The Long Christmas Post

Dave says: I finished a final paper just in time to send it off and jump in the car to head down to Cedar City. On the way, I stopped to buy some ski gear for Daniel (at the request of my mom) and to pick up Parker in Provo. The driving was only half over when we reached Cedar City as we hopped in with my parents and headed to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

The next morning (Friday, Dec 18th), we hiked down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to Phantom Ranch. On the way out to see us off, my 85 year-old grandpa Ivan slipped on some ice and tore his hamstring. Fortunately, he is recovering quite well.

The trip to the bottom began in the snow as we headed down the Bright Angel trail. We had lunch at Indian Gardens where the snow was long gone and as we headed into the inner gorge, the temperature climbed up to the mid-50's. After a late start, we made it to the bottom with just enough daylight and didn't have to wait long before it was time to head to the mess hall for beef stew.

Going to the Grand Canyon with my family over Christmas is a longstanding tradition. It seems that we go at least once every three years and on this trip, we stayed in the same cabin that we rented two years earlier. The only missing member of the group was Alisha who unfortunately couldn't get a week off work to make the trip.

The next morning we took a day hike from Phantom Ranch up the Clear Creek trail to get some good views of the river and the inner gorge. Daniel and Katie spent the afternoon getting their junior ranger badges and I was glad to be a bit too old to participate. Breakfast was at 5:30 am the next day and we had to go back to the cabin afterwards for a bit to wait for the sun to come up. We hiked up the Kaibab trail at a slow, steady pace and arrived on the rim by the afternoon. On the way, we saw a big horn sheep that crossed the trail only a few feet in front of us.

Our timing was excellent as the weather turned colder and dumped snow during the night. The next day was like a blizzard outside and I spent the day at the visitor's center, the store, and back at the room playing Mario Kart DS with Daniel. I also played in the snow with Kaylee who is now two and a half and likes to knock down icicles from the roof and stomp on snowballs.

After a day inside, I was ready for some more adventure. Christine and Parker missed the first trip down to the bottom and wanted to do it as a day hike. We blazed down the Kaibab passing a mule train and plowing the way through fresh snow. After lunch at Phantom Ranch, Christine led us up the Bright Angel at a brisk pace.

We headed back to Cedar City on Christmas eve after Parker and I played a complex game of tetris figuring out how to load everything into the back of my parents' suburban. I arrived at Alisha's parents' house just in time for dinner and was excited to see Alisha after a whole week apart.

We are lucky to have parents living in the same place as we were able to spend Christmas in two places. Both families now have young children that are just starting to understand what Christmas is and are a lot of fun to be around. We also played a bunch of fun games with Alisha's family which has practically become a tradition at her house. Another delicious tradition is steaks for Christmas dinner. We drove home yesterday and I am now enjoying two more weeks off before school begins.

(Best picture of the trip: The Bezansons Unplugged!)

*Note: We sent out our Christmas card via email but discovered that some of the email addresses we have are old and don't work. If you didn't receive our card, it's because we don't have a current email address for you. If you would like to leave your email address as a comment we will make sure to send you a copy. Thanks!