Bear with me, my first traveloge, and it's a long one - 188 miles to be exact...

But we are


And these guys are waving us goodby

What a place

10 mile rock

The D2 is perfect for this adventure




Unique nature

Pure natural art really


Time to hit the rapids and get wet!







This is a place I wish you all can visit once in your lifetime, if not hopefully these pictures will give you a small taste of it!




Our first little stop, to do some cave climbing


That means climing inside the cave


Our first campground

And we had a cool little neighbor

The morning sun in the canyon

We were not on the river for long

Before we hit another cave, a slightly bigger one

Areally cool cave I must say, and much bigger than it looked from the river

Right?

Our footprints in the sand

Back enjoying the cool breeze on the river - the 5C degree water coming out from the bottom of Glen Canyon Dam was nice when the temperature in the sun was 42C!

A cool lady

And the lucky man belonging to said lady

Another cave

What a view - just sitting on the boat taking all this in was almost like a spiritual experience

Lunch IN the water - how cool is that

Well, the green and cold Colorado River is beautiful, but the fantastic turqoise and warm Little Colorado River was just amazing

We hiked up a bit and then had fun swimming and floating down the small rapids





The D2 finally in its right element




We camped for the second night just around the corner

This is what we call a toilet with a view

Right above the camp there were some remains from a major airline crash from the 1970s

Ok, that's it for now - keep watching this space, there is more to come as we are only done with day two!

Skule,

Excellent traveloge, these pictures are terrific. Looks like you and your better half had a great time. Looking forward to the next post.

Regards,
Kevin

skule - wow, what a trip! looks like you guys had a great time. thanks for sharing the grand photos.

best,
thang

Amazingly beautiful country. Looking forward to more photos.

Thanks for the great travelogue and photos Skule - I particularly like the one of the screw under the Queen Mary - just like looking at the back of a 5001 to see the workings!

Thanks for all the great responses, but now the story continues.

We're on the water almost before the sun, and with that very cold water splashing over us something waterproof is nice until the sun could reach us.


The D2 is ready to go...



Another stop and some climbing over slick rocks


We met this little guy on the way

Another waterfall shower


The peak in the background here is the second highest peak in the Grand Canyon

Camping again

Waiting for dinner

As a Norwegian of course I have had my share of fantastic salmon, but I have to say this grilled and blackened salmon is probably the best one I have ever had!

Day 4 starts with a bang - another very cool canyon hike

Up to this magnificient waterfall

Here we could actually go behind the water, climb up behind the water and then jump out in front of it!

The D2 and its owner is ready to go

From behind the waterfall

Looking out before jumping

The D2 after jumping and in the water - what time is it? We don't care here in the Grand Canyon, we just live by the rhytm of the river...



This one I really like - I call it True IWC Water-Art!



Loving it!



Going down here is fuuuuun!

The happy couple having a shower while lunch is being prepared

Again lunch with your feet wet

This was maybe the most amazing stop, a very cool and 30m tall waterfall right by the river - then a 2 hour hike up to another secluded waterfall and the Throne-Room. But the canyon on the way was simply spell binding!


Yup, the D2 is taking a shower


OUUUCH!

A very happy couple in a magical place



A very narrow ledge, about 3+2 feet and then a 150 feet drop!




This was a nice shower after 2 hours of hiking in 40C temperatures


The Queen in the Throne Room


A small man in a big place


Sveral thousand years old indian hand prints on the rock!

The next stop was a climbing adventure again, up straight slick rocks!

After some wading thru a pretty deep little creek





A but-dam is always fun!

Being a guide takes its toll...

Some music in a very acoustical cave

Back on the river before yet another very cool little hike'n swim adventure

Did I say turqoise?





Ready to take a leap...

The D2 going in!


I hope you're not tired of the Deep Two just yet...











It doesn't matter how much sunscreen you use, the sun always shines thru

Another cool campsite

With a whole in the wall above us

Would you believe it, on day 4 in the canyon the guides actually baked us a fresh chocolate cake with frosting and all?

The tent just got to hot so we finally decided to do as most o fthe others and just sleep under the moonlit sky

The party hat!

Ready for another hike


Climbing again

About 3 seconds after this shot I lost my footing and slid down, giving the D2 its first scratch!

But I got up eventually


4 feet against the horizon



Scouting Lava Falls, the biggest rapid on th etrip - looks pretty gnarly...

The girls are ready for some fuuuun...

Rock and roll


Now we can relax

The last rapid of the trip - and the few of us who were stupid enough actually got to swim it!!

And here the trip came to an end - with another night before being helicoptered out

How better to celebrate than with an ice cold original Grand Canyon Beer?

The last evening

And inevitably the last morning

Our bird arrives - but I have no pilot watch to put on :o(

In flight - it took about 7 minutes to reach a small airfield at Bar 10 Ranch


There we boarded a small 20 seater aircraft for the 35 minute flight back to where the adventure began


The last view of the mighty Colorado River, just a week earlier we floated past right there!

And then back on the road, heading for civilization

The trip concludes tomorrow, and it includes some very nice IWCs :o) Good night!

I recognize some of those locales (although it's been several years!). I'm glad y'all are having a good time...thanks for a really excellent first-time travelogue, Skule!

Great stuff Skule. Simply terrific pictures and travelogue.

Skule,

Excellent coverage of your Grand Canyon adventure. Deep 2 in the deep gorge... a perfect match.

We're having an excessive heat advisory here today in SoCal so I feel like I'm right with you at your location.

Thanks for letting us tag along. Now you know why it's considered one of the seven wonders of the world.

Aquatimers Rule,

Andy

superb superb stuff Skule - your Grand Canyon experience is really something else ! love the pics.

Thanks again for all your wonderful comments, I'm hoping it is not too excessive - but I think the Grand Canyon really deserves it!

Well, since this is an IWC forum no travelogue is complete without a visit to an IWC store of course, so here is the conclusion of the trip...

We are back in Vegas, at the Pallazo this time - and this bed was actually a welcome change to the 2 cm air mattress:-)

Back to being a "proper" tourist

Something familiar caught my eye

Now this looks tempting

Cool advertising, even if it isn't IWC

But this is!

Love the doorhandles


They had quite a collection and Ben, the sales manager, took very good care of us!

This I hadn't seen in the flesh before

An SIHH favourite

The best of Portofino?

My D2's flashy cousin

And on Ben's wrist an even cooler D2 cousin - I must say that I really understand all the Vintage AT enthusiasts out there. Ben told me that this piece was extremely popular in the retail stores as well now, he couldn't get enough of them...

I even got to try another vintage piece - in Platinum would you believe - and this looked surprisingly cool!


But, something caught my eye and then the rest of the collection suddenly faded in interest - and yes this was also in Platinum!


I think I have found my ultimate grail watch - too bad it requires an ultimate investment, I better start saving right now!





The missus agrees with IWC completely, that they are for men and not women. But she did fidn something tempting

I guess I cannot start saving just yet - it is her turn now. I wish we could have walked out of the store with these two though :-)

This guy put on a spectacular show


NOt exactly river-side grilled food but not bad - our favourite Las Vegas restaurant (at Caesars)


Great desserts


LV at night


We caught one last show, a spectacular water extravaganza at the Wynn




Since this trip had a Titanic inspiration with the Queen Mary experience we caught the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor before leaving Las Vegas. Unfortunately we could not take pictures inside - but it was very interesting. I have now touched a piece of the Titanic hull!

On the way to Santa Barbara where I went to college for two years in the early 90s

A great pizza at the Santa Barbara Brewing Company

My alma mater!

Our old apartment complex


A "healthy" student lunch


Engineering students are smart - this is a bike for Andrew and myself, maybe not as light as the one in the IWC store in NY but still...


We headed up into the mountains abov SB to visit the very cool Cold Springs Tavern, an old stagecoach stop - now a popular Harley Davidson gathering spot






And then on to a Danish village called Solvang


And there we took some old time photos, just like we did 19 years ago on our first visit here
- ready to draw?






Dinner at the Palazzio - a place with very big portions!


Guess what - the missus got her wish!!!!

UCSB

Downtown Santa Barbara

And finally back in LA - Rodeo Drive of course


Guess what we found! We were broke at this point (after the missus got her wish) so we didn't dare to go in :-)

People still have money here...


Not Santoni but these Bally shoes looked really cool!

Dinner at one of our favourite places


No dinner without dessert

The end of the trip - at the end of route 66 - at Santa Monica




The California sunset drew the final curtain of our fantastic adventure - hope you enjoyed it, thanks for watching everybody!

wow wow wow wow --- fantastic conclusion Skule - what a trip ! great food, nostalgic swing-by old haunts, a quaint 'town', Beverly Hills glamour ...and a watch purchase !!! - come on: you know you want the repeater :)

great stuff buddy.