dad in arizona » On The Road

Llama Casa and the Grand Canyon

Scott D — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:28:24 +0000

A few weeks ago, my sister, Lee Ann, visited us and we all took a small trip up to Williams, AZ to relax and take a fun train ride to the Grand Canyon. We stayed at a place called “The Llama Casa Ranch” and it was on several acres with several Llamas that we got to feed. The house was nice and big and the next day’s train ride was a blast. We almost missed it both ways, but once on board, there were people dressed up like cowboys and such and would sing us songs and tell jokes. On the train ride back to Williams at the end of the day, the train was “robbed” by some very loud and scary looking cowboys and Max was not a fan.

The whole trip was fun and since we have been back, we have kept busy. I will post more soon and be sure to look at all 4 pictures in this post. For ALL of the pictures from the trip, click here!

The Donaldsons at the Grand Canyon

Madison at the Llama Casa Ranch.

Max loved feeding the Llamas.

More pictures here.

Sunset State Beach

Scott D — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:41:21 +0000

I haven’t updated in a while because, well… I’ve been busy! We are home after a LONG but very fun summer of camping and hanging out with family. I will post more stuff soon, but this is where I left off.

We went camping at Sunset State Beach Park near Santa Cruz. We camped with Benita and Chester, the Magdic family, the Poore family, the Smiths, and several others… over 26 people. We had a great time and the weather was a nice cool change from Fresno.

At the Mendicino KOA

Scott D — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:32:53 +0000

We are at the Mendicino KOA and it is really nice here. The only problem that we (I) have is that there is almost no cell phone coverage here and extremely limited internet access. If this gets posted, I will be impressed that it was able to squeek in.

We spent the last few days at the Layman’s ranch in * and it was a great time. Jan and Steve Layman are very long friends of Chester and Benita (my in-laws) and they have a great place. I think I was able to upload a couple photos to my Flickr account, so check the photos on the side bar for the latest. The Laymans had a HUGE party, as they do every year, as it turns out, and there were close to 45 people eating a huge buffet of yummy food.

They had a pool, lots of beer, lots of food, lots of wine, and uh…. some other stuff….

We went to the farmer’s market yesterday and they had some really amazing quilts… one that had the entire story of the Very Hungry Catapillar. We ate BBQ food and Mexican stuff… very good. (Im running on wine at the moment and this internet is WAY slow.)

Now we are in Mendicino and the weather is cool but not bad at all. People are very nice, and there is currently some Mellisa Etheridge (sp?) being played in the distance and Shana and I are drinking some wine that she won for $30 (worth $90) at an auction that was held after her 10K run. Its time for more wind and time for me to kick my wife’s butt at cribbage.

PS. Sorry for the spelling errors, but I am counting on a small rat to power this internets connection. (The wine doesn’t help it, either.)

Bryce Canyon panoramics and our Las Vegas Resort

Scott D — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:04:31 +0000

Here is our video from the resort.

And some extra Bryce Canyon panoramic photos I took!

Had a great time in Bryce Canyon

Scott D — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Its been a long couple of days so I will just post a list of things that happened with some pictures from my iphone.

At 75 mph for over an hour, my iPhone will not fall off the roof. (It was the case.)
Bryce Canyon is much easier with kids… you just drive, get out, walk around, get back into the car.
Madison can hike over 2 miles a day with no problem.
Madison sleeps really well after a hike.
The Bryce Canyon Tow company can get into our locked car in under 5 minutes.
This Las Vegas hotel that is not really in Las Vegas is really awesome.
110 degrees is too hot for a lot of things.
Cliffs make me a tad neurotic and crazy with clumsy kids that want to jump all over the place.
I just realized that this summer has just started…

Horse Shoe Bend

Scott D — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:56:36 +0000

We headed to Horse Shoe Bend after visiting Montezuma’s Castle yesterday…. The bend is something to see if you ever get a chance. It is a small walk from the highway to the drop-off… and it is really a 500 foot drop off. When we arrived, there was a storm heading toward us, so we couldn’t stay too long. As we left the bend, the rain really poured down on us and we got SOAKED! That cliff had no warnings or gates… you could easily fall to your death. I put pictures AND a video so you KNOW I am not photoshoping this. =)

After drying up a bit and eating lunch, we got behind a giant SOMETHING on the road and it was escorted by tons of police. People had to pull over since it took up the entire road. It eventually pulled over and let us pass it… not sure what the heck it was…

We are now in Cedar City at the KOA and it is really nice here. We going to hit up Zion tomorrow. G’night!