Nature

Nature

Yes I’m finally doing a post! Since Ian has covered everything chronologically I’ll just add in a bit about the wild life we’ve spotted.  Starting with Vegas lions!

Yes lions.  On a super hot venture out via the other casinos, we happened across the MGM lions. As per Vegas they were in an artificial environment, in the middle of the casino, sealed behind glass but with a sprinkling of natural light – lucky things. There was a glass tunnel we could walk under with the lions asleep on top; they were pretending not to notice the crowds passing underneath, but they knew.  I took Lily through the very crowded tunnel, she was “all scared” but funnily enough wanted to go back when I took Jasmine under.

If you can make it out there’s a picture of the male lion with his faced pressed against the glass. He looked quite cute. I guess it’s the only chance I’ll get to be 6inches away from a lion’s mouth.

Aside from the lions, nothing in Vegas could be described as natural – particularly some of the “enhanced” individuals wandering about.

On to the Grand Canyon.  And off to a great start with a lone boy Elk wandering through the campsite as we’re having breakfast. Like any teenager he was completely oblivious to the fuss he was creating – about 10 tourists pursued him with cameras. 

A top tip for spotting anything rare and interesting is to start chatting to someone with a scope. I ‘d spotted a hawk  flying past and perching on a branch so I pointed it out to a couple with a massive scope. They pointed out a couple of turkey vultures then just for dramatic effect a Condor comes swooping by. They’re incredibly rare only about 70 pairs in the US.  They do like the Grand Canyon though, and to the trained eye they’re easy to spot. I would never have spotted it. It’s a massive bird with a 10ft wing span but the Canyon makes it seem the size of a seagull.

Next day we did a little walk in the forest. The girls were constantly asking “are we going to see any bears?”  and we kept saying “I hope not….” We did spot a huge bug with orange wings – he kept Jasmine a mused for about 2 minutes – she loves orange.  Way more exciting was a lizard me and Lily found. We went to investigate a big green plant in the middle of a charred patch of forest; and out scuttled a lizard. I chased him to a log and carefully lifted it so as not to squash him. He was lovely; just sat there trying to stare us out. Me n Lily got some great; pictures for scale he was about 25cms.  According to Tom the Jeep man he’s a collared lizard on account of his turquoise neck collar. Lily loved him but I don’t think he was impressed with us; he looks a little angry no?

Ian’s already posted the pic of the Elk we spotted on our jeep tour so I’ll skip over to our stop off in Inyokern. I have to say; I was preparing everyone for an overnight stay in an RV park that looks like a car park but we were pleasantly surprised. We pulled up into a tree shaded spot (it was a cool 39degrees) and we had cute bunnies for neighbours.  We gave them a couple of carrots and some left over apple and they joined us for dinner, they hopped over for a munch while we ate pasta.  They ran off quick when Jasmine showed them her knife & fork. I think its genetically imprinted  into them to run at this point.

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of our next nature spot. He was too bloody fast. Here’s a picture though– looked just like him, well sort of… bit more dusty brown than blue and he didn’t say meep meep!  He did run off down the road…and then back up the other side in true comedy style.

“Road Runner Road” -  the stunning view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains from the back of the RV.

I was going to end my post there but then we moved on to Mammoth Lakes (near to Yosemite National Park) and we just keep bumping into impossibly cute chipmunks. Here’s one who performed for us at breakfast.

Here’s another up by Rainbow Falls. This one was a pro, working the crowd for bits of apple, crisps, nuts etc. He was a bit more brave, he’d fliff his tail about if you ignored him.  Lily has been keeping a chipmunk count; she thinks we’ve seen 28 but its way more than that. You’d just walk along a few paces and the just pop out and run along with their tails in the air. Stupidly cute and I love them.

End of 1st post…. phew!

Edited: August 6th, 2010

Grand Canyon – Day 2

Another day in Tusayan. It poured down overnight and there was a thunder and lightning storm raging for what seemed like ages, but this morning it was bright, sunny and hot. We took it easy in the morning, then packed a picnic lunch and went out for a walk in the Kaibab forest directly behind the campsite. We’d been out at sunset the night before, but the girls were petrified, so we didn’t go far. We didn’t go much farther this time, but it was beautiful; the smell of the ponderosa pines, the limestone rock formations and the local lizards (I’ll let Jen post her lizard shot!).

Just as we were heading back, a storm rushed in, you could literally hear it blowing through the pine trees towards us, and then the thunder, lightning and rain started again. So the helicopter trip was off. I’m going to do it tomorrow morning instead.

We still had a “sunset jeep tour” booked for 6pm, but weren’t holding out much hope ’cause it was still overcast. We had a chilly, damp and bumpy jeep ride with Tom, the Californian, ex-surfing tour guide, giving us plenty of information about the local flora and fauna on the way.


“Eagle-eye” Jen spotted an elk deep in the woods as we drove by.


By the time we got to the canyon itself, as if by magic, the cloud cleared and we got some more glorious views of the canyon. Unfortunately there were loads of other people enjoying the views too, dammit. Tourists, eh? Jen took some fantastic panoramas and we even got to see a rainbow!

Unfortunately we need to head back into the desert tomorrow so we can get back across into California. There’s gonna be high temperatures and a lot of driving over the next few days.

Edited: July 21st, 2010

Grand Canyon – Day 1

We made our first trip to the Grand Canyon proper yesterday. There’s a free bus shuttle from the campsite into the national park, and then a network of buses to various points on the south rim. We walked for a couple of miles along a paved path; it’s all very civilised, considering the fact you’re on the edge of a chasm. Every few yards there’s another view that makes you stop and ‘ahhhh’.

Needless to say it was breathtaking (although the girls were completely unimpressed!) even though the atmospherics weren’t brilliant as it was a bit hazy. There was a storm hanging around and you’re not allowed on the rim during lightning, because you tend to be a target! We were worried that after 24 hours of travelling we weren’t gonna actually be able to see the views, but in the end it held off ’til the night.




Jen’s booked a helicopter ride for my birthday tomorrow! Hopefully it won’t trigger the vertigo… I’m going to have an hour flight, then we’re all going to do a jeep tour down into the canyon. Should be fun.

Edited: July 20th, 2010

Escape to the Grand Canyon

On Sunday it was time to escape the stifling heat of Vegas and get to our first stop at the Grand Canyon.

We checked out of the hotel and went to pick up the RV. After watching the intro video, signing all the forms and a few technical hitches due to the heat, we drove it away. Now I know how bus drivers feel; this thing is huge! 30 feet of gas-guzzling holiday-home behemoth.

We went straight to Walmart to get some essentials: squeezy cheese, doughnuts and a GPS, you know the sort of thing.

Then we were off to the first campsite at the Grand Canyon. We were already late and made a bit of a silly decision to take a detour round the Hoover Dam rather than go over it (I misunderstood the sign about what type of vehicles were prohibited) so it added about 50 miles and an hour to the journey. There was some pretty spectacular desert-style scenery (and a few scary bends), Jen was snapping out of the front window.

It’ll take a while to figure out what’s going to slide where when we’re on the road. Jen bought a massive 2.5 gallon container of water (economy of scale), but didn’t secure it, so the first bend we went round, it slipped off and boom! 10 litres of water swilling all over the floor! Luckily it was so hot that it seemed to pretty much evaporate after Jen mopped up the worst of it.

Eventually at 10.30pm after more than 6 hours behind the wheel we got to the Grand Canyon Camping Village. The office was closed, but Jen managed to find someone to help us and we eventually got hooked up (with the help of a friendly fellow RV’er) and crashed out. (I’ll skip the bit where I locked us out of the van, with the girls fast asleep inside. Jen had to climb in through a window that we hadn’t realised was open!)

It’s lovely to be out of the desert and among the trees and plants again.

Here’s Lily outside the RV in the campground. She’s got one of our old digital cameras, so is clicking away merrily!

Edited: July 19th, 2010