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Today we finally got to parts of the states that I've been to before, during my time before Iraq. For Thanksgiving of 2005, two friends and I visited the Grand Canyon, and I was floored. It's a sight to see! Best way to describe it is that it looks like a painting. It's just so big it can't possibly be real, right? But I'm getting ahead of myself.
We started the day a little later than our other days, since this wouldn't be too far a drive. Thankfully we had a great weather report, since the day before had been pretty nasty. Clear and sunny going west, though! We had a hiccup in the time lapse video as right when we got on the road, a bag fell on top of my laptop, hitting some keys and making the video stop recording. No biggie, but the interchange in Albuquerque is pretty crazy, so I wish I could have recorded it. Alas!
As we got out of the city, it was nice to be driving through New Mexico and having clear enough weather to see all there was to see! At first, this was not too much aside from flat open lands. Soon though, we started to gain elevation, and the landscape became a lot cooler. For us east coasters, mountains always have trees on them. The Shenandoah? Covered in green. So seeing hills and mountains that are all rocks? Awesome.
We stopped at a store run buy some Navajo's (unless I'm mistaken, and I could be) and looked around. I got a ironwood carved eagle, and Dena got a turquoise necklace for an amazing price. The place was made up to look like an old west fort, and even referenced F Troop on its post cards. Funny! Further in though, we found an even stranger place. I saw from the road that there were ... dinosaurs? Sure enough, there we quite a few large dinosaurs on the hill, all with a mannequin in various states of being eaten, or riding the dino. That in itself was pretty odd, but then there was also ostriches there. They looked as confused to be there as we were to find them. They ate some bread, but definitely had a look of, "You seen Africa??"
We made a quick stop in Flagstaff for a early dinner at one of the last Cracker Barrels heading west. After that it was time for the last trek northwards to the grand canyon. We went up 89 and then west on 64, bringing us in the east entrance to the park. We made a quick stop at a scenic overlook of some of the canyon's 'foothills' and visited some local shops. Dena was pretty amazed by this canyon, but I knew how small it was in comparison!
The last drive to the canyon felt pretty long since it was right at the end. So close! We gained a lot of elevation, since the canyon on the east end it higher than 7000' above sea level. Have to go pretty high to have a tall canyon, obviously. We stopped first at the watchtower on the easternmost part of the park. The canyon was as big as I remembered. Truly a sight to behold. It was fun for me to see Dena's reaction, since I had already seen it. We climbed the watchtower for a view out over than canyon. It was about 5pm by this point, so looking west in the canyon there wasn't too much to see. It wasn't sunset yet, but it was pretty dark and shadowed.
After the watchtower we made a quick stop at Moran point as we drove west to the hotel we'd be staying at. We knew there'd be plenty of time for tons of pictures the next day! The lodge wasn't too bad.. It was no palace, but the convenience of being inside the park is awesome. We relaxed for the rest of the evening and turned in early. The next morning we decided to see the sunrise on the rim. Or rather, I decided.. and Dena sighed.
Later!
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