Day 10 - Grand Canyon to Las Vegas

Before I do my minor report from today, I have an addendum from my Grand Canyon visit.


This story actually starts on Day 7, my first night at the Grand Canyon. I am always a very observant person, but when I'm alone, I am even more so. And when dining alone, I spend most of the time just people watching. I also make friends with everyone - the hosts, the wait staff, the bussers, the chefs, the managers, basically anyone that walks by.

So as I mentioned before, Wednesday was opening day of the Grand Canyon North Rim and the associated resort services. Apparently, there had been a glitch with the reservation system, so the dining room was overbooked and the staff was a bit overwhelmed. So during my meal, I watched the semi-chaos occurring around me. At one point near the end, a waitress was busing a table near me and couldn't carry everything, so she left a tray of dirty glasses on a chair, expecting to come back for them. She must have gotten distracted elsewhere because she never came back. 10 minutes or so later, a super handsome waiter picks up the tray, commenting that it was an odd place for it to have been left. I filled him in on exactly what had transpired. He reacted with surprise, "I didn't expect that level of detail." Yeah, well, that's me.

Fast forward to Thursday night dinner. I am waiting to be seated, and super handsome waiter (SHW) sees me and we smile and acknowledge each other. I end up seated right near that kitchen door, a prime spot for observing everything that's going on. SHW comes by and asks,"Are you an employee? Why do you look familiar?" I remind him about the tray from the previous night, and he's like, "Oh yeah, that's right." and he smiled and went back to work. I made lots of friends with the staff that night, chatting with everyone about this and that. They're all so nice.

So last night, the dining room was a bit chaotic again, but I got seated right at my reservation time, this time close to the bar - another prime location for me to chat with everyone. And who do I get as my waiter? SHW. We finally introduce ourselves officially, and he still seems pretty skeptical that I'm not a secret shopper or something, since I dine alone and know the entire staff by name already. And they know me. I've even changed my order because Chef Paul came out and recommended to me something different than what I had already requested. I assure SHW that I am indeed just a regular guest, but that I have just made friends with everyone. And to further emphasis my point, throughout the meal, various staff members come to talk to me about how I am and what my next plans are. Anyway, SHW does a great job with my meal, even though he had 5 tables where all the other waiters only had 4 (yes, I notice things like that). Unfortunately, I was so exhausted that I couldn't stick around much after I finished my meal and instead had to retire to bed. So, in conclusion, to my favorite, and the most handsome waiter at the Grand Canyon Lodge, Timothy, thank you for making my stay memorable.

Not a ton to report from today. I left Grand Canyon Lodge at 10 AM and drove to Vegas. The first portion of the drive was backtracking a good part of the drive in. But then I turned west and drove through Zion National Park. I know I visited Zion as a kid, but I have absolutely no memory of it.

It was really beautiful driving through there today, but pretty crowded. Cars everywhere. I also drove down through Virgin River Gorge. That was pretty as well.

I arrived in Vegas around 4 PM and have just hung out all evening. I had a ton of pictures from the past 5 days that I needed to organize and upload.

Big day tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Day 9 - Grand Canyon

Hey - remember that plan of mine to get out to the hiking trail early today? It didn't really work out. I mean, I woke up at 5:30 - I know, seriously?! But I refused to get out of bed that early. I mean, the dining room doesn't even open for breakfast until 6:30. So I dozed for a while and managed to stream some episodes of The Wonder Years and finally got up around 8:15. Got dressed and went to breakfast. A lot less crowded than yesterday. Had breakfast by myself and then headed out to the Kaibab Trail trailhead. This is the trail that goes down into the canyon from the north rim.

The trail is a total of 14 miles to the bottom. There are a number of landmarks along the way - many of which have water and/or restrooms. So you can plan out how far you want to go before starting down. Having a plan is a necessity because you need to take appropriate provisions. I decided to go down to Supai Tunnel, which is two miles down. I figured I'd take about an hour down and 2 hours back up. I was one of the slowest people out there. About half of the people that I came across were doing rim to rim or rim to rim to rim. Some were even RUNNING rim to rim to rim. Crazy people. I can't even imagine.

Well, as expected, the walk down wasn't too bad. The ground wasn't as packed in some areas as I'd like it and it was almost like walking on a beach. There was a nice breeze and since I started right around 9:30, it wasn't too hot. Yesterday when I hiked, I started with my fleece, but quickly took it off. I'm glad that I didn't take it with me today. It would have just been a pain and gotten me even warmer. The temperature does climb as you descend into the canyon. As a reference, the forecast today on the north rim was a high of about 65, on the south rim 70, and down in the depths of the canyon 95. The first checkpoint was 0.7 miles down - an overlook. Not too bad, but the next checkpoint wasn't until my 2.0 mile destination. As I descended more and more, I was seriously questioning my sanity for continuing. I kept justifying continuing because there was a water station down there. I didn't need a lot of water on the way down, but drank it all in order to prevent dehydration.

So I got to my destination, rested for a bit and filled up my water bottle. I then looked up at where I had to go and wasn't happy. 2.0 miles with an elevation climb of 1400 feet. Yikes. Do you know how long it takes to go 2.0 miles when you have to stop every 100 feet to catch your breath? Two hours and fifteen minutes, that's how long. It was really tough. And with people passing me all the time, I wasn't feeling too great about myself - especially those guys that were going rim to rim. Like I said, crazy people. But, I did make it back up. I guess I didn't really have much of a choice. Well, when I was really close to the top one of the mule guides was leading another mule down to drag out someone who was about 2.5 miles down, so I guess that may have been an option as well, but not a good option.

After I finished the hike, I went straight back to my cabin for a shower - god I was dirty. My shoes are now effectively brown. And then just hung out in my cabin for the rest of the afternoon. I have another dinner reservation tonight in an hour and a half and I'm just hanging out in the sun room until then. It's been really windy today and its supposed to get down to 32 degrees overnight. Yikes.

So one thing that I've noticed about traveling alone, especially staying in a resort like this for a couple of days is that I'm becoming friends with the staff. Last night after dinner, one of the staff members that I had only exchanged a couple of words with previously came up to my table and said,"so I hear you're taking a massive trip." I'm very observant, so I notice process things and talk to the staff about how service is going or whatnot. The executive chef and I have become buddies and he's made personal recommendations to me for all my meals. It is nice that the resort staff is so kind and helpful.

Leaving Grand Canyon tomorrow. It's been nice, but onto the next stop! Plus, I need my wifi back!

Day 8 - Grand Canyon

Lots of pretty pictures today (but you can't see any of them until I get to somewhere that has wifi). I woke up early this morning. I don't know if its just because of the time changes, or because I'm so busy during the days that I'm so tired at night and fall asleep earlier, or if I'm just getting to a point where I need less sleep, but try as I might, I haven't been able to sleep in much at all on this trip. So after a while of using in bed trying unsuccessfully to go back to sleep, I made my way over to the lodge for breakfast. I'm not sure what their seating system was, but it seemed like parties of 3 or 4 were getting seated before parties of 1 or 2, so I hooked up with a mom and son from Tennessee and had breakfast with them. I really ended talking with them.

From there, I got all my water and whatnot together and headed out for the day. First stop: cape final trail. When I got there at 9:30, there were only 2 other cars there. The trail is 2 miles one way (4 miles round trip) and takes you out to a couple beautiful lookout points. It started out with a pretty massive hill, and, honestly, about 2/3 of the way up, I almost gave up. I even turned around and walked a few steps back for a bit until I decided to press on and just take it slowly. It was pretty shady on the way out there and somehow right as I got out to the point, all sorts of people magically appeared. No idea where they all came from. I'm very nervous getting even barely close to the edge, even when there is a railing, and there were no railings out on this point. A group from New Zealand was out there at the same time as I was and they were fearless. Anyway, after a bunch of great pictures, I made my way back along the trail, running into a ton of people on the way. There were about 20 cars at the trailhead when I got back there.

I then went to Cape Royal and Walhalla Overlook. At Cape Royal, there is an overlook called Angel's Point, which was quite scary getting out to, even with the railings. Thought: how the heck did those railings get installed? Whoever installed them must have been crazy. But agin, a lot of great pictures and then I drove over to Point Imperial. Very little walking required at there overlooks. I think I liked the perspective of the canyon the best from Point Imperial. After I was done with all the sightseeing, I made my way back to my cabin for a much needed shower and nap. I'm currently hanging out in the lodge waiting for dinner and then I'm going to call it an early night. Doesn't seem that there are the massive dinner delays tonight like there were last night.

I know that I said that I was going to walk into the canyons today and then stay on the rim tomorrow, but with the elevation up here, I wanted to stay on the rim today to give my body a little bit more time to adjust. Tomorrow, I'll be walking down into the canyon - not too far. I'm planning on going down to Supai Tunnel, which is 2 miles in. I'll take plenty of water and take my time. They say to plan to spend twice as much time coming back up as it takes to go down, so I'm planning an hour down and 2 hours back up. The walk back from Cape Final was definitely starting to get quite warm, so I'll try to get a bit of an early start tomorrow (shouldn't be too difficult since I am apparently incapable of sleeping in).

One week in: reflections

Well, so far it's been a great trip. I was out on a hike this morning and thought to myself, "I'm so glad I'm doing this trip." And I love the fact that I'm doing it alone. I can do exactly what I want to do at every moment. If I want to sleep, I sleep. If I want to be a tourist, I do touristy things. If I want to hike, I hike. I love it.

I've always been independent. For various reasons in various situations, I've basically always had to be. And I love that. I love being independent. I love not being dependent on anyone. I love doing exactly what I want to do when I want to do it. But just cause I like being independent doesn't mean that I like being alone. I'm a very social person. And that's coming out a lot on this trip. I talk to a lot of people. In some ways, I'm getting a little sick of having the same conversation over and over again. I do love talking about my trip though. Most everyone is really surprised, and then supportive, and then sometimes offers suggestions. Some I dismiss cause I know they just won't fit into my plans. Others I take under serious consideration. I know that most people mean well when suggesting things.

I often get asked if I get lonely in the car by myself. So far, I haven't. I am pretty good company to myself. I listen to my audiobooks, talk to myself, give imaginary speeches, sing along to carbon leaf and show tunes, and generally keep myself amused.

You know, I got my heart broken pretty severely about 2 years ago. And in some ways, I feel like I'm still trying to get over that. A lot of people have asked me what the "goal" of this trip is, and I never defined one, other than to experience each moment for what it is and to enjoy everything as much as possible. But I think, in a lot of ways, this journey is a moving forward for me. I described this trip not as a vacation, but as a chapter. And I think that maybe it is simultaneously the final chapter in my last book and the first chapter of my next book. It's the turning of the page and acknowledgement that maybe, possibly, I may be ready for something new. I don't know what my next chapter is, but I do know that, so far, this chapter is pretty great. I think I'll keep writing it and see where it leads.

Day 7 - Grand Junction to Grand Canyon

I'm sitting here in the dining room of the Grand Canyon Lodge at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Today is opening day for the north rim, so there have definitely been some major hiccups (I had a 7:30 dinner reservation and actually got seated around 8:45), but its good to be back after about a 20 year absence. 

I left Brenda's house this morning around 10:00 and made my way over to Two Rivers Winery. They opened for tastings at 10:30, so I was a couple minutes early. I had a great tasting there and spent a while talking to Brittany, one of the owners. She and her husband are from Austin! So of course we had a lot to talk about. 

I left there and continued west on I-70. I drove through some absolutely beautiful hills and canyons. No wifi he at the north rim, so I can't post my pictures yet, but I took a TON. I think I stopped at all but one "view area." So many cool things to see. Once I turned off of I-70 onto US-89, there wasn't as much cool stuff to see, but it wasn't a really difficult drive. I finished listening to Harry Potter book 2, I talked to my mom on the phone for a while, and I listened to some show tunes. Good times. 

Coming into the Grand Canyon, I bought an inter agency annual pass. Even though I'm only going to 3 national parks and a couple national forests, it still makes sense financially. For whatever reason, I was getting nervous as I got closer and closer to the lodge, and when I finally saw the actual cabin, I was close to tears. It was just so....so breathtaking. Check in went pretty smoothly and I found my cabin without issue. After minor unpacking, I came down to the lodge and took a couple pictures of the canyon. I got a glass of wine and attempted to sit out on the porch, but I was in the shade and it was quite chilly, so I waited inside. I checked in at 7:00 for my 7:30 reservation and realized at that point that they were running significantly behind. I heard rumors that there were a few employees that didn't show up or that somehow, they had significantly overbooked, but regardless, they said that they were running about 45 minutes behind. Quite quickly, trays of hors douvres appeared in the sun room and the chef and waiters were encouraging everyone to help themselves. At least they handled it well. Some people were really upset, but what can you do? I finally got seated at 8:45. My table would have a great view if it were still light out (no daylight savings time in Arizona, so the sun goes down earlier). Before I got seated, I chatted briefly with the executive chef and he recommended the tuna. It is quite good. The citrus rice pilaf is fantastic. 

Plan for tomorrow is breakfast here in the lodge and then hiking down into the canyon. I think I'm going to go down 2 miles to Supai tunnel. Elevation is quite high here, so I'm going to take my time and drink lots of water. Then a nice relaxing late afternoon and dinner in the dining room again tomorrow night. Lets hope they learn from tonight's experience. 

Day 6 - Denver to Grand Junction

Well, I'm pretty tired tonight, so I'm not going to write much. I left Denver this morning and drove west. I ping-ponged back and forth between US-6 and I-70. US-6 had some really pretty views, going through Clear Creek Canyon Park and later over Loveland Pass.

I hit Palisade, Colorado around 2:30 and had a number of wineries to hit. I ended up going to 4 wineries and one lavender farm that had all sorts of balsamic vinegars, olive oils, cheese, and jams. I definitely stocked up.

Oh, and as I was driving, I recorded What About Everything, by special request from Buford. I did much better than at karaoke the other night. I can't get the YouTube to embed, so here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDZA20BsE48

Tonight I'm staying in Grand Junction, Colorado with an airbnb reservation, staying in a guest room. It's 6:45 and I'm so ready to go to sleep!

Day 5 - Denver

Today was yet another great day. I must say, I'm pretty proud of my planning - so far everything I've done has been really great.

I started out this morning with a tour of the Hammond's Candy Factory. I forgot to take a picture of the building, and we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so oops. I got there just before the 9:30 tour. There were 3 of us on the tour. All of Hammond's Candies are handmade at this one factory and they ship all over the world. It's amazing how much they're able to make by hand. They make a TON of various types of candy canes as well as ribbons and lollipops and other assorted sugar based candies. They also make chocolates and truffles. We saw 2 rooms - the cook room and the packaging room. In the cook room, it is always quite warm, about 85-90 degrees all the time. They make a batch of candy in a copper pot and heat it up to 324 degrees. Then they pour it onto a tray and add color and flavoring. They may put it on the pulling machine in order to modify the color if necessary. Then they mold the various colors into a block and it goes over to the twisting station. There, a pair of people will twist, cut, and form the candy into its shape. The candy then proceeds into the packaging room.

The packaging room is much cooler - around 66 degrees. In this room, the candies are individually packaged and sealed by hand. The appropriate stickers are applied to each candy and then the candies are packaged into shipping containers. They work on getting ready for the Christmas season all year round. There were no chocolates being made while I was there. Everything I saw was incredibly interesting. I had a ton of questions about process and forecasting. Also, the tour was free! You can't beat that. Although I did end up buying $20 worth of chocolates afterwards.

I was at the candy factory for about an hour, and then I drove downtown for the capitol volksmarch. This was a really good walk. It started with a loop through the Auraria campus.

Then it went over to Centennial and Confluence Parks. That area reminded me a lot of the Town Lake trail. Lots of trails around the river with a lot of joggers and cyclists. Biggest difference is that the whole path here was paved.

I stopped for lunch at My Brother's Bar and had a jalapeno cream cheese burger with fries and onion rings. Super tasty!!! The hefeweizen helped too. From there, the walk took me over Millennium Bridge:

Where I saw one of my favorite signs ever:

From there, it was up to Coors field, where I was super excited to take a tour. We got to see suites, the press box, the press club, the club level, the visiting clubhouse, and go out to field level through the umpires' tunnel. We weren't allowed on the grass, but we were allowed to go into the dugout and everything. It was amazing!!!! I got so excited to see the visitors' clubhouse especially - knowing that that's where my Phillies are when they're in town.

After the Coors Field tour, I continued on the rest of the Volksmarch, which essentially consisted of getting over to the Capitol building. Once again, I didn't get to take a tour of the Capitol (last tour was at 3:00 and I didn't get there until about 4:30), but I walked around and took a bunch of pictures.

After finishing up the walk (which claimed to be 11km, but according to my calculations was more like 12.5km), I drove over to Michelle's work and met her and her boyfriend there. The three of us went out to dinner, drove back to her house, and walked over for ice cream at Dairy Queen. A really really great day.

Tomorrow, I'm driving to the west of Denver, hitting up a few wineries in Clifton and Palisade and spending the night in Grand junction. It should be a pretty easy day.