The Canyons (Bryce and Grand) and Arizona

So after our morning hike in Arches, we booked it to Bryce Canyon hoping to snag a campsite in the park. Due to the fact we decided to take a long lunch break on the road (where they had internet) we got to the park a little too late and did not grab a campsite. So we had to go back out of the park and go to this huge lodge/rv park/campground place and got a site there. Luckily, there were showers and we got a tiny bit of internet. After we set up our tent we drove back into the park to go to some places on the rim and take pictures. I had been to Bryce (and Arches too) back in 1998 so I was familiar with what we'd see in the canyon. However, I forgot how awesome it was , and couldn't stop taking pictures. As the sun was setting we headed back to the campground. We noticed someone had put up a tent right next to ours and usurped our table. Since there was a ton of European tourists everywhere, we were praying it wasn't a family that couldn't speak English. Luckily, it was a very friendly family from Kansas City, and we shared the table and conversation with them that night. The next morning we packed up the tent early and went straight into the park and hiked down into the canyon and did a 2.5 mile hike. I took a ton of pictures, and can now see why my father loved this place. Just to clarify, Bryce Canyon is not like the Grand Canyon. It's more like half of a canyon, but it has some amazing geologic formations. Like this:So after our hike we decided to drive 18 miles to the end of the park and stop at every view point on the way back. We saw some different formations and it was just a nice pleasant drive there and back. After we saw them all, we made our way to the Grand Canyon.

Now, every summer, from 1993-2002 (1997 and 2001 excluded), my family would take a trip out west and see several National Parks; we stopped after my father passed away in 2003. The only major National Park my family truly avoided was Grand Canyon. Why? Because my father did not want to deal with the immense amount of people at the park. I would also assume he knew that while it would be a great thing to see, it wasn't nearly as cool as the other parks we ended up going to. Knowing this, I still had the urge to see it since it is one of those places that people connect the USA to. Well, my father had the right inclination. The Grand Canyon was packed. We luckily had reserved a campsite so we could stay in the park, but the amount of people that was there was insane. The park, however, is built to hold and move so many people. The problem is that walking anywhere in the park is almost shunned upon. You also have to take a shuttle to get to the really awesome views (you can hike the 8 mile trail, however). Note: this is all on the South Rim of the park, and I was told that the North Rim is actually less crowded. Anyway, when we drove into the park it was insanely cloudy and windy, but we managed to see parts of the canyon as we drove to the campground. Once we got to our site, we set up camp, and then Jackie went to the nearest lodge to use the internet, and I grabbed some food at the store near the campground and made myself dinner (burgers and Ramen Noodles). As I was going to bed, Jackie called me and told me she was lost and couldn't find her way back from the lodge. So I had to drive and find her. Luckily it wasn't very far before I found her. We then went to bed. Next morning we tried to walk to the rim of the canyon, but didn't really follow a map, so we took a crazy long time to get there. Our hope was that we wouldn't have to use the shuttle buses to see nice views. Well after about 30 minutes of walking on the rim, we realized this was not possible. While there were nice views, we wanted to see the Colorado River, and the only way to see it was to take a shuttle. So we walked back to the site and packed up, and then drove to where we could grab the shuttle. Well we get to the shuttle pickup point and see a massive line. We waited and saw one bus load a small amount of people, and decided to hike to the first view point and pick up the bus from there, since they didn't allow people to stand on the bus from the first stop to the second. Our plan worked and we beat the next bus to the stop and picked it up. We then made three stops and saw some great views, a few with the river included. We then shuttled back and grabbed lunch at the nearest lodge, and then headed to Tempe.

In Tempe, we stayed with my friend's Jess and Luke, and their dog Milo. We stayed for two nights and had a wonderfully relaxing time with them. The only bad part was that it was super hot all day long. The highs were in the 110's and the lows were in the 90s. Crazy. Btw, my friend Jess is the most amazing cook my age. She came home the second night from work (she worked an 8 hour shift with no break) and made us dinner, that was DELICIOUS. It was fantastic. Luke was a great host and showed us some cool places in the area, and was just super awesome in general. Milo is one of the cutest dogs ever! He's a corgie. I hadn't seen all of them since last summer when they moved from Philly, so it was great to see them. After a scrumptious breakfast yesterday moring at US Egg, we packed up our stuff and headed east to Texas, which is where I am typing from. Van Horn, to be exact, and we'll be headed to Austin shortly for a few nights, and then to New Orleans for a few nights. Just over a week left of this trip. Can't believe it.