December 2019 at the Hydeout

Christmas 2019 involved lots of superheroes, but also Lincoln getting a big kid bed and Willie getting a bicycle. But the biggest present was after opening presents on Christmas morning, we got into the car and drove to Naples! Well, first we took down the Christmas decorations because no one wants to come home from vacation and then have to do that, dropped Sophie at Carrie and Mike's house and then started the long (1150 miles) drive south.

Christmas Eve - Leaving Cookies, Milk, and Carrots

Because it was Christmas morning, we correctly figured 2 things about our drive: not many places would be open and not many cars on the road. We made good time on the roads and ate some lunch of uncrustables, big carrots, strawberries, and pretzels, in the car. Our stops for gas and bathroom breaks were extended by a few minutes to allow everyone to run around or rock climb at the gas stations. We found a Waffle House that was open on the south side of Atlanta which was perfect for dinner and then changed into PJs to sleep the last part of the drive. We switched drivers one last time with about 450 miles left and with the strength of a coffee, Red Bull, and quick nap before taking over, I was able to crush the last section without any stops and pulled into the Hydeout at 4 a.m. and 10 miles to empty on the gas gauge.

Running Around at a Gas Station in Kentucky

Rock Climbing, again at a gas station in Tennessee

Waffle House in Atlanta

Waffle House in Atlanta

Soon after our arrival, Mimi and Obo showed up having flown in (they've earned the right to fly, having driven with me, Abby, and Beth their fair share of time). The first day was spent at the pool and resting. We also learned that the Trogs were making their way South after a snafu with the rental car company, think Seinfeld's voice "anyone can take a reservation."

We decided early on that going out to dinner would be quite the endeavor with 4 children so we planned out a few meals that would eventually include: a shrimp, mushroom, and parmesan risotto made by Mimi that was incredible, a creamy shrimp fettuccini that I still dream about, shrimp boil with Matt and Mary Lynch, Thai carry out, a night out at Pinchers, and a night when Mimi and Obo babysat the sleeping kids and let the middle generation go to the Dock for dinner. For lunches, we had lots of snacks at the beach, Brooks Burgers for Megan, some gyros, and some sandwiches from the new South Beach food stand.

Speaking of meals, the one night out for dinner was at Pinchers at Tin City. This was a strategic decision for 4 reasons: We got there at 4:15 which we thought was a way to minimize any tired children meltdowns. The restaurant was sufficiently loud which drowned out any loud noises coming from our table. Kids ate free. Lastly and crucially, drinks were 2 for 1. It was a successful adventure, with appetizers, including the crab claws for Cora; a short break for the kids when Zach and I got this amazing picture of all 4 children looking in the right direction, and ice cream from Tin City afterwards. We also ran into a Morristown, Indiana family that knew the Gaffney's, small world.

Successful Picture by me and Zach at Pinchers

Willie Taking Pictures

Superman Ice Cream!

Superman Ice Cream!

Some other random memories we all left the Hydeout with often centered on the little ones. For example, when Cora announced it was "praise time" and to Willie this meant to grab her by the cheeks and kiss her on the lips. Or when it was a little too quiet in the bunk room and we go in to find Lincoln, Cora, and Willie on the top bunk giggling about being sneaky. Or when the Crab Man, Matt Lynch took the sunglasses from Lincoln while they were playing around in the pool, and Lincoln slowly bursts into tears. Or the day everyone was feeling generous with the popsicles and June ended up eating an unknown number but every adult gave her some so it easily could have been 10 popsicles. Or the good work Willie and Lincoln did while helping Obo wash the cars. Or the endless number of times Willie and Lincoln pretended to go for a walk into the pool, which I will admit got pretty convincing that they were just walking normally and fell in the pool.

The Car Washing Team

The vacation included many mornings at the beach and afternoons at the pool. One day we switched it up and didn't go to the beach until 4 p.m. We played in the water under the setting sun. Zach was standing near us fishing when suddenly, a bird is cawing and flapping its wings against the water. The bird had its wing tangled in the line. People on the beach looked on horrified as Zach tried to free the bird. I stepped near to the situation but was clearly going to be of little use to Zach or the bird. Afterwards Zach said he thought he was going to have to snap the bird's neck which I'm sure would have caused quite the stir amongst the sunset crowd. But lucky for everyone Megan calmly took Lincoln's hat and placed it over the birds beak and face which pacified the bird enough for Zach to untangle the line from the wing. After the bird fiasco, the Trogdon ladies were inching closer to bedtime and headed home before sunset. The rest of us sat on some chairs and watched the sun dive towards the horizon. With about 5 minutes to go, it started to rain and the cabana boys ran around to steal all the umbrellas saying they would lose their jobs if they didn't take them now. Mimi was very angry as we were going to use the umbrellas for literally 5 more minutes as the sun was starting to dip under the horizon. I sat under the cabana boys' umbrellas which were still up while everyone else took shelter under the awning. It ended up being a beautiful sunset and I snapped this picture with a dolphin breaching in front of the orange sun.

Sunset with a Dolphin

Another adventure was when we visited the Everglades Wonder Park in Bonita Springs. It is this zoo type place with alligators, lizards, snakes, and birds. Normally you are already to feed some pellets to the alligators but they are renovating the gator sanctuary so that didn't happen this time. However, we were able to feed the birds including the flamingos (known as "mingos" in our house). Another adventure we went on was a couple of nights we took flashlights out into the backyard area and wandered around. The kids enjoyed shining their lights on things and we explored some stuff in the neighborhood including some fountains, the pond, and the golf course. One day we did a similar exploration and found the butterfly gardens which was fun. There we found multiple types of butterflies and a few caterpillars.

Butterfly Hunting

Monarch Butterfly

Caterpillar

Feeding the 'Mingos

Flashlight Adventures

Fountains at Night 

While we were doing lots of swimming at the pool, Willie was becoming more and more confident going under water and eventually, we let him take of his swimmies. With Obo, Megan, or I usually being the lead instructor Willie soon called this time "swim lessons" which of course made Lincoln incredible jealous and he, in his soft pitched voice said "meeee toooo" wanting to remove his own swimmies.  Lincoln enjoyed going under water with everyone and pretending to shout underwater, although he would only shout once he returned above the water.  Willie did quite well with his swimming and was able to swim about half way across the pool and would even start to take a breath or two while swimming. Momma couldn't be more proud.

One morning instead of beaching or pooling, we went to the farmers market in Old Naples. We sampled some chocolate beignets, got some guacamole, some grapefruits, an iced coffee, and Willie used his long dollar that he had earned from finding conch shells for Obo to purchase a cookie. After the FarMar, we went to Cambier Park to play on the playground. The kiddos had an absolute blast. Lots of chasing after people and climbing on the equipment. The Trogs then had lunch at Captain and Krewe, Megan and Mimi stopped at Alvin's Island to get some stuff and also picked up some Gyros. The rest of the day was spent at the pool.

Nearing the end of the vacation, as I mentioned, Matt and Mary Lynch were in the area for a wedding and came to see us all for a couple of days. Their visit included a couple of pickleball matches that were back and forth affairs. I had also mentioned that the middle generation went to the Dock for dinner one night, this included Matt and Mary. We all ordered two drinks right off the bat and tried to get a free order of appetizers but with no luck. (We are quite classy.) After dinner we walked around the docks to look at the yachts.

The last bit is just a dump of pictures highlighting the sunsets, adventures, and cuteness from the rest of the vacation. The Trogs and Traviss left to drive home around the same time on Friday morning and in fact ran into each during the first bathroom and refueling break. The journey home was rough because there was lots of rain, a few accidents on I-75 south of Atlanta, and then rush hour traffic in Atlanta. We all arrived back home around 2 a.m. which made for a tiring Saturday but everyone was glad to be home and was in generally high spirits to have slept in their own beds.

Sunset Adventures include drinks

Sunset from Hyde Park

Sunset from Hyde Park

Cute Kids Sitting

Willie and Mimi Searching for Shells

Running from the Waves

Sand Castles

RoadTrip: National Parks Day

How was today National Parks Day?! We've already been to so many Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef.  What made this day so special?  Three National Parks in 1 day.  I know, crazy, but by the end of the day we were going to be exhausted and thrilled by some of the most amazing views this earth has to offer.

I know what you are thinking, I'm not even sure Karl Malone spent this much time in Utah and it's true we have been in Utah for a long time.  But let me tell you, the state has some amazing things going on, including a seemingly endless supply of National Parks.

We started this morning unlike many before, waking up with the sole purpose of watching the sunrise.  I've done the 'stay up all night to watch the sun come up,' usually with a cohort of mine, Brad Jones, which have included Coney Island and the St. Louis Arch, not on the same night sadly, but maybe one day those stories will be told, but I have yet to do the wake up and watch the sunrise.

It was chilly and we didn't feel like changing out of our pajamas to go watch the sun come up so I kept my Guinness pants on as we found our way over to the Sunset Point we had been to the previous evening.  We were not the only ones that had this idea to watch the sunrise from Sunset Point and there were about 8 other people, camera in tow, jockeying for the best spot to watch the sun come up.  We had the camera ready, snapping pictures as the colors turned from gray to light orange and began turning brighter.  Then of course, this is when my camera decides to burn out of batteries. We had more readily available...in the car...10 minutes back down the trail.  We didn't turn our backs on the sunrise though and figured that not every moment needed to be captured on camera.

Sunrise over Bryce Canyon - Last picture before the batteries ran out

Now that the sun was burning brightly in the sky we decided to go back to bed.  It was only a little after 6 and figured a nap wouldn't hurt so we went back to our teepee and snuggled back up in the darkness that the canvas shelter created.  We could have slept all day in the teepee and not known it.  It was like midnight inside it was so dark.  But after a little cat nap we were off to head towards the Grand Canyon.  As we were driving west through Utah we were discussing if we should go to Zion National Park today or tomorrow.  We were going drive by it this morning but then also on our way back out of the Grand Canyon we were going to double back.  Decisions. Decisions.

Big Horn Sheep in Zion

We decided to go to Zion today and I'm not even sure what our reasoning was behind the decision.  Megan had been to Zion only the year before with her family but I had never been to the park and really had no idea what to expect.  Megan wouldn't stop talking about how amazing it was with giant canyon walls and endless cliffs.  Even before we really got into the canyon part we received a treat; there was a pack of big horn sheep resting on top of a rock formation.  The horns were amazing to see as the sheep rested in the shade.  Plus the road itself is quite a sight to see.  At some points the road is essentially a tunnel through the rock face but with openings and windows looking out over the canyon.  The engineering involved is amazing and it is incredibly exciting when you catch a glimpse of the canyon through the tunnel wall.

Scenery on the Drive in to Zion

We arrived down in the bottom of the canyon at the visitors center to find out that you can't drive anywhere and have to take a bus to all the locations inside Zion.  Megan supposedly told me this fact but I knew nothing of it.  We packed a backpack with some snacks, water bottles, and camera and went inside the visitors center to figure out what we wanted to do.  After some deliberation, Megan decided that Angels Landing would be too long and difficult and that we didn't need to hike through the river because it wasn't all that much fun last summer.  We did find a short hike up to a little waterfall and then we thought we could take the tour bus around to the other places and if we wanted to jump off we could and if we weren't feeling it we could see the canyon from the bus.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Our first hike was quick and easy, the waterfall was lame and I can't remember more than that.  So we jumped back on the bus and took it towards the end of the canyon.  As we were riding, we got to see some great views of the cliffs and Megan decided that we should at least climb half way up Angels Landing to see Zion canyon from that angle.  So we jumped back off the bus and started the strenuous climb up the canyon wall. After countless switchbacks and what felt like a 7 mile hike, we turned back around a corner and had an incredible sight.  Zion Canyon, stunning and mighty, is quite an amazing place.

Zion National Park

We were hot and tired by the time we made it back down to the canyon floor and we were very glad that the lodge, restaurant, and gift shop was only a quick walk down the trail.  We found the food court to not appeal all that much to our growling stomachs but decided that splitting a salad would tide us over until we found something more.  The salad ended up being fresh, colorful, large and filling.  We devoured the whole thing and felt very healthy afterwards.  A quick stop in the gift shop to pick up some nick-knacks and then we were going to head towards our campsite just outside the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and move on past the state of Utah.

We had reserved this campsite a few weeks earlier as the North Rim doesn't have a lot of places to stay near by and the campground inside the park was already booked up.  We originally thought about staying two days at the Grand Canyon but last minute decided we should spend an extra night in Las Vegas.  Our plan was then to reach our campsite and then the next morning check out the Grand Canyon!

We reached our campsite in Kaibab, Arizona.  I'm not sure if there was a town or anything more than the campground but it was a great place.  Lots of pine trees and our site was down next to a pasture where there were a few horses roaming around.  By the time we set up camp and it was late in the afternoon.  We didn't have anything to do the rest of the day and after playing a few hands of cards and discussing the Grand Canyon we said screw it, let's go see it now.  So we jumped in the car and drove the last 45 minutes to the North Rim, our third national park of the day.

First View of the Grand Canyon

We found our way our towards the edge and bam! the view becomes endless.  At first, I was unimpressed.  This was my first time at the Grand Canyon and had heard all those amazing things, it's breathtaking, you'll never see anything like it, yada yada yada. Well when I first looked out into the canyon I thought, "eh, it doesn't seem as deep as the Black Canyon, and Canyonlands is more visually stunning."  Maybe that was the downside to all the amazing things we had already seen, we were becoming numb to things that are grand.  I stand by what I think about the Black Canyon and Canyonlands and Zion that they are all incredible and maybe because I had lower expectations of those places and wanted the Grand Canyon to be ten times cooler than those other place that I wasn't blown away by the Grand Canyon.  However, as I stood next to this canyon it grew on me, I noticed how dark it was in some valleys and that I was standing 15 miles from the south rim and just how massive this canyon really is.  I will sum it up with this, initially I was underwhelmed and now looking at the pictures I wonder how I could ever have felt like that.

Grand Canyon

I have never been to the south rim, but I have heard that it is tourism at its worst.  The North Rim was nothing like that.  I understand that the south rim is way easier to get to from Phoenix but I would definitely advise the 3 hour drive around the canyon to reach the North Rim because it is a beautiful place.  There is a gorgeous lodge, cabins, a restaurant, bar, and a gift shop.  We decided that we didn't need to drive back again in the morning since it was about an hour to get here from our campsite.  The lodge has a wonderful stone patio overlooking the canyon, so we found the bar, got a couple beers and sat out on the patio as the sun set over the Grand Canyon.  It was very windy and we were glad that we had a car full of clothes because we needed pants and long sleeves to enjoy the views.  As we were sitting on the patio, the views really got me, the sun was making the canyon look purple or blue and they were starting to take my breath away.

Grand Canyon at Dusk

We knew we had an hour drive back to camp and once the sun went down the road was pitch black so we didn't stay long after sun down.  On the drive, we took some great pictures as the wilderness beautiful bathed in moon light.  We reached our camp safely and decided to make some tuna melts for a late dinner before hitting the hay with intentions of driving to Sin City in the morning. 

Driving towards Kaibab

Dead Tree Night

RoadTrip: Southwestern Colorado

Megan woke up this morning and was ready for the day to start.  She had been talking about Mesa Verde for as long as I can remember all because as a child she came here with her family and there was a forest fire that started soon before they were to arrive.  The fire closed down the park and they were left pining to get in and she has never been back.

As I followed after Megan to the bathroom to wash up, a deer trotted in between us and Megan was oblivious to it all.  After finding out the showers were only in the main convenience store we brushed our teeth and went to pay for our previous nights stay, as we had arrived after they closed the night before.  There was a new lady working at the check-out counter and because we were so patient as she went through all of our information the manager gave us some free coffee and hot chocolate and a bag of ice, which seemed overly generous but greatly appreciated.

Balcony House at Mesa Verde

Since we were staying in the park we were able to make it to the visitors center as they opened up and signed up for a tour of "Balcony House" and "Cliff Palace."  It was still another 35 minute drive down to the dwellings so we kept on moving down to our tour site.  We unfortunately got stuck behind a slow moving bus as the windy road kept the large vehicle moving at a snail's pace.  But then as luck would have it, the bus pulled off to the side, the 7 cars in front of us all stupidly followed the bus, we zipped by them all and had a good laugh at the idiot drivers in the other cars.

We were still laughing when we started out first tour at Balcony House and our tour guide, Bill, was great.  He made us really think about how life was in rock dwelling, which would have been rough but having a weather proof shelter would definitely have made life easier.

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde

Remnants of Megan's Forest Fire

As for Cliff Palace, the tour was amazing.  The dwelling could house more than 125 people at once and the protection it created was something else.  The stairway up to the dwelling was just little slits in the rock face that was used as hand and foot holds to rock climb up the wall.  Our tour guide here talked extensively about corn the amazing way the Native Americans went about cultivating the best crops to continually grow bigger and large plants.  He also told us that Megan's forest fire (the one she saw; she didn't start a forest fire, at least one that we know of) would take another 300 years before the forest was fully restored to it's full grown state.


We left Mesa Verde and actually drove back east a touch, we quickly stopped that when we reached Durango.  We stopped for some lunch and a walk around town.  It had a lot of shops selling cowboy type stuff and western souvenirs.  We ended up finding RGB Wraps, a little place inside an office building that was making up fresh wraps.  We got them to go because it was such a nice day and wanted to eat outside, or maybe we weren't used to being inside buildings for that long and felt more comfortable outdoors.  We grabbed our wraps and found a picnic table in a park along the river which was covered in cotton from cottonwood trees.

We also stopped at a gas station to check on the oil because the check oil light had come on a couple days prior.  We didn't think we would need to do anything with the oil as we had it changed right before we left but we wanted to make sure.  The oil looked good however, the coolant was running dangerously low so we filled it back up and we were on our way north towards Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Views on the Drive between Durango and Montrose

Views on the Drive between Durango and Montrose

We were expecting a two hour drive, without much expectation for anything else and quickly we discovered we were in for a treat.  The drive between Durango and Montrose on Co Hwy 550 is incredible!  The views of the San Juan Mountains were amazing.  We took our time on the drive, stopping a few times to get out and take in the views of mountains, trees, rivers, waterfalls, peaks, and valleys.  We were disappointed when we reached the edge of Montrose because we knew the drive had ended but from Montrose you had views looking back on the mountain range that were breathtaking.

More Views on the Drive

Looking Back at the San Juan Mountains

We stopped in Walmart to pick up some groceries to make dinner and continued the few miles left to Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  We stopped at the visitors center but they were closing so we just grabbed a map and we were on our own.  We went to the camp grounds and we were delighted to find out that the campsite cost $6 per night.  We quickly set up camp and made a quick trip out of the park to pick up some firewood before checking out the Black Canyon.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

We had never heard of Black Canyon of the Gunnison until the day before we were to leave the Chicago area.  We went to the grocery store to pick up supplies and at the checkout counter there was a magazine of Must See National Parks.  We couldn't not buy it so we used that to give us some ideas and Black Canyon of the Gunnison was one those ideas, and I knew it was going to be amazing just by the name of it, which is why I like using the full name, Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

We were driving from lookout point to lookout point checking out the amazing views.  The canyon is very much worthy of its name; it is black rock faced, or at least the sun doesn't reach the rock walls and they appear black.  The canyon is very narrow at some points only a few hundred feet from rim to rim yet and it is incredibly steep and deep.  At one point the canyon is over 2000 feet down and leaves you backing away from the edge.  There were some small birds that were flying around the lookout points, likely knowing that humans bring food, and these birds were daredevils flying inches from your head. We kept describing it as being zoomed.  We watched the sunset from the aptly named Sunset View before heading back to camp.

Sunset over the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

We made some dinner on the fire and watched as the colors from dusk turned into a pitch black night.  We had some bbq chicken, watermelon, macaroni and cheese with our beers before hitting the hay for the night.