Phase 1- complete!

Well, we made it- I am writing from the airport in Las Vegas. Kelsey is about to be on her way back to Boston. This morning we left the Grand Canyon and made our way over to the City of Sin. I'm heartbroken to see her go, but Kels has to get back for her first day of school on Friday! Good luck little friend :)

Our first view of the Grand Canyon, Desert View end of the park

The past week here in the southwest has really been everything we could have hoped for. And as far as grand finales go, the Grand Canyon was pretty spectacular. When we arrived on Sunday in the early evening, we got our first view of the canyon as we drove the 55 miles through the park on the beautiful Rt. 64. We had reserved a campsite at a park in the little southern base-camp town of Tusayan, about a mile from the Grand Canyon central village. Our tent site was beautiful, with lots of space and shade, and our new tent has been very comfy. We found a nice rhythm in our camping life and really had a great time.

View from inside our tent of sunset at our campsite at the GC

Me sleeping like a mummy in the tent... apparently I get colder at night than some people

Monday morning bright and early we made our way up to the park. We decided to walk along the south rim toward Hermit’s Rest, a viewpoint 11 miles to the west of the visitor center. It was a looong walk in the heat of the day, but no problem. We are rock stars. 

View from our South Rim walk

Clouds changing the landscape of the South Rim

However, it seemed like trying to walk all the way back another 11 miles was pushing it, so instead we just grabbed a convenient shuttle back to visitor center. Okay, we took the shuttle directly to the nearest bar. And enjoyed drinks. Yum. Then we came back to our little tent, made dinner (and possibly more drinks), and enjoyed the beautiful desert evening. 

Arizona Sunrise is the world's most perfect recovery drink

More local beer

Campsite necessities- cheap and cheaper rum

Tuesday, we took the morning to ourselves for writing and reading and waiting out the midday sun before we took off for the park, which turned out to be a very good decision (10 points to each of our houses). We chose the South Kaibab trail for our last hike... It goes down into the canyon on a pretty steep grade all the way to the Colorado River, but that is wicked fah, so we just did a 3-hour portion of it. Our timing was absolutely perfect- we left at about 4:30pm, hiked in/down for about an hour and a half in the lowering light, and eventually got a great view over the river. Then we turned around to head back up, just as the sun was getting ready to make it’s departure below the top of the towering canyon walls. For the next 90 minutes, as we struggled to climb up and out, we were treated to an amazing light show. We were, essentially, chasing the sun- it was getting lower but we were getting higher, so we saw it set about 3 times but were able to keep getting above it again. The colors, of the sun on the canyons and the sky, were absolutely unreal. It was a good moment when we finally reached the top. SATISFACTION. 

Descent, in the late afternoon sunshine

View of the Colorado from about 2 miles down into the canyon

Ever-changing light

We hiked down to the base of this pyramid-thingy, and then around the front of it and below it

Sun setting behind the walls on the way back up

Gone

Back again as we got above it :) you can see the path we came from below on the left

And then we made our way sleepily back to our tent for our last night...This morning we woke up and just began to make our way over to Vegas! We both saw the strip for the first time... unremarkable. No photos from Vegas. 

I am certainly sad about having to see my friend off! My last connection to my east-coast life… I’m eternally grateful to have had her with me. She is my transitional queen, and has been nothing but helpful and supportive along the way. I'm very proud of her- of both of us- for the things we’ve accomplished over the past 14 days! We have driven more than 4,000 miles through 11 states. We have been to 7 national parks, and hiked who knows how many miles/vertical feet- enough to make us tired and sore here at the end. Kelsey learned how to drive a stick shift, on the road, and is now practically an expert. I finally read the first Harry Potter book start-to-finish-- and now everyone can get off my back about it, because I liked it and I’ll be picking up the second book ASAP. 

We haven’t spent one single night in a hotel. We’ve made all our own meals, figured out how to make our tent a home, and you know what? It stuck. I’m already attached to this strange version of home, and I’m sincerely going to miss life on the road. For me, it has been very satisfying to be so self-sufficient and… free.

As for what comes next? Well since I realized I enjoy the road so much, I decided to extend the trip a little bit. I was meant to head straight to LA from Vegas, to attend to my to-do list [ 1) establish myself  2) secure employment]. But Gretchen (love of my life) and I made some last minute plans for something much more fun- DMB Caravan at the Gorge. Duh. I'm sure no one is too surprised about that, even if LA is only 250 miles away, and even if Washington is about 1,000 miles in the wrong direction. So between tomorrow night and Friday morning, I’ll be making my way all the way back to the top of the country; through Nevada, picking up Gretch in Boise, Idaho on Thursday night, then cutting through Oregon to good old George, Washington, for a long weekend of music and fun. Then, she’ll take on the role of copilot for the trip back to LA. (As if I was gonna get a job over labor-day weekend, right?)

I’ll keep updating this blog as long as it makes sense for me to do so- definitely next week with some stories from the Gorge, and perhaps with some tales of my first few weeks in my new city.

Thank you all so much for encouraging me to write, and for supporting me in this trip. It was a long-time dream of mine to drive across the country and start over somewhere new, and now that it’s actually happening I feel as though I have to cling to nearly every moment- they really slip by so quickly. So, I’m very glad I committed to keeping this account of our travels, and it’s a bonus that my family got to enjoy reading it. With all this fabulous technology keeping us connected, I don’t feel so very far away from the people I love.

Until next time…

Xo

Cory