Hockey Season is Here

Today is the last real day of our trip and it started for us in the Grand Canyon. We had a room for two nights - the first time the whole trip we stayed in one place for consecutive nights. By getting up early, we were up as the sun rose and the best part was we could sit in bed and watch it out or window (and given that it was still cold, though not as windy, that was a huge bonus). After getting ready and packing up, Jess and I went out to walk along the rim and take some pictures. Again, it was absolutely beautiful and while we're ready to get home, it was still sad to leave.

On the way out, we stopped at the entrance sign to take pictures since we missed the one coming in from the east. We also had to fill one of our tires since it was really low as it probably has a slow leak that we've been dealing with for a few days.

The next stop was lunch in Sedona. I know people have said to hike along the red rocks but after seeing the Grand Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs, it was still nice but not as awe-inspiring. We ate a nice lunch in Sedona (which was very busy) before moving on to our final National Park site.

Montezuma Castle National Monument is another ruins site but this was has a multi-story building that's still pretty intact. It was a brief stop - the trail is short and there's not much to see there - but they charge $10 a head to get in. I was surprised at how busy it was there (even for a Saturday) and it was a place like this that made me glad we have a Parks Pass that gets our whole group in without paying anything additional. Plus, I didn't lose our pass this time which will come in handy for Washington and Alaska next year...

The final destination on our trip is an Arizona Coyotes hockey game. It may only have been preseason but it was our first hockey game of the season and I'm pretty sure every trip we take has to have a sporting event in there somewhere. Luckily we could walk to the game from our hotel so it didn't take long for us to walk back after they lost (which angered me because I really wanted the Coyotes to win for, uh, monetary reasons, and they blew a 3-0 lead). And with that, we're ready for the Canes to let us down all winter long.

Tomorrow we're just heading to the airport in the morning to fly home so our trip will officially be over. I think everything went pretty well and everyone had a good time and we were able to see everything we had originally planned to see. The weather held up nicely and no one fell off a cliff. All in all, that's a successful journey.

As they say at the Coyotes games, "I think we can win the Cup this year!" Note: No one says this.

Shortbread Reward

Today was the day we've been looking forward to over a year now - we were going to hike partly down into the Grand Canyon along the South Kaibab Trail. We didn't really know what to expect because although we knew the distance and elevation change, there's no way to really prepare for it around Raleigh and we hadn't done something like this before. Over the last year, we did our best to get into better shape and we just hoped it would pay off.

Originally we had planned to get up really early and get going just after sunrise. Of course, that plan didn't quite work out for two reasons: first, while we were glad we saved the highlight for the end of the trip, we also had been moving hotels every day and driving an average of 6 hours a day so we were getting tired. The other reason was more practical because our original plan assumed it'd be warm and that was definitely not the case. It was still very windy and the morning was cold with temps near freezing. My blood has thinned and that was too cold for me to enjoy the hike so we ended up trying to get our there for 9 AM instead. The shuttles we had to take took some time to get us there so we really didn't hit the trail until 10 AM.

Immediately, it was pretty steep with a bunch of switchbacks and loads of mule poop. That alone was irritating since the rules clearly state I couldn't poop on the trail yet the mules are held to a lower standard. If they want equality and I think they do, we should all have to hold it or put it in a bag and pack it out. Even though the descent was quick, it didn't feel bad and the views were amazing.

At the first point (roughly a mile in), we were all feeling ok and stopped to take some pictures. The only problems to that point were a squirrel that tried to get in our bags and a lady who just walked into the pictures we were taking after everyone had lined up to wait to their turn. The next stop was 1.5 miles down total and that's where we stopped for lunch and took in the sights. It was beautiful and peaceful, except for the constant jackhammering that a park crew was doing to break up some rocks to repair the trail.

It got a little dicey going up. Even though it was higher elevation than any of us had ever hiked before and it about 900 feet up in 1.5 miles, we did it with minimal stops. It was easier than I had anticipated and it's definitely something I would like to do again. Once we got to the top, we met a nice 70-year-old named Patricia who was from Scotland and was with a tour group who just hiked up the trail themselves. She was chatty and as we got to talking, she offered us the best shortbread I've ever eaten (the secret ingredient, she told us, was lots of butter). She then told us where to travel to in Scotland before we said good-bye.

At this point, there were still some sights along the Rim Trail (which is relatively flat) that we hadn't seen so we continued our hike back to our hotel right along the whole rim. All in all, we walked about 10 miles and by the end of the day, we were exhausted but felt pretty good otherwise. Dinner was at the same place the night before since it had the best quality (proximity to our hotel) and then we went back to our rooms. Jen and I did go back out to see how the stargazing was and while not quite as incredible as Yellowstone a few years back, it was pretty good and you could see the Milky Way pretty clearly.

The day was pretty great and it was nice to stay in the park all day and not get in the car once. Seeing the canyon from a bunch of different angles was worth the effort and is something none of us will ever forget.

As they say on the trail, "Mules are people too." Note: No one says this.