Red Storm: Molly & Emma Play Biddy League Basketball

Molly and Emma decided to play basketball this year. The big decision was where to play...Upward, Parks & Rec or Biddy League. They decided to play Biddy League because we found that they could be on Coach Tommy's team. They loved being on Coach Tommy's team in softball and enjoyed playing ball with Emory. They also got to play for Coach Jesse. They learned so much in such a short time. And considering that they were in the younger group of players on their team, they played fairly well. Their team lost only 2 games all season and came in 2nd place in the league tournament. Emma even won the post shooting contest for third grade girls. Which we determined was only fair since Molly won the Crunch Contest at the Lady Vols game in January--we still have Crunch Bar pieces (nine pounds of chocolate goes a long way!). Now, they've decided to go to basketball camp this summer. Greg just may have a basketball player after all. However, I don't think he'll have a daughter for a golfing partner, at least in the near future. PHOTOS

Grand Canyon: Day Three: Departure

The wind blew all night long. When we woke up it was snowing like crazy--i.e. a blizzard! We dressed (in lots of layers) and headed to breakfast. As we walked to the lodge, we had to look down at our feet because the ground was covered with snow on ice and because the wind was blowing the snow so hard it felt like pins pricking the skin on my face. I should invest in some snow goggles; I may find myself in another blizzard sometime in the next 15 years. When we finally got inside and tried to get information about the weather and road conditions, no one knew anything because all (or almost all) of the people that work in the Grand Canyon, live there too. So, I guess they really don't care what happens with the weather or the roads. But when you have to drive four hours to Las Vegas to catch a flight home, it's pretty important. We couldn't make a decision about whether to wait until lunch time and see if it stops snowing and warms up or to get out while we still could.

When we finally talked with someone who had a little information, we found out that the Grand Canyon area was expecting 6 - 18 inches of snow during the day. We were out of there--after we dug the car out! Driving was treacherous for a while and we had to creep along. Next time Greg will listen to me and rent a Hummer! Eventually the roads began to get slushy, then they were just wet. As we descended from the Grand Canyon to the desert, we saw a tremendous change in our surrounding--snow to sand! PHOTOS

We stopped at the Hoover Dam on our way into Nevada. It hasn't changed since last year. Same lake, same dam, same river! The small big change was the few supports that had been put in place for the new Hoover Dam Bridge. Small because they had only added a few supports; Big because those few supports were enormous and looked as if they reached the sky! I could never work on a construction site like that. PHOTOS

We eventually got to Las Vegas and the weather was comfortable--no gloves, hats, scarves required! We drove down the strip and I was amazed at the change from last year when we were there with all of the crazy NBA All-Star fans. It seemed so calm this year. We headed to Fremont Street to spend a few hours before going to the airport. We "donated" some money to the cause at Binions--slots! We devoured prime rib for dinner and watched the Super Bowl from the casino. Much different than any other super bowl atmosphere I can remember in recent history. PHOTOS

Our flight was scheduled to leave a little before midnight and it was delayed. When we finally got on the plane, I was exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep-HA! We were fortunate in that our seats were in a section of three seats and no one was in the third seat on our row so we got to stretch out! When we arrived home, we headed straight to Mom & Dad's to get the girls for school. It's always fun to get away, but almost more fun to come back home...except for the laundry!

Grand Canyon: Day 2: The Adventure Continues

The next morning we woke up early (4:00 a.m.--these time changes really are inconvenient) and had a huge breakfast. Greg ordered a two-egg omelette and we decided that the hens in Arizona lay larger eggs than they do in Tennessee. It had to be made with three or more eggs, and it was stuffed with mushrooms, sausage and tomatoes. Plus it came with fried potatoes and three slices of toast. I had just as much food--two scrambled eggs, fried potatoes and three slices of toast. We should have ordered just one of those because neither one of us cleaned our plates. They also served the best hot chocolate with real whipped cream.

Now that we were stuffed, we began our journey of the south rim. First stop, Canyon View Information Plaza. We listened to Ranger Bob share information about the formation of the canyon and looked at the displays. I also shopped at the canyon book store. Traveling by shuttle, we ventured to the eastern most point in the village, Yaki Point. Yaki Point seems to hang in mid-air offering a fine view of spires, buttes, and talus slopes. It is also the point of the South Kaibab Trailhead. There were two hikers on our shuttle who were hiking down on Saturday and returning on Monday (I was hoping for them that it really was warmer below the rim than it was on the rim, becuase the predicted low was 18 degrees--and they were not staying in a lodge at the bottom. Call me a weenie, but I could NEVER do that!) We also got off the shuttle at Pipe Creek Vista. It was very icy with lots of snow. Greg was amused by throwing snowballs into the canyon. From there we headed back to the Inforamtion Plaza.

After a quick warm-up and bathroom break, we ventured toward Mather Point on foot. It was just as crowded today as it was yesterday. However, I was more prepared because I didn't have to change from my crocks to my boots; I knew I couldn't survive today with out my boots and wool socks! From Mather Point, we hiked along the rim to Yavapai Observation Station. The building is stone which blends into the canyon and looks as if it is a part of the natural formation. It was a great place to see the canyon from indoors.

By this time we were starting to get hungry, or thought we were, and headed back to the village for lunch at El Tovar. El Tovar is the creme de la creme of the restaurant/lodges at the Grand Canyon. Greg had an angus burger with mushrooms and gargonzola cheese--it looked yummy! I had the soup special--seafood bisque--with a medetarianian salad. I'll have to say of all the good food we ate, this soup was my absolute favorite. Outside El Tovar is Hopi House, a building reminiscent of ancient south-western pueblos. When it first opened, it offered, as it does today, a huge selection of crats, but it was also home to working Hopi artisans and performers who informed and entertained the tourists. Greg was not very amused by this stop on our trip, but the crafts inside were actually very interesting and beautiful.

From Hopi House, we continued westward on our journey around the rim to Lookout Studio. Here, Greg left to stretch out in our little home-away-from-home while I strolled around the Lookout Studio looking at the exhibits and canyon view from the lookout. The studio was designed by Mary Colter, who also designed many other buildings on the rim, to blend in with the side of the canyon. Just below Lookout Studio is Kolb Studio, an old house designed and built by Ellsworth and Emery Kolb, which holds a gallery and bookstore. Another one of Greg's least favorite stops. The studio sits at the trailhead to Bright Angel Trail which we ventured down, although the trail was completly covered with ice--very scary, since there was no railing to prevent one from sliding off the trail over the edge of the canyon! We walked down to the first tunnel and took several photos along the way. We also encountered some very interesting (translate: strange) folks. When we saw the mules coming back up the trail from thier day's venture into the canyon, we decided to come back so that we wouldn't be on the narrow trail with a big mule. The mules wear special shoes in the winter that give them better traction--kind of like cleats.

The next portion of our journey was by car. We headed up the Hermits Road to Hermits Rest at the fartherest point west on the rim trail. The shuttle bus does not run on this route in the winter months, but it is opened to cars and during the other three seasons the only access is by shuttle bus or by foot (it is closed to private vehicles). It is quite amazing how close the road is to the edge of the canyon with only a few rows of rocks to form a small wall, but no guard rail to prevent cars from just driving off the side of the canyon. We stopped at the Trailview Overlook and saw the Bright Angel Trail as it descends into the canyon, Maricopa Point where the views of El Tovar and Bright Angel Lodge were quite amazing and Powell Point where the trail was completely covered with ice. However, we saw two mule deer here with a fawn; they look a little different from the deer in the Smokies--stouter and larger ears. Farther west we stopped at Hopi Point and saw some of the western canyons that are from view when looking from some of the the eastern points. Because it was begining to get dark, we skipped Mohave Point and The Abyss so that we could move onto Pima Point. Once again, the view was amazing. In our effort to continue on the the final stop, Hermits Rest, we were turned around on the pull-off road and started back down toward the Grand Canyon village. It had begun to snow and we decided we had better get back while it was still light and maybe we could get our parking spot next to our little cabin (we didn't). As we were circling around on a one-way street back to our parking lot, we came upon a herd of mule deer, some of which looked as if they were on vacation from the north pole (their antlers were huge!). As I stepped out of the car to take a picture of the amazing sunset, I looked over the stone wall and was about 15 feet from a huge deer, which kind of scared me because there are several warnings about how the wildlife (even the deer) can be aggressive in the winter becuase they may be hungry, etc. etc. etc. I snapped my photos and we parked the car.

Since we had stuffed ourselves at breakfast and lunch, we decided to just have appetizers for dinner. We ate and bought gifts to bring to the girls and settled in for a night of high winds and snow!

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Grand Canyon: Day 1: The Weekend Begins

Greg and I left early on a flight to Las Vegas. Of course we got to the airport later than we expected (my fault--literally). It seemed as if we stood in line forever to check-in and even longer than forever to go through security. McGee-Tyson is a happening place at 6:30 in the morning! Getting on the plane was a breeze--we walked right through and were almost the last ones on the plane. As we sat in our seats (window and middle) with the isle seat empty, we hoped that no one else would get on and we could spread out, although when our seats were assigned we were told that the plane was nearly full. Lucky us--three seats for the four hour flight.

After arriving and picking up our rental car, we headed east for the Grand Canyon. Over the Hoover Dam, through the desert (what a dismal place to live) and into the national park. Before entering the park, I told Greg to stop at the Grand Canyon sign so that we could take some photos. We approached the sign rather quickly and Greg had to slam on the breaks and slide into the pull-off, we certainly made a "grand" entrance. Once inside the park, we stopped at Mather Point, the most visited point on either rim and named for the first National Park Service director, Stephen Mather. As I stood there in awe of the view, I'm thinking, "'Grand' doesn't even begin to describe this canyon. Maybe we should reconsider the name and call it the 'Amazingly, Unbelievable, Indescribable, Tremendously Enormous, Beautiful Hole in the Earth'. And as an educational experience, every child in America should have this field trip included in his/her curriculum.

We left Mather Point and headed to Bright Angel Lodge to check into our cozy abode for the next two days. The reception area in the lodge felt rustic with a fire in the large, stone fireplace. Greg thought it was somewhat funny that the fire was of average to small in size and the fireplace was enormous! However, it was warm and each time we entered the lodge we warmed up by the fire. Our cabin was a quadplex (is that a word?). I read that the cabins were built in 1935. They were very neat and modernized considering how long ago they were built. And thank goodness they were built, because they replaced a tent camp and I could have never made it in a tent!

After settling in, we got familiar with the village by riding the shuttle around the village. When we returned the sun had gone down and all of the water from the melted snow became ice. Everything was slick. It was about 7:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. EST) and we were hungry and tired. The hunger was remedied by dinner in the lodge--steak and potato. The tired was remedied by getting ready for bed early--for Arizona, not for travelers that had been on the go for 18 hours.

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