6/26 & 27: Steven & Sons Hiking Down & Up the Grand Canyon!

Hiking down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on the Bright Angel route hadn't been exactly on Steven's 'bucket list' but was sure something he'd talked about doing for a few years. The opportunity to stay overnight down at Phantom Valley Ranch is so sought after that the national park opened it up to a lottery system for people to apply up to 15 months ahead for a very coveted spot. Steven was thrilled to bits when he heard the fabulous news back in March of 2018 that he'd won three bunks in the dorm for the night of June 25th of this year and immediately asked our sons,  Alexander, now 29, and Zachary, now 27,  to join him on a father/son trek. 

When they said yes, Steven began 'training' for the arduous hike doing the stair stepper at his gym. He was pretty apprehensive as to how difficult it might be and wondered, more than a few times, if perhaps he'd bitten off more than he should have at his 'age' and with his reduced lung capacity due to having asthma.

Our sons flew into the tiny Flagstaff, Arizona airport from San Francisco and Denver, respectively, on June 25th and then the three of them got up at the crack of dawn the next day for the 90 minute drive up to the Grand Canyon's South Rim to begin their adventure so they wouldn't be hiking the entire seven miles and 4,400 feet in elevation change in the extreme summer heat. This was their 'before' photo! I so wish there was an 'after' photo, too, to share with you all!

I stayed in the comfort of the hotel in Flagstaff 'working' surprise, surprise, on this travel blog and also what was then our upcoming six week trip to the British Isles beginning on August 25th as well as our 3.5 month long trip to parts of Asia beginning in March. 

The following photos are courtesy of Zachary. He is on the right and Alexander is on the left.

After hearing about their grueling hike, I was sure glad I hadn't also gone on it. I was so proud they all managed it with no cases of sunburn, or hurt ankles, etc as the hike sure wasn't a 'walk in the park.' What a sense of achievement for each of them to tell their friends about, I thought, especially in the extreme heat of the summer which made conditions that much tougher.

Zachary is our youngest but he was the only one of our four to get the 'tall genes' that came from either Steven's father or my father!

I know Zachary prepared for the hike by doing a lot of walking every day well in advance of the hike. I was so glad to see he's kept up that regimen since coming home, too, as he never was interested much in walking beforehand although he enjoyed going on occasional hikes with friends when he had a rare day off from his two jobs.

I wonder what caught Alexander's attention at this part of the trail? He's always been an outdoors man going bouldering  with his friends in the foothills around Denver and then rock climbing out in northern California when he was out for undergrad and graduate school and then later when he made the Bay area his home with his lovely wife, Cory.

All three guys raved about their experiences when they reappeared in Flagstaff the next afternoon! Steven walked pretty gingerly, though, as his 40 plus year-old hiking boots were only hanging on by a thread and had to be thrown out immediately. He was pretty darn sore and walked around as if he had just completed an arduous hike, which of course he had! 

Next post: Adios to the boys and then we return to the canyon for a much shorter hike en route to the out of this world rock formation in southeast Utah.

Posted on August 28, 2019, after a beautiful, rain-free day sightseeing in Dublin more on that soon!

6/25: A Quick Escape to Striking Sedona, Arizona

After picking up our youngest, Zachary, from the tiny Flagstaff airport, we headed down to the stunning resort community of Sedona as we had a few hours before we had to return to the airport to pick up our older son, Alexander, who was flying in from San Francisco, so they and Steven could hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon early the next morning.

Steven and I decided to drag Zachary to Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park north of Sedona as we'd already made reservations to go to Bhutan and Tibet as part of a very long trip beginning next March to parts of Asia we hadn't seen on previous trips to that part of the world.

I read that Buddhist tradition teaches that"great benefit and auspicious blessings come from walking clockwise around the Stupa at least three times while making personal wishes and prayers for the welfare of suffering beings and world situations." People coming to the park were asked to enter the sacred land with respect and courtesy for others.

While construction of the exterior of the Stupa began in July of 2003 with a small team of workers, another team was preparing traditional offerings, such as tsa tsas which were small ceremonial stupas, and also ceremonial objects and precious metals from enlightened masters. Thousands of large and small rolls of sacred mantras were printed, amounting to almost a billion sacred prayers, that were then covered with fine cloth and ribbons. Everything was blessed in elaborated ceremonies and placed in every chamber of the Stupa all the way to the top of the spire. 

In addition, 21 wealth vases and one large copper cauldron were placed in the Stupa's center to heal and protect the environment and to restore the earth's vital energies as well as to "foster temporal and spiritual prosperity." The vases represented the inexhaustible treasury of the Buddha's teachings - wisdom that never diminishes. Stupas are considered to be the very embodiment of all the Buddhas' wisdom and tolerance in the world. The 36-foot high Amitabha Stupa was named for Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Worship. 

Before he attained enlightenment, Amitabha vowed that anyone who recited his name at the time of death would be reborn in his pure land, Dewachen, where Buddhists believe it is possible to attain enlightenment and return to the world to help free beings from suffering. Because Stupas are considered to be the Body of the Buddha, we couldn't sit, stand or climb on the Stupa nor place any objects on it. 

Even in the scorching, desert heat, some plants thrived and bore pretty flowers. 

This was Zachary by the Medicine Wheel, an ancient Native American symbol used to represent the Circle of Life. In a larger sense, it was a map of the Universe and the spiritual ideas within it. In the center of wheel was a circle of seven stones referred to as the Seven Sacred Dancers. Buddhists see the dancers expressed as the seven rainbow colors or as the seven chakras or energy centers of a greater intelligence they call creation. People walk the Medicine Wheel for guidance, healing or clarity when life challenges us to look deeper within ourselves. The Wheel for Buddhists is like a divine mirror helping believers to remember all that they are.

Prayer wheels are filled with hundreds of millions of sacred mantras or prayers for peace. When people spin and then walk around the wheel in a clockwise direction, the virtuous energy goes out into the world bringing peace and blessings to everyone, according to Buddhist teachings.

I was glad we had the opportunity to visit this Stupa so I could learn more about Buddhism in preparation for our trip to much of Asia next spring. Steven had spent a lot of time in his earlier years studying Eastern religions so he was far more versed in Buddhism than either Zachary or I.

From the Stupa we headed south through the city of Sedona toward the Christ of the Chapel of the Holy Cross so we could experience a facet of an altogether different religion, Catholicism. The Southwest's spectacular rock formations continued to enthrall us as we made our way to the church.

The chapel, built into the side of a mountain, was inspired and commissioned by local rancher and sculptor, Marguerite Brunswig Staude, who had been influenced to build such a church in 1932 by the newly constructed Empire State Building in New York. . 

Once we walked inside the small space, there was a feeling of peace and calm as we reflected on the sheer natural beauty that surrounded the church. What an imposing statue of Jesus on the cross that was carved from a tree that seemed to grown from the bottom of the altar and reached up to the sky. Lina: Please tell Caroline that the first name of the chapel's religious custodian was Kieran!

The views from outside were incredibly impressive.

The modern chapel seemed to emerge right out of the rock when viewed from below.

Zachary was tired from getting up so early for his flight from Denver and also likely from anticipating the hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon early the next day. He decided, therefore, he preferred sitting in the hot car to hiking with us on the Mystic Trail at the base of the mountain. It was too bad as Steven and I enjoyed getting out and taking advantage of the gorgeous scenery on the unusually named trail.

I loved the bright colors and the unusual-shaped blooms of this plant.

Later, we stopped at Oak Creek Vista for some striking panoramic views of the narrow road we'd just taken from Sedona en route back to Flagstaff. I love this photo of Zachary and myself as he is never in any of our travel photos any more.

Next post: Photos of the three men in my life, Steven and our sons, Alexander and Zachary, hiking down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on June 26th, and then back up the following day!

Posted almost exactly two months lately on August 27th, 2019, from Dublin, Ireland!