Tuesday, 5/22/07

This is Amanda blogging today, so it's going to sound a little different (and probably a little less humorous than Ben, but I'll give it my best shot). Today started off bright and early with Ben groaning because he felt sick. Shockingly, there was no drug store within 100 miles of the Grand Canyon, so he just toughed it out for most of the day.

Our day began with a hearty breakfast at the Bright Angel Lodge, followed by a guided tour of the Western Rim of the Grand Canyon with a final destination at Hermit's Rest. This is an old lodge that was used long ago for stops on guided wagon train tours. Now, it's prime real estate for selling hot chocolate and ugly tee-shirts. I think our tour guide was a little messed up in the head because he kept recommending that we buy the book "Death in the Canyon." Fortunately, we came away from the tour alive, and the views were absolutely amazing.

We were hoping to go for a short hike after the tour, but due to rain (and a weird hail storm!), we passed up the hike in lieu of a talk from a park ranger. I think the ranger might have been drunk because he kept slurring his words. The stories were still pretty cool and told us (again) about some famous deaths in the Canyon. (I started to notice a weird pattern at this point...)

Our Grand Canyon visit ended with a drive to the Desert Viewpoint. We climbed the lookout tower, which had spectacular views of the canyon, but the rain and haze made it a tough to see very far in the distance. Regardless of the crummy weather, our trip to the Grand Canyon was great!

After leaving the park, we stopped for a late lunch of Navajo tacos at the Anasazi Inn. (See below for details.)

We decided to take a side trip to the Wupatki National Monument and the Sunset Crater Volcano. As we turned down a small road towards Wupatki, we quickly realized that we we were on a 30+ mile journey down an unpaved road. We laughed about the situation and enjoyed the drive through a beautiful countryside. The monument was really cool and told the story of an ancient pueblo village. We then headed for the Sunset Crater but didn't realize where it was and drove right past. Fortunately, we got some cool shots from the car of the volcanic rocks.

We tried to stop off at the Meteor Crater but we didn't arrive until around 6pm, and by that time, it was closed :( I guess we don't have good luck with craters.

Our next stop was the infamous Winslow, AZ. You may be wondering what is so special about Winslow. Well, for all you Eagles fans, the tiny town is featured in the famous song "Take it Easy." Ben and I took a bunch of photos "on a corner in Winslow, AZ." Fun fun fun.

The day ended in Holbrook, AZ, which is a place that I wouldn't recommend visiting. We were supposed to stay at a cute bed and breakfast, but we showed up at the house, and it was totally dark. We walked all around the property and Ben thought we were going to die, so we decided to check into the Comfort Inn instead.

Day 2 was great. We saw some incredible sites, saw some weird places and had a great time!