Days 12-13

So after leaving Karl's awesome family in Las Vegas, we headed out towards the Grand Canyon. The drive was stunning and we were pummeled by heavy rain. The cool part was that the sky was so vast that we could see this storm about 20 miles away. The not so cool part was that once we got the storm visibly was so low that I could hardly see and had to drive super slow.

Going through that part of Arizona in order to reach the the Grand Canyon was not at all what Karl and I expected. The country looked more like the highlands of Scotland than what I always imagined Arizona. The land soon become more dense with ponderosa pine trees as we entered Kaibab National Forest. The air was still moist and cool from all the heavy rain. It was such a relief from the hot days in Nevada.

From the Kaibab National Forest we entered the Grand Canyon National Park. It is no joke how beautiful and immense the Grand Canyon is. It was mesmerizing to look down into the depths of this landscape. Unfortunately, the were a lot of people. Karl and I felt like most of our time was trying to tune out the other tourists and just try to enjoy the serenity the canyon had to offer. 

OH! We did see two condors chilling. They were cool.

We wanted to so badly to hike down passed the rim, but it was already getting late by the time we got there. We had to settle watch the sunset for that day. We decided to try our luck at a different location and drive to Grand View Lookout within the park. The crowds weren't as bad as where we were before but still was a lot of people. Karl had this great idea to hike off the main path and climb up out a column of rock. At first, I was reluctant to do that but was so happy that I did. The view was amazing and it was pretty quiet where we were.

It was cold though, and eventually I climbed down with Karl and we went to a different spot to enjoy a spectator sunset! The clouds were like fluffy cotton candy that morphed into rich gold and jewel tones. Karl was elated!

After the sun set and all the people trickled away, Karl and I went to sleep in hopes that the next day will be full of hikes and exploration. However, when we woke up the next morning the canyon was filled the rim and beyond with a dense white fog. It was so cool looking! But it meant that our visit with the Grand Canyon was over. 

On our way out we looked at some things here and there and even met a cute raven who let Karl take a picture of him.

Once we sadly left the national park, we drove straight into Navajo Country. It was really interesting to see reservation life and we were about to talk with some of the locals.

Some time that afternoon we reached Bryce Canyon National Park. Which was awesome! 

The sandstone spires, called hoodoos, were said by the Native Americans who used to live there to be the spirits of bad people. While walking around it is very easy to see why they thought that. Most of the hoodoos looked a lot like mummified people and the whole canyon had a very quiet quality, despite the many people there. 

The ground consisted of different colors of clay, which thickly caked our shoes as we walked off the path.

While walking I spotted interesting looking berries right off the trail and thought Karl would like to see them. As soon as I pointed then it to Karl he immediately was excited. He said that they're called western blue elderberries and handed me some. They were yummy!

Overall, we had a lot of fun at those two canyons, despite the imperfect weather and large crowds. We plan to definitely to come back someday and spend more time in that area.

~Erica