Grand Canyon

Quickly leaving the Colonial Motel and its sketchy area we headed toward the Grand Canyon. When we arrived the air was bitter cold and there was snow on the ground. We told the park ranger at the entrance that we were going to be camping. She looked at us and smiled then suggested we put boiling water in our nalgene to keep us warm in our sleeping bags. She probably thought we were a bit crazy but her idea was a great one. We drove along the rim of the grand canyons stopping at the different view point to take amazing pictures. Its such an astounding sight that it doesn’t seem real.



We ended up being at the exact point they recommend to see the sun sets, Desert View;everything on looked as if it was on fire in bright oranges and reds - Wonderful.

Despite the beauty around us I couldn’t feel my face and told Rachael we needed to get a hotel room. Driving along the rim we entered Canyon village and stopped at the first lodge - bright angel- that was supposed to be the cheapest. I left Rachael at the front and went to find a parking spot as I turned into the parking lot I saw the reds and blues start flashing behind me. Great. We had made it more than half way across the country without any problem only to be pulled over in the grand canyon. Thankfully, the police officer was really nice. Evidently I had not fully stopped at the stop sign ( despite the fact the police officer had waved me on) At any rate he only gave us a warning and I was once again able to breathe.



Bright Angel recommended we go down to the lodge down the road, which we did and surprize! the hotel is actually owned by the same company that I worked for when I was a freshman in college. I kept expecting it to look the same even though it didn’t but it was fun to be in a hotel when I used to work in one super similar. YSP 04 friends only you would understand the surealness of being in a xanterra hotel without any bear soap.

Rach made us dinner in our hotel room using our camping stove! It was awesome. yummy soup and bread. We read for awile and watched this awful creep movie called Wind Chill - I didn't want to watch it but Rach kept flipping back, then when we missed the ending she flipped back to watch it twice. YUCK.

We were planning on getting up early so we could hike all the way down to the colorado river and back in the same day. Ignoring the fact that there are warning signs everywhere saying its not safe to hike in and out of the canyon in one day of course.  Par usual though we got up later, ate breakfast, wandered around the rim of the canyon a bit and stopped in at an art gallery built into the side of the canyon. By the time we had done all of this we started hiking down at noon. The path was steep, slim and covered in ice, snow and mule poop ( I am not exaggerating the snow was now a green color);



At least the sun was shining and it wasn't too cold. We hiked down about two miles and realized there is no way we could make it down and up in time and we were getting a bit tired.  On the way we saw several " rim runners" professional runners wearing shorts and tshirts and jogging down the canyon and all the way back up - Insane. What is even more crazy were these two guys in front of us wearing normal clothes and tennis shoes and attempting to jog down the canyon - WHY???

We breathed our way heavily back to the top, laughed at ourselves a bit and went to get a cup of coffee. The lounge selling coffee also happened to be a bar so we were carded for our coffee, first time that has ever happened to me. Also at the bar was a sweet elderly man named George who gave us some tips about hiking into the canyon and back the next time we were there, since he had done 18 times already. He was from San Franscisco and gave us some good tips on fun things to do when we visited.


Coffee warm in my hand Rachael and I left the bar and headed to the big fire place in the entry way to eat our lunch. We began visiting with a girl our age named Bianca who is from South Africa. She had just been to San Fran and also gave us some superb ideas and invited us to see her in South Africa. She is a journalism major getting read to graduate and super nice. Two older ladies were also near the fireplace, one from Florida and one from New York - they were friends on vacation together. They invited us to get a drink with them when we were in Phoenix ( they were headed that way next as well) and then to come and see them in New York sometime. Its amazing the people you meet Traveling! Love it!



At this point we were ready to hit the road for phoenix. We were staying the the mangano's parents and decided if we left now we could reach there before it was too late.

Warm weather here we come!