August 24-Soap Creek

Nancy did her homework every night to find just the right reading to inspire us each morning
Our Grand Canyon morning reading from:  Down the Great Unknown  John Wesley Powell’s 1969 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy through the Grand Canyon, by Edward Dolnick

- Duke read: 

We are now ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown…We are three quarters of a mile in the depths of the earth….We have an unknown distance yet to run; an unknown river yet to explore.  What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls rise over the river, we know not.  Ah, well! We may conjecture many things.  The men talk as cheerfully as ever; jests are bandied about freely this morning; but to me the cheer is somber and the jests are ghastly.                                      ----John Wesley Powell, August 13, 1869

We're off!!

Ziplock eggs for breakfast. Then, A ranger with a sense of humor-yes, ma'am. Easy to have a sense of humor when you have a Taser, gun and vest.

First rapid is Badger-don't want to end up swimming like ...
On to Soap creek-

She trusts him, why?

Nice room

(In parentheses, quotes from Nancy’s journal entries)

(Dinner last night at Marble Canyon Lodge; great to be in this group!  Eggs in ziplocks for breakfast at water’s edge.  Kristian and Ken played music as we camped by Soap Creek.  Yesterday we watched the big, blue commercial rigs being lifted off the boat and into the water….huge boats!  We are assembling, and reassembling our riggings - Ah, the journey begins!)

Tomato Bruschetta:


Chop tomatoes and fresh basil
add balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper
Serve on baguette slices spread with goat cheese


Key Lime Pie: Serves 8


Crust:
5 T melted butter
1c vanilla wafer crumbs
1/4 c sugar
1/2 c chopped macadamia nuts
Pie:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 c key lime juice (bottled)


Combine crust ingredients. Press into 9" pie plate. Put in freezer.
Beat cream chees til smooth. Add milk and yolks. Slowly add juice. Pour in crust. Refrigerate overnight. Top with whipped cream and garnish with more nuts. This should be kept cold and used early on the river trip.