Adventures By Disney--Day 7--White Water Rafting!

It was hard to believe that our last full day of our Adventures By Disney tour was upon us. You know what they say. . . save the best for last, except that it had been "the best" almost every day. That's Disney!

Our day began with a leisurely breakfast at the restaurant at Red Cliffs Lodge. The rafting was in the afternoon, so we slept a bit later than usual and then ate breakfast. The husband and boy went for a hike in the hills across from the lodge to look for arrowheads, so I could get a head start on packing, etc. They found an arrowhead! And then we had some pool time before lunch and white water rafting.

Lunch was on a special deck beside the river. Then we loaded the motor coach to ride to our launch site on the Colorado River.

Here we are ready to got. There were 5 rafts and our group was divided amongst the rafts. I remember that 3 of the group chose not to participate in the rafting.

Here we are on our raft. The guide spent some time with us before we launched so we knew safety precautions, signals and commands. He also told us about "smile breaks" in the river. Believe it or not, there was a cooler on each raft with water and snacks. Again, Disney!

We encountered Class I and II rapids, which were wild enough for me! We also had water fights between the rafts and had an unofficial race to the "finish." No raft overturned and we all made it to the end.

One of my favorite memories of the day is when the boy got out of the raft. Yes, it was OK. And there he was floating on his back with his shoes sticking out of the water in front of him confident as ever in the middle of the Colorado River. The husband and I were still in the raft, but had him close in our sights. I marveled at this moment! A short time later, we were all in the cool water and most of us floated to the sight where we pulled the rafts out.

Ok, here is where more Disney magic occurred. Since we had just been in the "drink" of the mighty Colorado River, we were a bit. . . sandy, and of course wet. So, as we loaded back into the motor coach, out guides had jugs of clean water for us to rinse our feet and shoes and of course thick towels for us to use to dry off. Only Disney!

Since we were still "high" from our rafting experience and all had on water gear, the gang headed to the pool for a diving contest. Judges were picked, categories of adults and kids, and points awarded for style as well as splash. What a great way to spend our last afternoon.

All too soon, it was time to get ready for our last dinner. We were gathering on the patio of the restaurant for a BBQ. The food was yummy!

Here we are just after dinner. Check out the river, the red cliffs, and the smiles!

The boy with our Adventures by Disney guides--Tiffany on the left and Diana on the right.

After dinner, we all went into a meeting room just off the patio and shared about highlights from our trip. You see, on our first night in Sedona, as each person or family introduced themselves, they told what they were most looking forward to on the adventure. Most people said the Grand Canyon or the white water rafting. So, here we were on our last night recapping the highlights. The guides then surprised us with a slide show presentation of our adventure. Photos of our time together along with music gave us all smiles, goosebumps, and some tears.

You would think that would be the end of our evening, but no, there was more. We all made our way to the campfire for smores, stories, and cowboy songs. At dinner, two cowboy musicians had joined us to provide music during our meal. The cowboys then brought their guitars to our campfire to play songs while we gathered around the campfire. The last song, as if on cue, was a compilation of Disney melodies. We all sang along. The last melody was "When You Wish Upon a Star." And, there we were looking up at a clear starry night with moonlight peering over the cliffs in Moab, Utah, with the Colorado River nearby. Magical!

We all said goodnight and made our way back to our rooms. Then next morning it was breakfast and the last of our magical luggage. We all then road the motor coach to Grand Junction, Colorado, where everyone few to their final destinations.

What an Adventure!

Click here to read our first day.

Click here and here to read about our second day.

Click here to read about our third day.

Click here to read about fourth day.

Click here to read about our fifth day.

Click here and here to read about our sixth day.

Adventures By Disney--Day 6--Moab

Wow! We made it up and back on the trail to delicate arch in Arches National Park. (Click here to read about our hike.) Next we headed into the town of Moab for lunch and exploring. One thing you see in Moab is a greenish/blueish soil which is radioactive soil due to the uranium. So, we found it funny to find this sign in downtown Moab. For lunch, we went to Maxx's restaurant which had great pizza! Of course we purchased a Christmas tree ornament. It is hand painted.

After lunch and shopping, we went back to Red Cliffs Lodge for some time in in the pool. Aah! In the photo above you can see why the lodge is called Red Cliffs. The lodge itself sits on a bend in the Colorado River and the red cliffs are across the river and across the road from the lodge. It is as if the lodge is located in this little oasis.

For dinner, our guides took all the kids for dinner and a movie while the adults had reservations in the restaurant at Red Cliffs--dinner was on Disney!

Here is the husband enjoying a beverage on the outside dining deck of the restaurant at Red Cliffs. The Colorado River was beside us. We were enjoying a marvelous dinner for two with great food, great service, and a great view when almost on cue the sun went over the mountains and right in front of us spanning the Colorado River and the red cliffs was a double rainbow. I tried to capture it in the photo below. . .

Disney Magic? Possibly. Definitely mother nature at her finest!

We live in the midwest, so views and vistas such as these are not a part of our landscape. We still are in awe of the majesty of the area.

Anyway, we had a great dinner, enjoying each other's company and soon it was time to retrieve the boy from the festivities and call it a night. Hard to imagine, but we have an even bigger adventure in store for tomorrow!

Read about Day 1 of our adventure here.

Read about Day 2 of our adventure here and here.

Read about Day 3 of our adventure here.

Read about Day 4 of our adventure here.

Read about Day 5 of our adventure here.

Read about the first half of Day 6 of our adventure here.

Adventures By Disney--Day 6--Arches National Park

Day 6 of our Adventures By Disney tour and we had made it to Moab, Utah. After a great night's sleep in our accommodations at Red Cliffs Lodge and a hearty breakfast at the restaurant at Red Cliffs Lodge, we headed to Arches National Park. On our way, we picked up a naturalist from the park who joined us on the bus for the remaining part of our drive into the park.

The naturalist explained how the sodium in the soil had worn away to reveal the slick rock and the arches. He told us that many movies had been filmed in the area including an opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. We rode by a part of the park called the fiery furnace, and he made a joke that the guides charge one price to guide you in and another price to guide you out. . . get it?

Once the bus stopped, we had to make a choice. Hike up to delicate arch, or take the bus tour through the park. We chose to hike!
The first part of the trail was pretty mild and had some greenery. As the trail got steeper, our group started to spread apart. Diana was in the lead and Tiffany bringing up the rear. . . with me!

Here's Tiffany, our guide with the sign, me, and Becky, one of the other kids. The boy and husband were far out in front at this point, so we were taking a breather. Notice how the terrain is getting more barren.

Here's the boy on slick rock. No grooves or step holds, just a smooth surface. It was this way for about the last half of the way up to the arch.

Just before the arch, there is a narrow ledge that you have to go on to make it around the last part of the mountain blocking your view. When you turn the corner, there's delicate arch! I cried when I saw it as it had been a difficult physical journey to reach the top. But I did it! Also, a thunderstorm was nearby so it is dangerous to be up there in the lightening. Some of our group had already started back down before I had even gotten up there and I was worried I wouldn't make it in time before the storm and before everyone came back down the mountain.

Once you get around the corner and see the arch, it is about another quarter mile or so to go out to the arch . . . and again over slick rock. The husband and boy did go out under the arch as you can see in the photo below. What is behind them in the photo is the left part of delicate arch, just to give you an idea of scale. Notice the drop on both sides!

We made it! The boy's hair is on end due to the electricity in the air because of the thunderstorm. Whew!

Delicate arch is one of many arch formations in Arches National Park. The particular trail we took was the same one taken by people running the torch for the Olympics and there were still metal post holes in the rock from that run. Also, we discovered trail markers or small piles/stacks of stones that mark the trail so that you do not wander off in the wrong direction on the slick rock, which would be easy to do!

One thing we discovered on our Adventures By Disney tour is that almost every person on our tour had already taken a Disney Cruise. Some people were Disney Vacation Club members and others were not, but the majority of the guests on our tour were members of the Disney Cruise Line Castaway Club, just like us. It is almost as if once you have tried a Disney Cruise and enjoy the level of service, you want that same level of service when you travel to other destinations. And, Disney does that!

Click here to read about Day 1 of our tour.

Click here and here to read about Day 2 of our tour.

Click here to read about Day 3 of our tour.

Click here to read about Day 4 of our tour.

Click here to read about Day 5 of our tour.

Adventures By Disney--Grand Canyon to Moab

This post could actually be entitled Grand Canyon to Monument Valley to Moab. After a day exploring the Grand Canyon, it was now time for us to leave and make our way to Moab, Utah, where we would spend the last three nights of our adventure.

Since we had slept in a bit yesterday, we got up early to see sunrise at the Canyon. While out on the South Rim, we heard people saying the elk were out. We made our way a few yards to El Tovar and there they were, the elk, having their breakfast. We watched them for several minutes.

It was at breakfast that I realized how isolated from the rest of the world we had been the last few days. Breakfast for us the two mornings at Thunderbird Lodge were in a special room, just steps from our rooms. On the second day, another tour group (not Disney) joined the room for breakfast. I found myself wondering who these people were and did they have permission to be in this room having breakfast. I was used to seeing the same familiar faces of our group in that room and not others. Of course they had permission, but it made me realize that we had been traveling in a circle that was just our group.

After breakfast we loaded the motor coach for the ride to Monument Valley. We left our magical luggage in our room, as the next time we saw our luggage, it would be in our room in Moab. It was going to be a long day on the motor coach, but it went by quickly and the views out the windows were amazing.

We had lunch at Gouldings. The story goes that the Gouldings were traders of Native American wares. During the Depression, the Gouldings traveled to Hollywood to get the movie producers to come to Monument Valley to film movies, which would support the declining economy of the area. The movie makers didn't believe the photos of Monument Valley were real, but paintings. The Gouldings convinced the movie makers to come to Monument Valley and the rest is history. Many movies and commercials have been filmed in the area and it has done much to support the economy. And, the Gouldings now have a museum located near their restaurant with artifacts of the movie making industry.


Here we are in Monument Valley. Two open air trucks picked us up at Gouldings to take us through the Valley. The figure in the photo is the left mitten. There is a right mitten, just not captured in that photo.

We stopped in several spots to take photos and explore. One area had a man on a horse, named John Wayne, who for two dollars would let you sit on his horse and take a photo. See photo below. I know, the background does not look real, but it is. Very real! The man directed us to the best spot to take the photo. Coincidentally, there had been an article in USA Today just that week about the man, John Wayne, on the horse in Monument Valley. One of our fellow guests had the paper, and we took turn reading the article.

After Monument Valley we were back on the motor coach to Moab, Utah. Time for Adventures By Disney Fear Factor. It was kids vs. adults. Our guides asked trivia questions from our trip so far and the group that got it right could pick someone from the other group to perform a daring task. OK, how daring could you get on a bus? Pretty daring when it came to things to eat. Let's just say that boy ate a chocolate covered cricket and the husband ate a mill worm. I got questions right so I didn't get picked to eat anything in the game!

To make both legs of our trip go faster, Disney movies themed to our trip were shown. One was an animated feature about Goofy traveling to the Grand Canyon. We watched that first. Then "Cars" was played. Route 66. . . get it?

We arrived in Moab while it was still light and we could see the Red Cliffs surrounding our resort. . . Red Cliffs Lodge, which was located on the banks of the Colorado River. The Lodge is also a working ranch. The rooms are incredible! Spacious! Clean and comfy. Our room had a large bathroom with separate sinks, two queen size beds, and a kitchen/sitting area that was located on a lower level. We also had sliding doors which lead to a fenced in patio. The photo below was taken against the fence that held in the cattle and horses just behind our patio. Upon arriving in Moab, we had dinner as group, then it was off to bed. Tomorrow we were tackling Arches National Park!

Did you know that Adventures By Disney caters to many ages and types of families? On our adventure we had a adult son/ dad combination. The adult son had a handicapping condition and needed a scooter for mobility. The adult son was a published author and the dad a college professor. We traveled with a single mom and her three children. This was actually their second Adventures By Disney tour and the oldest son was 19, but he still counted as one of the "kids." We traveled with a couple in their mid 30's with no children celebrating their anniversary. They wanted to celebrate with other people and families and chose the tour to help them celebrate. We had a family with two moms and their daughter. We had a single dad and his two daughters. One daughter had experienced an injury to her leg/knee just prior to travel, but she did OK. Another family was a mom and daughter traveling together, as the dad was unable to travel with them. We had a family that had just returned from living in Australia for several years and upon returning to the states, wanted to see the country. Their oldest daughter was graduating high school. And may others, well enough others to make a total of 40 of us, plus our two guides. It was great to see the many combinations and groups. We got along well with each and felt like one big family after spending so much time together.

The boy was the youngest child in the group yet he was old enough to do all the activities on the adventure. Adventures by Disney has recommended ages for each trip based on activities and requirements to participate in the activities or length/difficulty, etc. Adventures By Disney does ask that children be at least four years old to participate in any tour.

Read about Day 1 of our adventure--click here!

Read about Day 2 of our adventure--click here and here!

Read about Day 3 of our adventure--click here!
Read about Day 4 of our adventure--click here!