Week 4

A lot of road passed under our tires this week.  We started out from the Grand Canyon and headed for Page, Arizona.  The drive took us through some of the canyon lands which were beautiful.

We drove through a Navajo reservation and stopped at an artisan's market where you could buy Navajo jewelry and pottery and weaving direct form the artist who made the wares.  I splurged on some jewelry and pottery.  What was most interesting was the artists' willingness to explain the various sybols incorporated in their work and the meaning of the symbols.  So interesting.

Once in Page,  Harry went off to play the Page-Lake Powell National Golf Course, while I tried to keep myself and the dogs cool.  The campground in Page was terrible.  Only bad one of the whole trip.  It had all of the amenities one would like, but the staff was incredibly rude.  I thought it was just me.  But they herded a bunch of us Canadians in one area of the campground and while talking to our neighbours, found out they were also treated rudely and were only going to stay the night rather than the 3 nights originally planned.  Whew ... at least it wasn't just me they were rude to!  As we left Page, we visited our 4th and last dam of the trip:  the Glen Canyon Dam.  Yeah, yeah ... we're weird!  Anyway, it proved a nice little hike and some pretty scenery.

While having dinner in Page, we both agreed we were ready to head home.  We looked at the calendar and the map and made a plan.  We really wanted to try to make it home for Jacob's 1st birthday (Oct.4) and found we had plenty of time to make that .  So off we headed to Anaconda, Montanna -- just outside of Butte.  Harry re-played a golf course that he had played 5 years ago when it was just new.  I toured around the town because I had almost no recollection of our stay there 5 years ago.  That was the occasion of the fateful riding accident that resulted in a bad neck injury and so much pain I had little awareness of my surroundings.  I opted not to return to the scene of the accident and ride there again!!

Next stop was Great Falls, Montanna.  Again, Harry golfed and I opted for some last minute cross-border shopping while still in the Land of Cheap!  Ah ... how I wish we had Target in Canada!  In Great Falls we were warned about the impending bad weather ahead of us.  Cold temperatures and s--w.  Yikes!  We set out early on Saturday morning for Calgary.  The air was brisk, the skies were both clear and grey and leaked on and off.   We only drove through rain, but the scenery  was white with snow at times.

  It was kind of a long day, but we arrived safely back home in Calgary late Saturday afternoon.  We unpacked some of the RV and then I took a long hot bath.  You don't get those when you're on the road!  :-)  A good night's sleep in our own bed again and then off to Linda and John's house for Jacob's 1st birthday party.  Surprising LInda was so much fun.  Her face was priceless and she was so happy that we came home in time for the celebration.  Big hugs from Jacob and Anthony also made it worthwhile.  The birthday boy enjoyed his special day ...

So, our trip was great, relaxing and refreshing.  We'll spend our last week of holidays here at home puttering around here.  We'll clean and winterize the RV, clean out the gardens, make applesauce and get ourselves ready to go back to work next week.

I hope I haven't bored you with our trip journal.  :-)  -Karen