Week 29

The first week of our road trip was very hectic, having to travel at least four hours every day. Tuesday we left Louisville and headed to a small town called rifle. We found that the name was very fitting after having dinner amongst trophy bears, mountain lions and an arsenal of weapons. Wednesday we drove to Moab via the long scenic route. There were some spectacular cliff formations along the way, but when we reached Moab we headed up to the Arches national park. The previous drive up was a bit of a spoiler but it was still pretty cool to see. Thursday we then went to Cortez to see the Mesa Verde national park. The main attraction was some remnants of an old building, but for us it was a gigantic walk down and then back up the mountain. It was also in extreme heat, so much so that mum nearly fainted. At this point we'd been in Colorado to Utah and back to Colorado. From Cortez we passed into Arizona and stopped at Holbrook. We weren't very impressed with the accommodation, questioning whether we'd found small stools spread throughout the cabin. The "forest" leading up to it was also misleading. It was a petrified forest with nary a tree in sight. The first of our road trip's major stops was next. We headed out to Grand Canyon to try camping. Despite the long drive out, the view was amazing. We set up our tent just in time before the rain came, but it passed quickly. We spent the rest of our time there (the afternoon) doing some walks around the canyon. We did two walks. The first walk was just along the rim, looking down into the vast chasms. The second was down into the chasm, although we only went to the first lookout due to not having water or sunlight. We also got some firewood and tried to make some light for us to use. After getting up at 5 in the morning, we packed up the tent and headed out to Kingman for our last day in Arizona. That Sunday was one of the days that were assigned to Mum and I for the accommodation. We decided to live in Luxury.