After getting back to the room on Friday night, I fell right asleep....and woke up at 2:00 AM. This was not unexpected, but also not helpful. Coming from the East Coast this is what happens and I will get used to it. I did fall back to sleep for another hour or so, but finally gave up and started my day.
My original thinking for yesterday morning was to grab some time in the pool, which opened at 6:00 AM, but timing didn't allow it as we have to have our bags ready by 7 and we left at 8. That's only one hour to have everything ready to go the way I want it to be, so I'll try the pool some other place.
The plan yesterday was to visit Sedona, then drive to the Grand Canyon National Park hotel to check in and get ready for our visit there. We had only two hours in Sedona, which, according to many in the group, was disappointing as it is such beautiful country. I totally agree with this sentiment. While it is a small town, certainly as compared to Phoenix, but maybe we could have had a little more time there. In fact, we had even less time than scheduled, a good half hour less. For some reason, perhaps because it was Saturday, perhaps some other reason, there was massive traffic going into Sedona. Having said that, there was enough time to have lunch and walk around town.
After Sedona, we hit the road to the Grand Canyon National Park, which encompasses the entirety of the Grand Canyon and the few hundred miles of the Colorado River that runs through it. Our visit was to the South Rim, which is simply amazing. Of course the whole thing is amazing, with millions of years worth of exposed rock carved out by the Colorado River. If you've never seen it, I suggest you go as soon as you can.
We spent the night at the Yavapai Lodge (rhymes with "have a pie"). Know that the internet service is nearly non-existent--hence a double blog tonight. Also know that there are no lights after sundown because one of the rules of the park is "nothing interferes with nature." Surprisingly, there are also very few stars in the sky, even on a cloudless night. Nature gets what nature wants, I guess.
This morning, we started our day at 7,000 feet, and ended it at roughly 4,000 feet. This 3,000 foot difference made things warmer and less breezy. Another difference is we went from a canyon to a lake.
After we finished up at the Grand Canyon, we started our drive to the Lake Powell Resort. Along the way, we stopped at the Cameron Trading Post in the town of Cameron, a small settlement in a vast Navajo Indian Reservation. Technically, with the exception of the resort itself, we will be on the reservation for the next couple of days. The resort is actually located within the Glen Canyon National Park. This means that in addition to the resort, we also had to pay the entrance fee to the park.
You may also be interested to know that the resort marina is home to more houseboats than anywhere else.
I will get into more detail about the resort in tomorrow's report, but for now let me just say that I---and I'm not the only one thinking this-----am seriously considering looking into coming here on my own. It is a great place to go to do absolutely nothing.
Tomorrow is an early day, but we are going to be going off script, so stay tuned. That' it for now.
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