San Clemente & More Family Fun!

After staying with Grandma and Grandpa we were delighted to be able to stick around in California and see some of Taylor's other relatives! We headed down to San Clemente to stay for a couple of nights with his beautiful Aunt Karen and wonderful Uncle Steve (the same aunt and uncle who own the Colorado cabin that they so generously allowed us to use.) Taylor has had the joy of growing up with one of the most loving, supportive, and fun families anyone could ask for, and I have the privilege of calling them my family as well! We are two very lucky people and are grateful to have all of them in our life!

Not only did we get to spend some quality time with Karen and Steve, but we also got to see Taylor's cousins, Erich, Brad, and Cassie. His Grandparents also came down for a couple more days to spend together, so it was a whole lot of family fun!

Since we enjoyed their little zoo in Big Bear so much, Grandpa and Grandma treated us, as well as Erich and Brad, to a day at the San Diego Zoo! It turned out that we must have chosen a good day to go because the animals were all active and interesting, rather than snoozing in their dens! It was also special for us to get to spend an afternoon with Taylor's guy cousins, with whom he has countless fun-filled memories from growing up that he greatly cherishes (stories that I have heard again...and again...and again, by the way! haha). With his extended family all living on the west coast, it is rare that we get to see them, so we enjoyed every minute of our time together!

The view from Aunt Karen and Uncle Steve's house!

Grandma and Grandpa

 

Cassie and Aunt Karen

 

Poor Taylor...he's a good sport

 

Brad and Erich...We all felt a little funny about taking this pic seeing as toddlers were assuming the same position for it moments before!

 

 

 

by Motsenbocker

Grandma & Grandpa's!

After our exciting night in Las Vegas we headed to Big Bear Lake in California to spend some time with Taylor's wonderful Grandparents. Taylor (and now myself!) are blessed with two of the most loving and encouraging grandparents around, thus making our visit with them something that both of us had been looking forward to for weeks! (Also the home-cooked meals and cozy house in the mountains didn't hurt!)

During our few days with them we ate our weight in delicious food, helped with some projects around the house, took a boat around the beautiful lake and even hit the zoo! After weeks of camping and hiking (i.e. Taylor's things) it was a delight to get to enjoy the animal park as something a little more "Allison". Haha!

There was one family member that was not so thrilled by our visit- Tigger the cat. Tigger is Grandma's enormous feline friend who basically hates all other living things aside from her. What did that mean to me?....A challenge! I was determined to make Tigger my friend by the end of our stay. This pretty much just looked like me following around an annoyed cat while he growled and hissed and tried to swat at me with his claw-less paws. We may not be BFFs, but he did let me pet him a few times and rubbed against my leg when he thought that I wasn't looking. I'll mark that as a near success! :)

Breakfast at a local spot...check out the size of those pancakes!!

Taylor doing some Mac tutoring...a comical turn to the evening!

Tigger, my friend, though he just doesn't know it yet

Enjoying some Mule Deer kisses

So glad we got to see a Grizzly through a fence instead of our campsite!

World's chubbiest Cougar!

by Motsenbocker

Viva Las Vegas!

After many days spent in (beautiful) National Parks, we changed things up a bit and spent a night in Sin City!! We were able to get a great deal on a room online so we stayed at the Luxor hotel; you know, the one shaped like a big black pyramid! I have never been to Las Vegas before aside from a few hours spent in the airport, so I was practically bouncing in my seat as we drove into the city! We pulled into the hotel, which I had expected to be incredibly corny and overdone with the Egyptian theme but actually found it to be really nice. I got us checked in while Taylor figured out where to park, and immediately wished he had gone in with me to stand in line as I was the only one there in dirty, smelly camping clothes that I had just hiked a few miles in that morning, while everyone around me was wearing their Vegas best. Oh well! We got our room and our coupons (which by the way, we quickly figured out are not nearly as good of a deal as you might think! Taylor put it like this: "What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away"), showered up and changed, and went downstairs to explore a little. We were amazed at all there was in just our hotel alone! Restaurants and bars, casinos (obviously), spas and even an entire mall! It's no wonder people never leave their hotels here! But luckily we did because I had a mission to accomplish--- My parents got married here in Las Vegas at a little chapel and I was determined to find it! I knew the name of it; "World Famous Chapel of the Bells", and had seen a picture of the sign, so I had an idea of what we were looking for. A minute of punching things into the iphone and a short drive down the strip later and we were standing right in front of the place where my parents were married! So cool!

After that we went back to our hotel for a bite to eat and gave the slot machines a try. I'm not much of a believer in luck, but nearly every single time that Taylor did the button-pushing we won something and every single time that I did, we lost. Hmmph! We ended up $20 poorer but hey, it's all part of the Vegas experience, right!? :)

With very full bellies from our dinner, we decided to walk down the street to see the fountain show outside of the Bellagio. It was neat to watch and I was really surprised on our walk at how clean the city is! I had expected very dingy, dirty streets with scary people everywhere, but it's actually quite the opposite. I was amazed at how many families there were walking around town and how nice the walkways and shopfronts seem to be. I had it in my head that it would be similar but maybe even worse than Atlantic City, which let's be honest, is pretty gross! So that was a pleasant surprise and made for an enjoyable walk down the strip.

We only stayed the one night, as that was all that our little road tripping budget could allow, and left the next morning for a few days with Taylor's Grandparents in Big Bear, CA, poorer, not richer, but having enjoyed our Las Vegas time none-the-less!

Do we look like celebs?

 

 

 

Where my parents got married! Apparently Kelly Rippa also got married here!

 

New York New York hotel

 

cool stairs!

Walking down the strip

 

Glitz all around!

 

Fountains at the Bellagio

 

The Luxor- our hotel

 

by Motsenbocker

Zion National Park

Next in our travels came Zion! Though we were only there for about 24 hours we enjoyed what we got to see in the park! Like Arches, the rock walls are just amazing and overwhelm you as you go deeper and deeper among them! There is a lot more plant life in Zion thanks for more rainfall, so what you don't get in uninterrupted red rocks, it makes up for in some greenery and wildlife. We were even able to get just feet away from a buck who was munching on some grass!

We camped in one of their open sites and did a little hiking around the park. Then we went out into the little town that is located right outside of the park and enjoyed some ice cream and window shopping! :)

Like I said, we were only there for 24 hours so I don't have a whole lot to write about, but it was a beautiful and lovely day well spent at Zion.

 

 

 

sunset glow on the rocks

our little home for the past 6 weeks

 

 

 

 

by Motsenbocker

Arches National Park

We arrived into Arches National Park and were absolutely amazed from the minute we pulled in! Even the "less impressive" areas have an awesome beauty that keeps you constantly reaching for your camera. We camped the first night at a site that was right on a quiet river and faced an enormous rock face that introduced us to the stunning red color that we have now seen all throughout the park. When the morning came we packed up and headed to the visitors center to get some information about backcountry camping (i.e. camping that involves backpacking out to a farther location but is free) This was when we met the one and only unpleasant Park Ranger we have come in contact with. Our conversation began a little something like this...

Taylor: Hi, we were wondering if we could get a permit for a backcountry pass so we can do some backpacking.

Mean Ranger Lady: Why!?

Taylor: Uhhh...because it's fun?

Mean Ranger Lady: (sigh) Well, you have to be really careful out there...we have a mountain lion.

Allison: Just the one??

Clearly our conversation was not going well and she was quite less than thrilled that we were bothering her for a permit. I'm fairly certain that she had hopes that their ONE mountain lion would find us and have us for dinner.

Luckily things took a turn for the better for us when we went over to the gift shop side of the Visitor's Center and started chatting with the man who worked there. He had many helpful things to offer about the park and even told us of a "local secret" place where we could find petroglyphs. He said he usually didn't like to tell tourists about it but since we were backpackers he would share the info! Take that Mean Ranger Lady!

From there we headed to see the arches! Everywhere we went was spectacular, with amazing rock formations and stunning arches flying overhead! The colors were shocking and thanks to the beautiful day we had, the blue sky set the perfect backdrop for the bright reds and golds all around! We even found the wall carvings our buddy in the gift shop had given us the tip on (though it wasn't the easiest to find...I guess that's the point).

Our second night in the park (our "backcountry night") we hiked a couple miles out into, well, the middle of nowhere. They have some sort of special crust on top of certain areas of their soil in the park where organisms have been able to form and therefore allow plants to grow. Because of this, walking, hiking, and especially camping are strictly permitted on the soil. So per Mean Ranger Lady's instruction, we set up our tent on top of the flattest rock we could find, which of course means we slept at a very steep angle all night! The plus side was that our view was unbelievable, overlooking the canyons surrounding the park that glowed as the sun set behind us.

The Arches Park definitely ranked high on our list as one of our favorite places that we have seen (despite our rocky start with Mean Ranger Lady). It is a gorgeous place to see if you ever get the chance!

 

 

"Park Avenue"

 

 

 

"Devil's Garden Trail"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A slot canyon that Taylor found near our backcountry campsite

 

by Motsenbocker