Havasuapi Falls Day one April 1st.

So to do this hike you need a permit.  Permits are obtained through the website either in the yearly drawing.  It is held the 1st of February and tickets sell out quickly.  Seriously don't blink because they will be gone.  If you are more flexible with your dates you can get on the transfer list each morning at 8 am mountain time to try your luck at buying someone's tickets they can't use.  These also sell quickly.  So packing, I will say the lighter the better.  You're hiking 12 miles in to camp.  That bag gets heavy fast!you won't use half the stuff you pack!  

like that blue bag with a chair, carried it and never used it.  Clothes, you are not going to wear most of them.  

We stayed at the hotel in Peach Springs the night before.  Nice hotel.  We got up early so we could be ro trailhead for a early hike.  It is still over an hour from Peach Springs.  

it took us about 7 hours to hike in to camp with us taking breaks and stopping for pictures.  

By the end of the hike we were ready to get to camp, set up and just relax for the evening.  Here are some pictures from our hike in.  

Traveling to Utah and Arizona April 2023

Getting to take a road trip with one of your children is always awesome!  This year I have had the privilege of taking two major trips with my son, Jerad.  Our first trip was actually scheduled to happen in 2020, but then COVID happened and so it kept getting bumped back till this year it finally happened.  We had three tickets to Havasuapi Falls for April 1-4.  Jerad invited his friend, who just happens to be an amazing astro photographer, to join us.  It was an epic trip down to Utah, Arizona as they had so much snow this past spring.  We got to stop and see some amazing sites on the way down.  

  It actually snowed on us for much of the trip but it made for awesome backdrops.  Bryce Canyon with the snow was spectacular.

on of the places we stopped and explored us Wupatki National monument.  

Horseshoe bend outside of Page Arizona is always worth the stop.  

we also made a stop at Sunset Crater Volcano NAtional Monument.  

Alaska

We are doing a Norwegian land sea cruise. We will be sailing on the Jewel. Flew to Seattle on Thursday evening, spent the night, then Friday morning we boarded a flight to Anchorage. Great flight. Saturday morning we began the land portion. By getting on the Alaska railroad and taking a train to Talkateena. From there we boarded a bus to Denali Park where we stayed at a great motel, the Bearlodge. The next morning g we upgraded to be part of the Tundra Wilderness tour, an 8 hour bus ride in Denali park. We got to take a lot of pictures and see a lot of wildlife.

The day turned crazy yesterday afternoon when we boarded the bus to head back to Anchorage for the night.  Half way back to Anchorage we got stopped because of a forest fire, after sitting on the bus for about 4 hours we turned around and went to a gas station and sat there for an hour before heading back to Denali national park for another night.  The only bad part was when we left Anchorage, we left our large suitcases at the motel and just took a change of clothes and incidentals!  Yes wearing the same clothes two days in a row.  Ewwww!  

The amazing thing was the park.  Most people come to Denali and never see the mountain.  They said only 10% of. Suitors ever see the 20310’ mountain because it is covered in clouds.  We were lucky and saw the mountain both days.  The clouds would come in cover it, then move out and we would get to enjoy the view.  We saw lots of grizzly bears, moose, and caribou on our tundra wilderness tour.  So worth the upgrade.  It was even worth the fact that we had to get on the bus at 5:15 am!

We’re now on the bus headed back towards Seward.  We miss out on getting to see the Conservation center tour and hanging out in Anchorage,  it we will be on our ship today and ready to cruise. 

Brighton

brighton is called the London by the Sea.  It is very fitting because it very similar to London, but more in a Jersey pier kind of way, but way less people, even though it is crowded. The down side of this city is that it very hilly, so if you walk down, you have to walk up!  We did a lot of walking and exploring yesterday.  It was our last day so we wanted to enjoy it.  We went to the Royal Palace.  I love looking at the architecture of the buildings.  

  

 We hadn't planned anything in Brighton so we were just winging it.  We did a hop on hop off bus tour.  These aere great because you get to see different parts of cities and decide if it is an area to explore or not.  We went and walked around the marina area and ate lunch.  Later we went to the pier area again and rode up on the British Airways i360.  Such a cool way to get a Birdseye view of the city.