Hi friends! I am currently sitting in
The Canyon Cafe, which, despite having a name that conjures images of
wooden fireplaces, large mugs of hot chocolate and cozy couches, is
actually just a glorified and overpriced cafeteria. But it does have
wi-fi, so here I am!
Since
we last spoke (unless you're my mom, who insists on talking to me twice
a day), a lot has happened in a short amount of time! We left Kyle's
apartment, and while trying to locate the San Diego Book Arts Center, we
stumbled across Balboa Park. It was a beautiful and sunny Sunday, and
we couldn't resist parking and exploring the park in the limited time
that we had. We made friends with some really nice trees, observed many
adults taking part in a scavenger hunt and walked through the Botanical
Center. All in all, it was an afternoon well spent.
After
that, we headed to Craig's place in Phoenix, stopping on the way at
Dateland, AZ, where we sampled some of their homemade date ice cream and
alternated going to the bathroom a few times. Apparently our road trip
schedule doesn't sit too well with our digestive systems (That may be
TMI, but if you know me at all, you should have expected it, reader).
And although we got to Craig's place late and left early (After a
wonderful, calorie loaded breakfast at Black Bear Diner), we enjoyed our
visit thoroughly. Our favorite detail about Craig's place was the
"Welcome!" that he had written on his white board, with cute stars and
all.
Yesterday,
we drove up to the Grand Canyon, stopping in Sedona, AZ spontaneously
for a wonderful hike to Cathedral Rock. It was a short but "strenuous"
hike, and was actually more rock climbing than hiking at some points.
The view from the top was beautiful, and we gyrated our hips with joy
(Now a tradition).
I
realize that this post is kind of boring and would be much improved by
pictures, but predictably, I cannot find my card reader right now. Even
more predictably, I think I may have entirely forgotten to pack it. And
you know, my forgetfulness used to really aggravate me, and it still
does sometimes, but right now, I'm going to ignore the inconveniences of
this personality trait and pretend that it's endearing. Okay?
We
got to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon pretty late last night (I may
or may not have gotten us lost)(Not endearing at all), camped in
Nathan's snug two person tent (Thanks Nathan!), and hiked into the
Canyon today. Unfortunately, we got kind of a late start (about 10:30 or
so), and were only able to hike down 3 miles. It was especially
unfortunate because, honestly, after those 3 miles, which take you
basically to the bottom of the canyon, the path becomes pretty level and
takes you through a beautiful valley of trees and into a beautiful
vantage point in what seems like the center of the canyon. But by the
time we got to the bottom, it was about 1:00, so we decided to be smart
and start heading up. We made great time hiking up, and made it out of
there around 3:15. They say it should take you double the time to go up
as it does to go down (which is why we started ascending so early), but
we must have really been booking it going up or going really slow going
down (I think maybe a little bit of both).
Now,
we are resting a little bit and preparing for a cold night. It's been
chillier than we expected, and the low today is 30 degrees, I think, so
we better bundle up! Tomorrow, we are headed off to Bryce Canyon! I
really appreciate all the texts, calls, messages and emails from
everyone and will try to return as many as possible. But the new blogger
interface tells me that almost 100 people looked at my last post, so to
those of you who are silently reading, don't be shy! Give us pointers
and tips! Tell us places we must absolutely see or absolutely avoid. Or
just say, "Hi!" We'd love to hear from you!
4 comments:
Go to the glass walkway thing that juts out over the Canyon! So amazing. It's like you are walking in mid-air over this beautiful landscape. It's a must! Miss you! <3
I hope you love Bryce Canyon and Moab! I think I loved then even more than the Grand Canyon because they feel so accessible in a way-or maybe just not so overwhelming as the Grand Canyon. If you can't find your camera card it was meant to be! Maybe you needed to focus more, see more, and not through your viewfinder.
Katie! You are absolutely right. I used those exact words to describe both Bryce and Zion. They were so much more accessible and approachable.
Right now, we are staying in a hostel in Moab. So far, I love it!
I'm glad you're having fun! Does not having your camera card mean no pictures at all, or you just can't upload them to your computer?
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