Indian Canyon - Palm Springs, California

Today was a beautiful day for a hike and we picked a beautiful place to go hiking.  We decided to hike Murray Canyon Trail to the Seven Sisters Waterfall and it didn't disappoint!  Derrick's cousin, Ryan, and his son Jordan came along with our family and Grandma Vicky.  Elliot stayed back at the condo with Grandpa Ernie so he could take a nap and we wouldn't have to carry him through the desert.

The kids did great and didn't whine too much while hiking the 4 mile round trip adventure, even though the temps were over 85 degrees and the sun was intense!  We went though hot arid desert, between a narrow canyon, over small streams scattered with boulders and through a lush palm oasis jungle to a waterfall.  It was different scenery than other places that we have hiked before, so it was a great experience.  The kids had so much fun and we were all very dirty and tired by the time we got back to the van.

The boys instantly started climbing when we got there.
Everett, Jordan and Ethan were great hiking pals.

Jordan wasn't too excited about hiking as it got warmer.

The temps started to go up as we went deeper into the hike.

The rock formation behind the kids looked like a giant sea turtle.  They wanted a photo with it.

Looking back at the city in the valley.

In the distance you could see the wind turbines.

Soon, the trail started to head down into a palm tree lined stream.

It was interesting seeing the line of trees where the water ran through the desert.

Grandma Vicky

The boys LOVED the water and we all enjoyed the shade.

The first crossing was a bit tricky.

Another large rock turtle formation the kids pointed out.  This one looked hungry.

Pretty soon the kids were getting tired and hot, so we stopped for some water.

The trail went back and forth across the stream many times.

The kids liked to run a head and then sit in the shade of the trees.

As we got closer, we could hear the waterfall ahead.

Towards the end the trail went over some pretty large boulders.

Soon we saw the waterfall.

Ryan Huffey and his son Jordan

Ethan and I hiked over to the other side to see what was under the waterfall.
Climbing around the mud covered boulders was a messy and chilly experience.

Ryan hiked to the top to see if the trail continued to anything interesting.

The kids picked a spot to eat lunch and rest their legs before heading back.

All the kids were a dirty mess from the dust and the mud at the waterfall!

Everett explored alone, ahead of the group.

At one time he came back screaming, pretending he saw a bear.

Silly, dirty boy!

We were all excited to see the trees where we had parked our van!

After hiking the trail, we drove through the park to an area where there was a trading post and an overlook.  We used the restrooms, took a few photos, then climbed back into the van to head back to the condo.

I'm glad we saw this sign AFTER our hike.

There were a lot of hummingbirds.  We wondered if these are the ones that Great Grandpa feeds back home.

A few times I thought one might land on Ethan as he watched them drink from the feeder.

There was another hiking trail at this overlook but we will have to leave that for another time.

Option 2

Well, after having a granola bar and sitting with the kids for a bit, Derrick and I returned to the ticket counter to ask a different attendant her opinion on our situation.  She started clicking keys on the keyboard, looking at the computer, and a few minutes later the original attendant (Mrs. No-Hope-For-A-Miracle) came around the counter and said "I told them there was nothing else, you won't find anything either."

I felt like I was asking Dad for something Mom had already told me "No" for, but at this point I was only interested in confirming that we really had ZERO chance of getting to California today.

The optimistic attendant thought we had a chance, not huge, but better than sitting here in Iowa.  She said that everyone was in similar situations as us, missing flights because of weather delays, so the chances of us getting on an airplane in Denver was actually not that low because the chances of others not making their flights was high, leaving us some open seats.  So we decided to try option 2, we kept our flight to Denver and she moved our destination to San Diego rather than LA/Ontario due to the fact that we were missing our connection in Denver.  It was worth a try.

Now what to do while we wait?

We still had a few hours before our flight, so we walked over to the restaurant area, where there were windows overlooking the runway, televisions for Derrick to watch sports, and more comfortable seating for me and the kids.  Plus, we were going to need breakfast, so we decided to order food while we waited, camping out in the back corner of the airport restaurant.

7:00 AM, interested in all that was going on outside

"Airplane!" (8:00 AM)

Elliot was very impressed by the airplanes.

9:00 AM, still being great travelers!

The kids did great, they were so excited to be going somewhere they didn't really get bothered to much by our annoying delay.  They enjoyed watching the trucks and people go by and a few airplanes move around in the distance while they ate scrambled eggs and bagels.

Travel Troubles

So far, our trip to California is frozen.  We are not going anywhere, anytime soon, says everyone we talk with at the airport!  AUGH!

We went from arriving to the Des Moines airport at 4:30am, thinking we would get into California in time to have breakfast with the rest of the family, to finding out our flight has a 3 hour delay. 

I feel just like Everett looks in this photo.

Now this was AFTER we already unloaded the van, unpacked the kids, bundled their car seats in plastic and duct tape so they would hopefully survive the trip, and hauled everything into the airport to the ticket counter.  Then we stood in line for a good hour or more, only then to be told we wouldn't get to California until Sunday night/Monday at best because Denver was so backed up.  So we would have to spend a few days in Denver, not good when you are trying to get to California.  

We checked other flight connections and airlines out of Denver, with hopes of having to drive a little but still arriving there today (and we did check all over the west coast!!), and were told there were none... Bummer!

So, Derrick and I looked at each other and went over our options...

1. Stay home, forget the headache and go back to bed.  (Very tempting!!)
2. Go to Denver and keep the Sunday flight, but try a few stand by flights, hoping to get all of us on the same flight. (Which we were told would be a close to 0% chance)
3. Come back on Monday, after the flight issues have cleared, and miss the majority of the family we are looking forward to seeing.

After looking at all these options, we still need to discuss a little further and maybe ask another ticket counter assistant (maybe we will get one a little more flexible, or someone with a creative idea), but right now are are not excited about packing up everything and walking away from a fun vacation with family... so we are just going to chill and pray for the best, while feeding our children granola bars and watching them run around in an over stuffed airport.

6AM and they are not doing too bad!

Happy New Year 2014!

This year we decided to ring in the New Year every hour, for each timezone, until bedtime.  The kids had fun popping the confetti with each countdown and it was cool to learn where each place was on the map as well as how they would say "Happy New Year" in their language.

We enjoyed dinner at home, a movie, cookie desert, 8 confetti poppers, multiple countdowns and lots of jumping, rolling in confetti and dancing.  It was a fun night.  

We wish you all a happy, healthy and very blessed new year ahead!  

Happy New Year and God Bless!!!