The one, the only, the absolutely breathtaking... GRAND CANYON

Wow. That is the best word to sum up today I think. I haven’t been to the Grand Canyon since 6th grade, on the family camping trip “out west.” I remember, as a 6th grader on a camping trip out west with her entire family, not being too impressed with this so called “grand” canyon. I don’t know what it was; mostly I recall getting sick of walking and not wanting to move one more step. What a moron! Today was absolutely breathtaking, literally. I couldn’t stop staring and felt like my breath was taken away. Then I overheard a woman talking about how she was also having trouble breathing, probably because of the altitude, and I realized that, most likely, this was my deal as well. Still, it was absolutely beautiful, and even on my way out, I kept pulling over the car to get out and look some more. I’d like to believe it just simply took my breath away. Yes, Grand Canyon, you deserve to be one of the seven wonders of the world. My words are inadequate in this instance so I think I’ll just let you look at the photos.

I said before that I was going to talk about Williams a little bit. It’s a quaint town, the gateway to the Grand Canyon. It’s along historic route 66 (and one of the only places with a pet friendly hotel, which, thanks to Mom’s research is how I ended up there). I enjoyed walking along Main Street, which is in fact Route 66, even bought a t-shirt. I asked the guy at the store the best café in town, so that I could get something light to eat and a cup of coffee last night. I ended up, at his suggestion, at the Pine Country Restaurant. It was okay, but definitely worth the stop so that I could observe the locals, an ethnographic study of sorts and VERY good people watching. I had no idea women still wore their hair like that.

Back to the Grand Canyon though. Gheera and I walked along the South Rim for a few hours today once we got going. She, as usual, was a big hit. A lovely Chinese woman asked to pet her in broken English and then asked if it was okay to feed her cookies. I said yes, interested in what she considered a cookie, and she pulled some kind of gourmet crackers out of her purse. Gheera was her new best friend; she just kept feeding her until I pulled the dog away. Both parties were reluctant to leave one another; I felt like this woman had just suffered the greatest disappointment of her life. She kept telling me over and over again how much she loves dogs. Just prior to that, a sweet three or four year old little blond boy asked if he could pet her. I don’t know if the kid had food on his face or was just the right height but Gheera kept giving him kisses. He didn’t like that very much and told me that he didn’t really like my dog, and definitely didn’t like his backpack. He informed me that HIS dog didn’t give kisses and certainly didn’t wear a backpack. Yet, when he had to go, he seemed sad to leave sweet little Bagheera.

The drive from the South Rim to Page, AZ, which is where we are now, was a stunning one. The canyons and rock formations and painted deserts (not THE painted desert but they looked that way just the same) were amazing. And I especially loved the parts of the road carved out in the rock so that huge red walls towered over me and my little 4Runner on either side. I’m excited to check out Page and Lake Powell tomorrow. Right now, I’m stuffed and sleepy. I ate at a Mexican restaurant in town called “Fiesta,” which I HIGHLY recommend. Supposedly, according to the girls at the front desk of this hotel, it was named the best restaurant in Arizona. It lived up to its name and the service was absolutely fantastic. If you go, try the enchiladas ranchero.