It was one of those eventful weekends that happen once a while. It started with me hauling two pieces of innocent looking luggage that turned very bulky when I had to lug to the PATH station five minutes from home. We met at WTC, boarded the A train –fairly straight forward and we were at the JFK airport in roughly an hour. The flight took off after an apparent delay due to closing of gates ;) an hour beyond schedule. Reached one of our friends’ places for the night, fought through cold and had an early morning around 9am. Can you believe?? AZ does not provide homes with heaters!!
After a cereal breakfast, it seemed like the Grand Canyon will be taken over by Wii and playing tennis using the Nintendo software seemed more attractive than the purpose of the trip. In sometime, all the people that were to gather arrived, after battling over some lost baggage we finally decided to start around 4pm, Saturday by two cars to the much awaited two day Grand Canyon trip. The first scheduled stopover was at Sedona, which we together vetoed against due to lack of time. It was a fifteen mile detour from the rest of the plan. On second thoughts, No! There are no second thoughts. We were late to see the sunset anyways. The next pit stop at Flagstaff was at the call of our tummies – had delicious Italian fettuccini pasta for breakfast/lunch/dinner.
Ala! There was also Wal-Mart. People who lost baggage had every reason to do some quick shopping, but the others followed suit too. I can’t pardon myself for the confusion caused over my missing handbag which was eventually found safe in the car. Finally we were off for another two hour drive to Page where lodging was booked for the night. Our car developed an acute shortage of fuel some 30 minutes from Page. The fuel meter reads red and all one could see was a vast expanse of nothing and beyond a couple of miles into the nothingness were mountains. Panic set. Top it all, there was no signal detected by the cell phones. We tried dim-dipping to the car in front, apparently to no consequence. Finally, after reducing gas consumption by switching off music, heaters, (we could have tried the head lights too ;) ) we did reach Page, with a few drops of petrol still intact. :) After the gas station, we checked into our hotel rooms, had a long evening of moonshine, Mafia- the game and gag. We finally hit the sack around 2 am. The next day to the pleasant surprise of everyone present, we checked out at 9: 30 am after a filling breakfast.
The first place we actually visited was Glen Canyon dam. It is on the eastern sides of north rim. There was some disagreement if it was the state of Utah or Arizona. Whatever it was legally, it was a treat to watch the steep sides of the canyon. The depth was close to 600 feet and it looked dizzyingly precipitous. Photo session started there.
The next stop was at Horseshoe Bend. It involved about half a mile hike down slope to the edges of the rocks. From there, the view was breathtaking. A disconnected crater in the middle surrounded by waters at that depth was spectacular and scary. It was both a little cold and a little hot from the sun - too unhealthy for the camera and ours passed out. It was frustrating to lose the camera in the middle of the trip, it was quite depressing. The hike back to the car on the upslope was a fitness test that we barely passed ;). We started driving south and the next scheduled stopover was for Monument Valley.
After a brief and unfulfilling lunch break over BK’s fries and some grocery stores’ croissant, we drove further to an Indian town – Goulding. This place supposedly preserves the Navajo way of life, sandstone buttes, spires and mesas of South West. Monument Valley is a Navajo Nation tribal park, straddling the border of northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah of the Colorado Plateau. There was some recognizable sandstone natural structures – three sisters, King’s throne etc and not-so-discernable ones that we named ourselves! We also took pictures on the border of Arizona and Utah :) Yeah, the camera was resuscitated!
After a looong drive south, we retired for the day at Williams overnight. The next day, Sunday started at 4 am. We were to drive an hour and a half north to the South Rim to catch the Grand Canyon at sun rise!
At this point, we were too exhausted and too cold from the winds and winter, that waiting for sun rise seemed too stretched. However catching the sunrise was an awe-inspiring experience. In the depths of rocks, and more rocks that looked layered and worn-out with age, heat, cold and drought, there was some vegetation that was destined to survive the desert and cold. It was like a life lesson to stand up in unfamiliar surroundings to be announced the winner! As the day broke, there were photos and more photos. At this point, people were too very fatigued and the trip was cut short by a few hours and we started driving drown to Phoenix. Somewhere in between we caught some good shots of Humphrey’s Peak, Arizona’s tallest - 12.6K feet high. We witnessed pencil slopes, the shaven trees and some hard snow. It was like a good trip ending on a fine note.
Around 3pm, we reached Phoenix, looking like sleep deprived maniacs. The cheese on the Enchiladas for dinner looked TOO cheesy for the first time ;) That was the effect. Finally we flew out at midnight and reached JFK Tuesday morning.
A fine trip, something that I looked forward to for a long time is so suddenly over ;)!
