sunrise times two? Yes please.

After getting some sleep at the Knights Inn, we woke up and drove to see the Grand Canyon for the sunrise. We had to leave Willams, AZ at 2:30 to make it to the canyon for 4:30. As we drove in the dark and we got a glimpse of some reindeer! The southern rim of the Grand Canyon borders a National Forest that is home to bobcats and reindeer, just so you know because we didn’t until we ran into Rudolph.

We made it to the edge of the canyon && then it happened at 4:58, & it was amazing.

You can see the north star in the picture above and below.

After exploring for a while we decided we wanted another view of the canyon. We put the address for the SKYWALK in the GPS and was off. On the way we drove on route 66, was almost rammed by a bull and saw a sand storm.

After arriving at the Hualapai Indian Reservation, we had to drive

15 miles on an unpaved road through the grand canyon

to get to the skywalk.

Only to realize that only way to see the the canyon was to take a 2 hour bus tour from the reservation. We were crunched on time to get to vegas, so we bailed && the whole 4 hour detour to the SKYWALK was a waste. Oh, and also Gary got super dirty for driving 30 miles on unpaved road.

We left && didn’t look back on our failed attempt to see the canyon one more time. We arrived in Nevada around 14:00 and stopped to see the Hover Dam.

&& then we saw Las Vegas at last!

My amazing cousins Andrea & Brian totally set us up in the most beautiful suite in the Trump International Hotel. Who would have thought we would go from the one smiley face Extended-Stay bug infested hotel to a suite in Las Vegas in only 3 days. Thank you so much Andrea & Brian xoxo

Bath Time!!

 

Being a diva.

&& then we obviously napped for 5 hours the went out toSurrender at Encore

Hello sunrise second day in a row :)

a long road traveled, without cellphone service.

Good Morning Mesa Verda

We left the mountain at 10:30 and made our way to go see the Four Corners Monument. Taking route 160 through Colorado all the way there. We found the scenery change from green and rocky to sandy and flat.

Utah, Colorado, Arizona & New Mexico

as we headed for the next destination, we traded a sandy desert scenery for a red clay one when we crossed the border in Utah.

I fell in love with wild horses.

Our first sighting of the Grand Canyon

Somehow we ended up getting to the canyon much earlier than we expected, so we decided to check into a hotel and stay the night. We did not repeat our previous mistake of picking a hotel with with only one smiley and instead went with a nice 2 star room at the Knights Inn. We had to drive to a bordering town since all the hotels located in Coconino were booked. So we stayed in Williams, AZ which is an hour south of the Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon

As we are driving through the desert, I can’t help but notice all of the random beaten up trailers that someone calls home. Located in the middle of nowhere, with absolutely no cellphone service or any visible means of current technology, brings a life perspective that I could never image for myself. The thought that most, if not all of these people, living out in a trailer in the desert, would never have the opportunities I have had, truly makes me appreciate everything I have and realize how lucky I have been.

It seems so crazy to me, as I am writing this blog entry, what vastly different sceneries I have viewed in one day. I hadn’t slept the night before, but was able to stay awake the majority of the day. I saw a place were an ancient civilization lived in the sides of a mountain, drove into the sandy deserts of Colorado, experienced the dry clay rock formations in Monument Valley, Utah, got a glimpse of the Grand Canyon, and then ended my night in a National Forest of Colorado. I feel like I am seeing and doing so many things in such a short period, that its so hard to take it all in at once.

I have a feeling that I won’t be able to process everything I’ve seen until my adventure is over.

Tomorrow we are checking out of the Knights Inn at 2:30 to go sit on the edge of the Grand Canyon & watch the sun rise. I can’t wait to experience every minute of it.

Our path is set

Our path is set for our footsteps to follow. I cannot believe we leave in a couple of days!

So much left to do, so little time.

I added a picture our itinerary that I wrote down in my sketchbook journal. If anyone has any suggestions of where else to go or anything you can think of please let me know!