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In the words of Gomer Pyle, "Surprise, surprise, surprise"!! It seems that we encountered surprises at every turn on this epic trip from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon all the way to our more familiar vacation grounds in Durango, Colorado. Since we had no pre-conceived notions of what to expect, we were able to fully enjoy the unexpected around almost every curve. We had never appreciated the desert before, although we've done a bit of travel through the deserts of California, Nevada, and Utah while on our way to "prettier" elevations in the mountains. But we never imagined the beauty of the Desert Southwest... many old Western movies were made in this desert playground, and we really enjoyed spotting familiar rock monuments and remembering which John Wayne movie was filmed against each particular background. K was especially interested in seeing Monument Valley, but by the time we got there it was too late to much exploring. Just too many sights to see on the way.
<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fXM7w3qTzGA"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fXM7w3qTzGA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object> Trip Journal - Days 1 - 4: At this writing, we're in Kanab, Utah, sitting in the luxury of a Holiday Inn Express... We were supposed to be camping at the Grand Canyon, but if you saw the radar for this weekend for the Northern Arizona/Southern Utah areas you'd see nothin' but green smudges with random smacks of red - indicating lots of water falling from the sky! Our evening last night was almost perfect. We trekked to Fire Point at the North Rim - about an hour-and-a-half drive over various shades of bad road through the Kaibab National Forest - when we were finally rewarded with our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. People say it takes their breath away, and it affected us that way, too. There was no one there (I can understand why, after the drive we just finished!), so it was quiet and peaceful. It had started sprinkling a little harder, so K and I sat in the jeep just looking at the Canyon trying to decide where to pitch a tent "when it stops raining." It did stop for a few hours that evening, just long enough for us to set up the perfect campsite and enjoy some leftovers from our Santa Fe dinner. We secured everything outside the tent by around 10 pm, and by around 11 it was raining. And it rained... All night, and all morning. By 10 am we decided it wasn't going to stop, so we started breaking camp in the rain. It was a bit touch-and-go coming back on the previously bad-road-now-turned-really bad, but we made it and the jeep was rewarded with an impressive coating of mud. Now everything in the jeep is wet, and when we found this room around 2 pm we jumped at the chance to get a nice shower and dry things off. We'll have to empty the water out of the tent in the morning. So we're looking forward to a revitalizing night's sleep, then it's off to Zion tomorrow. We'll report again when we have a cell signal...till then, here are a few photos:
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