Who's going on the Southwest Splendors September 15, 2007?

[zakatak]

Just looking for a heads up!

I'll be there! No family, though.

Anyone else?

 

[dingoballs]

My sister & I are going on the Sept 15th Southwest Splendors tour...

 

[ga9497]

Count me in

 

[bicker]

There are only 35 of us, total, right?

My wife and I will be on that tour. We're Brian and Robbie.
ga9497 is 2.
dingoballs is Allen and sister Angela.
zakatak is 1.

 

[dingoballs]

I'm Allen and my sister is Angela. We're from Valencia, CA

We're also doing the Spirit of America tour on August 14. Anyone else going on that one too?

 

[ga9497]

Bicker - We will only be two on this one

 

[Planetsis]

Now that folks are starting to come back from their Southwest tours, I'm starting to get really excited about our trip. I've never been to the Southwest (as a tourist), so this should be fun.

By the way, I'm Bicker's wife. Looking forward to meeting y'all on the trip!

 

[dingoballs]

Now that folks are starting to come back from their Southwest tours, I'm starting to get really excited about our trip. I've never been to the Southwest (as a tourist), so this should be fun.

By the way, I'm Bicker's wife. Looking forward to meeting y'all on the trip!

Same here Robbie. I'm Allen.

Burt's (bfalexander's) trip report was very descriptive and we're looking forward to this adventure.

 

[bicker]

We just got our confirmation package and backpacks.

The confirmation is now saying meet at 2PM at Starbucks, instead of NOON. Doesn't that seem like an error?

 

[ga9497]

31 days to go


Finally started my packing list
Work has been very busy, which is a good thing, but really looking forward to this.

Here is a blog from another site - they are starting their ABD today(Aug 14)
http://www.allearsnet.com/blogs/debwills/

 

[bicker]

Glad to see Deb blogging this!

 

[dingoballs]

Has anyone else been following Deb's trip report? It's very interesting... only a few more weeks until ours begin!

http://www.allearsnet.com/blogs/debwills/

 

[Planetsis]

I've been reading Deb's blog as well as Beci's and Linda Mac's. Between the three of them blogging their experiences, I'm getting more and more excited about our upcoming trip.

Can't wait!

 

[Cippers]

Hi All,

I was on the Aug. 14 Southwest Splendors. It was beyond fabulous. These are the things that I wish I knew before I went:
1. You never really unpack. So you should bring a bag that you can live out of. My husband and I brought our biggest bags, which were wheeled fold-over suit carriers. It was difficult to manage them, since we had to unfold, unzip, and carefully pack the stuff back in. Next time, a big duffel for me
2. The hike to Delicate Arch is truly quite strenuous. I am not an athlete but I am in decent shape and it was tough for me. If you are in poor shape or have any cardiac or respiratory problems, you should consider not going
3. Some of the bus rides are really bumpy/curvy. People who get motion sickness were sometimes affected by the bus rides.
4. You should not wear anything white on the rafting day. The river is quite muddy and all white clothes worn by my family are now brown!
5. The Grand Canyon is grander than you could ever imagine. I can't wait to see it again someday.
6. The Grand Hotel at the Grand Canyon is not that scary. It is kind of basic, not fancy, but clean and the staff is nice and helpful. It looks dingy, but that is just because it is decorated in rather dark colors and it is not well lit.

Let me know if I can answer any questions for you.
You will have a wonderful time. It exceeded all of our hopes.

Debbie

 

[dingoballs]

Hi All,

I was on the Aug. 14 Southwest Splendors. It was beyond fabulous. These are the things that I wish I knew before I went:
1. You never really unpack. So you should bring a bag that you can live out of. My husband and I brought our biggest bags, which were wheeled fold-over suit carriers. It was difficult to manage them, since we had to unfold, unzip, and carefully pack the stuff back in. Next time, a big duffel for me
2. The hike to Delicate Arch is truly quite strenuous. I am not an athlete but I am in decent shape and it was tough for me. If you are in poor shape or have any cardiac or respiratory problems, you should consider not going
3. Some of the bus rides are really bumpy/curvy. People who get motion sickness were sometimes affected by the bus rides.
4. You should not wear anything white on the rafting day. The river is quite muddy and all white clothes worn by my family are now brown!
5. The Grand Canyon is grander than you could ever imagine. I can't wait to see it again someday.
6. The Grand Hotel at the Grand Canyon is not that scary. It is kind of basic, not fancy, but clean and the staff is nice and helpful. It looks dingy, but that is just because it is decorated in rather dark colors and it is not well lit.

Let me know if I can answer any questions for you.
You will have a wonderful time. It exceeded all of our hopes.

Debbie

Hi Debbie, thanks for all the helpful info! We're looking forward to our trip in a few weeks.

How long (as in hours) was the rafting trip? Did you guys stop anywhere along the way? Did the ABD guides take alot of photos or should we bring our own camera?

How long (as in hours) was the trek to Delicate Arch? How often did the guides stop for breaks?

How did the ABD guides arrange airport transportation to Grand Junction airport? Was it limited to several trips only? Or was it based on individual departure times?

Allen

 

[Cippers]

How long (as in hours) was the rafting trip? Did you guys stop anywhere along the way? Did the ABD guides take alot of photos or should we bring our own camera?

How long (as in hours) was the trek to Delicate Arch? How often did the guides stop for breaks?

How did the ABD guides arrange airport transportation to Grand Junction airport? Was it limited to several trips only? Or was it based on individual departure times?

Allen,

The rafting trip took about 2 3/4 all together, including the transportation. We left the hotel on our bus, drove us to a drop-off point about 15 minutes away. The actual rafting was about 2 hours and the bus picked us up at the end. It is WET--there are water fights, and some splashes, so I would not bring a camera unless it is waterproof. The guides bring their cameras but there was not a guide on our raft (there are 4-5 rafts per trip) so there are no pictures of us during that time. The "rapids" are very small--you get wetter on some waterpark rides. People swim in the river as well.

I guess it took about 1 1/4 hours to hike up to the arch. It is very hot and there is minimal shade. I think we stopped 3 times, twice scrunched into the small amount of shade, and once out in the sun. Each person should drink at least two bottles of water on the hike. It took about 30-40 minutes coming down.

There was one trip to Grand Junction. It is almost 2 hrs. from Moab. We all left Moab at about 8, on the bus. Most of us had flights between 11 and 1. There was one group whose flights didn't leave till 3; they were advised to get into the town of Grand Junction (it's just down the street) to kill some time. The airport itself is quite small and it would be hard to spend half a day there.

One more thing I wish I had known:
You really need shoes to wear on the rafting day. These can be water shoes, or "Teva"-like sandals which strap on. We had only brought flip flops. We were not aware that people went in the river, and you are advised to have your feet coverered when you do because there are times when you touch the bottom.

Debbie

 

[dingoballs]

Thanks Debbie! Your info is very helpful & will make our trip more enjoyable.

And thanks for reassuring us that the Grand Hotel isn't THAT scary. LOL I'm sure Disney wouldn't book us into the Bates Motel...

One more question: How early did the days start? What time was breakfast usually?

Allen

 

[Cippers]

The days began relatively early. Breakfast began at 6:30 on most days and, depending upon the activity, we were on the bus between 7:30-9. On the days that you are traveling between hotels, the luggage gets picked up by 7 so there is time to load it on the bus. The evening activities do not go very late and everyone (except our teenage daughters!) was tired and called it a night on the early side.
After your pickup in Phoenix they'll give you another little booklet which has the exact itinerary with times for the entire week.
Discussing this with you makes me longing to go back!

Deb

 

[dingoballs]

Thanks again Deb! Glad to hear that you guys had such a great time.

Allen

 

[Planetsis]

Oh boy! Now we can start saying "at this time next week we will be ..."!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.