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Teresa's Daily diary of Teresa and Andrew's travels. This blog is targeted at a general audience who is interested in our day-to-day happenings. As the traveling slowed down, so did the blog entries.
April 2006 - Posts
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We slept in, about 8am, and had had breakfast in the campground. We've planned a long a long hike today. We both feel better today, sleeping in really helped. We're hiking the Fairyland loop; from Sunrise Point to Fairyland Point and back across the Rim Read More...
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We headed out today but found out that Cedar Breaks National Monument is closed due to snow. The North rim of the Grand Canyon is closed until mid-May. This knocked a couple of stops off of our itinerary. We stopped for lunch at Coral Pink Sand Dunes Read More...
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Our campsite is right on the Virgin River, so we slept to the sound of rushing water all night. We received a gift from the campground gods... 2 bottles of propane for our camp stove, left near registration with a "FREE" note on them. This happens when Read More...
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We left our BLM campsite this morning. I noticed the water was rising due to snow melt. A small sand bar in the river was visible last night is now gone, under water. Rocks on the sand bar were still visible, but by the time we finished breakfast, those Read More...
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Next stop- Valley of Fire State Park , adjacent to the Lake Mead Rec. Area . The Valley of Fire is lots of Red Rock formations which would have been a lot cooler if we hadn't just come from Red Rocks Canyon. They were shooting a movie in Valley of Fire, Read More...
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Burning the candle at both ends is catching up with us. While camping, we go to bed shortly after dark, maybe 8 or 9. For the last several days, we haven't been to bed before midnight and we're still getting up at dawn! We're exhausted!! We got our things Read More...
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We went out to Red Rocks Canyon National Conservation Area. We hiked a trail out to a seasonal lake (a tinaja) and a little further to a cliff that overlooks the valley and the city of Las Vegas. We had to hurry back and shower because we had tickets Read More...
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The sun is up and Andrew and I are up... it doesn't matter that we didn't get to sleep until 2 am. We soaked in Joyce and George's hot tub for a little while, worked on the computers and had lunch at Dona Maria, a tamale shop that was recommended. They Read More...
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Joyce wanted to take us out to brunch this morning at Red Rocks Casino. The casino buffet is quite famous for it's size and quality and we were not disappointed. I had never been in a casino before and pretty much had a sensory overload with the lights, Read More...
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We left our remote BLM site and headed toward Las Vegas. We stopped in Pahrump, NV to check email for a minute and on our way out... it happened again! We were driving along, minding our own business, and a sign jumps up in front of us and says: "Winery, Read More...
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We started this morning before daybreak and drove to Zabrinski Point for the sunrise. The day started kind of cool, but warmed up quickly. We did a longer hike, about 5.5 miles, at Golden Canyon-Gower Gulch loop. The loop took us on the backside of and Read More...
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A beautiful cold morning on a ridge, with a snow capped peak on one side of us and the salt basin of Death Valley on the other side. We did some foraging, we gathered pinion nuts (pine nuts) to roast and eat later. We drove past stone beehive shaped charcoal Read More...
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The shop got the parts and finally got our truck fixed about 2 pm. The hotel was patient with us in the room after our 11 am checkout. On our way out, we saw a sign claiming Tonopah as the home of the Stealth Fighter. It seems that testing for the Stealth Read More...
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The service station had to order parts (of course!) so we are here in a cheap hotel for another night. We unloaded our cooler and kitchen into the hotel room and just made ourselves at home. The room has a microwave and TV and we're able to get our computers Read More...
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We continued on our way from Teakettle Junction to the Racetrack Playa . The Racetrack Playa is the location of the famous moving rocks. There are rocks on a dry lake bed that move, leaving tracks in the mud behind them. It's been guessed that the small Read More...
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We started this morning at Scotty's Castle . This is a vacation home built by Chicago millionaire Albert Johnson and his wife Bessie in Death Valley around 1920's and 30's. Johnson was first brought to Death Valley by a veteran of Buffalo Bill Cody's Read More...
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A beautiful morning, no quaking or shaking last night. It is supposed to rain today and it looks like some clouds are moving in. All of the dirt roads here are impassible in wet weather and we are about 5 miles down a dirt road... and there was a "Closed Read More...
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We drove into Carrizo Plain National Monument . This is a large valley flanked by mountain ranges, one of those ranges, the Temblor Range, is formed by the San Andreas Fault . We drove down a dirt road to a Visitor Center, asked a few questions and had Read More...
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Mark and Sharon went off to work and we toured Santa Barbara. Andrew's bike was having problems so we found a bike shop and dropped it off. We parked at the Santa Barbara pier and took a tram down State Street, dropping us a few blocks from the old Mission Read More...
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We continued up Rte 33 and the drive was beautiful. Huge mountains, misty, foggy, a whitewater stream running alongside the road. It reminded me a lot of the Appalachians. We continued to the point that the road was closed at a campground. This campground Read More...
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Rachel and Ricardo had to head back to work, so it's time for us to head out. They have an avocado tree in the backyard full of fruit, so we took some with us. We were able o do a quick load of laundry, packed up the truck and hit the road towards Malibu. Read More...
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We went down to Venice Beach, CA and walked down the famous boardwalk. We saw "Muscle Beach", but we didn't see the "muscles" that made it famous. They must have been out to lunch. We had a sausage at Toby Maroni's and walked out to a big drum circle Read More...
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Everyone slept in. We got out around noon and went to a beer and wine store nearby and got several beers to... research. We headed into LA with our tour guides, Rachel and Ricardo. Ricardo has pretty much lived in the area for a long time and knows his Read More...
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Rachel and Ricardo went to work and Andrew and I had errands to run. We finally got a haircut at a place Ricardo suggested. We also got our new propane tank filled. We've been using the 1 pound propane canisters, but they are non-refillable, not easily Read More...
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The wind died down by morning, making breakfast easier. We've got a schedule today: we have a dental appointment in Los Angeles at 2:15. We're visiting with Rachel and Ricardo Montecino in Long Beach and Ricardo suggested his dentist Dr Stelmach in LA Read More...
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It's still raining off and on. We had enough time to snap a few photos of a rainbow across the desert but not enough time to make coffee and breakfast. We decided not to hike out to an old homestead from the 1930's. We took a four wheel drive road out Read More...
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The dirt bikes and ATVs came out this morning. At one point I counted six ATVs running up and down these hills that were 50 feet high or more. The ATVs would move on and then dirt bikes come out for a while. We were working on the computers a little because Read More...
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We did a hike to the top of Ryan's Mountain before we left. It's about a 3 mile hike roundtrip with about 1000 feet in elevation gained. We saw some rock climbers on some huge rocks next to Ryan's Mountain. They looked really tiny on that big rock. We Read More...
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We met for another guided tour at 10am with a volunteer. Our volunteer guide is from Twentynine Palms and has done this tour for 20 years. This walk is to an area where someone who homesteaded there carved several philosophical and political statements Read More...
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We went into Joshua Tree National Park and found out about a nice drive and a few hikes. We also found out about a ranger guided program all about Joshua Trees. Very informative! We're now on a first name basis with old Josh! We went on a few hikes thru Read More...
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