What do you do when you’ve got limited time to get to several tourist spots that are several hours away and are only good for viewing when it’s still daylight? You rush like mad! The family wanted to head over to the Grand Canyon as well as Sedona to see the red rock cliffs. Thing is, the Grand Canyon is 5 hours away from where we’re staying. We only had one day to fit it all in, so…it was one crazy day. We went there with the family of one of my aunt’s friends. So, eleven of us went out there on a long road trip.
We left at 8 and arrived as expected at 1pm. The Grand Canyon is simply mind boggling. The sheer size of it makes you feel so insignificant. I dunno. This was one of the places that I’d only ever heard or read about. In my mind, it was only a piece of the world that was off in some distant land. I didn’t even imagine that I’d see something like that with my own eyes. So, actually being there sort of places me in a different frame of reference, know what I mean? Seeing something like this is just outside of my realm of existence.
Anyway, when we arrived, we parked at the first lookout point. When we stepped out of the van, we were all shocked at just how cold it was. I mean, it’s so (relatively) hot in Phoenix. Up at the Grand Canyon we needed jackets. It makes sense being that it’s around 7000 ft above sea level at the south rim. Some of us wanted to see that glass floor thing, but that’s at the north rim. If we wanted to go there, that would’ve have needed another 2-3 hours of travel time which is time we don’t have. It would actually require going right around the whole canyon.
The cold weather actually did us in. Some of us couldn’t take the cold bitter wind. So, after a lot of pictures, instead of hiking some more and exploring the area we just headed back to the van. I don’t think we were there for more than half an hour. It sort of seems like a waste, but really I’m just thankful to have seen and taken in all that natural beauty. It was so overwhelming.
All things considered, we needed to get moving anyway. They wanted to get to Sedona, which is about 1.5-2 hours back toward Phoenix, and that’s really only great when there’s light. When we got to Sedona it was already close to 4pm. The sun was already on its way out, but the late afternoon conditions really made the redness of the moutains look all the more amazing. Man, I swear it looks like those mountains were painted. They’re unbelievably awe-inspiring. Seriously. I can’t even properly describe it. I took a lot of pictures with my aunts’ cameras but I won’t have access to them for a while. I took some pics with my cell phone, so many I’ll post them here in a few days if they’re any good.
We stopped by a church that’s carved out of the rock. It’s called the Chapel of the Holy Cross. Man, that place is deeply moving. The combination of the location, the sunset, and the general aura of the place really hit home. By the time we left the church, the sun had just about set, and that really concluded our sightseeing. The group of us headed to a restaurant and had a great dinner before heading home.
The trek home took another three hours. The highway out of Sedona was ridiculously dark, hilly, and curvy. My uncle was driving and handled everything quite well. I was seriously a little bit concerned. I mean, one false move, one lazy moose, one unexpected curve would have put us in grave danger. What superseded the concern though was just being in such an exciting place where the unexpected could happen. By the time we got to the Interstate there was a bit more lighting, at which point I just decided to nap for an hour or two.
So, I now have all my sightseeing out of the way. I’m heading back home in a few hours. I enjoyed my stay here. There’s just so much natural beauty all around me here in AZ. However, it can’t replace home. I think it’s about time now to be back.
Soon. Very soon.
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