Beaches and Bums

Unfortunately we’re not really beach bums. We’re just bums who happened to get to the beach recently. Me, I was able to make it to some beaches in Havasupai. The whole family was able to take in the cool breezes of Oceanside.

Unfortunately (again) I didn’t take a camera to Havasupai. Actually, that’s not true. Michael and I bought one of those crappy disposable 35mm cameras in the once-booming town of Seligman. I’m sure it was happening in its heyday, but it’s hurting in today’s day. I figure that we probably paid $.50/shot. Plus I haven’t even gone down to get them developed. Who knows where I can even get them developed these days. The long and short of it is that there are no pictures. But here’s the run-down for those of you who care:

We got up to the rim just as it was getting dark. Luckily I checked the weather the day before (Saturday) at about 11:30pm. The temperature was 33 degrees. So my struggle over whether or not I needed to take a sleeping bag was quickly resolved. Michael and I got all of our sleeping gear out of our packs on Sunday night for sleeping. The other 5 guys that went with us decided to pull up a chair or something in the van they all came in. Apparently it was so cold that they ended up turning the thing on every couple of hours to try and thaw out. Needless to say, they were ready to go at the first hint of sunlight. I almost threw something at the guy who woke me up, but at least I was well rested.

After the long hike down into the village, we all decided to look into the easiest way out of the canyon a few days later. I had read that the helicopter doesn’t run on Wednesdays, which, of course, was the day we planned to hike out. We unfortunately were able to verify this rumor. So the next order of business was to see about getting some horses to carry our stuff out. We were eventually able to sort that out.

Havasupai is truly a beautiful place. It’s like the garden of eden in the middle of a desert. The falls are spectacular, if a bit cold at the end of May. We did lots of hiking and I did lots of sleeping. I got into my bag on Monday night at around 7pm and didn’t wake up until about 7am on Tuesday. Surprisingly, I got a reputation of being a social reject. That’s certainly the first time I’ve been labeled as such.

Michael had to get out of Dodge on Tuesday to get back to some work. One of the other guys had to go as well, so they trekked out and rode back to civilization in the luxury that is my Hyundai. We headed out the next day. I don’t think I will ever walk out of that canyon again. 3 times is enough. Plus the helicopter ride is only about twice as much as the donkeys. And you get there 100 times faster.

Last week we were lucky enough to be able to go to Oceanside again. This is about the 4th or 5th time we’ve been there, and it’s always great. Oceanside is pretty low-key compared to most of Southern California, and that’s how we like it. This time we invited/persuaded/manipulated our friends into coming with us. I’m sure that they wonder how they got stuck with a bunch like us, but we had a great time.

Beach:

Legoland:

Terrorist at Legoland:

On the way to San Diego:

Old Town:

Bus/Boat thing:

Our lively company:

Dinner at Seaport Village:

More beach:

Checking out the scenery at the beach:

More beach:

Etc, etc, etc.

Unfortunately it all had to come to an end too soon (for us at least). Summer in Phoenix finally decided to come, just as we returned home. Hopefully the furnace will burn out soon. Or at least hopefully the temperature will moderate. This global warming thing is killing me. I’m ready for the next ice age.

LOTS more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/