Day 17: Glen Canyon Dam, Utah, and Grand Canyon, Arizona

 Sunrise at Lake Powell in Glen Canyon, Utah

 Serene solitude

Glen Canyon Dam

 On the way to Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon 

 Grand Canyon and Colorado River

It was cold and rainy, and the bike trails were closed, so we went to one of the visitors' centers to decide what we wanted to do next.  

We decided to walk about a mile along the rim to another indoor location where a ranger would be giving a talk about the canyon, how it formed over time, etc.

 It was so foggy, that this was our view as we walked along the rim.  

The kids decided the Grand Canyon was really just a conspiracy 

and that someone had accidentally unplugged the projector.

 Ranger Talk

 Layers of the canyon

 Fog clearing

Or projector coming back on.  ;)

Day 16: Lake Powell, Utah

Oh, when I fall off the blogging wagon, I fall waaaay off the blogging wagon.  I am home this week between trips, and my goal is to catch this blog up, at least through the end of our cross-country trip. It will be a nice distraction, too,  from election week insanity.  I would love to be back in the desert right now!

So, these pictures are from Day 16 of our trip, September 10.  We drove through Nevada, saw a brief glimpse of Arizona, and then were back in Utah for our Dr. Who inspired visit to Lake Powell, the filming location for the Lake Silencio scenes in the episode The Impossible Astronaut that Seth and I wanted to recreate.

Nevada

Arizona

 Utah

 Utah

Lone Rock Beach State Park

Lake Powell / Glen Canyon

Utah

 Our campsite for the night!!!  

So awesome!!!

Matt and Seth and I walked the beach to find the location where the Dr Who scenes were filmed, which turned out to be the very end of the beach.  Not sure how far it was -- it seemed like a long way because the wind was blowing hard and we could barely see for all the sand in our eyes!

 Shooting the Doctor

Returning to the bottom of the lake

When we returned to our site, we found a Dalek waiting for us

Dalek Maya

 Seth enjoying the beach

 Pablo deciding to go for a swim

 My very cold tolerant family deciding to join him

Just before I became a victim of the wet doggie shake

This was another favorite night of camping.  The dark canyon area far from any light pollution along with the wide open sky made for amazing star gazing. 

Day 15: Venice Beach

Venice Beach was much warmer and sunnier.  We found street parking, then hopped on our bikes to head for the beach.  Matt and Riley skated at Venice Beach skatepark, while Maya, Seth, and I headed down to the ocean.  Maya was pining for more surf time, so eventually she and Matt went to rent surfboards.

After the  beach, we biked through town in search of food.  I was so glad we had our bikes.  It is one thing to drive through a place, but we got to see so much more whenever we were out on our bikes.

After leaving Venice, we drove to Hollywood to see the sign and then decided to walk around and look at the stars on the sidewalk and things like that.  None of us were really feeling it, though.  Maybe we were just tired or overwhelmed by other things we had seen so far.   It seemed run down and dirty and just not all that impressive.  

Day 14: Surf School

This was the day the kids and Matt had been waiting for and most excited about on this whole trip.  To be honest, it was the day I was kind of dreading.  Surf School.  I'm not coordinated or sporty at all.  I'm even less a fan of cold water, and the air temperatures were in the 60s.  We had put our feet in the water the evening before, and it felt icy.  Matt kept saying maybe wet suits would make enough difference that it wouldn't be too bad.

As it turned out, he was right about the wet suits.  We weren't even a little cold getting into the water.  Even more amazingly, I managed to get up on the board and surf!!!  And I had zero expectation that I would manage to surf at all -- take that Law of Attraction! ;) Matt and Maya got up, too.  Seth paddled around and coasted in on some waves on his belly on the board, and Riley just wasn't feeling it at all.  It was way more tiring (and a lot more fun) than I expected -- lots of paddling hard to catch the waves, to get back out after riding one in, and a major saline flush of the sinuses with every wipeout.  After the kids had gotten worn out and settled in at the beach, a pair SEA OTTERS came by and played and swam right next to us for the longest time!

 Surfers still in the water as we left

On our way to Venice Beach, we drove past a lot of orchards and busy farms

 We stopped at Casa de Fruta 

The kids had been wanting these for a while and were excited to find them.

Spin the wheel, take a chance on a decent flavor or disgusting flavor. 

Enjoying the grossness