more of the southwest

As Maddy pretty much summed up yesterday, the Grand Canyon was gorgeous. Hopefully this isn’t too embarrassing for her, but she was so excited at seeing the canyon for the first time she couldn’t decide between running to the rim for her first glance or finishing the banana she had begun eating on the way over. Luckily she managed to do both, and all three of us stood taking in the beautiful sight.  I can’t talk about rock formations and layering like Maddy can, but I did get some amazing shots. 

We walked on the rim path for about two miles, stopping every so often for photos and breaks from the heat. After we explored for a while we went back to the lodge for an afternoon nap. We woke up starving and headed off for dinner. A nice quiet dinner was the perfect way to end the day. Unfortunately for our server a big group of rowdy Sicilian families came in just as we were leaving. Sorry Jason! 

We woke up bright and early this morning to get started on our day. Good thing too, because as we headed out of the Kaibab National Forest which surrounds the south rim of the Grand Canyon there was road work EVERYWHERE. It took us an hour to get back on the highway, a distance of about 30 miles. We continually ran into such holdups throughout Arizona, so we have decided to rename it the Road Construction State. 

just another example of what happens in the Road Construction State

We made a fun stop not too long after exiting the Kaibab National Forest, however. A roadside stand had been set up and was selling beautiful Native American crafts and jewelry. I got a dream catcher for myself and Maddy found a beautiful turquoise necklace she immediately put on. We also may or may not have picked up some early Christmas presents for our families ;)

saying goodbye to the Grand Canyon early in the morning

The rest of Arizona was pretty uneventful. The scenery was very pretty, but after a while it got somewhat monotonous. I can see why people like living here, but as a city girl it would soon drive me nuts! We kept ourselves entertained by giving ourselves Native American names. I am now Flying Eagle, Maddy is Dancing Fish, Emily is Little Bobcat, and trusty Dorah is now Chief Runs with Big Rigs.

Things definitely got interesting as we headed toward the New Mexico border and the Four Corners Monument. A heads up to those interested in traveling to see the monument: the Navajo Nation does not accept debit cards. When we saw the fee was $3 a person (cash only!) we had to scramble for money. We managed to find $4 in bills, but sadly our pocket change didn’t add up to the $2 more dollars we needed. Luckily the woman at the toll booth was able to break a larger bill Emily had! We had tons of fun walking from state to state and taking pictures of ourselves striking silly poses. (For those of you who don’t know, the Four Corners Monument is the point at which Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah touch corners. You can literally be in FOUR places at once!) There were even more craft stands at Four Corners and we picked up similar beaded rings to commemorate our trip. In addition the pretty glass beads, the rings are strung with a juniper bead, which I’m told helps ward off evil spirits. The owner of the stall told us his eleven year old daughter had made the rings!

Back on the road we didn’t stop, except for gas and a change of drivers, until the Aztec ruins. We took ourselves on a guided walking tour. The ruins were fascinating and we learned a lot about the history of The People of Running Water. The greatest part was trying to squeeze ourselves through the tiny doorways of the ruins! Sadly our pamphlet made no mention of the size and build of the ancient Aztecs, so we were left to wonder if this was an intentional architectural design, or if the Aztecs were really that small!

As I write this it’s about 630 in New Mexico (we’re now an hour ahead of the West Coast) and we just crossed the continental divide! I must have missed this geography lesson in school, because Maddy and Emily had to explain it to me, but once they did it sounded pretty cool. Kind of like the toilet flushing the other way in the Southern Hemisphere. We’re about half way to where we want to stop for dinner tonight, so I won’t be able to post this right away. Anyway I’m sure I’ll have more to write about when we get into our hotel tonight. For now, I’ll end with a few random thoughts I could not find a place for anywhere in this post.

The reception where we are right now is absolutely horrible! It was particularly bad when we were at the Grand Canyon. We had to struggle to find signals so we could call our families, and forget about wifi! Maddy was able to put up a short post from her phone, but I’m told it was a little garbled? She plans on fixing it tonight so it makes sense. We’re still struggling with poor signals and weak 3G on our phones, but don’t worry parents! We’re alive and well and have yet to get lost.

Another random thought: the Southwest has a surprising lack of law enforcement on the roads. I think so far we’ve seen maybe 10 cops on the road. And I’m not talking about just today. I mean throughout our entire trip so far, 1000+ miles!  Which is weird, considering the speed limit in Arizona is 75 mph (between 60 and 70 mph in New Mexico), and we continue to have cars pass us. There are also signs every few miles asking us to report drunk drivers, but we've seen no cops and thankfully no drunk drivers. 

I also think it’s fascinating how many people we’ve run into that are from so many different places. So far we’ve seen people from all over America (as far away as Ohio, New York and North Carolina) and the world! We’ve heard accents from all over Europe and Asia and down under. That’s quite a distance to travel, but then again The Grand Canyon is one of the 7 Wonders of the World!

Nothing much happened between writing the above and checking into our hotel. We had a great dinner in Bernillo at the Range Café. The internet is crazy slow here, which makes uploading pictures difficult. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow and I can add more. I will be also adding many many more pictures to facebook if you want to check them out!