Water bladder, back pack, hiking boot, hiking socks, hiking shorts, rain coat, etc. etc........

For a weekend occasional hiker like me, I am really more a walker instead of a hiker all my life. Before this Mt. Blanc project, I only owned a pair of walking shoes and one walking stick.  The process of learning to to find the right types of hiking boots, hiking socks, back pack, etc.  was VERY gradual for me.  It made me feel so funny when I heard the term of drinking out of a bladder.  Oh, well, I now own a bladder, and have learned how to drink from it properly after 2-3 trips to sporting goods shops.  One just has to learn to ask the right questions, or else the answer is not easy to come. So here I am, ready to go, hopefully:

Another step closer to Mt. Blanc

Everything is a process.  Life is a process.  My journey of preparing for Mt. Blanc brought me to Sedona again.  KC graciously agreed to train with me in Sedona.  So we head out to Phoenix, rented a car and drove to Page to visit the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon, the nearby Glen Canon, the Navajo Bridge, and finally hiked 5 more days in Sedona.  Each day we did about 7 miles .  That was not too hard for me.  But we did not have to deal any elevation gain or loss at all even though we were hiking around 4000 - 5000 ft elevation.  A slide show and a brief recap of our trip is shown below:

http://youtu.be/Qt48hI1EoJoc

Day 1, 5/22/2015

Morning: Upper Antelope Canyon tour
Afternoon: Lower Antelope Canyon tour
Evening: Horseshoe Bend, Glen Canyon Dam Vista

Day 2, 5/23/2015

Morning: Drive north to Big Water, UT looking for
access to the canyons north of Lake Powell
Drive along US89A - Navajo Bridge, Vermillion
Cliff
Afternoon: Wupatki National Monument, Sunset Crater
National Monument
Evening: Sedona Pines Resort, great dinner at Bella Vita
on site

Day 3, 5/24/2015

Morning: Broken Arrow Trail
Chicken Point
Submarine Rock

Day 4, 5/25/2015

Morning: Boynton Canyon Trail
Lunch: Enchantment Resort
Afternoon: Fay Canyon Trail

Day 5, 5/26/2015

Morning: West Fork Trail
Afternoon: Drive down US 179 - Courthouse Butte, Bell Rock
Evening: Drive down Schnebly Hill Road TH - Mitten Ridge

Day 6, 5/27/2015

Morning: Bell Rock climb
Huckaby Trail along Mitten Ridge
Afternoon: Huckaby Trail from the Midgley Bridge
Evening: Drive to Jordan Road to check out Brins Mesa TH

Day 7, 5/28/2015

Morning: Cathedral Rock TH, Templeton Trail, Baldwin Trail
Afternoon: Red Rock Crossing, Crescent Moon Trail
Evening: Drive to Chapel of the Holy Cross

Day 8, 5/29/2015

Morning: Long Canyon Trail
Dinner: Geat dinner at Bella Vita at Sedona Pines Resort

Visit of cousin JC from Taiwan

My Mother's youngest brother had three children:  one daughter, and two sons.  JC is the youngest boy.  I met him in Taipei when he went to the city for his college education.  Then I cam to US and have not seen him for 40 year.  He got married and produced 2 sons.  He and his wife came to visit in May and I met his wife MeiWhey for the first time.  They are pretty nice people.  Very Chinese.  I took them to the DC, Inner Harbor, and Fort McHenry.  Poor MeiWhey suffered from jetlag quite a bit.  But I think they had a pretty good time.  And it is nice to meet up with relative after so long.