8/5--Had my best snake day of the trip. Saw a nice adult Black-Tailed Rattlesnake crossing a road at 1:35PM at 5800 feet elevation. It had ten buttons and was a good 3 feet long. We followed it into the woods and continued snapping pictures of it. Two female rangers happened upon our vehicle blocking the road and saw that we were taking pictures of a snake. They were very friendly and said they had seen another one of similar size and color about ten minutes up the road. At 5:05PM we came across a Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake at 7800 feet elevation. It was a gorgeous snake. I t was unusually fiesty too. It bit me repeatedly in rapid succession and musked me in my brief attempts to keep it in range for pictures. I was amazed at the speed in which it struck and its personality seemed more like that of a arcer or coachwhip. Possibly my favorite snake of the trip. Believe it or not, I've only been bitten by 3 snakes in my life and so any snake that bites me gets special recognition. That night I roadcruised from 7:30-9:30 and found two nice Western Diamondbacks. The first was an impressive 43 inch specimen at 8:20PM. The second was a 31 inch Western Diamondback at 8:50PM. The lengths are approximate. I didn't hold them out to a tape measure. Both snakes were unaggressive and merely went about their foraging as though we weren't even there. 8/6-Spotted a modest sized adult Black-Tailed Rattlesnake under a rock 3 minutes into a hiking trail in the mountains. Also saw several Yarrow's Spiny Lizards. The snake was still basking under the rock when we returned from our hike at 10:45AM. We brought Keith out that afternoon and the snake was still there. He learned that its hard to get a good snake picture with a disposable camera. As he leaned to get up close to the snake eye to eye it zipped under a rock and rattled its tail in retreat. We saw a cool mountain short horned lizard on our hike. It did let me lay down for some eye to eye shots with a point and click digital. The snakes were on the move that night. I spotted a Mojave and a Western Diamondback from the car and missed seeing a Western Diamondback that moved across the road swiftly while I was looking for a road sign. Also saw a DOR Mojave. 8/7--Didn't do much herping in the day because Rachel wanted to see Bisbee. We drove there and at one point watched the temp drop 30 degrees in 15 miles. Decided to road cruise the mountains at evening and early night but the rains had made things very cool and nothing was stirring. Cruised the flats for half an hour as a consolation and saw two juvie Mojaves back to back at 8:30 and 8:33PM.

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip and glad you all enjoyed it. That's a lot to cover in 11 days! Dh and I drove across country right after we got engaged, starting in No. California. We'd both been to the Grand Canyon before, but while living in Hawaii, we met a guy who grew up in AZ. He told us about this canyon adjacent to the Grand Canyon that he and his family used to hike into - the trail ends in an Indian reservation. We decided to do it on our trip across country. I'm not sure what we were thinking...while physically fit, we weren't big hikers and it was a 10 mile hike down, it was 100+ degrees (middle of July). We camped overnight and then hiked back out the next day. I was never so happy to get back to our car with A/C! From there we were headed to Denver, so we drove up through Utah along some deserted 2-lane highways, but the scenery was spectacular. We didn't make it to Bryce or Zion, but we have vowed that once all of our kids were old enough to appreciate, we were going to do a trip like yours. We'll probably just do Sedona, Grand Canyon, and then one place up in Utah. I assume you were driving from place to place? Did you get to stop at any of the pueblos? Those were really pretty cool. I agree with you about Vegas. Once was enough for me. We stopped there too on our trip from San Fran down to AZ via L.A then San Diego (our trip was very convoluted as we were all over the map visiting friends along the way). We just had an overnight in Vegas, but did hit a casino just for fun. Totally not my thing at all. Just too much for me. It was neat to experience once, but I have no desire to head back. Did you see the Hoover Dam too? Probably not as I imagine that wasn't on your way if you were coming from Utah. If you have any specific kid-friendly info of places you stopped, please share! I'm taking note of the Pink Jeep tour! Glad you had a great time but totally understand being a little bit too much togetherness! With four kids, I get that when we are having to stay in hotel rooms for any length of time.

Specific Ibex, They showed us how the tea is picked (still by hand in this part of the world), dried, rolled crushed and roasted in a cool 100yo factory overlooking the hills, that I could not help think, with its old wood floors and huge windows, would make great condos. Our guide also went into great detail about the soil conditions and chemical processes, how tea is graded and sold, etc. We did have a tasting of their single source teas, as well as various blends. I am a big tea drinker but honestly I can enjoy everything from Red Rose to Harney & Sons to Mariage Freres, not to mention all the not-tea teas.

HH, I love the idea of the kids being responsible for a portion of the trip. Our Boston itinerary was influenced by DGD1 wanting to see the USS Constitution. Somehow, it had been mentioned at school. This fall we are going to Utah and one of the things we are going to see is the Golden Spike National Historic Site, because she’s learned about it in school. I love when I can make history a little more real for them. One of the projects for 3rd graders at DGDs’ school is the Parade of States. Each girl is assigned a state which she then researches in depth. Toward the end of the school year, they present their reports (complete with appropriate costumes, I’m told). I can’t wait to see which state DGD1 is assigned. There may be a research trip on the horizon!