The Journey Begins: Visit with Mom & Paul and the Grand Canyon

Our first stop on our trip to England was in Arizona to see Mom and Paul.  We left a very soggy San Diego after turning in our house key and stopping for donuts for one last time at our favorite breakfast place, Rose Donuts.  The rain stopped just outside of San Diego and the trip went very well.  This was Cooper's first road trip in the Integra, which was mostly full with all of our property for the next 2 months, so he had a seat either on Lindsay's lap, or right behind my head rest.  With a normal stop in Baker, CA for fuel and food, we arrived without any major delay at Mom's house.

Of course there were a slew of wagging tails when we arrived (maybe some oinking, but we couldn't hear).  Staying over at Mom's is always an adventure; that's probably why Bobo is called the Adventure Dog.  Mom had remodeled since the last time we were there so it took Cooper a little while of exploring to get used to it again.  This was going to be his home for the next 6 weeks while his time finished on the 6 month quarantine that the UK requires for entry.

While we were visiting, we got to go out to eat, see movies, and mostly relax before our long journey to England.  However, we knew we wanted to go see the Grand Canyon because we've been talking about it for years now.  Actually, Lindsay had already been, but it was our first time together.  So, one day, we all jumped in the Integra (we took it because out of all the vehicles, it was most ready for a day trip into the great unknown).  The drive took us through the beautiful plateaus of Kaibab National Forest.

When we arrived, we got out and wondered with wonder.  We stopped by the Lodge and got to see Brighty, someone whom Mom and Lindsay didn't want to miss.  

We also went to view the Canyon from the patio there.

There were numerous hiking opportunities and we chose one that didn't seem too long, since we weren't really dressed for hiking.

We also got back into the car and drove to a few fantastic lookouts.  One that stood out for us was Angel's Window.

Lindsay took lots of pictures and we actually got to walk out on the precipice and took a few more.

Paul talked to us about some of the ancient history of the first settlers of the Grand Canyon and we got to see one of their 'summer' settlement areas.

On the drive home, we hit some rain that we guessed came from San Diego, but while the Sun was still up, we got to see some stunning views of the Aspens growing in the fields and forests of Kaibab.  The leaves were bright yellow and the trunks were white with bits of black where the bark had been removed.

Since Kaibab was a National Forest, there was no hunting, so the deer there were in the meadows, grazing as we drove by.  I thought it would be funny to give a quick honk honk as we drove, but the reaction was not what we suspected.  The entire group, in unison, looked up and their big ears pointed straight at us.  We got a huge kick out of this!  Since they didn't run, or panic too much, we felt it was harmless to do it to every group as we left the Forest and every time, we laughed with glee.  After dark, we stopped in the small town of Jacob Lake and had a nice dinner, before we hit the long road back to Mom's house.

The morning that we left was a sad one.  Cooper knew we were leaving but he didn't know that he wasn't coming with us.  As we said our goodbyes and started to pull out of the driveway, his ears lowered with sadness and he started whimpering.  We would end up missing him the most of all until he arrived in England in December.

The story continues soon...

~Blake