Day 3: Grand Canyon to Moab, 5 1/2 hours

The Grand Canyon is so beautiful, and we are having such a good time, that we don’t want to leave. Today, it’s on to Utah.

But first, Mark wanted to hike IN the canyon, not just around the canyon. The ranger told us that 90% of all visitors only spend 3 ½ hours at the Canyon, and less than 10% even go below the rim. Since we got here, Mark’s been itching to get in the canyon, and though I suspect it’s just so he can throw rocks, I still wanted to take him hiking.

We had an almost-6-hour-drive ahead of us, so I told Mark if he wanted to hike, he had to get up early. With a little bit of prodding, he was up and ready to go by 8 a.m.

Below the rim!

We started the Bright Angel trail. I’m not much of a hiker—more of a stroller, and I like a nice, flat path. I did not go willingly into that Canyon, but I did go. ;-)

I also did not go far down into the Canyon. It was already hot, even at 8 a.m., and the hikers were already filling up the path. As were the donkeys…I realized upon seeing the first pile of mule droppings that I needn’t worry about a strenuous hike—the smell alone literally stopped Mark in his tracks.

“Oh my God, what’s that SMELL?” Mark exclaimed. He refused to walk around the mule dung.

“Mule droppings,” I told him. “Just walk around it.”

After much cajoling, and finally just walking away, Mark groaned, jumped over it and followed me down the path. He was still swatting at imaginary flies when he caught up to me.

We hiked down about 10 or 15 minutes, looking for a series of cliff paintings the ranger had told us about. We didn’t find them, and were getting ever closer to the donkeys, so finally we turned back and headed back up the path.

Mark insisted he needed a souvenir from the Grand Canyon, so just before we left, he hit the store. He used up all his souvenir money in one shot, buying a hiking stick. That’s right, he purchased it AFTER our hike, of course!

So, hiking stick in hand, we found Edra and piled in to the car, heading north to Moab, Utah.

It was interesting to drive away from the Canyon, and all its trees. Soon enough, there were no trees, or even bushes, in sight. In fact, there was NOTHING in sight, save for the occasional house or gas station. What there were plenty of was rocks--tons of them, in every shape and color you could imagine!

We drove through all sorts of amazing rock formations--giant rock sculptures jutting toward the sky. The colors differed by region--we saw reds, a gray/black/red swirly pattern, white, and pink. We also passed a little town with a great name--Mexican Hat.

The road had been empty for a long time, so when we saw another small town, we stopped for lunch. And by town, I really mean a conglomeration of one grocery store and seven fast food joints.

The stores were on the Navajo reservation. There was a barbecue stand set up outside the grocery store, so we decided to lunch with the locals. The younger Navajos were dressed similar to us in shorts and t-shirts, but the older folks were not. The old ladies wore bright, flowing dresses with tons of gorgeous turquoise jewelry adorning their arms and ears. We sat in the bakery, next to a display with no fewer than 27 equally brightly (and unnaturally) colored cakes, and took in the sights. It was some good people-watching!

It’s a good thing we stopped, even though we weren’t starving—because we didn’t see another place to eat for three hours. (Luckily, the next food was a shake shack, and we stopped for milkshakes.) That day we realized that we had to stop for food, bathrooms or gasoline whenever we saw them, because we weren’t in the big city any longer, and those amenities weren’t available on every corner.

We finally rolled in to Moab late in the late afternoon. After weighing our options, we headed directly to Arches National Park. The park was eight miles outside of town, and I knew we were close when I saw a sign that said Arches National Park, 2 miles. Then, about 100 feet up the road was another sign, which read Arches National Park, 1 mile. It was the fast, shortest mile I’d ever driven!

We made it!

Arches was still a scorching 100 degrees at 5 p.m. We paid our entrance fee, and were excited to see a new animal crossing sign—this one was for bighorn sheep crossing! (We’d seen elk and deer crossing signs so far.) We gazed up the cliffs but didn’t see any big horns.

We drove up and around to the different formations. There were no trees, no shade, just beautiful red rocks that looked like someone had dropped them randomly all over the land.

Beautiful Arches Park--the late-afternoon light was fantastic

We arrived to the famous Windows arches, which the ranger said was a very easy hike. She was right—it wasn’t strenuous at all. The walk itself was easy, but the sun was beating down, and I drained my water bottle in about five minutes. I watched Edra and Mark climb up to the arch, and I followed them.

Me with Mark's walking stick/pointer

Mark shamed us both by hiking over to the second arch--I think he just wanted to try out his new walking stick. He did an awesome job, and still beat me down the mountain (he cheated--he ran!).

What I was pointing at--Mark at the top of Windows Arch

I just felt lucky to make it back to the car—I felt like I was in the early stages of heatstroke. (Yes, I am dramatic, but as I repeatedly tell my non-believing friends, I am also a delicate flower that wilts in the heat—and damn, was it hot!!!)

We moved on to the other famous arch, the Delicate Arch. I refused to get out of the car (the air conditioning) and back into the heat. I read the brochure aloud, which said this was a strenuous hike.

Edra repeated that the ranger said this was also an easy hike. She and Mark hit the trail, and I grew alarmed when I read the brochure again, which said this was a 2-3 hour hike, and required at least 2 liters of water per person (they each had one tiny water bottle). I grew even more alarmed when I found Mark’s glucose meter in the car, and realized he didn’t even have any snacks with him. He only had four little glucose tabs if he went low that far out on the trail.

I really started freaking then, until I mentally slapped myself. I realized who I was with--Edra, one of my friends with the most common sense. She was not going to hike 3 hours in the blazing sun, dehydrating with each step. And she was with Mark, who barely made it past the mule dung earlier that morning. These were not die-hard risk-takers; I sighed, relieved, when they returned safely 30 minutes later.

We drove on to where we could see the most famous arch in the park, the Delicate Arch. This time Edra refused to leave the car, even when I assured her the view point was a flat 2-minute walk away. I didn’t blame her, though; that sun was burning hot. I told Edra it’s a good thing I didn’t live 100 years ago, and that my family didn’t move west. I don’t think I’d have lasted long, and I know for sure my family would’ve left me for the vultures.

After a couple hours in the park, we headed to our hotel. Mark was thrilled to swim a bit, and I joined him to wash the red dust off. It was still hot outside, even after dark.

We wandered through the little town, and had dinner out, when I remembered we were in the land of the Mormons. The waitress brought us huge schooners of beer, which shocked the family at the neighboring table. Their eyes grew large, and the dad looked horrified. He hurried his family out of there soon after.

Meanwhile, my son cheered me and clinked his soda glass to my schooner. I couldn’t help thinking how the dad would have a seizure had he stayed long enough to witness that!

Day 2: Grand Canyon, no driving

Note: We are safely home, and back to the land of uninterrupted wi-fi. So here are the detailed stories of the rest of the Great American Road Trip Adventure (or, as my friend Jill refers to it, "GARTA").

I was excited to sleep in on my second day of vacation, especially because I hadn’t done so on my first day. Edra, however, had other plans—she wanted to rise with the sun, and see how the light hit the canyon. I wished her well and told her I looked forward to the description sometime later in the day.

But moments after Edra left the room quietly, she returned, excitedly telling me to look out the window. I did, and was surprised to see four giant male elk outside our hotel window! They were HUGE, and they were CLOSE. I literally could have opened the screen and reached out to pet them.



Not that they would have allowed that, I’m sure. They seemed agreeable enough, as long as there was a safe distance between them and any nearby people. I rushed outside with Edra and stood along the canyon edge, with the elk between me and the safety of my room. I marveled at how big they were, especially since they only eat grass—how much grass does an 1800 pound elk have to eat a day to get that big?? A lot, it seems, and they were munching away loudly—you could hear them tearing and crushing the grass from the lawn.

It was fun to watch the early risers pass by, and then glance over and see the elk. Many people were surprised, and some, like the elk, were non-plussed. As long as we kept a healthy distance, the elk tolerated and ignored us. I did see a few incredibly stupid people press their luck and slowly inch closer and closer to photograph the bucks. I finally went inside when I couldn’t take anymore—I didn’t want to see some stupid tourist get stomped to death on my second day of vacation.

I tried to wake Mark to simply look outside the window, but he was having none of it. He grunted and swatted me away, and missed out on the beautiful elk. I didn’t much blame him, and returned to bed for a few more hours of sleep myself.

When we finally arose for the day, we joined a ranger-led history tour. We had a really interesting, passionate Ranger, who taught us all about Frank Harvey, the man who turned the Canyon into a feasible recreation area by supplying the food and building lodges, and about Mary Colter, the woman who designed the lodges. We also learned that we were standing in the very spot the Brady Bunch stood, when they filmed their special Grand Canyon episode. I liked that our history was tempered with a little pop culture.

After the lecture, we ventured over to the Desert View visitor center, where we explored the Watchtower.



There was some good people-watching there, as well as our second wildlife encounter of the day.



We saw a snake slither across the path, and a crowd of similarly deprived city-folk stopped to ooh and ahh and photograph the snake. I watched it head toward a pair of elderly Japanese tourists, and when one of them looked up at me, I motioned to the ground so she saw the oncoming snake. She jumped up, and tapped her companion on the shoulder, pointing toward the snake. The second lady let out a blood-curdling scream, and ran full force outta there. I thought I was gonna bust a gut with laughter, even more so when the lady recovered, and laughed at her own exaggerated reaction. (I think I laughed because I was glad it wasn’t me—I would’ve had the same reaction!)

Mark climbed all 90 steps to the top of the Watchtower. Edra and I admired the view from the lower levels, which I’m pretty sure was similar to the view 90 steps ups.

Next up, we drove to the Geology Museum. We sat in on another lecture, this time about how the Canyon was formed (those Rangers hold some great talks!). The Ranger told us all you have to remember is what Californians say when they first look over the ledge-- “DUDE!” It stands for depositation (layers of soild being deposited on what was once the ocean floor), uplift (of the ocean floor), division (causing the rift between the walls of the canyon) and erosion (how the canyon walls were shaped). It was a lot of good info in one short hour.

Our last program of the night was a star program! The night sky, devoid of light pollution, was clear, bright and awesome--you could see every star in the sky! The Ranger was super knowledgeable, which was lost on the crowd, as soon as the ranger lit up a laser pointer that went all the way to the stars. (It was pretty darn cool—it seriously pointed all the way up to the specific stars!) She pointed out the zodiac signs and other animal-shaped clusters of stars, and told us how ancient civilizations believed they came to take those shapes. It was very cool.

When we pulled into the parking lot after the program, we had one last treat waiting for us--three giant male elk! They were enormous, and even more scary in the dark! I was a little freaked out--when we parked, I insisted we walk the back way, along the rim of the canyon.

“Doesn’t matter,” Edra said wisely. “There’ll probably be some over there, too.”

She was right--there was a male and a female elk munching on the grass outside. The male nodded to me, as if to say, “Move along, there’s nothing to see here.” I nodded back and quickly dropped my head down--I figured no eye contact was less threatening.

So that was it--we started and ended our second day with giant elk. And I have to say, it was pretty awesome.