#tent rentals niagara

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Elevate Your Events with the Premier Event Rental Company in Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, with its breathtaking natural beauty and iconic attractions, has long been a magnet for events and celebrations. Whether you're planning a wedding, corporate gathering, or a milestone celebration, the key to a successful event lies in meticulous planning and execution. Enter the premier event rental company in Niagara Falls – a one-stop solution for all your event needs, promising to turn your vision into a reality.

A Diverse Range of Rental Options:

One of the standout features of our event rental company is the extensive and diverse range of options we offer. From elegant tents that provide a perfect backdrop for outdoor weddings with a view of the falls to state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment for corporate conferences, we have it all. Tables, chairs, linens, lighting, dance floors – our inventory is carefully curated to cater to a wide array of events, ensuring that every detail is accounted for.

Unmatched Quality and Style:

Quality is the cornerstone of our services. We understand that your event is a reflection of your taste and style, and we strive to exceed your expectations. Our inventory comprises top-notch products, meticulously maintained to ensure they are in pristine condition for your event. Whether you're aiming for a classic and timeless look or a modern and trendy atmosphere, our range of high-quality rentals is designed to complement any theme or aesthetic.

Customized Solutions:

At our event rental company, we recognize that every event is unique. That's why we offer personalized and customizable solutions to meet your specific requirements. Our experienced team works closely with clients to understand their vision, offering expert advice and recommendations to enhance the overall event experience. From custom seating arrangements to tailored lighting solutions, we go the extra mile to make your event truly memorable.

Reliable and Professional Service:

Planning an event can be a stressful task, but our event rental company is committed to making the process as smooth and stress-free as possible. Our dedicated team of professionals is not only passionate about what they do but also highly experienced in handling events of all sizes and scales. From the initial consultation to the setup and breakdown of equipment, our reliable and professional service ensures that you can focus on enjoying your event while we take care of the logistics.

When it comes to hosting an event in the stunning backdrop of Niagara Falls, choosing the right event rental company is paramount. With a diverse range of high-quality rentals, personalized service, and a commitment to excellence, our company stands out as the premier choice for event rentals in the region. Elevate your events, create lasting memories, and leave a lasting impression with the help of our dedicated team and top-notch rental options.

For more info :-

White Wooden Folded Chairs For Rent In Port Colborne

Event Rentals And Decor In Niagra

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Tent Rentals Offer Tent, Food Items And Other Accessories For Open Ground Events

Are you going to organize any event in open ground? Then you may surely require tent for resting the guests or participants. Have you thought of Tent rentals that can manage tents as well as other accessories for your event? Sure, they will offer tents, food, furniture, music accessories in lieu of pay.

What is Tent rental? If you plan any outdoor event, party or some celebrations, you may need some shelter for resting, food or for making fun. The temporary shelter with fabric supported by frame of poles may be called tent. Some companies offer Tent rental for the outdoor events like wedding, sports or any other celebrations .The companies offer tent, accessories, furniture, utensils for lunch or dinner, glasses for bar management and all supportive objects in lieu of money. How do Tent rental companies in Toronto help? Companies of Tent rentals Toronto help the event organizers by offering the tents, furniture, utensils, and accessories required for the events. Tent rentals can easily transform the event space into a designer venue. They will design the space in such way that it will suit the events. Tent rental will arrange all the equipments required for the events like wedding party to fulfill all sorts of requirements. Who are probable accessories supplied by Tent rentals? Various categories of events may be organized by planners like wedding, corporate meeting, social events and so on. The tent rental companies will supply the all sorts of accessories required for the events. For the food offered, caterers will be offered for food as per choice of clients. Conclusion It is really joyful to participate in open ground event .The event planners will contact the Tent rentals to organize tent, food, sitting arrangement and other accessories with pay. The successful events will be the source of joy for all participants.

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Tent Rentals Toronto – Making Your Outdoor Event Special

Are you going to organize an outdoor event? Then it is better to go with party or festival tents. If it is a small event then go with party tents. For bigger events, festival tents will be the best choice. During daytime, canvas tents will serve the desired purpose at the best as they are highly effective to protect your guests from scorching sun, followed by keeping other weather elements away. It is for sure that by approaching the best rental service, you will definitely get into touch with the most suitable tent rentals Toronto. You may select the most suitable package from a plethora of choices. Why Tent Rentals Toronto? It is better to talk to the customer service department to get to know about the providing and other additional details. Shaking hands with the best rental service provider will definitely offer you peace of mind. Also, you will get the best service rendered against events like weddings, marriage parties and other types of special events. Most of the tent rental service providers offer tents for general party, birthday parties and many more. Tent rentals have been made available in numerous shapes as well as sizes. By taking out few moments, it will be come easy to get into touch with the best. What Do Tent Rental Service Providers Do? Selection of tent must be done on the basis of event. Hi-peaked frame tents are suitable for wedding events. Guests may be easily accommodated on the basis of dimension. A highly sturdy and beautiful tent will truly enhance the overall joy of the party. Also, sidewalls along with lighting will upgrade the look up to a certain extent. Pole tent rentals have been considered to be fit for organizing graduation parties. All sorts of entertaining events may be easily organized within the tent. Inclusion of tent liners will contribute in enhancing the overall look of your tent.

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Floor Rental Cleaning Methods and Equipments

Floor rental is a common service provided by many companies today. Often the companies charge a deposit for each rental. This deposit is returned at the end of the renting period, when the floor is returned in a good condition. Floor rentals are available for various purposes and they are rented as per the needs of the customers. The main purposes for which the floors are rented are floor rental for wedding, parties, tents and backyard. Now there are various types of floor rental equipments which are used for cleaning, refinishing, polishing and scrubbing the floor. Some of them are described below:

The beautiful floors can be the pride of any individual. But to keep them beautiful, regular attention and care is required. For maintaining the floors properly, there are different equipments that play great roles. The very first thing in this list is the Vacuum cleaner. Vacuum cleaners are also known as hoover or sweeper. It is a device which uses an air pump that helps to create a partial vacuum so that it can capture dirt and dust from the floors. The dust and dirt collected gets stored in a dust bag, which can be disposed off later. The vacuum cleaners are available in different sizes and models. The next equipment is Steam cleaners. It involves use of steam for cleaning the floor. It removes dirt and grease from the floor easily.

The other equipment is hot water soil extraction cleaning method. Professionally this process is known as HWE. In this method, the equipment sprays heated water added with cleaning chemicals onto the floor. Side by side water is vacuumed up with dislodged and dissolved dirt. This method is often suggested by cleaning experts because it provides deep cleaning. The cleaning process mainly starts with preconditioning of the rented floor. Agents such as alkaline ammonia or acidic solutions are sprayed that can be used according to the type of floor. Then it is agitated with a scrubbing machine or grooming brush. Finally, a manual or an automatic tool known as wand is used to pass over the surface to rinse all pre-conditioner, particulates and residues.

Another method is Dry foam cleaning. In this method cleaning foam is applied all over the floor and then it is immediately vacuumed. It is not a totally dry method as the foam used consists of 90% air and 10% liquid. Dry foam machine has a pressure tank that consists of shampoo and water added manually. It is mainly used for floors where sufficient water extraction is inhibited.

The process of encapsulation is also quite familiar. This method involves spraying of the chemical onto the floor and then brushing the chemical onto the floor with the help of a bonnet or rotary brush machine. This chemical surrounds the soil and dirt particles and crystallizes it, which is then removed by normal vacuuming.

So these are some of the floor rental cleaning methods and equipments, which are popularly used and are quite effective.

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Comparing a Frame Tent and a Pole Tent

  Often, many people don’t know the difference between a pole tent and a frame tent. Although this guide may appear technical to some readers, it will try to explain the difference between the two types of tents for easy understanding. 1. Frame tents The frame tents are also referred to as clear span tents or clear span structures. The tents feature some unique merits. At certain events, the tents are secured with weights instead of reinforcing stakes into the ground. In places where you cannot penetrate a driveway or where the underground features are riskier to the drive stakes, the best solution becomes the frame tent. The best thing about frame tents is that they are very flexible in the way you can secure them. You can install them on a patio, deck or even on the rooftop of a building. There are many other advantages of frame tents. They feature no interior poles. This is very ideal for construction projects where machines need to work inside the tents, where poles would interfere with operations and flow of people. Frame tents are also great for protecting one against bad weather while on a stage at a ceremony or any other outdoor activities with many people. You can hang lighting and speaks from the aluminum beams of the tent. The frame tent does not obstruct the front of the stage completely.

2. Pole tents Pole tents are also referred to as tension structures, they are an improvised version of the original type of tents, the skeleton to the modern pole tent designs. The tents come with at least one or several high peaks at the center. The structure of the tent comes from the fabric used to make it. You can install them faster without the need for beams to support them. Most modern pole tents are designed to withstand up to 90mph gusts and 70mph sustained winds. Pole tents are the cheapest type of tent available on the market. They are perfect for backyard parties, weddings as well as other events. They have tall peaks with spacious interiors. Most users love to use pole tents instead of the traditional square frame tent version. You can install the pole tents on any kind of surface, as long as the stakes can be reinforced into the ground. While pole tents satisfy the needs of most customers, there are a number of circumstances where the frame tent is the only option. You can also raise the frame tents to a taller height to allow machines and tools to enter the tent or to cover a stage. However, there are those who like the modern ‘’euro’’ appearance of the tent. If you are still not certain of the kind of tent you need, you can talk to an expert in the field and they will help you find the best solution for your event. Whichever type you go for, just be sure you will get the best quality tent, and look for the best services that will make your event a success.

Get more about tent rentals toronto.

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Guide to Choosing the Right Tent for Your Outdoor Event

Spring is almost here. This tells you it is about time that you start to plan your outdoor parties. From family gatherings, to wedding tent rentals and outdoor parties, the perfect tent can make your occasion fun and memorable for your attendees. With the right selection of tent rentals Niagara Company, you won’t ever have to mention the word rain check again. Because you will ha eve found the best quality tents ever If you are planning a wedding or a party, the following tips will help you get the right tent for your outdoor event.

Consider your location and event space If you take a look at the venue which you will hold the event, you should take a look at the size of the tent and how it can fit the place. you will also have to think about other factors such as other rentals that are underneath the tent such as chairs, tables, bars, dance floors, accommodations- the number of guests that will attend the wedding or occasion, as well as surfaces for tent location- does the event have grass or cement. One a cement surface, you can weigh down the tent with water barrels or cement weights. However, on a grass surface, you can stake the poles into the ground. Determine if the venue will need staking into the ground. This is yet another crucial factor into consideration. It’s wise to know where the sewer lines or the underground piping is so that stakes don’t affect them. You should also not forget to measure the guidelines when having a walk through the tent site. Normally, guidelines measure around 8ft. Is the event safe from external factors such as weather? Depending on how severe the weather conditions are, you can determine how little or how much sidewalls you need to put up, enclosing the tent. If the weather is extreme, you can put up sidewalls in all the sides of the tenet so that it keeps the cold or heat out of your tent. With a 4-sided unit, you can now choose to place a single or a double door system. You can also opt for a sliding sidewall to ensure accessibility. You can also choose to place it up in the L shape to prevent wind or sun. There are a number of styles such a solid clear, solid, French window, half clear, and regular window. Choosing canopy style This one is usually determined by the customer likeness on the kind of styles of tent you want for your event or wedding: • Tidewater Tents • Tectrac Structure Tents • Qwick-top tents • Festival Frame Tents • Clear-top Tents What kind of event are you hosting? Is it a corporate function, wedding or backyard event? You should always remember the event when making decisions. Size of the tent Small or big, there are so many tents that can easily fit your type of function. You need to know the size so that you make the right order.

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Wedding Tents Add More Colours to the Wedding Moments

The family functions and other parties are of various kinds and based on that the arrangements are carried. Marriage parties are the exclusive ones which need specific attention. It is because this is a one-time investment which lives for years in memories. As per current ongoing trends, the marriage parties become more beautiful when it is canvassed under tents.

For that reason, marriage is such a party in an individual’s lifetime it should be therefore memorable till the lifetime. Thus the party tent rentals should be opted to make the organization of marriage under the gorgeous and eye-catching canopy tents. The wedding tent is such designed that it should be well customized along with having the proper reflection of the conventional as well as the fashionable shapes and styles.

At the same time, it should be definitely filled with the attractive and lustrous colours, designs and patterns so that it will change the scenario of the place. The current tents services are having more creative ingredients which make it more attractive by which it becomes heaven created on earth. Moreover, the tents are basically ads up to beautify the cultural heritage of the place by satisfying the emotions of the individuals attached to the event.

In that context, the party tents are always the better option to enhance the beauty of the marriage which strengthens the wedding moments till death. The collaborative action of the wedding tent rentals provides the appealing action by which the canvas, lights, curtains, and doors are decorated. Apart from that the rentals also provide the decoration services for the furnishing, gates, and chairs.

Moreover, it is seen that it will bring an impressive beauty to the wedding venue which will be fully nurtured with all the rich cultures and traditions. In more beautiful words it can be said that these rentals help in transforming the beautiful dream of togetherness into a conventional splendour blended with contemporary styles.

It is the specialty of the tent providers that they make the marriages one of the beautiful functions which can be remembered till eternity. For that reason, the tent providers should go with the tastes, likes, and dislikes as well as the preferences of the couples and make it customized as per their choices. Along with that the tent providers take the help of much technological advancement and make their tents water resistant.

In addition to that, the tents should be there with removable walls, easy to fabricate the frames and with voice drapes to make the venue heaven which will gear up the wedding moments till death. The love vows should be taken in a rich ambiance filled with an incredible artistic legacy as well as the ravishing beauty.

Thus the tent providers make sure that customers whose wedding moments rely on their services should not get dissatisfied rather it should be decorated with mind blowing canopy tents. The beauty of the wedding moments can become memorable by hiring more experienced tent provider.

[havekiddoswilltravel]

News Flash: Family Travel Doesn’t Even Require a Passport

Passport free affordable family travel inspiration that will get you to actually leave the house with your kids.

Often times, I have parents ask me for advice regarding travel with children and I remind them that international travel is not the only way to expose and share experiences with your kids. I’m well aware that if you search the hashtag #travel or #familytravel, you will come across many staged and photoshopped images of what seems like perfectly behaved jet setting families in Paris, Malasia, Kenya, Greece and every international Disney Park, yet I’m here for the family who’s trying to figure out how to pull off a simple in state road trip, overnight trip or weekend adventure. While we love exploring so many amazing places that are ideal family travel locations, I’m also all about the local and regional travel experiences. Why? It’s more realistic that the average family will be able to plan, afford and actually pull off an overnight trip or weekend getaway, than a safari or two week long trip through Europe. Realistic and affordable family travel is imperative to breaking the obstacles to family travel for most people. 

Family travel is not something we do to simply check off a box, say that we’ve been there and because it’s currently the trendy thing to do. We were those lone black people hiking, camping, skiing and in typically not family orientated travel destinations, before family travel became the “in” thing. It’s been an integral part of our family values and way of life for over nineteen years. This means that we place as much emphasis on the experiences and lessons learned while taking a day trip to Block Island, Rhode Island or a weekend trip to Acadia National Park, Maine, as we do on our trip to Havana, Cuba. Travel is truly as much about the process of getting to the destination, as it is about experiencing said destination with our children. What do I mean? Children who grow up to be adults who love adventure and experiences are born in transit. They are born in their ability to pack their bags, organize the car, plan their trip and live in the moment once they arrive. They’re born in the ability to make the most out of the unexpected or hiccups in their plans, without those challenges completely ruining their trip. 

These lessons can be learned without even owning a passport, a car or the funds to take you on that bucket list trip. You don’t need to have TSA Pre Check, Global Entry or Mobile Passport to raise travel loving and adventure seeking children. You can accomplish these goals by teaching your kids how to explore their own back yard, state, region and country. The United States or your own home country are filled with incredibly beautiful places just waiting for you to experience them. I challenge you to rethink the passport stamp seeking family travel culture that we’re bombarded with daily on social media and you will realize that it’s not as unattainable as you once thought. Even as a family travel blogger, I find myself rolling my eyes at some of the elitists posts that I see on social media these days. I’m here to tell you that it’s perfectly okay if your kids don’t leave the country until they have their first job and can afford to buy their own flight. While we do travel internationally with our four children, I must acknowledge that international travel is not something that is immediately available to most families with two children, much less those with four. I encourage you to start traveling with your kids by choosing trips that meet your personal family budget. Don’t compare yourself to others. It’s paralyzing.

The older I get, the more I appreciate a good long weekend family trip. I don’t have the attention span for most 7-day trips with kids. I love long weekends and 5-night trips because they allow our family to create amazing memories while not completely disrupting our daily flow, routine and wallet. Also, as a large family, lodging, food and transportation costs add up quickly. I’d rather travel more often, than travel longer in one single trip. This is our family’s preference and you will figure out your own family travel flow, the more you get out of the house with your kids. I’ve written previous blog posts about the fact that family travel is not a vacation. It requires a shift in thinking and an acceptance to what your reality is as a parent leaving the house with children. It’s a fact. You will have to put in all of the work required to parent on a daily basis while you are away from home. Travel will only accentuate your troublesome family dynamics. Ugh, sorry I had to say that! It’s reality. I’ve spoken to so many parents who say that they don’t travel with their kids because their kids don’t listen, misbehave and thus damper their travel experience. Those are issues that I highly recommend that you address and deal with before you embark on a week long trip with children. Traveling didn’t cause these issues, but having kids out of their element accentuates all of those things to a degree that will cause you to never leave home again. Thus, be realistic in your travel expectations with children. You may be in a season that requires shorter trips. Embrace that. The season of longer travel will be here before you know it.

Don’t be paralyzed by all of the family travel posts to expensive travel destinations, that leave you feeling inadequate, despondent and slightly depressed. Start somewhere. Start Local. Start now. You won’t regret it and in the meantime, you’ll be planting those seeds that you will surely sow at the right time in your family’s lifetime. These are some of our favorite family travel destinations that hopefully will get your wanderlust juices flowing. I bet some of these are close enough to you that you can make a long weekend out of them.

-          The Grand Canyon, Flagstaff Arizona, U.S.A.

-          The Monterrey Peninsula, California, U.S.A.

-          The Pacific Coast Highway, California, U.S.A.

-          Coronado Beach, San Diego, California, U.S.A.

-          San Francisco’s Cable Cars, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

-          Sequoia National Park, California, U.S.A.

-          Yosemite National Park, California, U.S.A.

-          Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.

-          Essex, Connecticut, U.S.A.

-          Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut, U.S.A.

-          Litchfield Hills in Connecticut, U.S.A.

-          Amelia Island, Florida, U.S.A.

-          Everglades National Park, U.S.A.

-          Key West, Florida, U.S.A.

-          Marco Island, Florida, U.S.A.

-          South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.A.

-          Savannah, Georgia, U.S.A.

-          Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

-          Acadia National Park, Maine, U.S.A.

-          Kennebunkport, Maine, U.S.A.

-          Ocean City, Maryland, U.S.A.

-          Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

-          Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

-          Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

-          The Lakes Region, New Hampshire, U.S.A.

-          Mount Washington, North Conway, New Hampshire, U.S.A.

-          The Adirondacks, New York, U.S.A.

-          The Catskills, New York, U.S.A.

-          Lake Placid, New York, U.S.A.

-          Lake George, New York, U.S.A.

-          Finger Lakes, New York, U.S.A.

-          Hudson Valley, New York, U.S.A.

-          New York City, U.S.A.

-          Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S.A.

-          The Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.A.

-          Gettysburg National Military Park and Cemetery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

-          Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

-          Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A

-          Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

-          Block Island, Rhode Island, U.S.A.

-          Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A.

-          Manchester Village, Vermont, U.S.A.

-          Stowe, Vermont, U.S.A.

-          Killington, Vermont, U.S.A.

-          Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, U.S.A.

-          Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.A.

-          Washington, District of Columbia, U.S.A.

-          Nova Scotia, Canada

-          Niagara Falls, Canada

-          Quebec, Canada

-          Montreal, Canada

-          Exploring any Chinatown, Koreatown or little Italy in any major city.

 What are some of your favorite affordable family travel destinations? What are some of the obstacles that you face in starting to travel with your kids?

Pro tips for affordable local family travel:

- Travel off season. Island destinations like Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard are just as stunning, more affordable and less crowded in the off season. Ski resorts make amazing Spring, Summer and Fall destinations. Off season travel also mean that you won’t face minimum night requirements and thus allow you to take a weekend trip rather than a full week. 

- If you have young children and don’t need to work around a school schedule, hotels are cheaper on Sunday nights and mid week. Avoid Friday and Saturday nights unless traveling to business destinations and then weekends are actually less expensive at some of the really nice business hotels.

- Brand loyalty does pay off. If you do stay in hotels, follow the deals and not the destinations. Also, stick to one brand and sign up immediately for their rewards programs. Many of our annual hotel stays are free nights using rewards.

- Don’t be afraid to book Airbnb’s. As a large family, we often book condos and full houses at a significantly cheaper rate than a hotel stay.

- I use Costco often for car rentals. They offer the best deals for vehicles that can accommodate our family. 

- Be flexible and creative in your lodging options. We’ve stayed outside of beach towns for 1/4 of the cost of staying on the beach. Flexibility in family travel is key to actually going anywhere. 

- Be willing to try new things. We’ve stayed in cabins, RVs and tent camped. I honestly never pictured myself having some of the amazing experiences that we’ve shared with our children. To think that I may have missed these memories if I stuck to that which I was comfortable with. 

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Enhance Your Event with Party Rentals in St. Catharines

St. Catharines, a charming city nestled in the heart of the Niagara Region, is known for its vibrant culture and warm hospitality. Whether you're planning a wedding, a birthday celebration, a corporate event, or any other special occasion, St. Catharines offers an array of party rental services to help you turn your vision into reality. From tents and tableware to entertainment and d￩cor, these services make event planning a breeze.

Why Choose Party Rentals in St. Catharines?

Diverse Rental Options:- St. Catharines boasts a diverse range of party rental options, catering to various events and themes. Whether you envision a rustic outdoor gathering, an elegant indoor soir￩e, or a fun-filled children's party, you can find everything you need.

Quality Equipment:- Party rental companies in St. Catharines take pride in offering high-quality equipment. You can rent well-maintained tents, tables, chairs, linens, glassware, and more, ensuring your event looks and feels exceptional.

Convenience:- Planning an event can be stressful, but party rentals in St. Catharines aim to alleviate your worries. They handle delivery, setup, and takedown, allowing you to focus on the more enjoyable aspects of your event.

Customization:- Whether you have a specific theme in mind or need assistance brainstorming ideas, rental companies can help you customize your event with the right décor, lighting, and entertainment options.

Budget-Friendly:- Renting party supplies in St. Catharines can often be more budget-friendly than purchasing everything outright. It's a practical choice for those who want to throw a memorable event without breaking the bank.

Party Rental Essentials

Tents:- St. Catharines experiences a variety of weather conditions throughout the year, making tents a valuable addition to your event. Whether you need shelter from the sun, rain, or wind, renting a tent can ensure your guests stay comfortable.

Tables and Chairs:- No event is complete without seating and dining arrangements. Renting tables and chairs in various styles and sizes allows you to create a welcoming and functional space for your guests.

Tableware:- From elegant china to casual disposable options, party rental companies offer an extensive selection of tableware to suit your event's formality and style.

Linens:- Elevate your event's aesthetic with high-quality linens, including tablecloths, napkins, and chair covers. Choose from a wide range of colors and textures to match your theme.

Entertainment:- St. Catharines party rentals extend beyond basic supplies. You can also rent entertainment options such as bounce houses, photo booths, sound systems, and more to keep your guests engaged and entertained.

Décor:- Add a touch of flair to your event with decorative items like centerpieces, drapery, and lighting. Party rental companies often offer a variety of decorative elements to transform your venue.

Planning a successful event in St. Catharines has never been easier, thanks to the wide array of party rental options available. From wedding receptions to corporate gatherings and birthday parties, these services provide convenience, quality, and customization to make your event a memorable success. So, whether you're a St. Catharines local or considering this lovely city as your event destination, don't hesitate to explore the numerous party rental options that can turn your dreams into reality. Your next celebration is just a rental away!

FOR MORE INFOMATION:-

Party Rentals In St Catharines

[johnscarmen68]

Wedding can be absolutely made exciting and fun- know exactly how!

There is completely no doubt in the fact that weddings are fixed in heaven and this is one certain thing that can help you in many ways possible. Of course, one must absolutely realize that when it comes to the wedding then there are few things that you can absolutely do in order to make it a fun event.

After all there are so many things readily available. All you need to do is open your eyes and recognize the variations in the very first place.

Things to do:

Following are few things that one can do in order to make sure that they are making their wedding great in all possible ways:

·       A tent wedding:

The tent wedding is one of the most unique and beautiful wedding creating an aura of beauty, subtle atmosphere and not to forget, sophisticated wedding as well. Of course, the tent weddings make the best kind of wedding for many people. You can absolutely get yourself great wedding tent rentals for the best results. After all there are many unique services of the tent rentals niagara has.

·       Theme wedding:

Yes, the theme weddings are definitely the best. These are about quirky and fun weddings that remain as great entertainment throughout their lives. It absolutely helps them achieve the best results for themselves without a doubt.

·       Minimalist wedding:

This is certainly one of the concepts that doesn’t sit well with many yet some who have these are perfectly happy. These are all about small, simple and absolutely emotional weddings. These doesn’t have much of a pomp and show and yet connects two people so well.

·       Destination wedding:

The destination wedding is a new and unique concept. People can definitely visit places and get married there. These are often far away from their native places and also offers them with great looks views and memorable pictures.

All these different types of weddings are really great in all the possible ways. These things can make the weddings special.

[thebestintoronto]

The ultimate Ontario itinerary: A 10-day Road Trip in Ontario

Follow me on a 10-day road trip in Ontario! This itinerary is taking in some of the most beautiful landscapes of southern Ontario: the bustling city of Toronto, the gushing Niagara Falls and a canoe camping getaway in Killarney Provincial Park you’ll never forget!

I fell head over heels for Canada the first time I stepped foot in this country. That was in 2012 and it was my first big backpacking adventure. Then, British Columbia and Alberta dominated my itinerary, but I figured out pretty quickly, that I wanted to see more of this wonderfully diverse country.

Four years later, I had the opportunity to explore a different province – I would embark on a road trip through Ontario for 10 days. When I put the itinerary together, it was not hard to get ideas together. I wanted to see Toronto and the Niagara Falls, but also get off the beaten path and into the forest, and finally try canoe camping.

The bigger problem with Canada, quite literally, is its size. Even though Ontario is just one province, it covers such a huge area, that it becomes impossible to see everything in one trip. And so, I focussed on southern Ontario this time, keeping places like Algonquin Provincial park on my bucket list for a future adventure.

Yet, I managed to squeeze a lot into my 10-day road trip around Ontario; from the bustling city of Toronto to the quiet corners of Killarney Provincial Park – here is my suggested itinerary for 10 days in Ontario.

How to get around Ontario

I would have been lost without a rental car. While there are buses crisscrossing the province (especially towards the many national and provincial parks), their services can be limited. For the ultimate flexibility, I recommend hiring a car, getting a SatNav and hitting the road!

My road trip began in Sudbury. Rather than starting and finishing in Toronto, I decided to fly further up north to Sudbury and get a one-way car rental from there to Toronto. This is a little more expensive, but the amount of driving it saves you is worth the expense!

Distances in Canada are massive and coming over from Europe it can be quite a shock to look up routes and driving times.  Note, that this itinerary includes a decent amount of driving!

My 10-day Ontario itinerary

Killarney (2 days)

2-hour drive from Sudbury Airport, 132km

From Sudbury, I drove south to Killarney, a quaint town on the shores of Georgian Bay. Not many people live here year-round, but there are lots of holiday cottages, and many people come to Killarney by boat  – some even all the way from the US, crossing Lake Huron and into Georgian Bay. It is quieter here than in other holiday regions in Ontario; likely, because it is quite a long drive away from Toronto.

Killarney is all about the outdoors. The picturesque harbour town is not so much the draw, as is the wilderness around it. And so I embarked on two mini-adventure starting right at the doorstep of my waterfront hotel, the Killarney Mountain Lodge.

On day one, I explore on foot – the Eastern Lighthouse is a mere 45-minute walk away from the hotel, even though it takes me much longer to reach it. Too pretty are the views of the Great Lakes, too peaceful the atmosphere to walk past the many beautiful viewpoints. I stop often to take pictures or to just sit still and breathe, the sun tickling my nose. Even though it is still early in the day, the sun is strong and makes me sweat a little on this easy walk. The trail is marked with little arrows on the ground or orange flags in the trees, pay attention to those and you won’t lose your way.

The next day, I join one of the boat tours offered by the hotel. From the water, the landscape changes yet again. I now see the low hills that surround the village, giving the hotel its name. The region was once dominated by a high mountain range, slowly carried off by the glaciers on top. Today they’re mostly covered in lush green forests, but here and there the bright white rock shines through the trees.

We sail past beautiful lodges – summer cottages that are worth millions of dollars – and chat about native fishing rights in the Great Lakes. Quickly we leave the big open water of the Georgian Bay behind and enter smaller bays, navigating smaller islands around Killarney.

I reach behind me to stick my hand into the water. It’s cold – maybe not the right time for a dip in the water…

Canoe camping in Killarney Provincial Park (2 days)

10-minute drive from Killarney, several hours of paddling

From Killarney, I make my way to Killarney Provincial Park, a short drive back up the highway. I meet my local guide Mike at Killarney Outfitters, an outdoor shop that rents out canoeing  and kayaking equipment, but also offers fully-guided tours around the Great Lakes or the lakes of the Provincial Park.

Mike and I set off with everything we need for two days – the Provincial Park is far off the beaten track, and as soon as we leave behind the main beach at George Lake, we’re on our own. And it’s bear country.

Our goal for the day is Killarney Lake, the third in a wide-spread system of lakes among the mountains of the park. After crossing George Lake, we carry our canoes across a short portage to Freeland Lake, and a longer portage into Killarney Lake after that. While we meet few others on the lake, it is necessary to acquire an overnight permit for the park in advance. There is a limited amount of campsites dotted along the shores of the lakes, and you may only camp if you have the respective permit. You won’t be allocated a specific campsite, so the earlier you leave George Lake, the higher are your chances to get a good spot. We manage to find a beautiful campsite, a sheltered clearing in a light forest, surrounded on three sides by water, and pitch our tents. This would be our home for the next two nights.

Muskoka County & Haliburton Forest (1 day)

5-6-hour drive from Killarney PP to Haliburton Forest, 350km

This was by far the longest drive of my trip, and it felt like forever doing it on my own. Most of the way I followed a monotonous highway, but by the time I reached Horseshoe Lake, my SatNav directed me off the main road and into Muskoka County. This region is a popular holiday region for Torontonians and is world-famous for being the home of the comfortable Muskoka chairs.

The roads get smaller and smaller (in Canadian terms) until I finally find myself at the edge of Haliburton Forest, a privately-owned forest near Algonquin Provincial Park. I check in at Haliburton Forest and Wild Life Reserve, which is run by the same family who owned the land around it; 100,000 acres of forest and it only keeps growing. They bought the land with the specific aim to make a living off sustainable forestry, while at the same time protecting the biodiversity of this very special forest.

By the time I reached the lodge, I had just about enough time to join the annual end-of-season BBQ, watch the locals line dance and have a few beers in the sunset.

The next day I explored the forest. Near the lodge, there is a wolf centre, where you can learn about the local wolf packs, and if you’re lucky, even spot some of them nearby. On a canopy tour, I learnt more about the challenges of caring for this forest and get close up with the giant trees at its heart. The tour included a brief walk through the forest, a quick canoe ride across a lake, and finally, a long walk high up among the treetops, on a purpose-built course with viewing platforms.

Accommodation at Haliburton Forest is in two- or three-bedroom cottages as well as log cabins more suitable for groups. If you can, I highly recommend spending more time here and maybe even venture into Algonquin Provincial Park for a few days!

Niagara Falls (1 day)

4-5-hour road trip, 380 km

After exploring Haliburton Forest in the morning, I made my way down south. You can either drive all the way to Niagara Falls in one day or stop overnight in Toronto and drive to the waterfalls the next morning. Either way, you will have a full day exploring the area around the Niagara Falls, as it is just a short drive from Toronto.

Niagara Falls Helicopter Flight

My first glimpse of Niagara Falls was from the air – a helicopter flight over the waterfalls is a brilliant way to really grasp their size and impact on the area. You can clearly see the difference between the Canadian and the US-American side, but also the greenery supported by the large river delta leading up to the falls. Flights with Niagara Helicopters cost from £85 (CAD$ 145) and last about 12 minutes.

Niagara Falls Boat Tour

The second unmissable way to experience the Niagara Falls is as close up as possible – on a boat tour with Hornblower Niagara Cruises.  Equipped with a thin red rain poncho you can choose to spend time in the protected lounge or the outer observation deck – guess which one I chose!

The boat tour lasts about 20 minutes and costs around £17. The route goes past the Bridal Veil Falls and the American side of the Niagara Falls, until you reach the famous horseshoe-shaped waterfalls on the Canadian side. The boat does not just stop in front of them, but goes right into the spray and the mist, leaving you wet, poncho or not. Make sure you pack away your camera and bring waterproof pouches. A GoPro is an ideal camera to take photos of the Falls and yourself up close.

The small town of Niagara on the Lake is an ideal way to end your day, not only because you will find less touristy restaurants than by the Falls, but also because the area is rich in vineyards waiting to be explored!

Of course, you can’t drink too much, since you’re driving, but even just tasting a sip of the famous Ontario ice wine is worth the detour!

There are also guided tours from Toronto that save you driving and include both, a Niagara Falls experience and a winery tour. Check it out here.

Toronto (3 days – or forever)

1.5-hour road trip, 130km

The final stop of my Ontario road trip was Toronto. I actually spend over a week here, to really get to know the city, but I think three days is enough to give you a taste of the city. I suggest, that each day you discover a different side of Toronto.

Day 1: Toronto Sightseeing

Spend your first day in Toronto like a real tourist. Whether you hit up the museums, like the Bata Shoe Museum or the fantastic Royal Ontario Museum, visit the top of the CN Tower or the stadium of the Toronto Blue Jays, there is an attraction for everyone!

My personal favourite was the sunset cruise with the Tall Ship Kajama which opens up a completely different perspective of the Toronto skyline.

Day 2: Toronto for Hipsters

Toronto is an incredibly cool city, and your trip would not be complete without learning some bits and pieces about the local street art culture, hanging out in coffee shops, strolling across the markets and vintage shop until you drop!

My favourite areas for shopping were Kensington Market and West Queen West, an uber-trendy part of town, where you can find one vintage shop after the other. The Distillery District was also very nice for shopping and restaurants, but overall a bit more touristy than the other neighbourhoods.

I went on a street art tour around Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue with Daniel from Tourguys, who explained everything from the key players of street art in the city to the legal situation of graffiti in Toronto. He took me to back alleys and lanes, pointed out street art that is well hidden in the busy city landscape and told me the stories behind the artpieces. I can only recommend doing this tour!

The best thing about Toronto for hipsters is the abundance of cool coffee shops, either to work in or simply cure your hangover (from drinking or shopping). I wrote an article about my favourite coffee shops here.

Day 3: Get outside in Toronto

Finally, Toronto might be a bustling urban jungle, but it is also surrounded by some wonderful nature!  Here are some ideas to get outside in Toronto:

Rent a bicycle and make your way to Toronto Island. The views across to the city are amazing, and there are many bike paths to explore. You could also rent a kayak or canoe and paddle around the shore of the island.

Take a bus towards Cliffside and hike through Scarborough Bluffs Park. The park northeast of central Toronto is famous for its crystal clear waters and bright white cliffs overlooking it!

Make your way to Woodbine Beach and rent a SUP board from WSUP Toronto. On the board you can paddle towards the Toronto skyline, try some yoga poses or simply relax in the sun away from the beach crowds.

My road trip to Ontario was an incredible adventure and I still can’t believe how much you can see in just 10 days. Still, the route I described here only covers a small area of southern Ontario, so if you’ve got more time, make sure to cover even more ground!

Traveling solo through this incredibly beautiful province with the kindest people and most serene landscapes made me fall in love with Canada all over again. I wish I could have had more time to see even more, spend another night or two in the tent and find more lakes to jump into, but alas the dream was over way too fast.

Canada, you did it again!

The post “ The ultimate Ontario itinerary: A 10-day Road Trip in Ontario “ was originally seen on Watch Me See by Kathi

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5 things to know about coronavirus today: Back to school worries mounting

LOCAL NEWS

| Aug 3, 2020

By Micah Karr

Today is Monday, August 3 and here are five things to know today about the coronavirus.

Ohio passes 93,000 cases, 3,500 deaths

There have been 93,031 cases and 3,529 deaths reported from coronavirus in Ohio as of Sunday, August 2. A total of 944 new cases have been reported by the Ohio Department of Health.

87,218 cases and 3,246 deaths have been confirmed by the state. Since March, a total of people have been 10,900 hospitalized and 2,557 people have been admitted to an intensive care unit. An estimated 68,394 people have recovered.

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93,031 cases, 3,515 deaths from coronavirus reported in Ohio

Schools are delaying the first day of school to account for training

Numerous Dayton-area schools have delayed their first day of classes to allow time for staff training — health/safety training in places where students are returning in person, and technology training where districts are starting the school year with online learning.

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Schools delaying first day of classes to create training time

School and parents must decide on in person vs online education in the fall

Ohio schools were mandated to close in the spring because of COVID-19, but they’ll have local control again this fall, meaning students are scheduled to go “back to school” in a wide variety of ways in the coming weeks.

Most districts started July with a two-path option for students — come to school five days a week (with many safety precautions in place), or choose a fully online approach for the first quarter or semester.

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Schools, parents must decide on in-person vs. online education

Busing is a worry for schools due to the pandemic

The Centers for Disease Control guidance for busing calls for schools to create distance between children “when possible” by seating one child per row, and/or skipping rows.

But most local school districts are not going that far, and have adopted similar guidelines for students who ride the bus — masks are required, seats are assigned, no more than two students can sit on any one seat, and buses will be sanitized regularly.

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Busing a worry for schools; one district asks families to avoid it if they can

The Dayton International Airport is facing layoffs

Two airlines that fly out of Dayton International Airport have announced plans to lay off a total of nearly 280 workers in what is shaping up to be the bleakest time for aviation in perhaps decades.

PSA Airlines and Air Wisconsin have informed the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services that they intend to lay off 230 and 50 of their Dayton employees, respectively, by fall. The duration of the layoffs at this point is unknown.

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Dayton airport passenger, cargo numbers fall as layoffs mount

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[prosperopedia]

Pros and Cons of Owning a Motorhome

About seven years ago, I took my family on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. We had some friends with us who were visiting from China. We thought it would be a good idea to show them one of the novel things Americans do while they are traveling, so we rented a motorhome just outside of Yellowstone Park to use for that week of touring the park. Our Chinese friends for whom this was the first trip visiting the United States, were amazed at the experience of driving a home.

So were we!

Our family had such a fun time, that we were determined to do it again, and again, and again.

Two summers later, we decided to take our family on a 5,000 mile trip from Utah, to Texas, to Florida, up the East Coast, to Washington DC, on to Niagara Falls, the Great Lakes and to see some historical sites in the Midwest before returning home to Utah. Again we had a blast. For this trip we rented a 30 foot motorhome from Cruise America.

After the second motorhome traveling experience, we decided that we wanted more consistent access to a motorhome, one of our own. Over the next several years, we bought a sold 2 different motorhomes. In fact, I just recently sold our latest motorhome. The process of selling our most recent motorhome has caused me to think through the pros and cons of owning your own motorhome. I’m going to share with you my experience and advice to help you make a more informed decision about whether owning a motorhome is a good idea for you and your family. Also, I will share with you some tips from what I’ve learned about how to purchase and use a motorhome without having a bad experience because of maintenance requirements and costs.

Based upon my own experience and from lots of discussions I’ve had with other motorhome owners (including ones who were selling RVs that I’ve been interested in purchasing), I know that there is a big tendency by people generally to be short-sighted, underestimating what’s involved in terms of the financial and time commitment involved with owning a motorhome. In discussing the pros and cons of owning a motorhome, I can’t stress enough that the decision to purchase a motorhome should be made in context with your overall financial plan. The lure of fun and adventure can quickly give way to financial stress and the feeling of being overwhelmed at having an expensive asset that continues to eat away at your cash reserves, or even worse, put you further in debt.

Pros of Owning a Motorhome

If you enjoy the motorhome version of traveling and are thinking about purchasing a motorhome, you’ve surely thought of several reasons to just go ahead and get one. Here are some of the things I have enjoyed most about owning a motorhome.

Traveling on the road for long periods of time is not only tolerable, but fun for the entire family.

Having a motorhome tends to encourage people to get out more often and enjoy the outdoors, especially since it’s much more comfortable to stay in a motorhome than in a tent.

If you were to rent a motorhome and use it as much as you tend to use one you’ve purchased, it would likely cost much more. Renting a motorhome costs about $150-$200 for each day you use it.

When you’re not using your motorhome, you can rent it out on websites like Outdoorsy or through your local classifieds, potentially making money on it while not using it.

Cons of Owning a Motorhome

Now that we’ve talked about the positive aspects of owning a motorhome, it’s time to address the side of RV ownership that is not so pleasant. I bought my most recent motorhome, a 1999 Monaco Windsor, for $43,000 last summer, then ended up only being able to net $18,000 when I sold it recently. I’ll explain more about why I took such a big hit in just a year’s time a little later, but I’ll just say that it hurt enough to make me much less eager to buy my next one.

Motorhomes are expensive to buy, to maintain, and to use. 

Unlike other “investments” (like an actual home), motorhomes tend to lose their value quickly with every mile added to the engine and the generator, and with everything that gets broken inside and outside of them.

Driving a motorhome tends to be difficult for a lot of drivers.

Operating a motorhome when it’s not in motion requires a lot of training, since the vehicle is designed to act a lot like a small home, with a shower, toilet, running water, air conditioner, heater, and lots of other moving parts.

Storing a motorhome tends to be difficult, inconvenient, and expensive. Unless you have an RV pad on your own property or have an affordable place nearby, you’re likely to find yourself having to travel miles back and forth between your home and your RV storage to have access to it.

Often you feel obligated to use your motorhome to justify having it, a feeling that nags and can tend to be very inconvenient.

Alternatives to Traveling with a Motorhome

While planning to move my family from Utah to Tennessee recently, I decided that we would take our 40-foot RV since we had a week between the time that our home in Utah sold and when our rental home in Tennessee would be ready for us to move in.

Later, as I calculated the costs associated with using our RV to make the trip, including the loss in value because of added mileage, the additional cost of gas, and lost value that came when I ran into some rocks, it became clear that I would have come out much better financially driving something else across the country or even flying my family out and staying in a hotel.

It is natural to think that if you want to go to multiple cities throughout the country on a trip, a motorhome is the best solution. If you look at the cost of using your RV for trips like that versus taking an airplane or riding in your car and staying in hotels, you’re likely to find that the motorhome is the most expensive option. If you do decide to use a motorhome, it will likely be because of the value you place in the experience of RVing itself.

Purchasing a Motorhome: What I Learned

Each of the two times I’ve purchased a motorhome, I’ve had some regrets after the fact. Mostly they revolved around making a hasty decision and not spending enough time checking out the motorhome thoroughly enough so that when I took possession I was disappointed in some things I found out later.

For instance, when I bought my most recent motorhome, I was in a hurry to get on the road. My wife and I had looked at a couple RVs, but not enough to feel confident about what we wanted or to know enough to make a good decision.

We found an older RV just out of Park City, Utah. When we went to see the RV, it was apparent that either the fellow selling it (who claimed that “everything worked perfectly” on it) didn’t understand how to use things or they simply didn’t work as intended, especially the electrical parts of the vehicle and carriage.

Soon after we bought the RV, we realized that some of the issues with the electrical came from the fact that the batteries were much older than their life expectancy. We had to spend almost $1,000 just to get new batteries.

There were other parts of the RV that didn’t work as they were supposed to. Because we didn’t give ourselves enough time to find what we were looking for, we made a bad decision when purchasing this vehicle, and it ended up costing us about $20,000.

When you’re considering purchasing a motorhome, make sure you schedule enough time with the seller to review a checklist that includes demonstrating all electrical components, the water heater, the air conditioning and heating system, and all of the other critical parts of the motorhome that make it functional.

The post Pros and Cons of Owning a Motorhome appeared first on The Handbook for Happiness, and Success, and Prosperity Prosperopedia.

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[jacewilliams1]

My favorite feature – a relief tube

When people ask me what I think of the King Air that I used to fly, “what was my favorite thing about the airplane?” I have an immediate and firm answer. It has a pilot’s relief tube.

I was taking customers to KMLI in a Cessna 340. This was back in the 1990s so we are talking steam gauges and Jeppesen binders. Cell phones were still a novelty. I had a co-pilot with me whose day job was a first officer for a major airline. Great guy. As I was getting the plane ready, making sure snacks were on board, herding the cats which our customers generally were, I made a quick mental run through of all the items that I’d need to do before I left. This is something they don’t teach you in pilot training.

The 340 is a great airplane, but bathroom amenities are non-existent.

Track a VOR, yep.

Power off stalls? Right there on the syllabus.

Did you arrange the rental car at the destination? Uh yeah.

What about the customer who only drinks that one brand of bourbon. Did you get some mini bottles of that? Of course.

AND remember to bring them with you to the airport? Um…

And two carafes of coffee, right? Because that one guy last time wouldn’t drink caffeinated coffee.

Everything was ready to go, except I really should go pee before we hop in the airplane…

“Nah, I’ll just go when we get to our fuel stop in Kentucky.” Loaded as heavy as we were, and with the headwinds we were expecting, we had to stop for fuel. Bowling Green looked about right and wasn’t so far away that I couldn’t make it.

So I closed the air stair door, sidled up front, and off we went.

Despite this being back in the stone age, we did have a GPS in the plane, state of the art with its green, 2″ monochrome screen. It was really neat to be able to twist knobs and push buttons and calculate the actual winds aloft and our expected arrival time. Unfortunately I must not have been very adept at using it, because instead of the 20 knot quartering headwind that was forecast, this stupid thing kept saying I had 45 knots on the nose. “That can’t… be.. right…”

Ugh. This was going to be a long trip.

As we toodled along at our greatly diminished ground speed, my lack of hitting the facility before we left was becoming a problem. I tried to think happy thoughts, talk to my co-pilot to keep my mind off things, generally be a professional and pretend there wasn’t a problem. Instead I was watching everyone guzzle coffee and I was getting unwelcome mental images of Niagara Falls.

I was furiously calculating and recalculating the winds aloft, trying to figure out a way to make our ground speed better. Maybe a bit higher? A bit lower? But hemmed in between the fuel range with NBAA reserves, the steady headwinds, and our planned fuel stop, I didn’t have a lot of choices.

As we got closer to our fuel stop, I progressed from uncomfortable annoyance to horrible pressure to “I’m going to need a doctor if this goes on much longer.” Finally we began our descent into KBWG. I’d mentioned to my co-pilot, during our cruise portion, that I really needed to go to the bathroom. He acknowledged and dismissed this bit of information with an easy indifference. Not my bladder, not my problem. But as we started down, I told him I may need his help on landing.

“Why?”

“Because the pain is so bad, I’m not sure I can use the rudder pedals.”

Now he looked invested in the conversation.

At this point, I know what you are saying to yourself. “Self, what kind of idiot gets himself into a situation like this? Why didn’t he just stop short and go to the bathroom?”

A simple device, but sometimes a life-saver.

First, all options were considered and discarded. If we stopped short, with these headwinds, that would have turned this flight into a two fuel stop trip instead of one. Something I’d have to explain to the boss, and to the customers. It would add time that we didn’t have, and cost that wasn’t needed for my personal comfort.

Second, as the guy who supposedly knew what he is doing, being the one who didn’t go to the bathroom before we left was not something I wanted to admit. I’m not saying pilots are prideful, but…

Third, we would be there shortly. I could make it (repeat quietly to yourself over and over).

I flexed out a few tentative rudder pushes and decided I could make do. We would be on the ground soon so we were good.

“N12345, turn left 20 degrees, this will be vectors for the localizer approach. Glide slope is out of service.”

What? No ILS? The minimum descent altitude (MDA) for the localizer would get us in, but just barely. Great.

We cruised along on vectors and then after intercepting the localizer, we waited for clearance to actually start the approach and descend.

“Uh approach, N12345, can we start our descent?”

“Negative 345, traffic below, will be a few miles.”

We were getting closer and closer to the airport. With turbocharged piston engines, I couldn’t just yank the throttles and push the nose over. I had to worry about shock cooling. Finally when we were about to request we turn around and try again, we blessedly got the approach clearance. I pulled power as much as I could and nosed over to get to MDA, tracking the localizer inbound.

Just as we got to MDA, we popped out of the clouds and there was KBWG – bright and clear and beautiful. And almost directly below us.

My co-pilot looked at me with pity in his eyes and said, “Sorry, no way you can make it from here. We’ll have to go around.”

My calm and professional response?

“Screw that.”

Using my recently tested skills of rudder mashing, I put in a heap of right rudder and dropped the left wing. The 340 slips beautifully. If you haven’t tried it, have a go. I was looking at the runway out of the side window, holding my slip to get down to a landing position. I glanced over (now up in our slip) to my co-pilot. He was as white as a sheet and not saying anything. The customers were still chatting away amiably in the back, oblivious.

The runway at BWG is long, but what if you’re way too high?

The slip entry and exit were gentle and everything was shaping up nicely, even though this was the longest and steepest slip I’d ever done. But all was well, so why was he so upset? I queried him quickly and he just shook his head. No time to figure it out now.

I popped out of the slip, dropped full flaps, and touched down without a problem, making the last turn off with little braking. Before we were off the taxiway, I was already out of my seat belt, pushing through the customers, and at the air stair door ready to drop it the moment the co-pilot stopped at the ramp.

Several minutes later, my co-pilot took up station at a urinal beside me in the bathroom. I looked over and asked him, “Hey, why’d you look so scared on the way in?”

“You can’t slip a 340.”

“Yes you can, I just did. You can slip a Boeing, why wouldn’t you be able to slip a 340?”

“It is a prohibited maneuver. It is in the POH.”

“What?! I’ve never seen that. Why is it prohibited? It slips just fine.”

“It unports the fuel pickups. The engines will quit.”

After several seconds of bladder relieving thought, I replied, “We were already too high, I didn’t need engines anyway.” What else can you say at that point? We were down and safe.

After completing our trip and seeing our customers safely delivered to their destination, we pulled out the POH and did a thorough review of any and all limitations. My intrepid co-pilot, unfortunately, spent his time bouncing between airplanes and had mistaken the 400 series Cessna no slips limitation for an all encompassing twin Cessna limitation. 340s are indeed able to slip freely.

Today my daughter, whenever I mention the possibility of buying a new airplane, only asks one question.

“Does it have a potty?”

That’s my girl!

The post My favorite feature – a relief tube appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2019/03/my-favorite-feature-a-relief-tube/

[mnranger5]

A Grand Canyon HIKING ADVENTURE to FALL for, Phoenix & Supai AZ, 5/11/18 – 5/16/18

Webster’s Dictionary gives us the following definitions:

HIKING - to take a long walk especially for pleasure or exercise

ADVENTURE - an exciting or dangerous experience

1a. FALL (for) – to feel a strong attraction for  

1b. FALL - to come or go down suddenly from a standing position

So basically, if we combine them, Webster’s definition of our trip would be either:

Jake takes a long walk for pleasure in an exciting and dangerous environment that causes him to feel a strong attraction for the Grand Canyon.

Or

Jake takes a long walk for pleasure in an exciting and dangerous Grand Canyon that causes him to suddenly go down from a standing position.

Both are equally true descriptions of our hike into the Grand Canyon.   There is no doubt, this adventure into the middle of the desert was well worth the battle scars it left me.

Prologue

On our Arizona trip in March of 2017, Dyan got the idea she wanted to hike into Havasu Falls.  Of course she did.  Let’s tackle the most remote area of the United States for our first big hike…  I agreed because it sounded like fun.  Never in a million years did I think we’d actually follow through with it…

A few months later.  Dyan brought it up again.  We watched YouTube  videos and scoured Instagram.  There is this familiar feeling I get when I know Dyan is about to impulsively do something.  I was getting that feeling.  I was still uneasy about this whole thing.  There seemed to be many obstacles that were working against us.  Permits were difficult to obtain.  We didn’t have all the necessary gear required to backpack into the wildness for 3 days.  We didn’t have the experience of overnight backpacking.  With us being out of state, the convenience factor was a big challenge – we would need to fly our newly purchased gear to AZ and then worry about transportation to/from the trailhead.  And I wasn’t all that intrigued at the idea of hiking into uncharted territory with 80lbs of crap on my back.  For every cold shower I dropped on the idea, Dyan countered with a remarkable picture of the majestic falls.  It’s so beautiful, we would both say to each other, like a broken record. Dyan continued to rabbit-hole here and there, as she conjured up the perfect plan

And in the fall, it got real.  Really real.  Dyan was hook, line and sinker on Havasu Falls.  I was excited, but still skeptical.  Then, she calmed my nerves when she found a guide company named Wildland Trekking.  This company offered full service all-inclusive hikes in-to and out-of Havasu Falls, along with dozens of other places across the globe.  Wildland had a glowing record on TripAdvisor and each review gave a gushing recount of how spectacular the guides made the trip.  Based on the services they offer, they are the premier guide in the region.  They would take care of our permits, supply all necessary gear, prepare every meal and take care of roundtrip transportation to/from Flagstaff.  Game changer.

In February of 2018, we made our first deposit on the trip and booked our airfare.  We were going to Havasu Falls.

May 11, 2018

We caught the early flight into Phoenix, departing Minny at 7AM.  It was a super nice flight once we finally got out of the thunderstorms over Minnesota and South Dakota.

We arrived, got baggage, then hurried over to the rental car facility.  We had never rented with Sixt before, so I was not sure what to expect.  I had found a good deal on a pre-paid CLA and was pumped to drive a Mercedes for the first time.  Sixt’s check-in process was a bit confusing  as there is a large orange Sixt sign taking you into the car-pickup garage.  Only problem is, by following that sign, you skip the reservation counter.  So I backtracked.  Luckily, there was nobody in line, so the process went quickly.  However, there was an issue with the car we reserved.  The gal who checked in just before me got the last Mercedes CLA.  My only option in a lesser class was a Mercedes station wagon.  Or, for an extra $105, they would put me in a cool Volvo XC-60 SUV.  The SUV was more our style!

It was only 10AM by the time we were on the road heading north.  Our only commitment for the day was meeting our trekking group for the orientation at 5PM in Flagstaff.  We had the entire day to do whatever we wanted.   As we wandered north on I-17, the traffic was heavy stopping several time for no apparent reason.  Must be Phoenix folks heading north for the weekend?  As we neared Sedona, we noticed sign for Cliff Castle Casino.  Dyan won big at this casino last year.  I sensed a pit stop.

We treaded water on the new Buffalo Stampede machines for 30 minutes.  I finally told Dyan we need to find the old Buffalo machines.  We found a bank of them in a dark corner.  Within 5 minutes of playing, I hit the free spin bonus.  Then a retrigger.  Another retrigger.  By the 6th retrigger it was getting obscene.  I ended up getting about 60 free spins which gave us a cool $183 of vacation spending money!

We continued north, with a quick pit stop in beautiful Sedona.

It was hot, in the 90’s and the wind was blowing like a hurricane.  We decided to grab duck and pork street tacos at 89Agave.  We started out sitting on the patio, but the wind was blowing the chips off the table.  We finished lunch inside.  This restaurant had been so good on our last trip.  The tacos didn’t live up to our previous experience, so we’ll probably find a new restaurant to eat at next time we are in town.  

We arrived in Flagstaff around 2, and got some errands taken care of like REI for water bladders and Walmart for snacks.  Then we checked into Flagstaff’s finest, Motel 6!  Anybody who knows me knows that I like nice hotels at bargain rates.  But when we were looking for a single night stay in Flagstaff, all the nicer hotels were running $350-$450 per night.  Seriously?  No thanks.   We later found out that it was Northern Arizona University’s graduation weekend, so hotels were charging a big premium.  We were planning to check out of the hotel at 4AM, so spending that kind of money for a few hours of sleep was not something that interested me.  The Motel 6 was only $125.  Sold.

Our group orientation was at 5PM.  Dyan and I were a little nervous going into this meeting.  Not sure why?  We were about to meet our friends for the next three days.  The people we would hike, eat, sleep and laugh with.  All we wanted to do was fit in with the group.  Shortly before 5:00, we walked into the Little America Hotel for our orientation.

Enter Nick London and Michael Remke into our lives.  Nick greeted us at the door with a big smile and a warm welcome into the ball room where Michael and the rest of the group was seated.  There was six couples.  We went around the circle doing introductions and favorite ice cream flavors.  

First up was Susanne & Mark, from up in the hills of Colorado.  Susanne is an athlete in every sense of the word, competing in triathlons and hikes with her kids  while Mark cheers them on from the golf course.  They were absolutely good stuff.   When they were registering for this hike, Susanne sent the application to Mark and he listed every possible medical complication he could come up with (even being born c-section) in an effort to be deemed unfit to participate in the hike!  Hilarious.

Next up was Amy and her mom Debra.  They were coming from a chilly climate similar to ours being from Niagara Falls, Ontario.  Debra wanted to do a big hike, and her daughter, who is a nurse, was the only one who would volunteer to go.  We’d later find that Amy had recently returned from a backpack excursion to Machu Picchu!  A destination on Dyan’s bucket list.

Ty and Christina live in the Houston area.  They vlog, travel and stay busy with their numerous puppies and dance competition company, Streetz.   Ty and Christina had some remarkable travel stories as well as a planned trip that sounds absolutely amazing – The Giraffe Manor in Kenya.  Jealous.

Whitney and Justin, from Wichita, Kansas, almost weren’t in our group due to reservation mix up with the 4-day hike.  But we are so glad they found their way into our group and did the hike with us.

The second mother daughter combo of our group was Kassandra and Bella.  While they could not be at the orientation, we later found out they came in from Long Island New York.

Michael, a jack of all trades seemed to have done everything at least once in his life.  A PhD candidate, accomplished photographer, avid mountain biker, storm chasing (I think he said he did this?) and wildland fire safety are just a few of the things he balances when he is not guiding hikes into the Grand Canyon.

And last was Nick.  A native of Boise, ID, he roamed God’s country, sometimes in Alaska, sometimes in Arizona and lot’s of time in Yellowstone.  Living out of their truck, his girlfriend and him travel beautiful country and make a living doing what the rest of us do for vacation.  I like to think I am living the dream. But the truth is, I am just making a living to live out a 3 day dream in the Grand Canyon.

My favorite part of the orientation was the discussion around food and snacks.  Everyone got a chuckle out of Nick’s spiel about snacks and being able to trust their guides!   Michael and Nick had bought tons of snacks for everybody to pick from which was awesome, except for Dyan and I had just bought way too many snacks of our own at Walmart.  After the meeting, we joked about starting a snack black market in the campground since we had an insane amount of snacks.

After the trip details were discussed, we did a quick day pack fitting.  The packs were brought back to our hotels so that we could stuff them with the things we wanted for our hike – water, camera, hat, sunglasses, jacket, water shoes and swimsuit.  All of our other clothes, food/coolers, sleeping bags, tents, etc would be hauled down to the campsite on mules.

At the conclusion of the meeting, we were told to meet back at the Little America Hotel at 4:45AM.  From there we’d all hop in the van and take off for the Grand Canyon.

From our dingy hotel room that night, we finished last minute preparations for the hike and got all the cameras charged – the GoPro, Cannon and Nikon.  I even shaved my beard for the big adventure!

May 12, 2018

Four o’clock came early, and when we were moving our luggage out to the car, the chill in the air hit us.  It was in the 40’s and gusty once again.  We were the first to arrive at Little America, and as we waited in the parking lot, we both laughed about the doubts we were having regarding this adventure!  We had no relevant hiking experience.  My most recent physical activity was shoveling the late April snowstorm.    My hiking boots had never been worn and I was certain I would have blisters 15 minutes into the hike.  Had we bitten off more than we could chew?  At least we had snacks.  Lots of them.

Nick & Michael rolled up a short while later and we all slugged our way into the van.  We were on the highway by 5AM.  No turning back now.

At 7:30, we rolled into the outskirts of Seligman AZ and had a quick breakfast of bagels, fruit and yogurt which was provided by Nick & Michael.  

Then we made a slow drive through Seligman (Radiator Springs) which is the sleepy tourist town that the movie Cars is based on!  Super cool!

From there, we had another hour and a half drive through the middle of the high dessert.  On some of the reviews I read, this road was famous for cow dodging.  It’s true.  There were cattle all over the road.  Making that drive at night could get kinda dicey.  Our group was dozing on an off, occasionally being jolted from their sleep by the cattle grates on the highway.

And then, at 10AM, we rolled up on the trailhead of the Havasu Falls, perched high above the Grand Canyon.  

The breeze was strong, and chilly.  But the excitement of the moment pushed aside any discomfort from the cold.  

Michael and Nick spent about 45 minutes getting all of our camp gear ready for the mules and getting all 12 of us hikers ready for the trail.  

(From left to right, Ty, Isabella, Kassandra, Christina (kneeling), Amy, Debra, Mark,Susanne, Dyan, myself, Whitney and Justin.)

They fitted us with walking sticks, which were a godsend for the steeper downhill portion of the hike.  The trail to the campground (nestled between Havasu Falls and Mooney Falls) is 10 miles, with a total elevation drop of 2,400 feet.  Around 11AM, we took our first steps on the trail.

It’s fairly well maintained but there is an abundance of loose gravel, chunk rock and sand that you do need to be careful navigating.  Wouldn’t want to bust an ankle…

The first mile and a half is a series of switchbacks descending abruptly into the canyon.  Nearly half of the total elevation of the hike is accounted for in this section.  Our crew, led by Michael, and tailed by Nick, made quick work of the downhill and got into a good pace as the canyon began to flatten out.  

Every 45 minutes of the hike, there seemed to be a group of mules or horses trotting to or from the trailhead saddled with all the gear nobody particularly cared to carry.  

They kicked up a tremendous amount of dust.  The dust is one thing that was never mentioned in any of the reviews.  The dust was overwhelming at times.  We were all covered in dust as we lumbered our way into the canyon.  Those brand new hiking boots didn’t look so pristine anymore!  

And speaking of the boots, by the time we stopped for lunch a couple hours into the hike, they still felt great.  No blisters!

One of the concerns I had coming into the trip was food (hence the reason we had so many snacks!).  I can be a picky eater…give me meat, and give me potatoes and I am happy.  So I was pleased to see that Nick and Michael prepared a lunch of summer sausage, a variety of Triscuits & cheeses as well as sliced apples.  There was hummus and green peppers too, but I made sure to save those for the others!  And the food was plentiful.  I am pretty sure everybody had multiple helpings and there was still food left over.

After lunch, we hiked on a mission.  

Beautiful rock formations jolted up toward the sky and the flowering ground cactus were in full bloom.

At 2:30, we reached the iconic “You’re Almost There” sign for Supai Village.

We were getting close!  But when we reached the village, it was a pretty sobering sight to see.  The setting - fertile green grounds beneath the red rock canyon - was beautiful, but the lifestyle on this reservation was likely a different story. While there were some homes, many of the dwellings were shanty-like.

There are no vehicles, other than the tribal police ATV.  Transportation was horseback, or walking.  Horses ate the trace amounts of grass in their pens and parked themselves under the shade of trees.  

Being one of the most remote locations in the United States, their connection with the outside world would appear to happen through tourists/hikers walking through their village.  Probably a life without the materialism that plagues the rest of us but rather a life that appreciates smaller things.

In the village, we bought a few Gatorades for $3.50/bottle and an ice cream snickers for $3.00.  We all changed into swimsuits for the remainder of the hike – the waterfalls were near.  We continued out of the village on a snaking path next to the turquoise blue creek.

Around 3:30, we reached our first waterfall, Fiftyfoot Falls.  

We were all tired, and it was getting hot.  Can we please just stop at the falls….maybe dip a toe in?  Michael and Nick wanted to push ahead. Just a few steps down the path, we came upon Navajo Falls.  

Holy Gorgeous!  This must be where our guides intend to stop.  Right?  Nope, we kept walking.  What the group didn’t know is that our guides were planning to bring us back here the following day.  I’ll admit, I was a little bummed at the time because I thought we were passing these amazing swimming holes.

For about 3/4th’s of a mile, the descent is fairly significant.  It’s all sand and silt.  Honestly, it was the most difficult portion of the hike in my opinion.  Sand just isn’t fun hiking in.  We came up on a very steep decline in the path.  We could hear water rushing just a short ways away.  Michael and Nick pulled the group together.  They gave us a quick spiel about how we had reached Havasu Falls and that we were all about to go crazy over the beauty that lies just ahead.  We were told to meet at the campsite in about 90 minutes.  For now, we were free to explore Havasu Falls. With that, we moved down the path about 100 feet.  The level of anticipation was 10 out of 10.  After 5 hours of hiking, the trail finally  opens up to jagged canyon walls, as orange as a sunset, jetting up into the sky.  Thick, lush, green vegetation covering the canyon floor. And then there is the centerpiece.  A brilliant, turquoise waterfall plummeting nearly 100 feet over the limestone and travertine formation into a pool below that resembles the Caribbean more closely that the desert.  

Havasu Falls is possibly the most gorgeous waterfall on the planet. Pictures cannot do it justice.  The sight is so much more powerful than I ever imagined.  

No amount of research can prepare you for the feeling you will have when you turn the corner and see Havasu Falls for the first time.  While the beauty is unrivaled, part of the allure of this spectacular fall is the difficult journey a person must take to reach this destination.  You don’t just wake up one Saturday morning and decide you are going to go visit for an hour.  

This is a destination that takes a significant amount of planning, effort and commitment to reach.  Reaching the falls is so much sweeter because of the journey we all had to take to arrive at this point.

We made the descent down to the base of Havasu Falls.  The pristine waters were full of hikers enjoying the reward of their laborious travels.  We wasted no time joining the others.  The water was a cool 70 degrees, but it was the perfect therapy for my sore feet and muscles.  We explored the smaller cascading falls just downstream from Havasu.  It is an adult waterpark, full of coolers and inflatables.  The crowd was diverse from the 70 year old retirees to the 21 year old’s taking a late spring break.  There were even some kids, probably less than 10 years old, but not too many.

With a few minutes to spare before we were supposed to congregate at our campsite, Dyan and I took a tour of the campground wandering down the riverside paths.  There was an abundance of remote camping sites with private beach/entries into Havasu Creek.  Many of the camps looked like long term sites, as if the campers could have been there for several weeks.  One camper had a hammock strung across Havasu Creek.  He sat sideways in his digs while reading a book and dangling his feet into the water.  Killer setup.

Our camp was a large open area perched up about 10 feet higher than the creek!  The current in the creek below our tent was loud enough to drown out any activity in the campsite.  It was perfect.  While the others were getting nestled into the campsite, Dyan and I took the opportunity to swim in the waist deep creek that surged next to our tent.  There was some serious current!

Not only had Michael and Nick setup our entire campsite before any of us arrived, but dinner was also cooking on the camp stoves, and it smelled amazing.

The dinner menu was rice noodles with chicken, broccoli & carrots with sautéed peppers and onions.  I am not a big veggie fan - like at all - but I was hungry, and thought I would try everything (except the peppers).  To my surprise, it was delicious.  Like, I wanted seconds before everybody else got firsts.  And others were in the same boat.  At one point, we thought everybody had gotten a plate, so several of us went back for another helping.  As Justin was dishing up another plate, it struck me that Kassandra and Bella were not at the table, so I asked the question.  The four of us standing around the camp stove were mortified when we realized that we were helping ourselves to the last of the food and not everybody had eaten yet.  Apparently Michael and Nick had not eaten yet either.  Justin had a single piece of chicken on his plate that he tried his best to offer to one of our hungry guides, but they laughed the situation off before correcting it.  Nick retrieved additional food from a separate Wildland Trekking group.  Problem solved.  Each meal thereafter, we were all a little more cognizant of whether everybody had eaten.

Michael and Nick prepared coffee and cookies while several of us played Bananagrams.  I played in the first game and schooled all of my new friends!  Then I quit while I was on top.  Susanne, Kassandra, Whitney and Amy were really good.  Justin, who was watching from the sidelines, did a great job at heckling and officiating Whitney’s words!  When it was completely dark, Justin, Whitney, Dyan and I hiked using our headlamps back up to Havasu Falls to see the billions of stars come out above the silhouette of the falls.  Astonishing.  It was here I found out some bad news about Justin.  He is a Kansas State alum!  So much for him being super cool!  We retreated back to our quiet campsite and drifted off to sleep.

May 13, 2018

Sometime around 2AM, the wind picked up.  I don’t know how gusty it was, but our tent was flapping in the wind like an inflatable wacky waving tube man. 

This made sleeping tough for me.  Dyan’s night was a little worse.  Her inflatable air mattress had lost air at some point during the night, so she was basically sleeping on the hard ground.  We weren’t the only ones with a tough night of sleep.  Mark had the quote of the morning how he summed up his night.  “I slept like a baby.  I woke up every hour and cried.”  Everybody got a chuckle.    Mark’s air mattress had also deflated along with a couple of others in our group.  The troops needed a pick-me-up to start the day.  And we were about to get it.  There is a morning time smell that dominates over any other smell.  It is universally accepted as the smell of deliciousness.  If you guessed coffee, you’re wrong.  The aroma of coffee wafting through the campsite would be enough to perk up some, but not the whole group.  Michael and Nick needed something stronger.  Something that completely drowns out the coffee aroma if the two are being prepared side by side.  The only right answer is, BACON.  And it was sizzling in the camp stove pan.  It was being prepared along with orange slices and French Toast, complete with powdered sugar and maple syrup.  Seriously?  This was my kind of feast.  And there was plenty for second and third helpings.

Also super cool is that Michael and Nick always had gluten free versions of every meal prepared.  I won’t pretend to know what those options tasted like, but it was awesome that they were able to accommodate everybody’s food preferences.

We needed a huge breakfast because today was a big exploring day for us.  Right after breakfast, we headed to the top of Mooney Falls, the largest waterfall along the creek dropping nearly 200 feet over the travertine bluff above.  

There were signs posted that said, “Descend At Own Risk.”  

That sounds ominous.  Going into this hike, I, the guy who Dyan calls Mr. Cautious, had not given two thoughts to this portion of the hike actually being difficult, and possibly dangerous.  I shrugged the sign off.

The first portion of the descent involves a series of switchbacks where the path is generally three to four feet wide.  

In some spots, the path narrows to about 12 inches as you have to scoot past a narrow ledge.  

At this portion of the hike, even if you fall off the ledge, you are probably only falling 15-20 feet onto the switchback below.  Not certain death, but probably not a pleasant fall either.

After the switchbacks comes two blasted out tunnels.  The tunnels were much larger than I had expected, and chillier.  They were pitch black but had steps carved into the floor.  You couldn’t really see the steps, but if you go slow, it is a pretty natural and easy step down through the cavern.   

In between the two tunnels is a small jaw dropping overlook of the falls.  

It was here that Michael warned us about the next portion of the descent.  “Please secure all possessions to your body and put away all cameras.”  Wait, what?  This sounds like things could be getting serious.  Was the descent really going to be that challenging?  We were about to find out once we got through next tunnel.

We made our way through the final tunnel, and then out into the open.  What should have been a beautiful vista of the waterfall was upstaged by the cliff at our feet.  Chains had been fastened to the top of the cliff and makeshift footsteps had been carved into the side of the mountain.  There is no harness to clip into the chains.  There is no safety net.  It is just you, the chains, and the side of a mountain.  Dear Lord Jesus, please be with us!

Mike started scaling the cliff first, followed by Dyan.  I stood on the perch, Dyan just a few steps below me, and Christine and Ty just exiting from the dark tunnel behind me.  There were people in the water below me, enjoying the waterfall.  They looked like ants from where I currently stood.  Oh how I wished I was already at the bottom.  I held it together, but I was freaking out on the inside.

Here we go.  I turned around, facing the wall with my back to the falls.  I gripped the cold chain.  It was heavy, sturdy, and surely looked as if it had been there for at least 100 years.   I took my first step down, sliding my hands down the chains.  Then the next.  My clumsy body was slow and I started searching with my foot for the next step.  I couldn’t find it.  Crap.  Keep it together.  I searched again.  I felt a ledge, but it was small.  Maybe that’s where my foot was supposed to go?  Just as I was about to put pressure on the ledge and take a step, I felt a hand touch my boot, pushing my foot off the ledge and to the right about 8”.  It was Dyan, guiding my foot to the actual step.  I felt so uncoordinated.  Dyan knew I needed some help, and started telling me where each step was.  I tried my best to relay that information to Christina who was hanging off the wall just above me, but I am not sure how well she could hear through my shaky voice.  Dyan guided my every step for the first 25 feet, but then was asked by Michael to scurry down the mountain so he could help the rest of us.  Apparently Dyan climbed the wall like Spiderman and didn’t need anybody’s help.

About halfway down the wall, Michael’s suggestion was to climb to an area outside of the chains.  In my head, I was like, “Are you nuts?!?”  He said it was the easiest and safest spot to climb.  Who am I to question the expert.  So I did as he asked.  I was literally climbing a mountain wall at that point.  All hands, and feet, securely on the rocks.  No chains.  For a fleeting moment, I felt like a badass climber…

Until I didn’t.  Which was just seconds later, when Michael warned me that the remaining 60 feet of descent would be wet from the mist of Mooney Falls.  Geez, are we were climbing down to Hell?  I cursed myself up and down for not wearing my hiking boots.  Earlier that morning, I made a very poor decision when I opted for a rather pedestrian pair of non-gripping sandals.  

I seriously began to wonder if anybody had ever slipped and fallen, ricocheting off the jagged edges to the most horrific and bloody death known to man.  

Jake, snap out of it!  Get yourself down this freaking wall.  I took a step with my fashionable sandals and slipped momentarily on the wet rock.  Yep. It’s definitely slippery.  My face was soaked, a mixture of nervous sweat and mist.  I wiped the moisture from my eyes, accidentally smearing a wet metallic residue from the chain all over my face.  Gross.  Slowly I progressed down the wall, and then finally made it to the ladders.  Once you get to the ladders, you are in the home stretch.  One rung at a time, I scaled the slippery ladders, all the way to the bottom.  And then I heard Dyan’s sweet voice, “One more step babe.” My right leg, came off the rung, and squished down into the wet mud.  As my other foot swung around to the ground, I slipped, and went down hard on my butt.  I was a muddy mess, but I made it to the bottom!  While the climb seemed like an eternity, it probably took about 20 minutes to go top to bottom.  Dyan was waiting at the bottom with a huge hug and a video camera, interviewing me with questions about the hike.  I was literally shaking, overcome with joy and a sense of accomplishment.  Although, an accomplishment I never needed to do again.  I was ready to start gathering food and setting up camp.  Let’s stay a few weeks, or years.  I had no interest in ever going back up that wall.  Once our entire group made it to the bottom, I found Michael and thanked him for the help.

The power of Mooney Falls is unrivaled.  From the pool below, the teal water looks as though it’s being catapulted from the sky above.  The roar of the falls sounds like a jet engine echoing in the canyon.  The water fall hits with so much force that you can feel the undercurrent pulling you into the falls.  We didn’t get too close, but close enough to feel the extreme power of this natural wonder.

The pool empties into a couple of different shallow wading areas with smaller cascading falls that you can swim behind.  Bliss.

After spending an hour at Mooney, Michael and Nick took us on a short hike to one of their favorite locations in the area, although I don’t recall the name.  It is a very narrow canyon which has a natural spring at it highest point in the wash.  

It’s also here that there are boulders the size of semi-trucks that have fallen into the canyon through years of erosion.  Michael and Nick wanted us to climb through the smallest crevice (green circle) between the boulders and pull ourselves up on top of the rocks.  

M’kay.  Second stunt of the day that was outside of my comfort zone.  The guides helped each of us through the tiny opening and expertly told us exactly where to position our feet and hands.  Getting to the top of the boulder ended up being pretty easy, and the view from the top was really cool.

After a quick snack, it was time to hike again.  We climbed down through a smaller opening (red circle) in the rocks and made our way back to Havasu Creek.  We went further into the canyon, when nature called.  While the rest of the group carried on about 100 yards ahead to the most beautiful wading pools, I ventured off the trail about 30 feet to a ravine.  There was sharp thorny bushes covering the ground scraping up my shins.  This sucks.  The ravine was about 6-8 feet deep and probably bursts with water rushing into the creek during flash floods.  But it was dry as a bone today.  I walked up just behind a shrub on the edge of the ravine when suddenly, the silty ground gave way beneath me.  I dropped like a rock into the ravine.  My right foot hit the bottom first, cranking violently to the inside.  There was a definitive pop.  Then the shear pain.  I was sure I broke something.  My mind was spinning as I floundered in the middle of the ravine.  Did this really just happen?  I needed to calm down and think.  How was I going to get out of here with a broken ankle.  Nobody will hear me if I call for help.  I have really gotten myself into a mess.  The irony of the moment was not lost on me at all – I had scaled a hundred-foot wall without falling, but couldn’t manage to take a leak on the edge of a ravine without a catastrophic fall?  The ravine was fairly narrow, so I was able to steady myself standing up, balancing against the walls.  Now, how do I get out?  I grabbed the shrub I had originally intended to use as my privacy and pulled myself up the ravine wall.  I began crawling through the woods, but all of the thorny bushes were cutting me up.  I had to try and stand, and limp out.  I used a small tree to help me stand up and put a little it of weight on my ankle.  Damn, it was bad.  But I had no other choice.  I hobbled out of the woods and down the trail toward the rest of the group.  Do I tell anybody, or keep this to myself?  I was super embarrassed, I walked along the water’s edge slipping and falling a couple of times due to the pain.   Most of the group looked as though they were ready to head out but a few were still in the water.  I pulled Dyan aside and told her I fell hard on my ankle and that I thought there was probably some damage.  She couldn’t believe it and wanted to tell Michael and Nick, but I stopped her.  I didn’t want to ruin the fun for the rest of the group and have to go back to camp early.  Let’s try and get through the afternoon and see how it feels later tonight…  If only I had taken the signs more seriously.

The group packed up and we hiked back up the creek toward Mooney Falls.  

Although, we took a different route, doing much of the hike in the creek itself.  The cold water felt really good to my ankle, and it allowed me to put less weight on it which was helpful.  

Along the creek we passed small waterfalls dumping spring water into Havasu Creek.  

With all the lush vegetation and waterfalls, it resembled more of a tropical rain forest than the desert.

The group stopped at Mooney Falls for another hour.  

Dyan and I soaked in the swimming pools for as much of the time as possible.  

Justin and Ty used the rope swing to crash into the lower pool.  It sure looked fun, but I wasn’t going to do any jumping in the condition I was in.

Then came the moment I had been dreading.  The climb up the rock wall at Mooney Falls.  I had a hard enough time getting down, but now throw in an injured ankle, a successful ascent was questionable at best.  But it’s the only way up, so her goes nothing.

I went first this time, with Dyan just behind me.  

Every step was excruciating pain.  I pulled with my upper body on the chains more than I pushed off with my ankle to reach the top.  The climb to the top went much quicker, but would have been much easier had both my ankles been 100%.  Nevertheless, it was uneventful, in a very good way.  We made it to the top.  I instantly, felt better.  Even my ankle felt a bit better at the top.

Once we reached the top, Debra told a remarkable story that she had recently overcome a fear of heights.    Overcoming the challenge allowed her to do this hike and scale a 100’ wall.  What a super cool moment for her!

Dyan and I hobbled back to camp, ecstatic that we survived such an amazing adventure, but the condition of my ankle weighed heavy our my thoughts.  Dyan suggested we hang out at camp the rest of the afternoon, but I wasn’t going to the a party pooper.  We were going to go exploring with the rest of the group.

Our next stop was Havasu Falls.  

At the base of the fall, Nick and Michael prepared an awesome chip/dip lunch of ingredients that I don’t usually even like.  There were tomatoes, avocados, odd looking beans, cilantro, limes and other ingredients.  I was certain that chips was the only thing I would be eating for lunch.  But I went ahead and tried the freshly made dip.  Need to keep an open mind, right? To my surprise, it was delicious.  I ate two full bowls!  I give these guys props for getting me to try new things outside of my traditional comfort zone.  

At the end of lunch, Nick drew the short straw and took all the dishes back to camp to wash them.  

Michael on the other hand took the rest of us on a two mile hike back up the sandy trail to the falls we skipped yesterday, Navajo Falls and Fiftyfoot Falls.  These swimming hole were remarkable.  You could swim right up next to Navajo Falls and stand in it, or jump off of the huge rock formations in the middle of the pool.  Justin, Whitney and Dyan jumped off the rock, but I elected for no additional trauma to my throbbing ankle.  Mark, Susanne and Bella also joined us at the pool and took a ton of pictures.

We then headed up to Fiftyfoot Falls which resembled a Costa Rican rainforest.  This was probably our favorite of all the falls.  There is a huge swimming pool at the base of the wide falls.  While the force of the falls is powerful, you can swim behind the falls.  Crazy cool.  Justin, Whitney, Dyan and I were the only ones in the deep pool and we were all bummed we didn’t have a waterproof camera.  Then from around the corner swam Kassandra, Bella, Susanne and Mark.  And, Kassandra and Bella brought their waterproof phone cases with them!  They snapped pictures of all of us in the falls helping us to preserve that memory for the rest of our lives.  Thank you.

We then hiked two miles downhill back to camp where Nick had already started dinner on the camp stoves.  Rice noodles with pesto sauce.  Once again, pesto is not my thing, but the way it was prepared, I ate every last bite.  Delicious meal.  For dessert, Nick rolled out a Mother’s Day special of chocolate fondue with sliced strawberries and bananas.  Wow!  Who would have guessed we’d be eating chocolate covered strawberries in the Grand Canyon!

Once again, we huddled around the picnic tables playing Bananagrams.  Except, Justin threw a twist into the game suggesting the only words that could be played had to be centered around a theme, like camping, hiking or adventure.  What a hoot!  I kept exchanging my letters to jokingly spell help or helicopter.  My pain was so bad I figured I need one or the other to help me get out of the canyon on the hike in the morning.

We all planned to retire early because our 5AM hike was going to come quick.  As everybody was getting ready for bed, I carefully took the boot off of my ankle for the first time since return from the falls.  It was swelling up like a balloon and significant bruising was forming on the outside.  Finally, Dyan convinced me to tell Nick about my fall.  I hobbled over to the picnic table and called to Nick who was getting some things packed up for the morning.  I told him the story about falling into the ravine, and he kind of chuckled, thinking it wasn’t going to be too bad since I had walked on it the rest of the day.  He flipped on his head lamp and examined my foot. 

“Wow.”  Was is first remark.  “Dude, you have like 30% swelling in your ankle.”  Yeah, tell me about it!  “How did you walk on this all day long?”  Nick grabbed a couple of frozen water bottles and had me ice it for 20 minutes and then he put a bandage around it.  Told me to keep it elevated overnight and then we’d ice it again in the morning.

May 14, 2018

We were all awake by 3AM.  We needed to get as much of the hike out of the way with before sunrise.  Nick took another look at it in the morning.  The bruising had worsened on the outside of my foot, and started on the inside of my foot.  “You need to get this looked at when you get out of here.  You could have some structural damage.”  Just what I wanted to hear before a 5 hour uphill hike through the desert.  I iced my foot while everybody else had an oatmeal and coffee breakfast.  Around 5AM, I had my boots on, and we were ready to break camp.  The pain was tremendous.  Each step felt like bones shattering in my foot.  I had little range of motion with my ankle.  I was in rough shape.  But I was going to try to hike myself out.

Supai Village was about 3 miles away.  That three miles is a steep grade uphill, in a trail of mushy sand.  I am not sure there is a condition that could have been any more uncomfortable on my ankle.  But we pushed forward.  Nick stopped about halfway to the village.  “Jake, how are you holding up?”  I responded, “Let’s keep moving.”  I didn’t want to slow the group down.  They were hiking on a mission.  But my ankle was not going to make it to the top of the hill, at least not hiking.  When we reached the village, Dyan could tell I was in significant pain.  As a last resort, she asked Michael if the helicopter out of the village would be an option.  Michael and Nick huddled up with me in the town and assessed my ankle once again.  They too agreed with Dyan that I should probably take the chopper out of the canyon.

However, this would present some possible logistical problems. It was about 6AM.  The chopper didn’t begin transporting until 10AM.  First priority is given to those who live on the reservation, so if many of those who live in Supai needed a ride out of the canyon, we could be waiting for a significant part of the day for our turn.  Luckily, Dyan and I we were near the front of the makeshift line that was forming.  Hopefully we’d get on an early ride.  Another potential snafu was if the helicopter decided not to fly, which we were told does happen frequently.  Dyan and I would be forced to rent a room at the Lodge in the village.  Hopefully they had vacancy!  The worst part was not knowing when we would reach the top of the hill.  It would be humiliating to know that our group just hiked their heart and souls out to get to the top of the hill and then had to wait in a hot van several hours for us to arrive by helicopter.  Just shoot me now if that happens.

As the group gathered at the edge of town to continue their hike to the top, Nick left us with one suggestion.  Make sure that when the guy with the clipboard shows up at 9AM to create the official passenger list, be as assertive as possible to get at the front of the list and on an early flight.  Being assertive is critical.  Luckily I have Dyan for that!

The minutes ticked by, quicker than I would have thought.  The makeshift line for helicopter lines started getting longer.  There were hikers that came to the front of the line asking the same two questions, “Is this the line for the helicopter?” and “Has a sign up sheet been started yet?”  Nope, no list yet, and the line starts way back there…past the benches, and the tree, and around the corner to the restaurant.  Everybody asking was so kind.  It appeared to be setting up in a very orderly fashion.  I am not sure there was really a need to be assertive given the nice line that was forming.

Around 7AM, the village store opened and Dyan stopped in to grab me a quick breakfast.

Diet Pepsi, how I’ve missed you.  And the freshest mini donuts I have ever had.  How does a place in the middle of nowhere get super soft donuts?  Baffling.

Around 8AM, the village was waking up.  Kids appeared to be on their way to school with backpacks in tow.  Dogs were exuding their dominance running round playing with each other.  The village sheriff moseyed by on his ATV.  Mules hauling gear traipsed by.   More and more people were joining the helicopter line.  Around 8:30, we heard a chopper in the distance and started getting excited.  The helicopter was starting early!  But there was still no list?

The helicopter landed on the pad and several villagers exited the fuselage.  Two other villagers jumped aboard and the helicopter was gone in less than 5 minutes.  I turned to Dyan, this must be a good sign, right?  They are getting the tribe passengers out of the way early so hopefully can start with the civilians right at 10, or sooner!

We waited, and waited.  It should only be a 15 minute round trip.  But the chopper wasn’t returning.  At 9AM, a couple of the natives came over the he helipad.  One with a clipboard.  The beginning of the line all stood up single file, orderly, but within 30 seconds, pandemonium broke lose.  Everybody at the end of the line flooded to the front, creating a circle around the clipboard.  So much for their politeness.  It became a mad scramble.  I sent Dyan up with the Visa card, and cash.  Glad we had both.  While they supposedly take Visa card, today they were only accepting cash.  Dyan paid $170 to be passengers #6 & 7 in line.  Sweet.  Just then, two helicopters showed up.  The passenger carrying helicopter took a mix of natives and civilians to the top.  The second helicopter appeared to be freight carrying only.

The guy collecting the cash for the helicopters randomly stopped taking cash and put the list away – which really ticked people off still waiting to sign up and pay.  He had other jobs to do.  He grabbed a hose - not a garden hose, but more like a fire hose - and began dousing down all the dirt areas around the helipad.  He could have cared less about getting anybody or any of their possessions soaked.  He hosed people, and their things down.  It was pretty rude.  He could have at least warned people, but his hose spraying was so random, not giving anybody any time to move out of the way.

At 9:30, the passenger carrying helicopter was echoing through the canyon.  You could hear it well before you could see it.  The List/Firehose Guy, called out the names of the passengers who needed to get ready.  Our name was called.  

We were getting out of here!  The helicopter landed and several passengers got off.  We were escorted out to the chopper.  Dyan got the front seat by the captain, and I got the window seat just behind her.  With a little assistance from the other passengers, I was able to slide in and pull my ankle up into the seating area.  Thirty seconds later, we were airborne.  We made a quick cruise across town and banked hard up into the canyon.  The ride was spectacular.  In the 5-minute ride to the top, we crossed the hiking trail a couple of times, wondering how far our crew was on the hike.  Maybe we would see them.  Surely, we’d see Justin and Whitney’s matching neon green shirts or Susanne bright hiking jacket.  We should easily be able to spot Michael’s bright orange jacket or Nick’s 700-pound crimson colored backpack.

The helicopter cruised through the canyon making quick work of the 10 mile and 2400 ft climb in elevation.  It was so fast.   I tried hard to capture pictures of the beautiful journey, but my camera kept focusing on the reflection in the glass as opposed to the landscape below.  Our helicopter landed at 9:37AM.  Surely, we beat our group to the top.  We grabbed our bags and limped our way over to the trailhead.  NO WAY!  There is Justin, and Whitney, and Michael!  They were already to the top!  So was Kassandra & Bella and Susanne and Mark too.  And Debra and Amy were just finishing as we approached the trailhead.  We had all arrived at nearly the same time.  I was so relieved nobody had to wait for us!  Kassandra snapped this cool pictures of our helicopter on final approach.

Within 30 minutes, our gear was packed in the van, and we were on the road to Flagstaff.  We stopped briefly for lunch at the Grand Canyon Caverns Grotto.  Dyan got me some ice while Susanne and Mark made sure I was comfortable.  My ankle was so swollen, my boot was a challenge to get off.  Everything about it was getting worse.

Michael and Nick prepared bacon and cucumber wraps which were good as we all sat out in the sun, relaxing in the rockers.  Our new friends deserved this relaxing break after the uphill hike they just accomplished.

The remainder of the ride into Flagstaff went fairly quick with lots of stories being told.  Our group had really bonded over the three days.  Dyan and I have never taken a group trip before, so we were unsure how the dynamic would be among the members.  But I can honestly say we had an amazing group to make this trek with.  Everybody was so kind, caring and had such colorful backgrounds and rich life experiences which we got to learn about.  I felt like we were all good friends by the time we left that canyon.  Each of us had a passion and appreciation for a good adventure, and I think that is why we all got along so well.  We were all there for the same reason.  Next time we take another group adventure, I can only hope our group is just as amazing as our Havasu Falls group.  You’ve set the bar high.  Thank you.

A crazy amount of credit for such a successful adventure should be given to Michael, Nick and Wildland Trekking.  Every step of this trip was thoughtfully planned out by our guides and their trekking company - from the food, to the hiking, to the gear to the the customer experience.  They considered everybody’s physical abilities and made sure to not hike to fast, or too slow.  Their attention to detail is second to none, never overlooking blisters from hiking, or carrying extra water for those who ran out.  They also did a good job at taking many of us out of our comfort zones by helping us experience things we had not expected - whether it be challenging activities, or new foods.  But most importantly for me, as Michael and Nick prepared to have me extracted from the canyon, they were on the phone with presumably Wildland Management who was walking them through the process of getting me out safely, and quickly.  I cannot express my gratitude enough for everybody involved in helping me get to the top of the trailhead.  I would highly recommend Wildland Trekking, and specifically Michael and Nick as guides.  We absolutely would love the opportunity to go on another adventure with Wildland.

Dyan and I wasted no time getting out of Flagstaff.  We had a date with the lavish pool at Sheraton Grand Resort at Wild Horse Pass.  But that was in Chandler, over 2 hours away.  Go , go, go.  Dyan drove while I elevated/iced my foot on the dashboard.  We hit rush hour traffic in Phoenix which delayed our arrival into the hotel to 5PM.  Pool sounds great, but given our meals the past few days, we were feeling rather carnivorous.  Texas Roadhouse was near the hotel.  I had the prime rib, and Dyan the chicken fried chicken. Mmmmmmm.  Not surprising, we crashed by 9PM.

May 15, 2018

My ankle continued to worsen.  Pain, swelling, bruising – it was brutal.  I contemplated an ortho quick care in Phoenix, but decided to wait to get it checked out when I got home.  We had breakfast at the onsite restaurant consisting of a breakfast sandwich and yogurt parfait.  It was fab.  We then spent the day at the pool drinking some kind of delicious frozen concoctions all while elevating with ice.  I could think of worse spots I’d rather be right now.  What if we would have gotten stuck overnight in Supai?  We’d be waiting for the helicopter right now!

It was 105 degrees, and felt every bit of that number.  But the pool water sure made the day like paradise.  We had lettuce wraps for lunch before heading back to the room to get ready for the evening.  Up first was the casino right next door to our resort.  This casino was bad to us on our first trip to Phoenix, and proved to be no better this time around.  Dyan and I couldn’t get anything going on Buffalo Stampede, Willy Wonka or a plethora of other machines.  I even sat at the blackjack table for about 90 second.  It was a $10 table – I was playing the minimum.  

First hand, dealer blackjack.  Minus $10

Second hand, dealer 20, me 17.  Minus $10

Third hand, dealer blackjack.  Minus $10

Fourth hand, dealer blackjack.  Minus $10.  You’ve got to be kidding me.

Fifth hand, I was dealt 12.  I hit and got a 10.  A bust at 22.  Minus $10.

There goes our winning from Cliff Castle Casino.  We left the casino.  We were hungry, and a little grouchy.  Stinks to lose, but looming largely was the end to our vacation tomorrow.  So, our moods weren’t the best.  We couldn’t agree on a dining establishment, so we drove aimlessly for almost an hour as we looked for restaurant signs through the window.   We settled on RigaTony’s, a highly rated Italian restaurant in Tempe.  It was good, but not great.

May 16, 2018

Once again, we ate breakfast (mouthwatering waffles) at the restaurant and spent the entire morning at the pool.  The pool at Sheraton Grand is amazing.

It was the perfect pool day with the temperature well the century mark.

This is our second visit to the Wild Horse Pass, and we will most definitely come back on future trips.  Around 11, we packed up the room and made our way back to the restaurant for a quick lunch.  Dyan had SW Tortilla Soup and I had the fresh pretzel bites.  Dyan made a great point, why don’t we just eat all our meals from this restaurant when we are in Phoenix?  Everything is so tasty!

By 1:00, we were checking in our rental car.  Sixt waived the $105 upgrade charge for us, so that was awesome!  And by 4:00, we had boarded our flight and were on our way home.  Luckily, it was not a full flight, so we were able to juggle seats to sit behind the exit row so I would have room to elevate my ankle.  The flight attendant even packed me a bag of ice.  Not sure the flight home could have gotten any better.  I had my foot raised with The Hangover playing on one screen and the flight map on the other screen.  

Out flight was super smooth and we caught a glimpse of some big storms over South Dakota.

For the amount of planning, preparation and anticipation, the trip went way too fast.  Bummed we were coming home, but happy I was still in one piece!

Update:

On May 18, 2018, I did visit Summit Orthopedics in Eagan to have my ankle checked out.  As I suspected, there was a fracture, although it’s not where I suspected.  In this x-ray, you can see the hazy white line on the backside of my tibia, that’s the fracture (red circle).  

They also believe I have grade III sprains (complete tears) calcaneofibular ligament and anterior talofibular ligament.  

Healing time is 4-8 weeks and they put me in a light soft brace when I was reluctant to wear a boot.   Awesome.