The Grand Finale

Here is our last post, we have a special edition: pictures from the Grand Canyon and quotes from fellow Stretchies. On our drive to the Grand Canyon we saw some rainbows.

We stopped at Red Mountain, a cinder cone with an amphitheater of hoodoos.

People sitting on their bungi at Red Mountain.

David CS climbed up high.

Izzy and Cat.

Our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon!

Ed and Jonathan taught us about the Grand Canyon when we got there.

That night we camped and then got up at 5:30 because we did an 18 mile round-trip hike to the Colorado River and back.

It was COLD when we got up, it was in the teens! Everybody got bundled up for the hike. Here is Jen.

Davey, Kelly, Shelby, and Paige.

Ari.

Sunrise on the Grand Canyon.

Indian Gardens, the middle point of the hike.

Here are some pictures from the hike, it stayed clear all day for us and then started snowing just as we finished!

Jenica and Paige's bungus.

Colorado River!

Izzy's bungus and Ariana.

Ariana and Isabel.

Artsy nature porn shot.

Dave and Iz hugging it out.

Dave and Iz.

David Adams Sinclair.

Isabel Sands Caldwell.

Andi, Davey, Izzy, and Cat.

Cat got your hand?

Jundi pointing out a contact.

Whoopsies!

Today we drove back to Flagstaff and stopped at a lava tube on the way. We had our lunch of the Stretch.

Izzy and Davey versus Gerben.

Twinsies!

Entering the lava tube.

Young Q and Schatz.

The lava tube is 3/4 of a mile long and went out and back, it was really cool. Here we are leaving the tunnel.

Walking back to the vans.

Artsy pic. Ying Qi Wong.

When we got back to Flagstaff Jake shaved half his beard for the final dinner!

We all went to dinner at an Indian place, it was really yummy!

John and Paige.

Here are quotes from our friends:

John: I’m just glad that I became friends with Davey and didn’t throw him off the Grand Canyon. We’re just on that level now.

Shelby: Call me if you want your face painted nuff said love you all

Liza: I’ve learned some really practical stuff on the stretch. Friendship braceleting, knitting, and the best way to do the 10K challenge. Can’t wait for stitch n’ bitch: campus edition.

Claire: Over it.                          Jokes, best time ayyyyyyyvarr.

           

Ari: The Stretch was so good I cancelled my flight home!

Gerben: Dave and Iz take on the West? More like Dave and Iz take on Gerben. You two make quite the tag team and I look forward to future wrestling matches. But not in ski season. Good luck in Yellowstone.

Sam S: No more morning running adventures, Davey.  Cribbage—only cribbage adventures from now on!  Izzy, thank you for all the hugs over the Stretch.  To both of you: go ski fast!  I’ll be keeping tabs on you guys this winter…  And every once in a while, if you’re in need of a running buddy, let me know!

Kelly: Countoff: One! I’m sure going to miss numbers 2 through 23. Thanks to Iz and Dave for documenting our adventures all Fall!

Here are some classic Stretch quotes (this will make no sense to non-stretchies but we'll get a kick out of it):

Hoodoo'd in the Palace?

Who pooped in the Palace?

When in doubt, Qal it out.

YOSMOOT!

Papa Blaine!

Bungus!

Let's saddle up!

Y-Y-Y-Ying Qi!

Let's get weird!

Off day off-a-thon!

Drive day drive-a-thon!

Work day work-a-thon!

Smang it gurl.

Shoooot.

This is gonna suuuuuck.

Mmmm-dips.

Let's s some d.

Blaine and the biddies.

Mmmm-Gideon.

Shelby, why are you wearing popular clothes?

Nobody trundles anymore.

And that's how we conquered the west.

It's been real,

Dave and Iz

Flagstaff

Here are our pictures from our time in Flagstaff. We are staying at a nice hotel called Hotel Aspen. Tonight is our last night here and in the morning we drive to the Grand Canyon and camp for two nights, it's going to be cold! Then we come back here for our last night.

On our first day in Flagstaff we visited the Meteor Crater. It is the best preserved and first proven meteor crater in the world! They think it was caused by a 45 meter diameter chunk of asteroid crashing into the Earth at 20,000 meters per second. We got to see a chunk of the meteorite and it is pretty much just straight iron and nickel.

Paige and Shelby at Meteor Crater.

The group.

Jake's beard is getting really big!

Joeyyyy!

The next day we went to the SP Crater. It's called SP Crater because the cowboys thought it looked like a shit pot, then the USGS shortened it to SP. It is a volcanic crater. We climbed up to the rim of the crater, here is an artsy shot from the top.

People walking along the rim.

Looking down into SP Crater.

We could see the Grand Canyon from the top of the Crater! It is the farthest thing in the picture, you can see the white of the canyon wall.

Sam R and Ranee hiking up.

Looking down at the vans, it was a 250 meter gain in elevation. It was a tough hike up because it was on a steep scree slope, but it was worth it because we got to scree ski down!

Jen and Cat at lunch time.

In the afternoon we did some mapping for our GIS and Remote Sensing project. Here is Andi in the field.

Artsy shot of the sun. The land is extremely flat with a bunch of volcanic cinder cones and lava flows.

Looking across, it was very pretty, like a savannah. The hills are old cinder cones.

The backside of SP Crater.

Dave and Andi switched hats.

Ed, David CS, Andi, and Davey.

Davey jumping.

Artsy shot of a lava flow, the grass was shimmering.

Grassland.

We'll post our last update when we get back to Flagstaff in a few days. See you later,
Dave and Iz