Wednesday was a blur. I had laid out a set of lessons for Skye that could be done in the car, "Carschooling", as I power shopped. We loaded up at Salvation Army, racing to make sure we could get Cindy to her flight on time. And we did, just barely. Now with Cindy on her way to be with her family, I turned my attention fully on the what Skye and my Thanksgiving was going to be. We had a couple of very gracious invites to Thanksgiving get togethers, which were very tempting. In fact, it was not until we were in REI buying Skye new boots that I conclusively decided that we were indeed going on our Thanksgiving camping trip to Bryce National Park. First thing first, the old Explorer needed a new battery. It had been two weeks since calling AAA for a jump and being told that the car wouldn't start again with the battery I had. It did start again and again, but I wasn't about to go up in the snow and continue to push my luck. Dropped the car off at the mechanic and had him fix the rear brake light, so I could take care of my pending fix-it ticket I had gotten the week before.
Then of course, was the matter of Thanksgiving dinner, Turkey dogs and smores sounded just right to Skye, and I concurred. So a quick stop at the grocery market and then off to home to pack. Then it occured to me that I would want to print directions and I was in the middle of printer hell, at home. So to Staple we went to buy a new printer. (Really there is a story behind the printer computer home nightmare, but not for now)
Packed, did some work calls/e-mails filing, downloading etc., packed some more, dinner, research trip, install and get working new printer, more packing(will try to do some school work and/or trip-oriented type lessons) watched an hour PBS program, The History of Thanksgiving, put Skye to bed, quick blog, showered, in bed by midnight-ish.
Alarm goes off an hour and half latter, 1:30am. Take bike rack off car, unload work-stuff, accumulated crap and then load and pack vehichle. Wake up Skye on the road at 2:40 am. On schedule to be in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving buffet brekfast.
You can see what a lovely day met us the following morning on our arrival in Vegas. Actually this is how the sky always looks in the Venetian. Actual Vegas was cloaked in dark clouds and rained as we raced about the Strip looking for a buffet that was actually opened at 7 am, Thanksgiving day.
The immortal Siegfreid and Roy and tiger friend. Finally after getting lost in several almost empty casinos, we landed in Caeser's Palace for a feast of plenty.
Had to include this pic, made me laugh and scared me too. BTW, this was one of many of these ads, freeway billboards as well. Gunsales rocketed after Obama won. WTF?!?!
On the Road Again
We got back on the road a little latter than hoped for, but not too bad 9 am. We had approximately 4 hours left to drive, find a camp, get firewood, etc, cook and enjoy our Thanksgiving delight.
We breezed through Arizona, into Utah. Skye helped navigate and we were making good time, until.......
We couldn't find a small road that would connect us to the highway that fed into Bryce. We went a bit further north and found a road that should have gotten us there, except we had to turn back after the snowy conditions made it seem like a bad idea to continue on small winding icy road at 7000 ft elevation.
I was begining to feel like Skye and I were getting ready to do a reenactment of the winter before the first Thanksgiving feast, you know almost no food, freezing, miserable, "was coming to America such a good idea"
Finally we found a road further north that was larger and less snowbound, connected to highway and made it to Bryce a little after 4pm.
Skye on her cell phone, telling her friend about camp and our upcoming feast.
Success!!! We managed to set up camp, get a fire started and prepare for dinner.
Meanwhile Skye explored around camp. She sighted a deer when she got to the top of the hill.
Roasting dogs and marshmellows over an open fire, yum!
It was snowwing during our Thanksgiving meal and through the night. Fortunately we had pretty good sleeping gear, so that once you were bundled up for the night it wasn't quite so cold. Now getting ready for bed and waking up, very different matter, cold, cold, cold.
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