June 24, 2013 Are we there yet?

June 24, 2013  Are we there yet?

 It was a cool evening last night.  We put a blanket on the bed and still had to cuddle to keep warm.  When we woke, the sun was shining.  It was warm in the sun and cool in the shade so I made sure to have some sleeves with me for our hike.

 I wanted to go on the Queens Garden/Navajo Loop trail ending in a place called 'Wall Street'.  It is about a 3 mile hike, then we would need to take the rim trail for a half mile back to the truck.  I have done the trail before and thought it one of the prettiest in the park.  We decided to get a somewhat early start.  I made us some sandwiches (that would not need to be in an ice chest), packed a light backpack and off we went.

The hike starts at about 8000 feet.  The sun is warm but the breeze is crisp and cool, which is great for hiking.  There is a 320 foot descent into the canyon through the stunning red rock spires called hoodoos.  Spouse has to volunteer to be everybody's photographer.  We come upon a foreign gentlemen photographing his family.  Spouse offers to take a picture of all of them.  At first he doesn't respond, then Crew makes a comment that he doesn't understand English.  The gentleman turned and said he understood English perfectly.  Crew went to crawl in a hole... the embarrassment doesn't end there... Then Spouse asked where he was from.  The man said he was from France.  And Spouse responded...  you don't sound French.  Is that what your accent is?  (Like the guy was putting on a fake accent just for Spouse????)  I spoke enough French to apologized for the two critters with whom I was hiking.  Kill me now...

We meander through the pine forest, stopping for a half sandwich.  Then continue as the terrain turns to climbing towards the cliffs.  'Is this the wall?' asks Spouse.  Not yet... we climb, we turn.   'Is this the wall?' asks Spouse again.  No, not yet.  As Spouse keeps asking where the wall is, Crew is going on about putting his hand into a geyser at Yellowstone so that it could remove all the skin, then he could wave he skeletal hand around to show everybody.  Kill me now...

 We finally pass through a small crevice in the cliffs that serves as the entrance to a series of switchbacks up a wall.  We are there, then I get to listen to the whining about making the climb...  Hell, why should I kill me now!  I will kill both of them instead!  Actually, they both actually enjoyed the hike, even though they were recovering some from our Angels Landing hike the other day.  We make it to the top, then even though we could take a shuttle back to the truck, we took the rim trail, hiking the additional half mile without complaint.

The weather is still cool, and clouds are forming.  It wouldn't surprise me if we got a wee bit of rain. 

We got back to Hannah.  I took a short nap while Spouse transacted park business.  Then we went over to a rock shop.  I have always loved rocks.  I have joined the local gem and mineral society where I have learned some lapidary tricks.  But I am not into buying rocks.  I like to find them, then make them pretty.  But I always like to look.  And I am always on the prowl...

I did laundry today.  We have only been gone for  days, and we had two full loads - and that is with both Crew and Spouse wearing the same clothes day after day.  How can this happen?  Oh well, we are good for a while.

 Our evening ends when a little black cat showed up.  Spouse said she was feral.  I went outside and she ran up to me purring and meowing.  Needless to say, we fed her some lunchmeat and gave her lots of attention.  Last I saw, she was sitting on Spouse's lap while he is reading.

Not sure when I will have internet access next as we are unsure of things from this point on.  But I will be sure to keep track of our travails.