Relay for Life
Danny and I will be traveling to Miami Springs next weekend.
We will be participating in the Relay for Life walk with my family.
My sister is in full remission and my whole family will be walking with her in celebration of her AMAZING recovery!
Here is a link to the website...
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/wolff.pack
It is a Hawaiian theme so we should have some fun pictures to share with you once we return!
Love, Emily
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Snowshoeing: Destination Philadelphia
Emily and I got up early yesterday to beat the shovels and plows to the snow! The whole city was covered in snow.
We decided to utilize our fancy shoeshoes, purchased for our western extravaganza, their first appearance since Yellowstone. The snowshoes made it very easy to get around the city when buses, taxis, and people couldn't. Our trails helped people identify where the sidewalks were so they could shovel!
The itinerary included Fitler Square snow angels, a race through Schuylkill River Park, a walk along the river trail, and a few other places around our neighborhood. The wind off the river was as cold as Emily's hands on a mild autumn day - freezing! We saw lots of people with dogs and a couple on cross country skis. (weirdos) , as well as a lot of people shoveling other people's sidewalks. (I think the $12 fee for sidewalk clearing was a bit expensive, considering I, and most other residents, have about 12 feet of sidewalk in front of our homes.)
Anyway, a good time was had by most! Here are some pics.
-Danny
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Snow Storm 2010
Hey everyone!
As I'm sure you've heard... Philadelphia is amidst one of it's biggest snow storms in about a decade.
We haven't posted all of our pictures yet, but here are two from this morning.
These pictures were taken about 6 hours ago. It has not stopped snowing since then, so there is about 4-5 more inches now.
Danny and I went snowshoeing around the city this morning and forced the dogs to go outside.
Here are some videos of the snow.
Linus goes outside and surprisingly does quite well!
Charlie goes outside and uses Linus' path
The dogs and Danny play fetch in the snow
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Trip Videos
Hi everyone!
We finally got the videos from our trip posted.
Please click on the links below to see them.
There are a lot of videos... I've tried to describe each one, so you only have to watch the ones that you are actually interested in seeing. 
Brian and Coral (Danny's brother and sister in law) joined us for the Oregon coast, Redwoods, and Los Angeles portion of our trip... so when you see (or hear) them on the video - that's who that is.
Special thanks to David and Joline (Danny's other brother and sister in law) who, although they couldn't join us on this trip, gave us this video camera as a Christmas gift.
Incidentally, I HATE the sound of my voice on video. 
Yellowstone National Park
We came across some elk in the road after our snowshoe hike - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLfiL0HgegY
We stopped at a waterfall during the snowcoach ride to Ol' Faithful - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-oGlv3Ftg4
We hiked around smaller geysers that are located near Ol' Faithful - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEtJx2w7qq0
A (long) video of Ol' Faithful erupting - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmH9QnujWwE
Our last morning in Yellowstone - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAdAw0dS-HE
Oregon Coast
A view of the Canon Beach along the Oregon coast, final scene of Goonies - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQiNIZKTSw8
Canon Beach tidepools - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi2o4bgY2Zg
Whale watching, 'someone' leaning over the side of the boat - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAYVAFkKDfg
Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, Linus & Charlie "swim" in the Pacific ocean for the first time - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrik31hIZU
Linus plays fetch at Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, if you sit through it long enough there are some great acrobatics by Linus at the end - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bqsAMIgEkQ
Redwoods National Park
Danny and Brian stupidly cross a fallen Redwood - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0tMrmLihuE
Los Angeles
We return from seeing LA to find Linus stuck in the sleeve of my fleece jacket - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGL67ir_JI4
Mojave Desert
A drive through the Mojave Desert accompanied by some good tunes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EujNofx89t0
Grand Canyon
A very steep and narrow trail edge along our hike - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiQWbInQB1U
A view of the trail switchbacks as we descend into the Grand Canyon - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGewN8L4K4U
Crossing the black bridge across the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon (finally!) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RWYjw0CcQk
The first morning at the bottom of the canyon (very late sleepers) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCvPKIBO1lw
Crossing the silver bridge across the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ7D46tidgY
A very close encounter with (illiterate) mule deer at the bottom of the canyon - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyUNl8_u1ak
An "oasis" we hiked through during our ascent out of the canyon. (I am asking Danny not to lean too close to the edge so he doesn't fall over, I'm not being mean) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbEDHEaiNjE
Waiting on dinner, night 3 in the canyon, half way along our ascent - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OPVK4rdbKI
Petrified Forest National Park
A look at some interesting trees and some boring (and possibly inaccurate) information from yours truly - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFKPfWtMcDw
Arches National Park
A look at the Windows Arches - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNg1VSbbW68
A look at fin shaped rock formations at the trailhead (and a VERY cold run through the shade) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu3N7sQ5tOg
A view of Lanscape Arch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMvvu-k4uZM
A view of Partition Arch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6YFAZLCxIs
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Petrified Forest National Park and Arches National Park
Hi everybody,
I wanted to post the last set of pictures from our trip....
Unfortunately, the captions are not working on the pictures. So I will tell you a little about the two parks here.
Petrified Forest National Park
This stop was one of my favorites! Volcanic ash buried fallen trees, creating crystals in the trees. Centuries later, when the Colorado Plateau lifted, these trees were forced up above the ground.... scattering all around.
This was also where the best views of the "painted desert" are.
This park allowed dogs on the trails so I got some great pictures of Danny walking with the dogs.
Click Here for pictures of Petrified Forest National Park.
Arches National Park
This park was really cool and we got some great pictures! It was about 8 degrees the day we went, but we hardly noticed.
The first few arches can be seen from the car or pull off locations.
Later in the day, we put the sweaters on the dogs and left them snuggling under a blanket in the car and went for a hike to see Landscape Arch and Partition Arch. Although it was still quite cold in the shade, we really enjoyed our hike as we scrambled up the rocks and icy surfaces.
Click Here for pictures of Arches National Park.
This is the last set of pictures from our trip (whew).
We hope to post links to some of the videos next week.
Love, Emily
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Grand Canyon Photos
The Grand Canyon was our most ambitious hike of the trip, the longest, the coldest, and the most memorable. I'd love to hike down again in a different season or even just to get to Ribbon Falls. I'm posting the pictures of our winter hike.
Danny
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Winding Down
Emily and I are on the last leg of our trip. I'm writing very late in the night from Moab, Utah. We ended up here instead of New Mexico as White Sands would have added an extra 18 hours of driving to the trip. We couldn't justify it for one night camping in the desert with coyotes that may want to eat Charlie.
They have the Internet here (really) and I'm taking full advantage of this. I've posted our pictures from Seattle to Las Vegas. (This includes the Brian and Coral part of our trip) We had a great time with my brother and sister-in-law who joined us for the Pacific adventure package. This included Seattle, Oregon, Redwood National Park, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Thank you both for joining us out here and giving us good company.
Click here for Pacific Coast and Las Vegas Photos
I'm really enjoying our flexibility during the trip. We cut White Sands, New Mexico from the itinerary. Today we meant to spend some of the day in the Petrified Forest and then see four corners, but cut out four corners because there was too much to see in the Petrified Forest. Tomorrow we'll see either Arches National Park or Canyonlands National Park and then head to Denver.
My calves are still sore from the Grand Canyon, but hope to get to do at least one more day of hiking/snow shoeing before the trip is over. I'll post more pictures then!
Thanks everyone, hope you enjoy the pictures above.
Danny
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Grand Canyon – down & back
Hi everyone!
I realize we are waaayyyy behind on pictures - we still have to post pictures from Missoula, Seattle, Oregon, Redwoods, San Francisco, LA, and Las Vegas! But I wanted to post something about the Grand Canyon while it's fresh in my mind.
Sunday morning we left Vegas around 4AM and drove the 5 hours to the Grand Canyon. We had to drop the dogs off at the kennel before we could begin our hike. We did not get on the trail until just after noon. We took the South Kaibab Trail to the bottom of the canyon. This was a 7 mile trail (the end of which was a little rushed so we could set up camp before nightfall - nightfall at the bottom of a canyon comes quickly). We set up camp at Bright Angel campground. Due to only two hours of sleep the night before, cold morning temperatures, and extremely sore muscles from the hike down, we slept in on Monday and then just hung around the bottom. There are only three ways to the bottom of the Grand Canyon - hiking, mule, and rafting, so it's a really neat bunch of people down there - everyone is fairly respectful of the area since we went through some pretty extreme forms of transportation to get down there. We spent Monday night at Bright Angel campground as well... enjoying some beer and wine at Phantom Ranch - a tiny little establishment that caters to the hikers, rafters, and (lazier) mule riders. Danny was quick to remind me not to be so hard on the mule riders since that could be me in 40 years after I blow my knee out doing ridiculous things like hiking the Grand Canyon.
Yesterday we began our ascent back up to the rim. We took a different trail up - the Bright Angel Trail. This trail is about 9 miles long but we did it in two days rather than one. We hiked about 4.5 miles to Indian Garden campground. We set up camp here for the night.... as we ascended it got cooler, so this night in the tent was a bit colder than the previous two nights at the bottom of the canyon! Today we completed our ascent to the top - 4.5 more miles!
We picked the dogs up at the kennel and continued on our journey.
Hiking the Grand Canyon was an experience of a lifetime! Four days with no shower, 21 degree camping, and sore muscles were all definitely worth the amazing hike through 3 different climate zones! The top was snowy, the middle was sort of a lush oasis with lots of trees, and the bottom was like a desert - warm during the day and cool at night!
In hindsight I am SUPER glad we purchased the following items:
- Trekking poles - saved my butt more than once when I lost my balance on ice or rocky trails
- Ice crampons for our hiking boots - a necessity when hiking on icy trails
- 20 degree sleeping bags - self explanatory
- Lightweight hiking stove - a necessity for things like instant coffee and yummy freeze dried meals
- Water purifying pump - a necessity for making the Bright Angel Spring drinkable!
- Comfy (but expensive) backpacks - makes carrying a load that is 1/5 your weight an almost pleasurable experience
And finally, some observations I made along the trail...
- Snow is no longer cold when hiking uphill, but the sun is still VERY VERY hot.
- Mules are big scary animals... and scarier when you come face to face with them on a narrow rocky trail
- Mule poop looks like spinach when combined with snow (you're welcome for that)
- Washing your face in the Colorado River after 3 days with no shower, quite possibly, may be the best experience ever.
I guess I'm done boring you all... hopefully we have some pictures up soon.
Love, Emily
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Update from Oregon
I'm looking at the Pacific Ocean from our hotel room. It seems we're here off-season as we are the only guests in the entire hotel! I'll post pictures of Oregon later, as we are still very far behind on blog updates.
Last night Emily finished uploading and captioning our Yellowstone pictures. Click here to view them. The photos include our snow shoe hike to Tower Falls, which is closed to vehicle traffic in the winter, a snow coach tour to Old Faithful, and geyser pictures from stops we made on this trip.
We're getting pretty close to halfway back and still have tons of pictures as well as some very cool video to post.
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Petroglyphs video, etc.
Hi everybody!
Below is a video of our trip to the ancient Petroglyphs located in Wyoming.
There are some pictures of the petroglyphs in the previous blog post (see below). We had some trouble with the notification emails when we post a new blog so be sure to scroll down to make sure you haven't missed anything.
We hope to post our Yellowstone pictures soon!
Merry Christmas!
love, Emily
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