Stage Two Recap

Stage Map

I am writing from the lobby of our hotel just outside the Grand Canyon. 8 out of 10 people are not speaking English. Which is quite a chore for the frazzled desk clerk. I am beginning to enjoy that WiFi is only available in the hotel lobby... great people watching.

Today we woke early (for me at least) and enjoyed our am/pm finds, individual cereals and bananas. Mom and I had another great swim in the less chlorinated but still intense pool before packing up and hitting the road. Oh, and I dealt with the largest spider I'd seen since Costa Rica. But dealt with, not killed, thank you! I drove from Needles CA, to Kingman AZ.. a remarkably large town in the desert. Filled up the tank and Mom took over driving along Highway 40, which at one time was Route 66, all the way to Williams. There we stopped for lunch and argued endlessly about which direction was North. I credit Dad, he was a Boy Scout. But if he was right the entire city's signage was incorrect. After lunch I drove up north to the Grand Canyon! I bought our annual Parks Pass for the Bubs and I and found our way to a convienent lookout point. Of course the MOMENT we parked the car it starting POURING rain, but Mom and I braved the storm to get me to my first witness of this majestic landmark. Luckily the weather soon passed and we were immersed in the veritable UNICEF card that the park attracts. We took lots of pictures for happy tourists and walked along the South Rim. Amazing lightning storm, I was pretty sure that I was next to get hit though. I am impressed with the Grand Canyon. Its scope is beyond comprehension and the colors are unbelievable. Hopefully tomorrow will allow us a less cloudy view. We returned to Dad who had been taking lovely photos and got someone to take ours. We drove around the park a bit and Mom and I explored some of the lodges in between the "usual for the season" monsoon rains. We even visted the very well taken care of pack mules, much to our delight. Finally the rain made us scamper back to the car and out of the park to the hotel.

A seemingly fancy hotel, but really so. Mom and I explored the "town" that is really jsut a lot of hotels and souvenier shops. We all tried to go swimming but it was difficult to dodge the 10 French children playing about and we retired to the hot tub shortly with a family from Virginia who has been travelling for 33 days, including every site in California. Off to dinner with lots of other travelling families, apparently the gas prices aren't keeping people off the road. We are starting to see lots of other state license plates, and my anxiety increases with each one. We are moving FAR AWAY!!

Tomorrow we are going to try to get in an early morning hike around the canyon before hitting the road. Stage 4 heads through Tuba City, where my mom was trained for the Peace Corps years ago. Then through lots of Indian Country before hopefully ending up somewhere near Alberqueque, New Mexico, tomorrow night. A fairly long day, but no determined destination which will be fun. I'll keep ya posted ;) There is a large Portugese (I am guessing) family who seems to be having trouble with their reservations. Yikes!

Food: Breakfast in bed, compliments of Am/Pm and Mom's coffee making skills. Lunch was a funny Mexican restaurant in the historical district of Williams, AZ, called Pancho McGillicutty's. Pretty good food, incredibly rich though. Good thing we've been swimming! For dinner we passed the rather poor looking hotel restaurant and went instead to "Spaghetti Western" whose clever name was lost on many of the foreigners. We were pretty full still from lunch and all got salads. Cute, mostly Mexican, but some European "cowboys" as waiters. Ours was very friendly, although he nearly made off with our credit card.

Music: Still working on the book on tape. Not too much driving today, but only one disc left on this one. Good stuff!

Fun Fact: The Grand Canyon is 227 miles long, 1 mile deep, and 10 miles across. Also, Arizona doesn't utilize Daylight Savings, so even though we are in Mountain Time, we are the same time as CA still. Except on Navajo reservations apparently..

PICTURES AREN'T UPLOADING: MY APOLOGIES. I WILL TRY TO UPDATE THEM TOMORROW. BUMMMMMER!