28.4.2012 – 28.4.2012  22 °C

I got myself up before the sun rise and drove out to the Yavapai Geology Museum to attempt to take some gorgeous shots of the canyon as the sun rose…. Great plan that didn’t come off! Unfortunately, the canyon was covered in low lying clouds so the shots are ordinary! It was good though, I arrived in the very early twilight (just enough light to see but not enough for good photography) and I ran across a whole herd of deer grazing near the rim edge.. The deer were actually quite tame and as long as I walked slowly they were quite happy for me to get up pretty close!

I found my spot (rim side) on a rock outcropping out into the canyon and settled myself into wait til 5.30am when the sun was expected to rise. I’d been sitting on my rock for about 10 mins when suddenly I was joined by this Japanese tour group. The tour leader was talking and I assumed that after giving his brief spiel he would shut up so we could all enjoy the sun rise… Not so! Eventually, I was so annoyed that my solitude was continuing to be interrupted that I turned around and gave him a shushing motion (which thank goodness worked!) I sat on my rock for another 30min until the cold started to seep into my bones. I knew the sun had well and truly risen (and my photos weren’t getting any better) so I decided to ditch the rim and return back to the hotel to sit in the cafeteria and do some blogging until M&D got up.

We took off after their brekky, and drove the Desert Rim Drive (along the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, eastwards). The rim drive takes you further into the park to see different view points of the canyon. One of the stops was at a museum that adjoins a Puebleon ruin. The small village has probably been there for about 800 years ago and is still quite visible! It is thought that people have lived in the Canyon area for over 10,000 years with different types of peoples populating the area. For most modern Native American’s the GC is still a religiously significant place and has probably been a significant place for thousands of years.

The last stop on the journey thru the park is at Desert View Watchtower. It’s a stone structure that was originally built in the early 1900s to offer 360 deg views of the canyon to early tourists. Today it still gives us tourists 360 deg views! We walked up part of the way up the tower and took some snaps then returned to the car for some morning tea.

Straight after morning tea we began our journey from the Grand Canyon out to Monument Valley (in the top right hand corner of Arizona). From Cameron we turned north towards Page and began the journey driving along western edge of the Painted Desert. The desert certainly lives up to its name! The hills on the right hand side of the car were all sorts of colours (reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, pale blues, greens, greys.. all sorts of colours!). It puts the artists palate (in Death Valley) to shame as these hills just go on and on and on.. Probably a good 70 miles! Basically, the whole drive from Cameron to Page we had an escarpment on the right hand side of the car that represented every colour imaginable! It is so beautiful that after awhile you start to get a bit numb to the sites and think ‘here’s another coloured hill!’.

We stopped midway on our drive at a town called Tuba City. It is a town that straddles the Navajo Reservation (NR) and the Hopi Reservation (most of this part of NW Arizona is a reservation). Before we arrived into Tuba City we stopped to check out some Dinosaur foot prints that have been fossilised in a bed of limestone. The fossils are on the NR so our guide was a local Navajo lad who is studying palaeontology at the local college. The fossils are of a certain type of raptor and are very visible in the limestone basin.. In fact they are so visible that I at first thought they were made up for the tourists! There are so many footprints here though that it could only be the real McCoy!

Our lunch stop was at this burger joint called Sonic.. Sonic is an interesting setup you can either go inside the store to eat or you can park your car under an awning and eat in your car! It’s a classic 50s setup with the roller skates (although these days they use roller blades). We decided to eat inside. Upon walking in the door we realised that there is no traditional counter to order your food. Instead, you pick up a phone (sitting next to your table) and you order your burgers via the phone! You then pay for your food by inserting your credit card into a slot next to the phone!!! Only in America!!

By dinner time we had arrived in Page (our stop for  the night). After having a home made spag bol and salad we all turned in (I was asleep before M even went to bed.. my 4.30 wake up was catching up with me!)

Song of the Day– Jimmy Hendrix, All along the watchtower