Hiking - Horseshoe Bend

 We headed over to horseshoe Bend to catch Sunset. We didn’t realize it was a 20 minute walk from the entrance back to back to the bend so we didn’t get the full sunset. When we got there, the sun was just below the cliffs, but it was still very pretty. There were lots of people there. I did discover some things about myself on this trip. I don’t like getting too close to canyons or cliffs, that could be a problem for the rest of our trip here in Utah 

Hiking - Little Antelope Canyon

The Navajo nation organizes trails into little antelope Canyon. Apparently the canyon and the property surrounding it is owned by Navajo woman named Dixie. Our guide was Brandon and he was excellent. He even gave us tips on how to take photos within the cavern. The caves were formed when water came flowing through the sand And the sand form sandstone, and then eventually cracked, forming the canyon. It is tempting to take a photo at every step of the hike and I think I did a pretty good job if that.

Desert View Road

 We packed up the trailer and headed out leaving the Grand Canyon on Desert view Road. This is a 28 mile road leading to the east there are some scenic overlooks along the way, but they are more spread out than on the west side of the south room Trail. Some of them were absolutely . Moran point was gorgeous and there was even a painter doing plein air painting. We were also able to go up desert view watchtower, which was designed again by architect. Mary Colter back in 1932. 

Biking/Hiking at Grand Canyon

 Today we rode our bikes from Bright Angel trailhead to Hermits Rest along the south rim For a total of 17 miles. Along the way, we saw Maricopa point, hoppy point, Mojave point, Monument Creek Vista, Pima point and the hermit trailhead. It’s called the Grand Canyon but I don’t think there are enough adjectives to accurately just describe just tell amazing. This canyon is at every Vista, I wanted to take a photo. The only downfall today was that my battery died about 3/4 of the way. It was not totally charged so it was my fault. Fortunately, we only had maybe four or 5 miles left and there were several hills that I did walk up.

We then walked from bright Angel Lodge to Yaki point geology, museum. This was about 2 miles along this trail. The park had laid out rocks to show the different layers of the Grand Canyon. It was very well done and cool to see. The trail of Time covered 2 billion years. We then took the shuttle bus back to The visitor center, and then to the village. We bought subs and sat in the car to eat them as it started to rain and got a little chillier when the sun started to peak out again we decided we would stay for the sunset another shuttle up to Mohave Point. I do have to say that there were a few places along the trail that gave me the heebie-jeebies, the places without railings and looking down into the canyon. That is how I felt waiting for the sunset when I sat several feet away from the edge of the canyon.  We were lucky enough to see a rainbow and then also catch the sunset. After taking many pictures of the sunset, We boarded a shuttle again to go back to Angel trailhead. We climbed a small hill there to see the comet. There were two other couples on that hill doing the same thing and we enjoyed watching as the Comet appeared. It was a long exhausting but memorable day.

Winslow Arizona and Grand Canyon

 The drive from the petrified Forest to Winslow, Arizona was beautiful. The roads went forever and we Passed through yellow plains. These fields seem to just go on and on. It was fun getting to Winslow Arizona and posing for pictures on the corner. We also managed to get a few pictures of some route 66 signs.

The next part of our drive took us through Pine line highways. And we also saw many trains along the way. We parked our camper at the Grand Canyon campground just outside of the national park. It was still early enough in the day so we went into the Grand Canyon national Park and walked out to Mather Point. As expected when we saw the Grand Canyon, it was breathtaking. The expanse of the canyon is unbelievable, and it was fun looking down into the canyon to see a small, small ribbon that was the Colorado river, and We could also see a few walking trails below. How amazing it must be to take a hike down to the bottom.

Petrified Forest

 we were able to quickly pack up our trailer and headed out of Albuquerque. As we left, we could see the balloons off in the distance. It was a nice sendoff. We drove to A loves where we emptied our gray water. The drive to the petrified forest was a beautiful drive as The scenery was quite interesting. It’s a lot of spacious fields and sagebrush and lots of red canyons. The petrified forest is a very interesting national park. It’s a 28 mile drive and there are three sections. We drove from the north to the south; The top section is red, the middle is blue and purple, and the bottom is mostly blue. There are 12 Mark spots along the way and we got them out at each of them. Can’t say that I had a favorite spot as they were all very interesting, it’s also called the painted desert here, especially at the top. Where are there are so many layers of different colors as you drive south. You see more of the petrified forest with lots of logs laying around the park has been very well preserved as there were many photos from 100 years ago compared to today and you could see that the landmarks were still the same . 

Ratcheese - Hot Air Balloon Ride

 

It looked to be a beautiful day and Kiko planned to go up. We were pleasantly surprised when Keith asked if Scotty and I wanted to go up with him today, and of course the answer was yes.  It is not at all a guarantee that you will go up when you sign up for balloon crew so we felt lucky! We are in plot V6, which means we are one of the later balloons to take off. We ready the balloon for takeoff and then it was time to jump into the gondola. It’s just an amazing experience to lift up above the world and see the city below to me. It’s not a scary experience at all, which is surprising to me. We floated for maybe 40 minutes and took lots of photos and enjoyed the quiet float up in the clouds. Kiko picked out a road for a landing spot and there happen to be another crew down below. These gentlemen helped pull the basket down and then took us over onto the road away from the cactus infested field. It was only about four minutes until Keith showed up with our regular Rat Cheese crew. Kiko effortlessly landed the gondola onto the bed of the truck, which seems like a stroke of genius. It’s hard work lifting the gondola up onto the bed. We all loaded into two trucks and headed back to the fiesta field and once again enjoyed the company of these newly made friends.