Swimming with Sea Lions

Song for the day: Sleeping at Last - Sun 

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Hey Blog Followers,

The last few days we’ve been covering a lot of miles and have passed through six states.

I started writing this blog on 4^th August but I'm not sure when I’ll get to post it – hopefully it’s not too out of date when it gets to you!

Last Monday we set out from Dallas for a long journey across Texas and into New Mexico. Rain clouds loomed above for much of the journey but we persevered and picked up a Christmas Tree souvenir at Pecan House rest stop, really unique but not very interesting if you don’t like pecans…

Blue Hole & NM rain clouds looming

Some of our journey was also spent on Historic Route 66, bucket list check!
Before we reached Albuquerque we stopped at the Blue Hole like my trek did last time I was in the states. It’s a natural spring about 80 feet deep that never warms up because there is always fresh water coming in from the bottom. I didn’t fancy the cold but Jimmy went in for a dip and a few jumps from the rocks.

As we neared the end of our journey for the day the heavens opened and it was a total wash out. The road looked like a river and had it not been for the barriers we wouldn’t have known where the edge was, the lanes didn’t exist anymore. Fortunately there weren’t many cars on the road and we took it slow, Mr Cautious in the drivers’ seat. Arriving safely we popped up our tent under a big tree as the rain stopped, had a quick 20p pasta then bed!

From Albuquerque we sent out North and visited the Four Corners Monument where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona meet. Standing on four states at once doesn’t look very impressive but it’s a cool little stop and I left Jimmy in New Mexico while I went to search for a post card in Arizona and Utah. Back

Route 66 and The Four Corners Monument

in the car we drove North through Colorado then West into Utah for the most scenic route into Monument Valley. Most of you know I’m not a city girl (only the Lord’s will could have persuaded me to agree to move to London!) so being back out in the wilderness was a welcome change, but there’s something extra special about Monument Valley. We don’t believe in all the spirits and legends of the Navajo people but it’s easy to see why they think those rich red rocks are special and tell a story. It’s such a quiet and beautiful place, perfect for sunsets and sunrises - which believe it or not we did get up for at 5.30am and it was worth every second of sleep we sacrificed. We stayed in the same campsite as my trek did last time and three other trek groups were there this time. It’s such a blessing to share all of this together this time round although I do look back at Trek America with fond memories.

Monument Valley Sunrise & Glen Canyon

After the glorious sunrise it was another six hour journey to the Grand Canyon via the spectacular Horse Shoe Bend at Glen Canyon. Hot, sweaty and dusty we marched down to Horse Shoe Bend, appreciated and took a few photos then marched back up as it was just too gut churning to watch fools of tourists see how close they can get to the edge for a good selfie. There are no barriers and people are just stupid! Argh, it was sickening…

Anyway, on a few more hours and we arrived at one of the best KOA campsites yet. Great store, sweet tent site, pool, two hot tubs and a café with the best chicken burger I’ve ever eaten in my life!

Needless to say this was the best setup we could have asked for the night before a hike.

Thursday morning we drove an hour into the Grand Canyon and parked up at the visitor centre to get the shuttle down to the Kiabab Trail. This is the hike I did last time and it was so much fun so see Jimmys' expression of wonder the first time he beheld the canyon and having his support as we hiked down a mile and a half and then back up again. It doesn’t sound too difficult a climb but in the heat on a steep hill with a rubbish asthma chest it’s not easy. We took it a little at a time on the way back up and were blessed enough to see lots of cheeky squirrels, several huge yellow butterflies

Grand Canyon & its butterflies

fluttering around us and even a breath-taking little hummingbird with its beak inside a flower – which is such a marvel of creation!
Dusty, tired but quite proud of ourselves we shuttled back to the car, washed off our legs and got changed as the weather shifted and a storm rolled in. The blue line shuttle took us down to Bright Angel Lodge where we hid from the rain and had an early dinner to pass the time and hoped the storm would clear for sunset. It did! Back to car to drive ourselves over to Yavapai Point where we sat for over an hour and watched the sun descend and the sky turn from blue to yellow to orange to gold to pink as the clouds tinted and faded around it. Beautiful.

Back at the camp site a dip in the hot tub was of course necessary to sooth our aching muscles before bed!

From this amazing place we skipped a weekend over LA, walked down Long Beach, visited Hillsong LA and saw the Hollywood sign. Must confess it’s not my favourite place in the world but hey, it’s mostly because it’s a city – plus there are so many homeless people it fills you with despair to know only a few miles away is Bel Air and Beverly Hills. The contrast is bleak.

Hillsong LA was pretty different again to the churches we’ve visited. They are only a few weeks old so it’s all new and being a Hillsong Church, heavily focussed on the music. The message was

Hillsong Welcome goods

pretty good, but they need some older generations in there, a church can’t be a Christian Union, where is the wisdom?

Escaping the city limits we drove to Santa Margarita for the night to one of the most remote campsites I’ve ever known. Each site was really spread out at varying heights on the dusty tree scattered hill. Our spot for the night was right at the top of the hill with some fairly precarious turns in the road when taken at night with only headlights to guide you! The awesome view across the fields with a lush sunset made up for it though. An hour after that was spent in the laundry room, washing and on wifi, followed by two Hill heads popped out of the tent door to star gaze. It was a clear night with little light pollution and shooting stars soared over us, although not everyone was looking in the right direction to spot them; Josie – 5, Jimmy – 1.

All of yesterday was spent cruising up the coast on Highway 1, not for those with weak stomachs. The road twists and turns around the cliffs bordering the Pacific Ocean with the quaintest little café stops and souvenir shops dotted along the way (as well as extravagantly priced gas stations, there better be gold dust in that fuel) and countless viewpoints to break at and enjoy the scenery. We really enjoyed the ride even though it took longer than jumping on Highway 101.

Another great KOA was our home for the night at Santa Cruz and some sunbathing with a good book called… followed by another hot tub, but this time kids were allowed in and I got a good kick in the side and splashed in the face! Dear Parents of under 10’s, hot tubs are not for your children, stop it! The pool is big enough for everyone…

This morning we treated ourselves to a trip into Santa Cruz Bay and went paddle boarding up, down and around the wharf (pier if you’re British). We had planned on surfing but the water was

Paddleboarding - why do I discover this when we're leaving the seaside?!

as flat as a millpond. Neither of us had ever tried paddle boarding and it turned out to be really funny – especially when Jimmy kept falling off. It sounds mean but he did get the hang of it quite quickly and caught up. I think it was just easier for me because I’m so short I’m already pretty close to the water, plus, I started with little tentative strokes with the paddle and Jimmy was a bit enthusiastic and went too deep then lost balance. The one time I fell off I was trying to turn round on the board to look at the sea lions and a dry boarder paddled on by and asked me “Is the water cold?” Smug so and so.

The big fat noisy sea lions were all lazing on the decks by the wharf and occasionally one would swim in from the ocean and join them as another plopped off and went for a jolly in the shallows. I was a little nervous of them at first as I’ve no idea what you’re meant to do if a sea lions swims at you but they didn’t seem that interested in us so we got used to having them around. It will be one of my favourite memories on this trip, being in the sea felt like going home.

Now we are on the road to Yosemite National Park after filling up the tank and doing a big food shop. Over the next two days we hope to explore and get in another hike before hitting up San Francisco for the weekend.

Hoping you are all well and enjoying reading our adventures. We love you, we miss you and we’ll bore you with even more travel stories when we get home.

All our love,

J&J xx

Two Jimmys? 

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

Psalm 19: 1-4