Wednesday, April 15, 2009

.day two.

Thursday morning Josh had to go to Glen Canyon Dam to fix the problem. He woke up early and headed over. After watching TV in our room for awhile the kids and I decided to go explore town.

Josh had the car so we packed Brynn in the stroller and headed out on foot. Our hotel was at the bottom of a busy street, so we headed up the road. About 3 blocks up there was a John W. Powell museum. It was closed because it was still too early but we stopped for a few photo opts on some artifacts they had displayed outside.


here's some more funny faces...or I should say bodies in Gage's case here.

Here are some dinosaur tracks.

Just a fun bike later on our walk.

Our destination was about 4 blocks up. We found a Safeway grocery store and shopped a little bit. We grabbed some snacks for our room and any adventures we went on later this trip. Here we stopped in a parking lot on the way home to share an orange.

So we learned real quick that having a 10 month old share your hotel room is no walk in the park. The poor girl didn't crawl for 3 days straight! There's no way I was putting her down on that yucky hotel room floor! She slept okay both nights...but being a baby who thrives on routine, she had a difficult time adjusting. Bedtime was the worst. She was up for hours after she usually is and got over tired every night. She hated the playpen and the only way she stayed in it, was when she fell asleep before we put her in.

I had to work real hard for this nap!

Josh worked for almost 6 hours that morning. He called when he finished and told up he was stopping by to pick us up for lunch. After lunch we headed back over to the Dam to see where Dad has been working the past month.


The Dam is a Federal facility. Its alot like the airport in the fact that you can't use words like "bomb" or "terrorist" and you have to go through a metal detector to be let inside the visitor center. When Josh was working earlier that day he almost caused a Federal lockdown of the building! I guess a boiler or heater he was working on (I forget which) started on fire!!! Josh said someone left the owners manual on the unit and it caught fire when he was working on it. He said the flames were HUGE and he panicked while he raced to find an extinguisher. Federal security rushed down to see what the heck was going on. He said it was scary, but I laughed and laughed when he told me later. We both laughed again when we went inside the visitor center and it still smelled of smoke.

Here's a view from the huge panoramic window they have,
you can see the bridge to Page in the background.

They had room for us to join a tour group you pay extra for to explore the Dam. I think they may have given us special treatment because they knew Josh? I saw a sign that said the tours were filled for the next 2 hours, but they put us on one right away.

I didn't have much time to think about the tour before we were on our way down an elevator to the top of the Dam. I started to panic a little and was relieved when the trip only was a few floors down. I told Josh "that's better than I was thinking...I was worried they'd take us all the way down." He smiled and said. "that's only the first elevator, we go down the long one next!" WHAT!?!?! I freaked out inside and he enjoyed watching my torment. I just kept telling myself, people do this all the time, all day long. I have nothing to worry about...

Ever since becoming a Mother, I have Vertigo really bad! I don't remember being so petrified of heights as a kid? I constantly think about my kids being blown off the edge or great heights or of me dropping one of them over the edge. This part of the tour drove me nuts. There is a very thick edge before the drop off on either side. Gage couldn't quite see over the edge and kept trying to climb up and see. AHHH! I couldn't get near him often because I was holding Brynn and I might drop her off the edge if I got closer. Good thing I have a sane, rational husband, because I'm a crazy lady at stuff like this! :)


Here's TJ on the Lake Powell side of the bridge.

Next was down THE elevator. Now, I try not to let my panic show. Mostly for my kids sake. I don't remember much but I think they said the ride down was 52 stories and it took a while to get to the bottom. Brynn hated it and cried when it started to move. (She's sooo my daughter!)

We made it safely and this is the view on the way out. Yeah...all those cement and small hallways was freaky too!

Looking at the view from the bottom.

A view of the Dam at the bottom. You can see the top where we just were.

Again at the bottom. This is where the turbines are that spin and collect the power. It was noisy, loud and looked very "mechanical".

I'm glad we went and did the tour and I'm more glad that its over. Here's a view again from the top!

Next post is a good one...stay tuned.

7 comments:

Danielle said...

I loved reading about your trip and can't wait to hear about the next post that you said is a good one!!

Okay I thought it was only me and I was crazy or something, I used to NEVER be scared of heights, big things, etc but then I had kids and I can't be enclosed or boxed in anywhere, I freak out when we are somewhere high even if we are in a enclosed building that there is no way we would fall, like the picture looking up to the dam you posted, it would of scared me, I have no clue why.

I love that you guys took off walking to the store and to explore the town. And I am with you with not wanting to put Brynn on the floor!

Jana said...

Wow, amazing pictures!! Can I hire you to come take pictures for me and do my blogging for me!!?? I love looking at it!! I am glad you guys got to go on a great adventure!! :)

Natasha said...

I am way scared of heights too.
And, the older I get the more scared I get. The sky ride at Lagoon totally freaks me out. So, I know exactly how you were feeling.

Melissa said...

Oh, tiny, little, itty bitty... I don't do elevators very well. Looks like you had a blast. Yeah, nights with babies and kids all in one room is terrible.

Clarke and Kamie said...

you are so good to document the trip so well! You'll appreciate that later when you can remember it all. Looks fun!

Becki said...

Wow, that must have been so cool to see in person, and I completely sympathize with the baby in a non crawling environment, it's hard! Good job on getting that nap! :)

Denice said...

"I am your dam guide. If you have any dam questions, please save them for the end of the dam tour." Hahaha....I crack myself up! :)

I am with you on the heights thing..I don't even like roller coasters like I used to. Who knows what happened...I guess I am losing the "kid" side of me?!?! The boys crack me up..they are such hams in front of the camera. Sorry Brynn had a hard time adjusting but I agree with the floor...ewww....

Loves!!