted to share it with anyone else.

We had almost reached our threshold of rocks and trees, the timing was perfect for our next destination – VEGAS BABY!

An Enlightening Tour

July 19, 2009 by Mary Cardwell

One of many hillside letters

The next stop on our whirlwind tour was going to bring us to the great state of Utah and Zion National Park. Leaving Yellowstone was bittersweet. We enjoyed everything about our stay in Wyoming, making us sorry to leave but with great hopes that Zion was as good if not better than we heard. The drive from Wyoming to Utah was, well, boring. Dry, flat fields were replaced by more dry flat fields for most of our travels. Part way into Utah, however, it all changed. Hello again, Rocky Mountains! Having nothing like this on the east coast, I pointed out every new and cool rock formation as well as all the hillside letters we found. (No, they are not some Government code as we first suspected. Started by proud Berkley College students in 1905, there are now more than 400 hillside letters in the US, most of them in the western states). After making it through the rush hour traffic of Salt Lake City, we had a quick stopover at our Marriott hotel in Draper UT. Relaxed from the pool and spa, our clothes were clean and we were clean with full bellies, we hit the road for Zion.

The drive became more interesting every mile closer to Zion. Before we knew it, we hit Springdale UT, a small tourist town at the gates of Utah’s first national park. I was like a kid in a candy store looking at all the shops and cool trinkets. We checked into our riverside campsite in the park first and then returned to Springdale for some dinner and window shopping. We headed for a Mexican restaurant but when we missed the driveway we landed at Pizza and Noodle Co. instead. Best mistake we made that day! Excellent food, cool atmosphere and reasonable prices – two thumbs up!

View from our camp

Then it was back to the campsite only 5 minutes away for a relaxing campfire. I thought booking a site near the river would be pretty and I love the sound of the gentle current over the rocks. I did not, however, take into account the 8 billion trillion bugs that came along with such a view. Our campfire was short lived before we retreated inside in fear of something flying up my nose.

Happy campers!

Zion was truly a visitor-friendly park. Free shuttles ran all day and into the evening, taking hikers, riders, walkers and bikers to different points of the park saving hours of traffic jams by confused tourists. The shuttle stop was a quick walk from our campsite. Armed with a map and a plan but no hiking gear, we took the shuttle about ½ way up to the lodge to take a short, 1.3 mile hike to Emerald Pools. It was surreal being at the bottom of the canyon, with rich red rocks shaped by nature as far as you could see. About ½ way through the lower pools hike, we noticed the signs for the middle pools with a waterfall coming off the rocks. Sure, let’s keep going, we all agreed. It was only 98 degrees and no one was complaining…yet…so we continued to hike into more amazing scenery. We passed a family on the way down who told Dennis the best swimming would be found at the Upper Emerald Pool. By the time we got to the trail junction for the upper pool, we were all very hot and ready for a dip.

Hi Mom

The sign told us our destination was only 0.3 miles away. It didn’t tell us that it was straight uphill climbing over rocks. Luke and I fell far behind, taking our time as to not keel over and die. When we finally passed the “No Swimming” sign, there it was Upper Emerald Pool filled with illiterate folks swimming, including my husband and son. They swore they never saw the sign but fate is a bitch. I’ll come back to this later.

I chose not to swim, not because of the sign but because I was too busy complaining to Dennis that I was hot and tired. It took a little coaxing to get Luke to join Cam but once they were in the water, he was never coming out again. We booked a ranger-lead tour in the evening so we were under time constraints to get back to camp and get ready to head out again.

The tour was a 2 hour ride through the park as a Ranger talked about some of the finer points of Zion. It promised to make stops unavailable on the regular shuttle. Educational, off the beaten path, scenic and all we had to do was ride around and listen, I thought this would be great and it was.

Beautiful scenery

Our tour guide told us of how this dessert, like the Grand Canyon, was carved out from powerful waters millions of years ago. She talked about the animals that live in the area and what makes them unique to this area. It was at this point that Dennis’s curiosity got the best of him and he asked the Ranger why swimming wasn’t allowed in the Emerald Pools. A friend of mine once told me not to ask questions if you really don’t want the answers. She should have given Dennis that same advice. The ranger repeated the question for the benefit of everyone on the bus. “Good question” she said. First she explained about the importance of not disrupting a fragile ecosystem.

Then she said the words that will haunt Dennis the rest of his life. “The main reason is because the bottom of the pools are covered with fecal matter from the wildlife in the park.” The next minute was a bit of a blur because I was trying too hard to hold back my laughter I couldn’t focus. I looked at Dennis, who was pale at this point, mouthing the words “fecal matter” over and over again in disbelief. Being the sympathetic wife I am, I said “HA! I’m glad I didn’t swim! That will teach you to follow the signs next time” and let my laughter rip!

Enjoying the tour

It only got better when Dennis had to explain to the boys what fecal matter was. The kids didn’t seem fazed but Dennis will never forget the lesson he learned that day.Dennis showered as soon as we got back to camp. We opted to skip the fire and went to town for some supplies and ice cream. Ice cream makes everything better…except the thought of fecal matter. LOL!

To see all our photos from Zion, visit Snapfish.

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