From Phoenix, the drive is about three and a half hours. And what a glorious time it was. By the time I got to Cottonwood to get some gas, about halfway to the Grand Canyon, the temperature had already gone down about 8 degrees. Driving on, the terrain changed from arid desert to lush forest! I love it! I could smell the pine as I drove. At one point, I smelled something so good, I couldn't put my finger on it, though. As I continued, the smell got stronger and it started to get hazy. I road sign warned me of smoke and I realized the amazing smell was the forest burning around me! More on that later...
I didn't time my arrival to the Grand Canyon so well, so by the time I got there, so was everyone else. In Lehman's terms, that means parking is nearly impossible! After driving around the park for about fifteen minutes, I spotted a large Dutch family leaving. How did I know they were Dutch? They were tall and blonde and at the Grand Canyon. I've gotten pretty good at the name-the country-of-origin game. I'm fairly certain I've picked up some Chinese.
I can honestly say that with my first glance at Grand Canyon, my breath was taken away. It was awesome, and by that, I mean, I was filled with awe.
Most of the main picture spots have safety railings around them. Frankly, I'm surprised there weren't safety railings around the whole thing! I wonder how many people fall off the Grand Canyon every year. Someone should look that up.... Anyway, there were a lot of spots were there was no fencing and people would just walk right up to the edge and take pictures. Mmmm, I'll pass, thank you. I need that barrier please.
I walked around the park trails for about an hour and a half before I returned to my car. I really could have stayed there forever though. I would have loved to take a donkey down to the bottom! Next time, I guess. But I had to move on to Sedona, my final destination for the next two nights!
I got to my hotel around 6:30 and had just enough time to settle in before I headed out to see the sunset. The concierge at the hotel told me to go up to Airport Road where you have a wonderful few of the red rocks and the desert and the sun setting behind them! The sun sets fast when you're at an altitude of 4500ft, but it was magical to watch the desert glow red from the sun bouncing of the mountains.
There's a restaurant right next to the airport that also amazing views of the sunset, so I got a table by the window, sipped on a refreshing cocktail, and watched the sky glow. My drink was a gin, elderflower, cucumber concoction that wasn't amazing, so I switched over to champagne. For an appetizer, I started off with a shrimp cocktail that definitely would have been enough for dinner alone. In each shot glass had two shrimp with either a cocktail sauce or a cajun remoulade, a slice of jicama and fresh avocado. For dinner, I had Oaxacan Chicken, which was basically very similar to Chicken Parmigiana: grilled chicken cutlet, tomato sauce, Oaxacan cheese melted on top. Every entree came with Mexican Street Corn, which if you've never had it, you really need to. The ingredients are a little disturbing (there's mayonnaise involved), but it was literally the best thing I've ever tasted. Everything was delicious, but the shrimp filled me up so I got to take half the chicken and half the corn back to my hotel with me! Yay for snacks!
Stay tuned for my full day in the Red Rocks!
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