Quintessential Tours Clients - The Sopers

The Sopers had already been in California for nearly 2 weeks by the time we met them. They had spent their time in Los Angeles, Disney's Magic Kingdom and San Diego. We met them with a couple days remaining on their San Diego agenda, in time to help them see parts of greater San Diego not conveniently seen without a car.

After a couple of days together in San Diego, it was time to head off for the relative wilderness of the Southwest. We would start with not-so-wildernessy Phoenix, where Rex wanted a couple of nights, and time to do a bit of teddy bear shopping for Joy.

We departed for Phoenix in the middle of a record-breaking heatwave. En route, we saw temperatures of 115 degrees Fahrenheit when we stopped at the General Patton museum in the bustling metropolis of Chiriaco Summit, California. We arrived in Phoenix after a long day's drive at just about dinner time.

The heat held up while we were in Phoenix, breaking records each day. Then, en route to Sedona, things changed. The trip to Sedona from Phoenix was bearable (when outside the air conditioning of the vehicle). We stopped off at the Pioneer Living History Museum (95 acres of 19th century desert history, and Montezuma's Castle (nearly 10 thousand year old ruins of an early native settlement), before arriving in Sedona at about dinner time for a relaxing 3 night stay.

After days of record-breaking heat, the weather flipped on its lid. The morning after we arrived, I was scraping snow off of the van before heading down from Flagstaff to collect the family.

Nick, Julie and the kids were scheduled to take the steam train to the Grand Canyon from Williams, while I drove Rex and Joy by highway. So, our first stop after Sedona was to be the basic town of Williams. Weather was still a bit dicey with intermittant rain, but after dropping the younger members of the family off, Rex and Joy were up for a bit of a look 'round the town.

To our delight, Williams was having a Memorial Day parade, and it was timed just perfectly for us to enjoy. After a quick lunch and a bit of coffee, we all enjoyed small-town Americana.

After the grandness of the Grand Canyon, we were in for a bit of a change of pace, heading out into Navajo Nation, and the quieter pace of life to be found there. The drive from the Grand Canyon took us swiftly through the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, although by the time we got to those points of interest, everyone was ready to keep on moving in order to get to our home base for the evening.

We did manage a stop at Meteor Crater, which turned out to be a bit overblown, as I had begun to imagine after seeing just a few too many signs advertising this "natural wonder."

At Canyon de Chelly, we managed to sort out the time issues (Navajo Nation observes Daylight Savings Time, while the rest of Arizona does not), and get prepared for an early morning guided tour of Canyon de Chelly's historic reaches.

Having seen Canyon de Chelly properly, it was time to head off to one of Rex's
"mecca" destinations: Monument Valley. A huge fan of John Wayne, Rex had seen "the Duke's" grave while in Southern California, and had been looking forward to visiting this quintessential filming location ever since first booking the trip.

We set the Sopers up in a vacation-rental-style house overlooking the famous valley. The family invited me over for my first barbecue with them, and as the sun set, we all attempted to take advantage of the changing light to somehow capture a scene that can't possibly be captured.

I had a very exciting second day in Monument Valley. While Rex and Nick went off with a local Navajo guide to see Mystery Valley, a lesser-known destination, I took Joy on a late-morning tour of Monument Valley's most accessible drive.

Rex and Joy would later retrace my steps (and then some) to afford the two some different lighting, and then the lot of us would return home for the evening.

At around 8:30 PM, things got interesting. I didn't have great cellphone reception at my cabin, but I did get Rex's call. One of the kids wasn't feeling well. Could I take her and her parents into the nearest town to see a doctor.

"Of course" was my response. 45 minutes later, Nick and I were parked at Kayenta's remote medical facility, discussing Taila's heart condition, and praying that there wasn't anything seriously wrong.

After several hours, Julie received the report that Taila had accute appendicitis, and needed to be immediately medivaced to Flagstaff. 30 minutes later, Julie and Taila were gone, and Nick and I were driving back to Monument Valley wondering what had just happened.

On arrival in Flagstaff, we went immediately to the hospital, where Julie had been keeping a 24 hour vigil since arriving. The first order of business was for Nick to relieve Julie so she could get some sleep. No authoritative word had yet been given on Taila's contdtion.

After switching parents, and getting everyone settled in to their new, unscripted digs, everyone turned in for the night.

The next day proved to be a good-news day. Taila's fever had subsided, and the doctors were so happy with her recovery that they ruled out an appendectomy. She was released, and we were able to re-plan the route forward.

That route started with a trip to Las Vegas, where Taila would be able to recover within short shouting distance of medical attention. Everyone decided that the younger family would be best-served to stay in Las Vegas while Rex, Joy and I visited Utah's remote national parks.

So, I booked Nick, Julie and their kids into some very cool rooms in Las Vegas, and prepared to set out the next morning with Rex and Joy.

The trip to Capitol Reef was a fairly long drive, given how far we had come in the opposite direction in order to get young Taila to Las Vegas. One stop along the way was noteworthy, however.

Right around the intersection of I15 and I70, we decided to take a flyer on a historic site advertised on a highway sign called Cove Fort. While Rex and Joy went off for a look, I stayed with the van, and took a few photos. After a while, I could see the two of them engaged in deep conversation with one of the local "docents." Through my telephoto lens, I gathered that this was a conversation that neither Rex nor Joy was too excited to be having, and watched as Joy cleverly started taking pictures further and further away from Rex and their evangelist.

Yes, that's right, the price of admission at Cove Fort is conversion, and Rex and Joy were getting the full sales pitch from their Mormon host. As Rex recounted later, he began to suspect something when they taken to a room in the fort, and the guide asked them if they could name the 5 sources of light in the room. The doorway, skylight and 2 windows were obvious answers, leaving them one short. It was at this point that the "Book of Mormon," lying open on a table, was revealed to be the 5th source of light.

Not particularly in the mood to become Mormons on that particular day, the two made their excuses and we hightailed it for Torrey, where we would spend the night before seeing Capitol Reef the following day.

Capitol Reef was to be the start of a very photogenic 4 days in southern Utah. We spent a half day in the park, where Rex and Joy took hundreds of photos, before we headed west and south, down beautiful Highway 12, arriving at Bryce Canyon just before dinner.

Leaving Bryce, we stumbled on one of the very cool finds of the trip, the Paunsaugunt Wildlife Museum. Created by Robert Driedonks and his wife, Teri, this museum features one of the finest collection of taxidermy I've ever seen.

Zion proved to be another photographic paradise, and it was well into the evening by the time we settled in for the evening in the small town of Springdale, just outside the park boundary.

After about a 2 hour drive, our scenic voyage to Southern Utah ended, and the Soper family was reunited in Las Vegas. The first couple nights here would be a welcome break for Nick and Julie, who were relieved of parenting duties by the grandparents, while they enjoyed some time to themselves at New York New York casino and hotel.

The next few days would be spent taking in as much as can be taken in of Sin City over a 5 day stretch.

Having already endured 115 degree heat earlier in the trip, the family wasn't all that excited about Rex's plan to spend a night in Death Valley. But, it turned out pretty well, beginning with a trip to Scotty's Castle (built by a gold-rush-era huckster), and culminating with a steak dinner at the Wrangler Steakhouse, before retiring to the swimming pool and air conditioned rooms of the Furnace Creek Ranch.

The following day would see us drive the length of the National Park, before heading towards Sequoia.

After leaving Death Valley, we took a detour to the China Lake Naval Weapons Center. Here, on an active military base, we had a look at some very cool weaponry before having lunch at a "local-flavor" diner in Ridgecrest.

Leaving modern warfare behind, we skirted the southern end of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, on our way to Sequoia. The highlight of what became an incresingly scenic trip through the mountains was stopping on a remote mountain road, so that I could shoo a snake from middle of the road.

Sequoia turned out to be a tour high point, thanks in no small part to bears. On our full day in Sequoia, we saw three bears in three different places within 2 hours. I love seeing bears in their natural habitat. So often, in the national parks, when a bear is sighted, it becomes tourist pandemonium. We were able to enjoy the bears we saw in Sequoia as they went about their daily business of foraging, unmolested by throngs of people or park rangers commanding us to "move along." This was nature the way it is meant to be enjoyed.

The one downside of our "3 Bear Day" in Sequoia was that Rex missed it. He was feeling a bit "crook" and stayed back at the hotel while the rest of us toured. So, it became a bit of a mission for me to find Rex a bear while we were in Yosemite.

Ultimately, (as evidenced by the picture at left), we were successful, albeit in a bit less of a natural setting than we'd experienced in Sequoia.

In the mean time, 3 nights in Yosemite allowed the family to see the entirety of the park, with Rex and Joy deciding that the long drive up into the high country was a highlight of the entire trip.

Personally, Yosemite was rewarding for me, as it was here that I got to spend the most quality time with the Sopers. The Kiwi-style barbecues we enjoyed out back of the vacation home we rented for them are among my favorite memories of 2008. Good food, great conversation, and the ocassional appearance of a local coyote who seemed to be posing for the camera, were hallmarks of a wonderful three night stay.

On our way to the coast from Yosemite, I asked the family if they'd like to have a beach barbecue. You see, the change in plans now had us traveling through my home town in Aptos, and after several barbecues where I was the guest, I wanted to play host for a change. After dropping the family off in Monterey the night before, I met up with my wife for the first time in a month, and the two of us did a bit of shopping for a good old fashioned California-style barbecue.

It was clear after a half day in Monterey and Big Sur that the beach was going to be a bit cold due to coastal fog, so we moved the venue to our home. Late afternoon, I arrived with the Sopers at our home in Aptos, and began cooking. I believe everyone enjoyed my cooking (ribs being the main course), and I was delighted to have the opportunity to have the family to my home.