Trip Report IMAGE INTENSE -- Southwest Splendors! Part 5

sayhello

Have Camera, Will Travel
Joined
Oct 28, 2006
After lunch, which was a barbeque with burgers and such out by the winery building, we all went & changed into our swimsuits and whatever, and drove upriver a bit to hook up with the river rafting company that we were going rafting with. Normally, this section of the river is class 1, which means you're really just river floating. But because of all the snow they'd gotten, the river was running very high, and the curve right by the Resort had a set of rapids that were class 3. There were a couple of other areas that were class 2, but most of it *was* class 1, and that was fine by us. Allowed us to have a little excitement, but mostly just enjoy the gorgeous weather and scenery. EVERYONE seemed to enjoy the rafting.

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Yep! That's our raft back there, on the one Class 3 rapid

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The river rafting guides were great, and made sure each raft had the experience they wanted (the other boat went around the class 3 rapids). This company was different from the one they'd used before, and did not do the whole water fight thing. I was actually pretty glad about that. Our guide was going to slip into the water & swim over & pull Chris into the water (he was splashing us pretty good with his oar!) but she was afraid she'd ruin his camera. He was one of the few taking pictures All in all, a *very* good time.

After the rafting, we went back to the Resort to clean up & relax, until the farewell dinner that night (yes! It had been a week already!) As I started packing up what I could, I kept looking at that bottle of wine. There was really no way I could take it back with me. You can't put that much liquid in your carryon any more, and there's no way I'd put it in checked luggage; I'd have red, wet clothing by the time I got home. So I called up Deb in her room & asked if she'd like to share the wine. She said sure, come over around 5pm (she had a RIVER view room). So I went over, and she'd gone up & down the building inviting whoever from the tour she could find to come down. Several people had bottles of wine in their rooms, so it turned into a lovely party, um, wine tasting by the riverside as the sun was *just* beginning to lower. It was a really lovely, relaxing time. I had to thank Cheryl especially for the wine, as I really don't think it would have happened without that bottle they gave me.

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Then we headed up to the winery building for the Farewell dinner, which was a yummy cowboy barbeque with steaks grilled to order and all the fixings. And incredible scenery behind us.

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We went inside the winery after dinner for a little presentation. Afterwards, we went out & had a campfire, with the young guy who'd entertained us during dinner, singing Country songs. It was hard to go to bed, knowing the next morning we were heading to the airport to fly home.

Next morning, I got my suitcase out *just* as they were picking them up, and went up to the Lodge for breakfast. We then loaded up into the bus for an hour-and-a-half drive to the airport in Grand Junction, Colorado. It was a beautiful drive, lots of interesting scenery, but also, a trip to the airport.

The airport is really the only part of the trip I complained to Disney about in my survey. They dropped us off at the airport around 10am. They'd told us not to book anything earlier than 11am, and most of us had flights at noon or later (mine was at 1pm). There was NOTHING at this airport. They had a pop machine before you went through security (which didn't open until 11:15am) and they had a coffee shop that was just a very plain room with a bunch of seats and coffee that was only available until 8am. We had a very funny sort of bonding moment, all sitting in this coffee shop, appalled and perplexed by the lack of services at this airport. Boy, were we spoiled!

Once we got through security, there was a little newsshop that had candy & chips and THAT WAS IT. Nothing else. And since it was such a small airport, the planes were all small regional planes that had no food on them, either. So I didn't have lunch until 4:30 pm when I arrive in Dallas/Fort Worth! Unacceptable! The very *least* they could have done is arrange for box lunches from the Resort, or stopped somewhere on the way to the airport to get food. We were stranded, with no options. Or they could have chosen to go a little further, and take us to the much larger Salt Lake City airport, which would have had food & more options for flights. But, all in all, it was a minor frustration out of a wonderfully run and executed trip.

And one of the BEST parts was, as I was hugging everyone goodbye outside the airport, I realized that I had not thought about work ONCE since my coworker had returned my phone call the previous Saturday. And that was a very, VERY good thing. So I *do* think I'm going to have to do more of these trips. I'm not sure which one(s) or when, but I will definitely be returning. Disney did a bang-up job of this, and their employees were top-notch. I DEFINITELY got my money's worth out of this vacation.

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sayhello
 
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SayHello: What an amazing trip report!!! The pictures, the itinerary description, the whole sense of emotion and ups and downs and why all in all it was so great -- this was a super treat for my Sunday morning, especially as our tour leaves in less than a week!! Thank you so much for taking the time to put this report together! And I'm very glad you had such a good trip.

Can I ask one odd, little question: the ABD info is quite clear about tipping guidelines and protocol for your guides, but I don't remember anything about tipping the bus driver. It sounds like, from your report, that he was really great too. Did people tip him as well?

Thanks again!
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this trip report. My family and I are doing this trip in August (instead of our yearly summer Disney World trip) so we've been trying to keep up the excitment while we are missing Disney. Your report & photos are awesome! Thank you so much for taking the time to do it. We will be reading and rereading it!
Tammy
 
SayHello: What an amazing trip report!!! The pictures, the itinerary description, the whole sense of emotion and ups and downs and why all in all it was so great -- this was a super treat for my Sunday morning, especially as our tour leaves in less than a week!! Thank you so much for taking the time to put this report together! And I'm very glad you had such a good trip.

Can I ask one odd, little question: the ABD info is quite clear about tipping guidelines and protocol for your guides, but I don't remember anything about tipping the bus driver. It sounds like, from your report, that he was really great too. Did people tip him as well?

Thanks again!
Wow, thanks! I'm glad you liked the report. You will love this trip, it was just a fantastic itinerary, with just the right mix of activities and things to see and down time. Less than a week! You must be thrilled. :goodvibes I'm jealous, I want to go back. Enjoy yourselves!

As for the bus driver, it was made clear to us that *everyone* but the guides were being tipped by Disney. The bus driver, the naturalists, the folks at the hotels, etc. Honestly, in retrospect, Tom was so fabulous I wished I had tipped him, but it wasn't expected. To my knowledge, no-one else tipped him (if they did, they were EXTREMELY discreet!)

sayhello
 


Thank you, thank you, thank you for this trip report. My family and I are doing this trip in August (instead of our yearly summer Disney World trip) so we've been trying to keep up the excitment while we are missing Disney. Your report & photos are awesome! Thank you so much for taking the time to do it. We will be reading and rereading it!
Tammy
Thanks so much! Part of the fun for me in taking these trips & all the photos (this was just a sampling of the 800+ pics I took -- I love digital!) is sharing them with people. I loved reading the trip reports I could find in anticipation of my trip, so I'm glad mine can help in keeping up the excitement for yours. You will *love* this trip. I'm already trying to decide which one to take next year (but I still think I've already done the best one!)

sayhello
 
One other question - are there laundry facilities at any of the hotels? Especially perhaps at the end in Utah? We are planning on renting a car in Grand Junction and driving to Denver, I'd love to have some clean clothes for that!
Tammy
 
I have to agree with you regarding the Grand Junction airport. I actually was going back and forth about renting a car and driving to Denver, but in the end book a flight out of Grand Junction. I remember that "snack shop" well. Thanks for the trip report! It was nice to see the sights again.
 


One other question - are there laundry facilities at any of the hotels? Especially perhaps at the end in Utah? We are planning on renting a car in Grand Junction and driving to Phoenix, I'd love to have some clean clothes for that!
Tammy

We actually decided to rent a car at Grand Junction and are driving to Denver for the afternoon and evening, then flying home from there the next morning. We thought it would be nice to visit one more place we had never seen, and we hope it will make re-entry a little easier. I can let you know how that goes...
 
Absolutely incredible photos.... thanks for the memories!
 
One other question - are there laundry facilities at any of the hotels? Especially perhaps at the end in Utah? We are planning on renting a car in Grand Junction and driving to Phoenix, I'd love to have some clean clothes for that!
Tammy
I can see you got an answer in the other Trip Report thread. I personally try never to do laundry unless I absolutely have to ;) but I know some people did do laundry during the down time we had at the Red Cliffs lodge.

I have to agree with you regarding the Grand Junction airport. I actually was going back and forth about renting a car and driving to Denver, but in the end book a flight out of Grand Junction. I remember that "snack shop" well. Thanks for the trip report! It was nice to see the sights again.
The family of 3 rented a car & drove to Denver for a few days. We were all a bit jealous of them at that point...

What a fantastic trip report! Thank you for sharing all your lovely pictures! :goodvibes
Thanks cici. I really enjoy sharing, and seeing people's reactions.

We actually decided to rent a car at Grand Junction and are driving to Denver for the afternoon and evening, then flying home from there the next morning. We thought it would be nice to visit one more place we had never seen, and we hope it will make re-entry a little easier. I can let you know how that goes...
I think that was a good choice. Although I was ready to go home, one more easier day would have been nice.

Absolutely incredible photos.... thanks for the memories!
Why thank you! :goodvibes I really love my camera, and it helps to have such lovely scenery & subjects to photograph. Glad you enjoyed.

sayhello
 
Thanks for the entertaining report. I enjoyed all of it EXCEPT for the tarantula. I can't stay far enough away from those things!
 
Thank you for taking the time to post your reports, your pictures were amazing.
 
Say Hello--
Thanks for the terrific trip report! We are going on this trip on August 20, and we just received our package with itinerary and backpacks in the mail yesterday. Seeing your wonderful pictures and reading the fun commentary has made all of us sooooo excited. Thanks for sharing!

Turtlemom.

P.S. Looks like your trip was adults only? We will be traveling with our two girls, age 8 and 11, so we hope that they will find some company their age as well.
 
This is great, thanks so much! We're going on the adults-only tour at the end of September, and this really amps up the excitement!
 
Say Hello--
Thanks for the terrific trip report! We are going on this trip on August 20, and we just received our package with itinerary and backpacks in the mail yesterday. Seeing your wonderful pictures and reading the fun commentary has made all of us sooooo excited. Thanks for sharing!

Turtlemom.

P.S. Looks like your trip was adults only? We will be traveling with our two girls, age 8 and 11, so we hope that they will find some company their age as well.

Turtlemom, I wish you were going on our trip. Our daughters are 12 and 10. My guess is that now that school is out, the trips will have a lot more kids on them. We leave for the airport in about 48 hours!!!!
 
Thanks for the entertaining report. I enjoyed all of it EXCEPT for the tarantula. I can't stay far enough away from those things!
I didn't go near the tarantula! I have a great zoom on my camera... :scared1:

Glad you enjoyed!

Thank you for taking the time to post your reports, your pictures were amazing.
You are quite welcome mkmommy! I'm glad you liked the pictures. My camera is just great, and the subject matter just made it a pleasure! I love sharing...

Say Hello--
Thanks for the terrific trip report! We are going on this trip on August 20, and we just received our package with itinerary and backpacks in the mail yesterday. Seeing your wonderful pictures and reading the fun commentary has made all of us sooooo excited. Thanks for sharing!

Turtlemom.

P.S. Looks like your trip was adults only? We will be traveling with our two girls, age 8 and 11, so we hope that they will find some company their age as well.
So glad I could add a little to the excitement! You are just going to *LOVE* this trip. One of the best vacations I've ever taken! You got backpacks? Not the dumb messenger bags? Waaaaah! ;) My trip was early-to-mid May (10-17), prior to Memorial day & school being out, so we didn't have any kids. I would imagine that now that school's out, there will be many more kids on your trip.

This is great, thanks so much! We're going on the adults-only tour at the end of September, and this really amps up the excitement!
You will love it! Our tour was unintentionally adults-only, but the guides said that, other than the lack of a movie night, they really didn't do anything differently than they would have done if there had been kids on the trip.

Glad I could add a few amps there! :goodvibes Can I hide in your suitcase & go again?

We leave for the airport in about 48 hours!!!!
Have a great trip, and be sure and let us know how it went! :woohoo:

sayhello
 
I just finished up your trip report. It was fun to go along with you on your trip & the scenery just looks amazing. I already had this trip on my list of must do's but reading your trip report & seeing the photos made it move right on up to the top of the list.
Thanks for sharing your journey.
 
I just finished up your trip report. It was fun to go along with you on your trip & the scenery just looks amazing. I already had this trip on my list of must do's but reading your trip report & seeing the photos made it move right on up to the top of the list.
Thanks for sharing your journey.
Thanks, Disneygrl! I'm glad you enjoyed the report. The scenery *IS* amazing. In case you couldn't tell, I *HIGHLY* recommend this trip! :thumbsup2 Just a great, great vacation.

Sayhello
 
Hello SayHello
I am so happy that you attached a link to your trip report on one of your recent posts or I would have missed it. You did a fantastic job documenting everything. Now I want to do this trip.
Here is a link to the first thread for anyone who is interested:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1870357
 

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