The Weather in Northern Arizona (and Other Thoughts)

As you all know our trip has been significantly altered by the government shutdown, and we're still reeling from the change to our itinerary.  We spent an extra night in San Francisco as a result, then scrambled to make a few reservations and headed further south to Monterey, where we spent a fantastic afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (post to come on that from Craig).  And while we were excited to spend the day at such a fantastic place, we also felt ourselves unraveling a bit.  Where should we go from Monterey? What should we do?  Should we continue to camp? Should we just go home?

We already knew that Yosemite wasn't going to happen (there's no way the government would get their act together that quick), but we thought that perhaps we could position ourselves to be close to Grand Canyon in case it opened, so we turned the wheels of the Odyssey to the east and headed out.  While I wouldn't recommend California's central valley as a vacation spot, it was an illuminating drive that ended in the desert in Barstow, CA. You think hard about the produce you're eating when you pass through dusty, windblown field after field.  You realize that those grapes you're eating, organic or not, come from an irrigated desert. It makes one think a bit more about "buying local".

As we were driving east, poor Craig was grappling with an even larger dilemma: my 40th birthday. It would have been cruel to make the 5th a day of driving, so Craig scoured the internet (and thank goodness for the internet, this trip wouldn't have been possible without the internet), he found some pretty great accommodations.  We stayed in a yurt for my 40th and that is where the girls did their next weather report.  Now I'm fully aware that a yurt wouldn't be the choice for very many birthday girls, but after the instability (and resulting irritation and frustration) created by the government shutdown, a yurt was just what I needed.  Please enjoy the yurt weather report, and, rest assured, Craig kept us very warm by tending the wood burning stove while we were there.