SEVEN!!!!

Yes, seven pounds gone during the trip!

Wow!

My goal was to stay the same.  Then I hoped for a pound or two.  Never expected to see a whopping SEVEN pounds gone when I got on the scale this morning.  Seven pounds in a month is an excellent month.

I left on July 31 at 254.8, and this morning I am 247.8.

Happy, Happy DAY!

Another exciting bit of news is that inches finally left!  I lost TWO inches off my waist and off my hips.  Haha!  That one pair of white shorts that I took always felt tight, so I had not realized that I had lost inches.  That was a pleasant surprise this morning, too.

How did I do it?  Two basic things: 
1.  I logged in my calories every day, every meal into the Lose It! program, even if I had to make guesses about the calories.  (Yeah, Navajo vegetarian taco on Navajo fry bread is NOT in that program!)  By logging them in every day, I never let the bad days outnumber the good days.

2.  WALKING!  There was a LOT of walking.

Of course, the Lose It! program rewards you for losing weight by taking away more calories!  I'm pretty sure Weight Watchers does the same thing with its points.  The less you weigh, the less you can eat to lose weight.  This morning when I logged in my new weight, it gave me 50 points less per day to eat.  Thank you, Lose It!

My new caloric amount is 1398 calories.  I can do it.  I have already planned and logged all my food for today.  My calories today will total 1179.  Here's what I'm eating today:
Breakfast:  4 Morningstar Links (160) and Light Greek Yogurt (80)    total B'fast 240
Lunch: can of low sodium tuna ((120),  tossed salad (66),  cup of fresh cherries (97)   total Lunch 283
Dinner:  Deli Flat (100), Griller (130), salad (66), low sodium green beans (80)  total Dinner 376
Snacks:  banana (135) and Arctic Zero ice cream (144)   total Snacks 279

I also plan to go to the gym and do a weight routine, burning 79 calories and go to the indoor track and walk 25 minutes, burning 98 calories.  Other than that, Mark and I both plan to spend a lot of the day dozing in front of the TV.  Jet Leg is a bitch!

Here are some "before" and "after" photo.  The first one is from June when I was reaching the upper 270s again.  The middle one is the day after we flew out west. I had worked for six weeks to lose weight before we left, so I was 254.8 the day before that middle picture.  The final two are from just three days ago in the Flagstaff, AZ area.  I expect I weighed about what I weighed this morning.  I hope you can see a difference in my size. I sure can!  I am very happy about this.  The last time I was in the 240s was last July when Reuben visited us.  I went under 250 while he was here because we walked six straight days around WDW, but I gained it right back plus a whole lot more as soon as he left.  I spent an entire year in the 260s mostly.  Those times are gone!

In Buffalo on June 2, at 275.

And a day later with my stepmother, Jackie, at 276.

At the De Young Museum in SF the second day of the trip, at about 254.  I had worked hard for six weeks to go from 276 to 254 before leaving for the trip.

At the Meteor Crater three days ago.

Same day as above, probably about 248, like this morning.

Writing from home

We got home quite later than we anticipated.  We landed promptly about 4:15, but by the time we got our baggage, used the lavatory, caught the shuttle to our car, drove to the Publix out by Disney because it's the only one with kosher meat now, drove home, unpacked, and cooked dinner, it was 9 p.m.   We are both exhausted but happy.  It was a great trip, but it's also great to be home.

On our last day of touring yesterday we took it easy.  We drove around parts of the old historic area of Flagstaff and then went to the Pioneer Museum.  We had lunch at a local restaurant called Josephine's and then headed to Phoenix.  By 3:30 we were checking in to the Comfort Inn.  The man at the front desk told us that a big dust storm and thunderstorm was predicted to hit between 5 and 6 p.m., so we should plan to be indoors at that time.  We took him at his word, so we went out Denny's and got dinner to go.  The storm never happened, no dust, no rain, nothing.  I was disappointed because I wanted to see a giant dust cloud envelope the city, safely from my third floor window in the hotel.  About a week before, there was a big dust storm.  It was on the news, so I thought it would be fun to experience.  Oh, well...not this time.

Tomorrow we plan to go to the gym and take a walk.  That is IT!  I think we deserve a day of rest.  What a great time we had.  Now we have already started planning next summer's trip, South Dakota, Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wounded Knee....ooo, I can hardly wait.

Tomorrow morning I will step on the scale.  I can hardly wait, but I will scream if I've gained weight.  When I left Evey's, I thought I had already lost about 2-3 pounds.  I am hoping I kept them off.  Dare I hope for any more loss?  We will see.

Here are a few pictures from our last day of touring.

Mark by restored giant wheels for logging

Flagstaff Visitor's Center is still in the original train depot.  Amtrak is still here, too!

Pioneer Museum is a work in progress in the old building that used to be a hospital for the poor.

An historic hotel in the old section of Flagstaff

Cabin on the grounds of the museum

The Grand Canyon is BEAUTIFUL and Very, Very, BIG.

On Monday, we drove from Lake Powell/Page down to Williams and checked into the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel.  It's about 65 miles south of the south rim of the canyon.  We splurged to buy a two night package deal that included the hotel, 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners, the round trip train trip to the canyon, and a bus tour.  We took that train up to the canyon on Tuesday. The bus just drove us out to two scenic overlooks and let us stare at the canyon for about half an hour at each one.  Then we had about another 90 minutes to do what we wanted.  We had lunch in the historic El Tovar Hotel on the rim, went to one of the visitor's centers for my stamp, and generally just ogled the canyon some more. Unfortunately, it started to rain pretty hard, so we spent the last 20 minutes or so just siting in the train depot waiting to board.  Although our time at the canyon was short, it was spectacular!

Yesterday we hit three fascinating sites:  the Meteor Crater, Sunset Crater National Park, and the Lowell Observatory.  We got to the Lowell at 5 p.m. without realizing it was a two hour walking tour and a long movie.  We watched half an hour of the movie about building a big new telescope at their other campus.  We were so tired and hungry by then that we didn't even walk through their little museum area.

Today is our last day of touring.  We are going to visit the Pioneer Museum here in Flagstaff.  Just after lunch we will drive about 140 miles south back to Phoenix.  Our biggest job today is going to be repacking!  Yikes.  We bought some souvenirs, although not a lot and nothing too big.  We need to empty out the rental car and try to get everything organized and into the two suitcases.  Should be a highlight of the trip!  LOL!

I'm quite unsure of what has happened to my weight.  My plan had been to eat small breakfasts at the hotel breakfast areas, then lunch at Subway and dinner at Denny's.  We certainly did that, but last night as we ate dinner at Denny's, we realized we had only had a Denny's dinner 8 of the 16 nights in Arizona.  It's less than half the time if you count the two weeks in California.  Each time we had a dinner somewhere else, it was a special restaurant or special reason.  They were all delicious, and I tried to make some decent choices when I did it.  Breakfast was reasonable most days, and lunch was often at Subway even if dinner was somewhere else.  There has certainly been a lot of walking, some days more than others.  I had hoped to stay the same, so Saturday morning I will get on the scale and report the results.  My clothes have never felt loose and sometimes they felt tight.  I can never judge for myself what is happening with my body.  That's why I need that scale!

Enjoy some pictures of the Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, the amazing lava flows at Sunset Crater, and Lowell Observatory.

We had a "train robbery" on the way back from the canyon.

At the Meteor Crater, which hit 50,000 years ago.

Now they have an Astronaut Wall of Fame because astronauts trained down in the crater.  Mark had fun pointing out people he worked with or ran into or just famous astronauts.

This photo does NOT do justice to the huge wall of lava flowing down the mountain. 

Walking through the lava and the base of a cinder cone.

We were surprised to find out he was buried right here on Mars Hill.  His wife paid twice as much for this mausoleum than it cost to build the telescope!

Lowell's telescope that he used to study Mars.

Pluto was discovered with this telescope by an unpaid intern!  He gave it the PL designation in honor of Percival Lowell, who had died several years before the discovery.  A contest was held to name the new planet. The winner, Pluto, was suggested by a schoolgirl. It helped that it started with PL!

Altitude issues

Once we drove from Anaheim, CA to Phoenix, AZ, we have been above 3300 feet or more.  I believe Tombstone was around 3500; Phoenix is like Denver in the 5,000s.  We went over some peaks in the 7,000 foot range.  Page was in the 5,000s; now we are in Williams at 6700.  Starting yesterday, I began having trouble getting a breath.  I got a headache; I feel light headed; I tire quickly; I can't seem to take a deep breath.  It's worse if I do anything like walk around.  Mark has had it, too, but mostly after he carried in luggage or in Page when he filled the tires up with air.

I read about altitude sickness, and this sounds like it.  I think I'm going to avoid going to high altitude places for any extended length of time in the future.

Yesterday we enjoyed the Powell Museum and the Glen Canyon Dam Visitor's Center.  That dam is almost as big as the Hoover dam.  Then we had a lovely drive to Williams.  Soon we are boarding the train up to the Grand Canyon for the day. 

Standing on the corner....

We started our day with a few iconic shots from Holbrook's Route 66.  The Wigwam Motel is especially cool.  The dinosaur rock shop and the wigwams were framed and displayed at the Desert Inn out in the Painted Desert area.  Once I saw them there, I couldn't resist taking my own pictures of them before leaving Holbrook.  Our next stop, as you see above, was Winslow. Not much reason to go there except to pose for a picture. I also got the t-shirt, which I'm wearing today, so you will see pictures of it tomorrow.  Yesterday I was wearing my Tombstone shirt again.

Then we had one of the longest drives on the trip.  A bridge has recently collapsed on the main road in to Page, and there aren't many ways around it.  The detour added about 60 miles to the trip. It was pretty beautiful, but it was also gray and rainy all day.  Stopping at the Cameron Trading Post, about 20 miles south of Tuba City, was fun.  It has grown from literally just a trading post in the early 1900s along the Colorado River gorge to a store, art gallery, restaurant, and hotel.  We saw online that they had Navajo Fry Bread, which I've been wanting to try.  Here they make it into a giant vegetarian Navajo taco, which was more like a salad on top of the bread.  It included refried beans, regular beans, large quantities of shredded cheese and lettuce, chopped green chili, and spicy salsa.  We should have ordered only one and split it because it was huge. I hate about 2/3 of it.  Unfortunately, I also ordered the Prickly Pear Cactus Milkshake.  Come on!  Who wouldn't want that?  I only drank about 1/3 of it though.  It was delicious, but mostly just tasted like a strong vanilla.

Beautiful tin ceiling in the restaurant

The trading post was right on the river gorge.

Then we finished the drive up to Lake Powell.  It's a man made lake, created in the 1950s when Glen Canyon Dam was built on the Colorado River.  Mark wanted to visit this place because it's the home of Lee's Ferry, originally a crossing point for the river from AZ to UT.  John D. Lee constructed the first ferry across the Colorado River at that point, now called Lee's Ferry, in 1872, under the direction of Brigham Young.  Once it was established, it became part of the Honeymoon Trail, which is the tour we are on.  Mormon couples who married in Arizona, many of whom had settled between here and Holbrook, were required to return to Utah to file the marriage with the church.  Obviously, a safe river crossing was necessary. Now it's the starting point for a lot of Colorado River tours and the point from which all measurements on the Colorado River begin.  Turns out it is not that close to where we are, so we're not actually going there.  As we were driving the 280 miles from Holbrook to Lake Powell, which took us about 6 hours, we joked that those couples must have had six kids by the time they got to Utah to file that marriage license!  Overland by horse or wagon would have taken a long time.

We drove over the dam and out to the Lake Powell Resort and Marina for dinner in their Rainbow Room.  It has a wall of windows overlooking the lake.  It's beautiful.  The lake is HUGE and mostly in Utah.  I wish I could have taken one of the cruises in the lake, but it's just not going to work out for us.  We want to visit the Powell Museum, all about John Wesley Powell.  Disney made a movie about him going down the Colorado River.  It was called Ten Who Dared.  That's about all we know of him, so I bet we learn a lot more in the museum today.  I'm also going to the Glen Canyon Dam Visitor's Center.  It's a national park!  I didn't know that, so I'll be getting another passport stamp today.

All this will be done by lunch time because we have another long drive back over the same roads today, ending in the Grand Canyon Railroad Hotel in Williams.  Tomorrow we take the historic train up to the Grand Canyon!  Wow!  I can't believe it, but this trip is almost over.

Sea bass on mashed potatoes and broccolini