This is a brief Blog just to catch you up.  Internet service is a luxury that the National Parks have yet to embrace.  So our only internet service has been the occasional McDonalds.  The Parks also do not have electrical hook ups so I am sitting in the car to write this in hopes that we will find a Wifi signal to be able to send this.  From this point on we are only staying at National Parks so the Blog will not be fully filled in with pictures and explanations for a while.  We are writing about every place we go so when the time comes you will have all the exciting details.  Here is a brief overview of the last two weeks since May 11

Day 69 May 12

                Day 2 at the Grand Canyon

                                We went to a Geology seminar about the canyon and learned about A DUDE

Day 70 May 13 Mothers day

                Day 3 at the Grand Canyon

                                Got reservation for Phantom Ranch and  went to Coulter Tower

                                Repotted cactus

Day 71 May 14

                Day 4 at the Grand Canyon

                Hike down to Phantom ranch using the South Kaibab Trial 7 miles

Day 72 May 15

                Day 5 at the Grand Canyon

                Hike out of Grand Canyon Bright Angle trial 9.4 miles

Day 73 May 16 Happy birthday Dad

                Drove from Grand Canyon to Mesa Verde

                Stopped at Four Corners

                Got to camp late

Day 74 May 17

Toured everything we could at Mesa Verde

                Cliff Palace

                Balcony House

                Spruce Tree House

                Mesa Houses

                Than went shopping and had a late  Pizza

Day 75 May 18

Durango for shoes Lesley’s shoes did not survive the Grand Canyon Hike the last couple of miles were rough with broken shoes.  A word of advice do not buy cheap hiking boots.

Crossed continental divide where there was snow on the ground and a snow flurry was happening.

Drove to Great Sand Dunes and 95 degrees and very windy went to dunes to see sunset

Day 76 May 19

 Anna and I climbed the Sand dunes to about 600 feet.

Mom and Jane did the Montville trial to explore the abandoned village

Went to a Ranger talk on dunes and eclipse

Drove back across the divide to Devil’s Canyon

Day 77 May 20

Slept in and went to Natural Bridges

Hiked

Ranger program and watched eclipse.

 We got great pictures of the Eclipse!

Hiked down to a bridge at night

Day 78 May 21

Drove from Devils Canyon to Arches

Squeezed into a sight but had to wait till six before they would give us a sight so spent the day hiking in the 98 degree weather

Skyline arch at sunset

Ranger program on animals adaptations

 Day 79 May 22

Some more Arches Drove to Capitial Reef but the campground was full so we camped in the National Forest  in a random dirt road.

Day 80 May 23

Capital Reef (great park) did scenic drive and hike explored old farm, drove to Bryce it is supposed to snow this weekend (Bryce is at 8000 feet so it often snows in May)

 We stopped at a RV park to Recharge batteries shower and have internet but the internet did not work.

Day 81 May 24

Went on a 10 mile horse ride through Bryce Canyon

Day 82   May 25, 2012

 The High wind warning prevented us from going to Zion National Park today some roads were closed. So we slept in a little. We fixed the camper in the morning and hiked two trails one in the afternoon and one at sunset. It was a great hike with awesome views.

Day 83 May 26

Got up early to Drive to Zion in order to have most of the day there.

Day 84 May 27

Found a McDonalds on the way to Great Basin NP

There is a lot more to say on each day plus nice pictures I hope to be able to show them to you soon.

Watching the Eclipes at Natural Bridges National Park

Arches National Park

Bryce Canyon at Sunset