Grand Canyon

My parents told me in September they had reservations for 3 nights of camping on the South Rim of the grand canyon and would I like to come join them in October.  By the way, they were leaving that day (in September).  I happened to tell two friends as we went on a bike ride for coffee and they jumped right in.  So, the 3 of us booked tickets to crash my parents' vacation.

My parents picked us up in Vegas where they were camped near Valley of Fire, NV

These are the scenes we woke up to:

We then quickly drove over to the Red Rock viewpoint while waiting for the 80% solar eclipse to happen at 10am.  There is a loop drive you can take but it requires reservations.

We then packed up and drove a bit east so we could Boondock (camp in the wilderness-no site, no service) just outside Valley of Fire, which my parents assured us was much better than Red Rock

We ran a loop through the desert and visited Mouse Trap-a natural water cistern and site of many petroglyphs.

After Valley of Fire, we slept and then the next morning headed to the North Rim of Grand Canyon where my parents got a camp spot cancelation on the last day the north rim is open for the year-Oct 15. It's about a 4 hour drive.

After checking in at the ranger station to figure out what water was on and turned off and checking temperatures and weather for the following day, we went to bed, planning to run/hike down the North Kabob trail in the morning.

We took a little side trip once we got near the bottom to Ribbon Falls.  Ribbon Falls is not visible from the main trail and the bridge has been out for a few years. This means you have to cross a small creek that the falls feeds.

At the bottom of the canyon we saw the Colorado River.

After refilling water at Phantom Ranch in the bottom we headed back up the Bright Angel trail to the Mather campground on the South Rim my parents were meanwhile driving 5 hours to:

The next day my parents got a cancelation at Phantom Ranch, so they headed down the South Kabob trail to spend the night in the canyon.

The next day they'd head up Bright Angel Trail:

 We went out to dinner and drove around the south rim of the canyon enjoying the views:

The canyon looked huge, but this sign made us realize we aren't even seeing a tiny portion of the canyon:

There were Elk all over the campground. They esp liked the water fill station:

One friend and I decided the next day to head down South Kabob and see if we could catch my parents on their way back up Bright Angel.

My parents ended up beating us back up to the top by an hour!

After we all got back up out of the canyon we had another sleep and headed back to Vegas (about 4 hour drive) where we checked out Glitter Gulch-Fremont street, the original strip.  We gambled a little bit then met a friend of mine for dinner and flew back home.

Making Ice for the Curling Club Part 3

 After painting, we add water to seal the paint in before topping off the ice. We are still adding water to cover the hack plates. These are sealed in the ice so that we can add removable hacks-this allows us to scrape the ice without having to go around anything.

We install the "button" which is a small plastic piece centered in each house so that when it's unclear which rock is outscoring another we can put the measuring device into it and use a tool like a compass to measure pressure against each rock to see which is closer.  

We also take down the protective plastic barriers around the ice.

Then we get started painting the houses.  We use that button to put the end of our stick compass tool in to paint lines. 

  

Then we use a horsehair broom to paint between the lines made by the tool.

The far end houses are a standard blue 12 foot circle and a red 4 foot circle.  Some advertisers on the glass end houses get a color that matches the advertising.

Then we put in the advertising houses.  If the advertiser is new, we cut the plastic mesh it's printed on.

Then we tack it down by spraying some water on it.  The large houses are 2 peices that are lined up using registry lines at the edge of the centers. After lining up we sprinkle water down and smooth with a paint roller.

We use the same method to add the rectangular advertising in the ice.  Advertising in the ice is a huge fundraiser. Approx $20,000 was raised with this advertising.  Advertisers pay a one-time set up fee to get printed, then a renewal fee each year.

After the houses are in, we lay down yarn for sheet dividers (black) center lines (red) and the hog line (red) and back lines (black)  They are measured and attached to eyelets and then tacked down with water.

After the yarn is laid for the hogline, it's hand painted with a brush.

Then we put on this sprayer with about 4-5 gallons of water and a 5-10 pound motor in it.  So it weighs 40-50 pounds. And we spray the yarn lines, advertising and paint so that when we flood and scrape we don't hit anything with the scraper.  Since I'm the low woman on the totem pole I did this for about 4 hours straight. Next year I'll download a book to listen to.

Then by hand and with a wet mop, all the end and side boards are cleaned to remove any leftover paint on them.

Then we flood several times with more water to build up the surface over all our markings to protect it all when we make the ice.

After flooding we pebble, then scrape over and over until we are satisfied we have a level sheet of ice to work with.

Now it's time for open house and leagues to start!!!

Making Ice for the Curling Club-Part 2 (Painting)

 After the ice is made, the ice is painted  white with a non-toxic paint that will melt into the sand base at the end of the season.  We used many volunteers to help us today.

We mixed the paint in this giant barrel with a paddle and a motorized paint mixer.

There are several motors and hoses leading to it to recirculate paint and send the paint out to the sprayer.  I and a volunteer manned the hoses as Hubby and Ice Maker got closer to us as they sprayed:

One coat applied (we apply 3-4)

1/2 sprayed and 1/2 plain ice.  One person sprays, one person mans the hose making sure they can run the sprayer smoothly without getting caught on equipment, hacks or house centres. 2 people man the hose on the backboard and lay it out so that no kinks occur, disrupting the spray.  1 person is at the door making sure the hose doesn't get squished and communicating between the outside paint crew and indoor paint crew.

Spraying.

Next up is finishing touches, then painting the houses in, marking the lines (spoiler alert, it's done with yarn!)

And finally putting the advertisements into the ice (including house advertisements).

Then we pebble, scrape, pebble scrape, pebble scrape until the ice surface is even and ready for Open House!