So it's about time I updated the blog with the last days of our trip leading up to Cali. I think all of my traveling for the last month has finally caught up with me as I've been crashing for the last two days. Our second day in Flagstaff found us at the Grand Canyon. I think it is impossible to describe in words how vast it was. I've never seen a picture that could do justice to what it actually looks like. It literally went as far as the eye could see, well, further than that even, I suppose. It went so far that it looked like it stretched on forever, kind of like when you go to the ocean but with land - an ocean of canyon, if you will. Also, from the Kaibab trail at the South Rim we still couldn't see to the bottom even after hiking about a mile down. Apparently, it's impractical to hike all the way down to the Colorado River at the bottom and back up in one day. People have died who tried it. Another fun fact - it was 87 degrees at the top of the rim and 106 degrees down at Phantom Ranch (the hotel at the bottom). That's right - almost 20 degree difference. It's no wonder the park ranger who suggested the path we ended up hiking said we would be descending into Hades. Both Renana and I loved it though and would really like to come back and spend a day or two hiking to the bottom and back up. We ended up coming back in the evening and seeing the sunset over the canyon. This experience really made me feel like such a tiny spec in grand scheme of things, yet I also felt a sense of wonder, awe, and even contentment knowing there are distances on this planet that my mind can't even wrap itself around.
Wednesday we made the final (and rather long) 10 hour trek from Flagstaff to Los Angeles... but not without difficulty. We only made one stop since there was so much driving to accomplish, but it was a worthy one. Oatman, Arizona was and largely still is a ghost town in the middle of the desert hills. Once a mining town, Oatman shut down shortly after the gold rush and abandoned burros took up residence in its hills. Today, it still captures some of the old west with its 10 or so shops, high noon standoff shows and burros that still come down from the hills to be fed carrots by some easily swayed tourists. Out of the two restaurants in town, we found ourselves in a diner whose interior was entirely covered with dollar bills. Apparently, once the currency became nationalized dollar bills and no longer gold nuggets, bar patrons would staple a bill to the wall as collateral (or as their bar tab) before throwing back a couple cold ones. Tourists, of course, now carry on the tradition and since we are such good little tourists we couldn't really resist this one.
Upon leaving Oatman however, we made it about as far as Needles before our car began making funny noises and overheating. We took it into a shop were we sat for about 3 hours while a very nice mechanic explained that many older cars overheat while they attempt to climb the twenty or so mile hill that we were on in the middle of the sweltering Mojave sun. He then replaced our radiator and thermostat and changed our oil (since it needed to be done after all of those mile anyway). After that, it still had a bit of trouble up the first hill (we pulled over a few more times to be safe) but then it was smooth sailing until we pulled into Renana's aunt's house in North Hollywood around 1:30 am.
Song of the Day: Don't Stop Believing -- Journey
Quote of the Day: “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru
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