Family Summer Vacation

“SCENIC CANYONS OF THE WEST TOUR
(With A Couple Of Mountains Thrown In For Good Measure)

May 23 – June 1, 2008


Friday:
MEET & GREET Today’s the day we get acquainted with all those folks going with us. We’ll leave Camden at 7 a.m. As always, our late model motorcoach will be complete with large picture windows for unobstructed viewing, reclining seats, individual climate controls, VCR monitors and a bathroom for your comfort. We’ll make regular rest stops and a lunch break each day of this tour. We’ll overnight in St. Joseph, MO where Jesse James was killed (we’ll see the house – reckon we’ll see him?) and enjoy a “get-acquainted” dinner. Be sure to bring along your camera and lots of film for this trip. The beauty and excitement starts the first day.
(Dinner included tonight)

Saturday:
CHEYENNE, WY Sunday morning we’ll head thru Missouri and Nebraska continuing on to Cheyenne where we’ll overnight “where the west begins”. (Breakfast & dinner included today.)

Sunday:
SALT LAKE CITY, UT Today, continuing westward we’ll make our way to the beautiful city surrounded by mountains, Salt Lake City. Before settling into our hotel for the evening we’ll stop by one of Utah’s most visited locations, Temple Square, home of the Mormon Church and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (Breakfast included today.)

Monday:
SPRINGDALE, UT Today we’ll start visiting “movie country”. You remember the great dancing in the movie Footloose? We’ll drive thru Payson, UT where it was filmed. Next comes 12,000 feet tall Mt. Nebo, the southern end of the Rocky Mountains. Watch for longhorn cattle ranches along the way. Blackrock Valley is next, an old volcanic area, now a desert. Beaver, UT, Butch Cassidy’s home town comes just before the Pink Cliffs area, estimated to be about 40 million years old.

By mid day we’ll enter Bryce Canyon National Park, truly one of the most spectacular scenic wonders of the world. The formations within the park, called Hoodoos, are the creation of wind and water erosion over eons of time. Iron oxidizing within the rock causes the natural orange and red hues that color these formations. Later today we’ll see the red and white sandstone cliffs of Zion Canyon National Park. In sheer magnitude and color, Zion is very likely one of the most awe-insuring national parks in the world. You’ve got to see it to believe it. We’ll overnight in Springdale, UT. (Breakfast, lunch & dinner included today.)


Tuesday:
MONUMENT VALLEY, UT Today’s adventures include seeing “rills” & a visit to Kanab, UT. John Wayne, James Arness and most other actors stayed at the Perry Lodge when they made their movies in the area. Remember the “water hole” where the Lone Ranger and Tonto would stop and talk? You’ll see it. We’ll also stop at the Frontier Movie Town and see original movie sets. Then it’s off to Lake Powell where we’ll have lunch. Planet of the Apes, James Bond and other movies were filmed here. Entering the Navajo Indian Reservation we’re off to Monument Valley where we’ll have a BBQ cookout tonight for dinner, right there in the reservation.

A 4WD vehicle tour of the valley will show you those beautiful rock formations you’ve seen in movies. Our driving tour, will be down the same unpaved road that the stagecoach took during John Wayne’s original black and white movie Stagecoach. Be sure to make a picture of the Indian posing on his horse on the cliff, just for you. Our local guide and 4WD driver will be one of the Navajo tribe members. We’ll overnight directly in the Navaho Reservation. (Breakfast, lunch & dinner included today.)

Wednesday:
MOAB, UT. Now it’s on to Arches National Park, Canyonland National Park, Dead Horse National Park (where Thelma & Louise road off the cliff) and more. You’ve seen these beautiful arches and monument in movies and TV commercials forever. You just won’t believe how much more beautiful they are in person. We’ll overnight on a “Dude Ranch” in Moab. (Breakfast & dinner included today).

Thursday:
VAIL & DENVER, CO The beauty and scenery will stay with us all day today as we leave Moab and drive thru Vail & Denver, Colorado as we head toward Colorado Springs.. Breakfast & dinner included today.)

Friday:
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO We’ve another full day of beauty in store for us today. First we’ll visit the unbelievable GARDEN OF THE GODS before hearing the “all aboard” sound of the conductor as we travel by rail to the top of Pike’ s Peak. Afterwards, get ready for our MYSTERY STOP... (Breakfast & dinner included today.)

Saturday & Sunday:
KANSAS CITY, MO & CAMDEN, TN How quickly the hill country becomes western plains as we travel from Colorado thru Kansas and into Missouri where we’ll overnight in Kansas City on Saturday. We’ll depart Kansas City with an estimated arrival time in Camden at approximately 6 p.m. Sunday. During these two days we’ll have time to catch a nap, watch movies, play games, and give away door prizes. (Breakfast & dinner included Saturday) (Breakfast included Sunday)”

“That sounds fun, TownDawg. We're going to Daytona Beach sometime this summer. We'll go to the Kennedy Space Center and to St. Augustine also. I am soooo ready.”

“TD - there's a great Italian place on the left as you head into the little town close to the Cog Railway. Also, there is a singing cowboy ranch. I'll have to look up the name. I expected seeing the working ranch which we didn't get to do. The little mock frontier town was pretty hokie but the meal and show were excellent.

Sounds like an awesome trip.”

“Well we have never done a "bus" trip.. (LOLz.. are we getting old?).. but Deb and I thought it wuld be fun to try it once.”

“Ahhh, you're on a bus with others, nevermind on the suggestions then. I suspect the great thing about a bus out west is that you get to look around and be a tourist instead of scaring the hell out of your wife while trying to look and drive.”

“Dayhiker, are you talking about the Flying W Ranch outside of Colorado Springs? The scouts and I went there for the dinner and show and had a great time. That was the first time I heard the song "I am my Own Grandpa". Great place to take the family!!

Sounds like an interesting trip towndawg!!”

“This afternoon when I picked up Laurel and my neighbor kid Hunter from school, I mentioned we were taking Laurel ruby (or other gemstone) mining this summer. Wow, Hunter got totally jazzed about that and went to beg his parents if he can go too. Lol, if he goes, THEY go. Ought to be interesting, since Sharis' (Hunter's mom)idea of roughing it is something less than a 4 star resort.”

“Yeah.. it's a chartered bus.. hey.. there's a first time for everything. We thought we'd give it a try.”

“CD - yes, that's the place. We even bought a few CD's. I hadn't heard that song before either. It turns out, Willie Nelson has a version of it.

TB - that will be interesting.

TD - it will be fun. You'll be the young partiers on the trip.”