Adam and Tiffy

It took awhile, but we finally posted the pictures from our summer trip to:

• Las Vegas
• Zion
• Capital Reef
• Bryce Canyon
• Grand Canyon
• … and back to Vegas!

It was another whirlwind tour of the Southwest, and we had a great time staying in cabins, hiking in the desert, and absorbing the absolutely gorgeous geography out there. Check it out our summer 2007 photos!

We’ve arrived back from this year’s great summer vacation, and what a great time we had! Here were the highlights:

San Francisco - We stayed at The Argonaut near Fisherman’s Wharf and actually ran into actor Jon Lovitz at the hotel’s great restaurant, The Blue Mermaid. We ate yummy dim sum at Oriental Pearl in Chinatown. Let’s not forget our creepy night tour of Alcatraz. Finally, we went on a touristy cable car tour of the city, got a fun education on the architecture, and drove across the Golden Gate.

Yosemite - Our tour of national parks continued. Yosemite has the wonderful geological monoliths Half-Dome and El Capitan, and our view of both from Glacier Point was spectacular. There were so many gushing waterfalls, runoff from this year’s great snowfall, that I lost count of how many we saw. It was great family fun to stay in a big house with everyone after full days of seeing the natural wonders.

Kings Canyon / Sequoia - There were amazing, mighty trees that can be found nowhere else; their trunks grow huge and their canopies majestic in the 5000 – 7000 foot altitudes. Driving down the switchback mountain roads demanded constant attention but was so much fun!

Death Valley – I didn’t know what everyone was complaining about. It was a dry heat! The mercury settled at a mere 123 degrees on July 1. We saw the scenic and beautiful Artist’s Palette, a colorful formation of rock enriched by the evening sunset. The flat tire was a mere inconvenience.

Las Vegas – Vegas, baby! Vegas! We had another great meal at Mon Ami Gabi with a perfect view of the Bellagio fountains across the street. Having been there several times before, Tiffy and I were intrigued to test out the new monorail system. We had an enjoyable adult evening — no, not that way! — at Red Square in Mandalay Bay with David and Dee; there were delicious libations and a hip atmosphere. We’re sure the teenagers enjoyed just as much all the walking down The Strip in 100 degree heat because they couldn’t either drink or gamble.

And now we’re back home, and we love that, too. At least we have our vacation photos and other family pictures to help us relive those fun times on our most recent 1200-mile road trip!

Wondered what we’re up to this summer? At the tail end of June we’ll be taking another fun road trip and visiting a few more National Parks. For a preview, check our this PDF of this summer’s drive. Only 1100 miles this year!

They make it snow in the Magic Kingdom in December as part of the Christmas celebration. They can do this even though it’s 65 degrees out. It’s miraculous! I’m sure that most regular readers are tired of hearing about our Disney trips, so we’ll cut to the chase and just point you at the photos of Disneyworld during the holidays.

We’re back! We have an excellent selection of photos from our 3109 mile loop through some of the national parks and other scenic sites in the west. We had a great time! Here are the places we passed through.

• Rocky Mountain NP
• Wind Cave NP
• Mount Rushmore
• Crazy Horse
• Yellowstone NP
• Teton NP
• Salt Lake City
• Mesa Verde NP
• Sand Dunes NP
• Silverton ghost towns
• Ouray
• Durango
• Pike’s Peak

We’ll have captions up as soon as we can. In the meantime, please enjoy the photos of our trip to Yellowstone and beyond! There are more photos at http://www.hanulec.net/photos also.

That is to say, because of Tiffy, we won’t have to! We have a trip planned with her family to visit Yellowstone and other national parks this August. It’s taken everybody awhile to agree on a plan, but now that we know it, Tiffy’s made virtually all our hotel arrangements overnight. (Yay! No sleeping in the car!) We’ll get to enjoy a wide variety of great American accomodations, including the Best Western, Econo Lodge, Holiday Inn, La Quinta, the Ouray Chalet Inn, and the Hotel Monaco. I was really hoping we could work in a Motel 6 or a Super 8, but alas, it was not to be. Also, unfortunately, there are no creepy hotel rooms available in the Silverton, Colorado, which is where we’ll be touring a cluster of ghost towns. I was really hoping to have some kind of Scooby Doo style adventure and foil an old prospector in a glowing costume. Us darn kids!