Day 45

Started In: St. Louis, MO

Ended in: Chicago, IL

Total Distance: Driving: 297 miles

I got to admit it, I'm pretty proud of the fact that this trip ran nearly wire to wire. We rolled into Chicago with a mere ten hours before we need to report to duty for August PD and start the year. If I think back to all of our trips, I feel they've all been milestones. We went to Seattle a few months before we started dating and in four days together, we never really found a lull in conversation. This, though, was definitely my first experience of driving around while R slept in the seat next to mine, but it was also our first experience together of seeing something amazing. The next trip we took was nearly two weeks and international. And again, not sick of each other

Day 43, 8/4/2017

Started in: Indianapolis, IN

Ended in: St. Louis, MO

Total Distance: Driving: 249 miles 

I'm definitely very grateful for R's friends for putting us up both in Indy and St. Louis (and the first time we were in St. Louis). We grabbed a quick breakfast on Mass. Ave. in Indianapolis (also, who knew that city is the 15th largest in the country and the second largest city in the Midwest? Not me). We ate at The Garden Table. A lot of the food looked delicious. I ended up getting a biscuit sandwich with what they called yam bacon (this was tasty, but a more accurate name for this would have been, you know, yam. They think because they sliced it thinly they could call it yam bacon? Come on.) They also had elaborate coffee drinks that R and I both tried. R's first choice was unavailable for mysterious reasons. Mine was like a fancy Thai Iced Coffee. It was delicious and fancy, but too small.

We then hit the drive to St. Louis, bought some groceries, and cooked some dinner. We decided to make pasta (with a creamy mushroom and cheese sauce) and brussel sprouts with fennel. We made this dish for my parents back in Michigan (about 40 days ago), and we had a leftover bag of pasta from West Born Market in Plymouth. I meant to leave it with my parents, but I accidentally packed it. And then I meant to leave in Chicago when we stopped there for a night, but forgot to and it's been with us this whole trip. Fortunately, the Chekov's pasta that was purchased in the first act of this trip was eaten in the second and it was delicious. Tomorrow is our third wedding and last full day of the trip... Bittersweet.

Day 41, 8/2/2017

Started in: Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Ended in: Dimondale, MI

Total Distance: Driving; 474 kilometers, Boating: 10 miles

So I'm going to call it. Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario is not a nice city. A lot of places were boarded up. We went to a pretty nice place, the Breakfast Pig. It was vegetarian friendly, despite the name, and GF friendly. The coffee wasn't great, and their iced coffee was sweetened with maple syrup (Canada, go fig), and tasted overwhelmingly like maple syrup, not coffee. After this, we went to the mall and Tim Horton's and then head back to America (note, explaining to the boarder guard that we really went into Canada basically just so we could say we went into Canada isn't exactly easy). I finally put together some geography and realized that St. Ignace is right next to the bridge, therefore a trip to Mackinac Island was thrown on to the itinerary. We stopped at the Pink Pony, walked very little, and basically jumped on the ferry shortly after we got off the island.

From there, the day was uneventful. We headed down to Panchero's in Lansing (really to honor Newman, the only Spartan I've ever been able to talk to), and then dropped into a hotel just south of Lansing for the night. Tomorrow it's Indy and then back to St. Louis as we are just a few days before the end of the trip.

Day 39, 7/31/2017

Started in: Marquette, MI

Ended in: Munising, MI

Total Distance: Driving: 84 miles 

Wow, so the Upper Peninsula has been a series of busted plans... First, we find out all transit to Isle Royale is super booked. Then we find out our hotel in Munising was booked for the wrong days. Now, the kayaking trip we booked ran out of kayaks! After taking our money!

Thankfully, the kayak tour company was very accommodating: they refunded our money and signed us up for tomorrow morning for free due to the inconvenience. We then had a pretty fantastic day going to Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore. R and I came to Munising last November. And though very pretty scenery, many things, including this book store, was closed down for the season. And what a loss, because their selection of used and old books were second to none! It was all we could do to leave there without buying up the entire store. We didn't avail ourselves of the food (other than coffee and ice cream), but they also have food there.

Also, all things considered, this was a really nice day. We stayed at a hotel with a view of the lake, bought some pizzas from Pictured Rock Pizza, and watched the sun set. It should be noted that this pizza place is delicious. We visited this place in November and have literally been looking forward to this more than the eponymous rocks. They have gluten free crust, they reduce the prices on pizzas with meat if you order them meatless, and the pies are delicious. This is probably top five pizzas I've ever had, and I've had pizza all over.

Day 37, 7/29/2017

Started in: Minneapolis, MN

Ended in: Duluth, MN

Total Distance: 157 miles

So I will update this later, but we stopped back at Five Watt Coffee for a coffee soda, WiFi and work time. Internet has been so spotty this last week, I just wanted to throw this out there: lots of photos uploaded and some backed up blog entries!

Quick route update... we tragically realized that getting to Isle Royale will be impossible, as the boats that run there are both infrequent and sold out. My naivete led me to believe this would like Mackinac with constant service to the island, but alas, no dice. We modified our plans to hang out in the Upper Peninsula more, but this was definitely a blow. We'll get it next time.

Update... Before we headed out of Minneapolis (hopefully to come back! There was so much here!), we stopped at Kyatchi across the street from Five Watt, as our sushi itch had not yet been scratched from the night before. Four things: 1) This place was delicious, 2) the waiter gave a really sarcastic response to R when she asked if they had spicy rolls. He said, "We don't do American-style spicy rolls. There is wasabi but we're more traditional Japanese." Right? Coming from a white waiter at a restaurant with a mostly white staff, the snottiness about authenticity was awkward. Also, they served hot dogs. 3) The happy hour deals were a steal. We walked out there full for less than $25 with apps. 4) Whatever Kara Age is fried in to make it so crispy but still gluten free is a miracle, because that was amazing.

After Minneapolis, we head to our campground outside of Duluth. It was part of a large complex with a bar, basketball courts, rentals of lake gear. Also it was hopping as at the lodge was a class reunion and a wedding. I must say, I did appreciate this place. And the guy who ran it was really nice as he rode me around the complex in a golf cart to show me where everything was and to get me checked in. It was like St. Louis all over again!

Day 36, 7/28/2017

Started in: Badlands National Park, SD

Ended in: Minneapolis, MN

Total Distance: Walking: 2 miles, Driving: 542 miles

Okay, filling in for R here. After our longest day of driving, we find ourselves in a pretty big city so that means we went to a lot of restaurants. Here's a list...

Five Watt Coffee... After seeing Alex in Nashville and stopping by Barista Parlor, I've had a hankering for more coffee cocktails (these are mostly non-alcoholic by the dubs). I found this place in an article a few months ago, but here we are in sunny Minneapolis, so why not. Did not disappoint!

Origami... Wanted sushi. This did disappoint (just very middle of the road).

Eat Street Social... Felt a lot like Trencherman (not Trench) back in Chicago. Everything looked really good, and what we had was great.

Marvel Bar... very secretive. It looks like you're walking into an apartment building. The exterior door is an unmarked metal door with a keypad, but you can just pull it open and there was a bouncer quietly reading a collection of short stories about two sisters. Very much a speakeasy vibe. We saw Paul McGee there (founder of Lost Lake, Three Dots and a Dash, Chicago Athletic Club and others), so you know that's a pretty good sign. For a Friday night at 10, it wasn't overwhelmingly crowded, either (though very lively).

The Max... despite the Saved By The Bell name, this is just the ground floor of our hotel. It was closing time so it was an interesting vibe. The space is nice and is in a former bank (complete with vault).

Pizza Luce... definitely a mistake, but when is 1am pizza not a mistake? No knock on the pies themselves, though definitely middle of the road.

Day 35, 7/27/2017

Started in: Badlands National Park, SD

Ended in: Badlands National Park, SD

Total Distance: Hiking: 0.5 miles, Driving: 61 miles

This place is so desolate in the best possible way. This is not our first badland, and in fact this place strongly resembled Petrified Forest and other parts of the Glen Canyon area. But the prairie grass all around definitely set it apart. I think that I wish I knew a little bit more about the hiking situation, as the trail was definitely just open terrain and R and I definitely became very concerned that we were just tromping through the terrain. The whole thing felt almost like a forensic investigation, though, into the disappearance of a river--the hardened and cracked mud, the steep banks, this all felt like a dried river bed.

We ended up driving a bit as R wasn't feeling well. Toward sunset, though, the animals were out in force. In addition to lots of mule deer, we saw some Bighorn Sheep just chilling majestically on a flat patch of land. We also drove to Wall Drug as, after missing Mount Rushmore, we didn't want to miss out on another tourist trap. I must admit, I found the whole enterprise rather charming. It is big, filled with tourists, but I really appreciated it. We read the informational packet about how the owner turned an advertisement for Free Water into this mini-empire. We really appreciated that after starting the tale by describing the tiny town of Wall, South Dakota as "godforsaken," the founder eventually went back and said, "there's absolutely no place on God's earth that's Godforsaken. No matter where you live, you can succeed, because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people." That's great, right?

Also, the life-size wood carvings of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are great.

Day 33, 7/25/2017

Started in: Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

Ended in: Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

Total Distance: Hiking: 10 miles, Driving: 25 miles

These trails weren't messing around. The hiking was the most intense we've done so far, and definitely only matched by Bryce Canyon. The vertical climb was hard enough, made tougher by the fact that we were closing in on 10,000 feet. The beautiful scenery was more than worth it. The trails were pretty crowded, of course, so I recommend either heading out really early (before 7am) or late (after 1pm). The shuttles are great, though, and made life pretty easy to get around.

I think the pictures speak for themselves well enough. We head over to Estes Park to get some food and WiFi. The rain held off for the entire morning, with a drop or two hitting, but came full hog around 5pm. It's been great being in Colorado, but we head out tomorrow for South Dakota, Central Daylight Time, and more adventures.

Day 32, 7/24/2017

Started in: Denver, CO

Ended in: Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

Total Distance: Driving: 74 miles

As my mother pointed out, I have missed a few days. I am very sorry! Today we woke up early to say good bye to Brooke and Darion. It took us a little while to pack up the car since we unloaded so much at Darion’s house (and did our laundry, thank you!!!). We headed out and grabbed coffee at St. Marks. John was born in Denver and spent 6 years here, while he doesn’t have any friends here, his mom does, Kim! We grabbed Voodoo Doughnuts and headed to Arvada to see Kim. We pulled up to the most beautiful garden! Kim’s husband, Gary, daughter, Julie, and her grandchildren, Benjamin, Jeremiah, and Audrey, were over and the doughnuts were a huge success. We drank tea and caught up--well I guess I had just met Kim, but she is very welcoming and it felt more like catching up than getting to know someone. We went out back, where she had another beautiful garden, this one was filled with vegetables and herbs. She even had a canopy with a table under, but even more impressive a chandelier (it reminded me of Annie’s parents yard). After we left Kim’s we went to Two Rivers Coffee to crank out some letters of recommendation. From there we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park! We are camping at Glacier Basin tonight.

Day 31, 7/23/2017

Started in: Bald Mountain, CO (possibly Boulder)

Ended in: Denver, CO

Total Distance: Driving: 41 miles

Today felt like a very nice Sunday. We woke up early to check out of the house and went with Pat and Kara (and Laurance and Brooke, but they were riding with us all day) to see Lauren Craft. I don't want to seem like I'm playing favorites with her kids, but Elizabeth really stole the show. I found this two-year-old to be the most precious and precocious two-year-old I've ever met. She was also very reasonable and convinced us to hang out a little afterward for a short dance party to "Can't Stop the Feeling." This capped off a fine morning of checking out a farmer's market (and unfortunately getting fleeced at the peach stand) and grabbing a coffee.

We then bade farewell to Pat and Kara and Lauren and the Crafts and met with Darion at Sunny's for breakfast. One Hipster Sunny (like a variant on an Eggs Benedict dish), I was pretty satisfied. I also had a bite of Laurance's Reese's pancake. So delicious.

We spent some time looking around the city, getting caught in traffic, and picking up spikes to replace the bent ones for our tent. Laurance had a late night flight and Brooke had an early morning flight, so I napped hard.

We then went to City Park Jazz with a blanket, our chairs, some cheese and crackers from the local King Soopers and some cans of wine. That and the ample nearby food trucks meant for just an amazing evening. It was interesting to eavesdrop on people around the food trucks. One older man was talking to some people about how different Denver is from his home of St. Louis in terms of violence. Darion mentioned that in St. Louis (where he's from), you'd never see gatherings as diverse as City Park Jazz. We also talked about how this impacts students here. To say nothing of the fact that with decriminalized marijuana, many young scholars who would be imprisoned in Cook County are still free to go to school. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed by my old home town and have many more questions. I know from conversations with Niket that teaching here is no walk in the park, but I'd love to spend some time in schools nonetheless.

The day ends with a late night run of Laurance to the airport, back to DC and hopefully a good night's sleep, soon to be followed by an early morning trip to the terminal with Brooke. I have loved this trip so much, but truly this weekend was the highlight. I love these people so much and it's been great to get so much quality time with them.

Day 29, 7/21/2017

Started in: Denver, CO

Ended in: Bald Mountain, CO (possibly Boulder)

Total Distance: Driving: 35 miles

Day 1 of 2 of Niket and Heather's wedding. The wedding, arguably because of not in spite of the rain, was beautiful. Niket is perhaps my hero and I could not be happier. And I loved seeing everyone that I love. In lieu of a long blog post recapping the details of the wedding (though, to be clear, everything looked beautiful, the site was amazing, and the pizza was delicious), I will instead recreate something in part of what I said to Alex.

You'd be walking downtown and you'd miss the building. One North State is technically the center of Chicago, but it's a pretty unassuming building. And even if you were looking at it, you'd never think there was a school there. And in that small space, for the small window of time that we were in each other's lives on a daily basis, I can think of no group of people who have had a more profound effect on my life or have meant as much to me. I feel truly blessed to have had the reason to see each other twice in this year and am looking forward to Sam and Andy's wedding.

Day 27, 7/19/2017

Started in: Canyonlands National Park, UT

Ended in: Grand Junction, CO

Total Distance: Hiking: 0.5 miles, Driving: 394 miles

Today was just a really heavy day of driving, so like the Hunger Games trilogy, this blog comes to you in four parts.

Why We Left Moab Early

At the end of the day, sleeping in a hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado, we are ultimately 130 miles away from where we started, but indeed our mileage count is nearly 400 for the day. We went off book today, deciding on a lark to drive to Mesa Verde and Black Canyon after deciding that roasting in the 100 degree heat in Moab. While there are some great trails we left unexplored at both Arches and Canyonlands, the extreme heat just wasn't it. The constant thunderstorms didn't help either.

What We Ate

We started the day at Moab Garage Company. R was a little hesitant to return, as we've been there three times in three days, but the coffee is delicious, the staff is great--one of the people working there carried on conversations in English, Spanish, French and ASL with different customers. Also, they do the liquid nitrogen ice cream like iCream used to. 

We didn't eat again until we got to Grand Junction and ate an Italian place near our hotel, Enzo's. The pizza was great. I ordered a pizza with jalapenos, spinach and mushroom. Though I thought it was an odd choice to simply sprinkle uncooked spinach on the pie after cooking, the toppings were otherwise solid, good cheese and sauce, and crispy crust with quality CSI (which, of course, stands for Crust/Sauce Interplay). R had GF pizza and gave it high marks.

The Travel Advice I Can Now Dispense

Black Canyon (of the Gunnison) is a beautiful park and driving through it made me wish we had committed more time to it (or any time at all as we decided last minute to add this). Though it is a small park, I definitely feel like we missed out on a lot and we only saw the south rim of the canyon.

Mesa Verde seems lovely, but if you are looking to invest less than three hours, reconsider that. Because much of the park has ruins of First Nations groups, you need to be on ranger-led tours. Additionally, the cliff dwellings are all deep in the park. We were looking to drive through much like we did with Petrified Forest and that wasn't in the cards.

Lastly, I have always been a space nerd long before my first episode of Star Trek. I have never seen the Milky Way until last night in Canyonlands. It is an International Dark Sky Park (as are many of the parks we've visited), but this is the first night we've had a mostly cloudless sky with an unobtrusive moon. It was beautiful. I had no idea there were so many stars. This is an experience every city dweller needs.

What We Listened to on the Way

"We" here is charitable as R was engrossed in Purple Hibiscus. I personally endorse all of this music.

Love and Hate - Michael Kiwanuka

Soundtrack to Hamilton - Cast of Hamilton

Soundtrack to Memphis - Cast of Memphis

Metamodern Sounds in Country Music - Sturgill Simpson

Pickin' Up the Pieces - Fitz and the Tantrums

A Sailor's Guide to Earth - Sturgill Simpson

Strange Trails - Lord Huron

Day 26, 7/18/2017

Started in: Caynonlands National Park, UT

Ended in: Canyonlands National Park, UT

Total Distance: Hiking: 3.5 miles, Driving: 105 miles

Last night there was a bit of a rain storm. Around 11pm, our neighbors jumped ship, packing up and heading out because of the rain. Fortunately, our little tent held strong and the lightning did not last long. We listened to the rain, and felt pretty grateful that it came because it really cooled down the tent. We woke up and headed into town to pick up more tortillas and avocados for lunch. Thanks to John Chambers brother, Michael, for our standard lunch. He eats tortilla with salami, cheese, and avocado; we have modified this to be beans, cheese, and avocado. Then we headed to Arches NP. There was a crazy line to get into the park, it was unclear if it was because of the construction in the park or because we came at “rush hour”. We decided we wanted to see the to the iconic delicate arch, featured on Utah’s license plate. It is a balmy 107 degrees here, so we packed lots of water and headed out. I am shocked by how many people are on these trails in this heat and with little bottles of water! The uphill hike was worth it because the arch was awesome! We took a ton of pictures and then headed back down to eat our favorite lunch. After lunch, J and I were both exhausted to we headed back into town to grab coffee and work on the blog.

Day 25, 7/17/2017

Started in: Moab, UT

Ended in: Canyonlands National Park, UT

Total Distance: Hiking: 1.5 miles, Driving: 45 miles

The slow leak in the tire was due to a small nail. We took it in to get a patch and we were off to the races. Canyonlands is really beautiful and has just vast landscapes. The night got exciting because of a near storm (there were three flashes of lightning and we were waiting for the fourth as a sign to go to the car, but it never came) that ran in the evening. The campers next to us seemingly evacuated in the middle of the night, possibly due to the lack of a rain fly.

Other than that, the oppressive heat--103 today--really made it hard to want to do anything. We set up our tent in the one campground in the Island in the Sky side of Canyonlands.

We went on one hike near sunset, Whale Rock, which was all of a mile. We quickly realized there was exactly one other pair of hikers on the trail, a child and his dad. We had a lovely talk with the dad--a special ed teacher--over rounds of "Can you take our picture?" as the sun was lowering in the background. Funnily enough, he was returning to Fort Worth through Albuquerque and was looking for tips having just come from Colorado, our next destination.

Day 24, 7/16/2017

Started in: Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Ended in: Moab, UT

Total Distance: Hiking: 2 miles, Driving: 270 miles

Today was filled with lots of driving. We woke up this morning still at Bryce Canyon. It was really nice to stay somewhere for two nights. It’s not a ton of work putting up the tent but it's definitely easier to leave it up! We hit the road around 10 to Capitol Reef NP. On the way there, we stuck mostly to state and U.S. highways, occasionally passing through small towns. Because we were driving on a Sunday morning, each town we passed had an LDS temple on the main road crowded with cars. We might have been the only car on the road.

We hiked a little at Capitol Reef, but not much, about 2 miles. We hiked so much yesterday and most of the terrain is hilly so it leaves us midwesterners exhausted. J loved Capitol Reef because there was a pie shop in the park with homemade pies, he enjoyed a mixed berry pie and some ice cream. We also learned that Capitol Reef is an after dark park, which means it is a prime location for stargazing, you can checkout the criteria here (Grand Canyon and Canyonlands are also a dark park). Then we hit the road again to Canyonlands NP just outside of Moab, UT. The temperature just kept rising as we drove. The campgrounds at Canyonlands are first come, first serve so unfortunately there were no sites by the time we got there. We ended up staying at a hotel in Moab because it was just so hot and we didn’t have enough cash for the other campsite… Our plan is to get there early tomorrow and stay there for two nights (Arches NP is renovating their campground and it is not open).

Day 23, 7/15/2017

Started in: Sunset Campground, Bryce Canyon, UT

Ended in: Sunset Campground, Bryce Canyon, UT

Total Distance: Hiking: 8.2 miles, Driving: 3 miles

Today we did our most intense hike and was the first day we didn't have to take down our tent after camping. Bryce Canyon is beautiful and manages to possess a unique beauty compared to everywhere we've seen so far. It also possesses the most mild climate. But I want to take a minute to talk about prairie dogs.

I'll admit it. Last night, I was charmed by the little rodents. They would walk right up to you and stand up on two legs. Just like people. The prairie dog will twitch it's little nose and I am in its trance.

That was last night. Don't get me wrong, these prairie dogs are adorable, but their abject aggression in the face of people is a clear indication that the signs around the park that read, "Don't feed the animals" do not work. I will take this moment then to implore everyone, those reading and those not reading, do not feed the animals. There are numerous reasons to do this I suppose. We know it isn't good for the animals--they can't really subsist off of most processed human food, they need to be able to forage on their own, they are wild animals and despite their inherent adorableness they are not your pets and could harm you. Need more? I've never seen anything more ridiculous than a grown man holding out a granola bar--larger than the prairie dog itself--waiting for the breathtaking site of... an animal eating. At the end of the day, the best reason not to do this is because there should be a code. If the park says, "Hey, don't do this," can we agree that we just won't?

While we were climbing up the Navajo Loop--an arduous climb that at a point becomes a wall straight up of a zig-zagging path, a young man kicked a rock down from the top. As this rock approaches the base off the wall, a good four or five hundred feet down, it is moving fast, has knocked over other rocks, and narrowly missed clobbering a man working his way up.

I guess the feeding the animals thing bothers me so much because it feels a little bit like the imposition of what we as the human visitors want this park to be. We want it to be populated with adorable little animals that we can feed and pet. And while it is impossible not to impose our wants and desires onto the natural landscape, I hope we can all agree to some set of norms to some code. Don't kick rocks down a cliff. Don't feed the animals. Enjoy the park.

Day 22, 7/14/2017

Started: North Rim Grand Canyon NP, AZ

Ended: Bryce Canyon NP, UT

Total Distance: Hiking: 3.3 miles (Zion) 1.6 (Bryce), Driving: 209 miles

The campsite at the North Rim made us both feel like we were at summer camp. There was a general store, to the left tents, to the right cabins. We got moving around 8am, packed up the tent and hit the road. We drove to Zion National Park. In my research I learned Zion is the third most visited National Park and in the past ten years has tripled the number of visitors. I need to do some more digging but that might be the fastest growing park. When we arrived it was clear why so many people across the world make Zion a vacation destination. There were more foreign speaking families on our bus than English speaking. We drove through the park before realizing to access the majority of the park you have to take to shuttle bus system. They block off half the park from cars from November to March because of the shear number of visitors. We parked outside the park and hiked in, the first time we have entered a park on foot! We boarded this shuttle and headed to “The Grotto”. The 103 degree heat was brutal but the hike was worth it, we ended at at small pool of water, it was very picturesque. We hiked out and headed to Bryce Canyon, when we arrived it was almost 20 degrees cooler! We will be at Bryce Canyon for two nights, so we decided to walk and get the lay of the land. We when hiked to the canyon, and were both in shock. The landscape is completely different than Grand Canyon or Zion. There is a maze made out of rock that you look down on, the walls are bumpy spires. You really must see a picture to understand, but even then it doesn't do the view justice.

We hiked back to our campsite, ate dinner (chili, cheese, and avocado), and turned in for the night.

Day 21, 7/13/2017

Started in: Lee's Ferry Marble Canyon, AZ

Ended in: North Rim, AZ

Total Distance: Hiking: 4.7 miles, Driving: 89 miles

Though our first view of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon was at sunset in a sparsely populated park, the view upon our return was much more crowded. But here at the North Rim, things are much emptier but no less spectacular. In my wildest dreams, I never pictured the Grand Canyon to be so wooded. Indeed, we are surrounded by the Kaibab National Forest and this whole affair looks like something out of Michigan or Maine. I expected desert, but that is not this.

We hiked a short loop that had a beautiful overlook of the canyon. This is the kind of trail you can hike on foot or on muleback. I always knew mules were part horse, but I was impressed by how grand these mammals were. We opted to go by foot, but word to the wise… be comfortable with mule droppings if you want to go on a trail like this.

We got to the overlook and just stood there. We marveled at the trail that runs through the canyon itself. The plan for the rest of the evening is a little bit of hiking to the restaurant in the park and then turn in early to head out for Zion early tomorrow morning, continuing our journey back north.

Day 20, 7/12/2017

Started in: Williams, AZ

Ended in: Lee’s Ferry Campground, AZ

Total Distance: Hiking: 3 miles, Driving: 207 miles

We hit the road around 9 and drove through the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We then headed up to Horseshoe Bend along the Glen Canyon. We made a game time decision to head to Antelope Canyon on the Navajo Reservation. I cannot say that we had fun but it was interesting, To enter the canyon you must have a guide because it is on the Navajo Reservation. We loaded the back of a pick-up truck with 10 other people, all foreign. Betty-Marie was our driver and she warned up the ride into the canyon would be bumpy, and it was. Once we got to the canyon, it was a narrow hall, not more than 5 feet at its widest, and a foot at its narrowest.  Our group was one of 20 or so tour groups. The group ahead of us had a French family of four, they took an unbelievable number of pictures, all four of them, even the small children had cameras! It was really pretty but it eventually turned into our guide taking pictures for us from each of our cameras, definitively would not recommend this to a friend. We backtracked to Horseshoe Bend, we took a few pictures but then some heavy rain came in. It didn’t last long, just long enough to get us soaked. Our final stop of the day was the Lee Ferry Campground at Glen Canyon. The Colorado river was just across from the campsite, making the views from our tent spectacular. There were only a handful of other campers, which was great! This was our first night of camping. We ate spicy black bean and avocado tacos for dinner and turned in when the sun went down.

Day 19, 7/11/2017

Started in: Sedona, AZ

Ended in: Williams, AZ

Total Distance: Driving: 233 miles

Update: So I wrote a blog post about the rainy day we had in Sedona and Flagstaff. We were about to set up a campsite early in the afternoon, but the rain let up and we decided to head to the Grand Canyon. We got there right at sundown. While I can say for certain that you need to book campsites well in advance here, because we wandered quite a bit south just to find a hotel, you need to go to the Grand Canyon. Preferably at sundown. R wondered aloud what the first person to see this must have said. I imagine it is the same thing that every subsequent traveler says. Nothing. There is nothing to say. You just have to look at it.