Day 25 - Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
Where I stayed
Car Boot, Mather Campsite, Grand Canyon Village
Up for brekky, only to be told we'd been given the wrong times and we’d missed it. Man put juice machine back on though! Tried to find bank after realising we only had $60 left – but, being a Sunday, there were none open. Instead, we coasted most of the way to Sedona, dropping from about 8000m through a glorious, lush valley. People lived in Coconino National Park – yet have had to pay to park there.
Instead we went straight to Sedona. Stunning backdrop of red rocks. Sadly the town was very commercialised. Found a nice little cinema museum, chronicling the films shot here. But it turned out to be a time-share shop! Had a nice chat with Mike who coaxed us with the offer of a free night’s stay… as long as we had a credit card. Made our excuses and left. No sale! Drove back to Flagstaff slightly disheartened; rectified with a fried egg butty at a diner. Then on to Grand Canyon.
Stopped at Tusayan and picked up leaflets. Decided to do a helicopter flight. $150 each but money well spent. They took travellers’ cheques and we got change – hurrah! After an hour-long wait and two safety videos in German, we finally took off. Daring you had been given the co-pilot’s seat. Not bad for your first helicopter flight. It was breath-taking, awesome, invigorating; It made me contemplate life and God! It made my palms sweat and me swallow my heart. But it was well worth it. You did really well considering you were so nervous. You took photos and heard a commentary (which I didn’t!)
We had a spud and burger at Wendy’s, a quick shop and left the gas ($2.99 a gallon!) then went into the park. Despite asking about Canyon View campsite, a woman directed us to Mather Campsite in Grand Canyon Village. We got the last pitch. The woman booking us in apologised for the bad site. It was a good job we weren’t camping – it was all stones!
We put the seats down and went for a walk to the rim as the light disappeared. Silence. Lovely. You were scared as we walked back in the dark but we were OK. Cracked open a massive bottle of Bud and sat under the stars, eating crisps and explaining to you about the speed of light – again!
Slept in boot/back of car, wearing layers, with jumpers as pillows. Screw in the floor made it very uncomfortable. Not exactly quality sleep, but the setting was beautiful.