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We broke up the 3 hour drive to the Grand canyon from the ranch, by taking in some more '66' sights, the museum (had to be done!) and another roadside diner 'Mr D'zs' for some pretty good burgers and sweet potato fries. We finally arrived at the very busy and very cold grand canyon at dusk and realised we hit one of the World's most famous national monuments on not only a weekend, but thanksgiving weekend, so it was pretty busy to say the least. After taking in a pretty cool 3D IMAX movie about the canyon, and munching on some McDonalds chicken nuggets (yes Laura ate McDonalds) we called it a night, ready to hit the canyon and its wonders early the next day. Driving in the next day, it seemed almost surreal that you are on the borders of this enormous canyon, as you drive on paved roads through pine forests, then suddenly out of nowhere, you overlook this indescribably big open canyon, a whole complex field of ancient rocks in all different shades, canyons, valleys, and if you look hard enough you will see the Colorado river that made it all possible…amazing! Trying not to overdo it, we did the easy ring trail and wandered slowly around the canyon, stopping at the various 'points' to take in the view, although each point did vary slightly, after a while it did become a little repetive, amazing, but repetitive, and you did often have to fight your way, to the tip of the point, especially at sunset! We have to say though it was a slightly disappointing sunset (they were said to be the best ever here!?) at Mohave Point. But it was here we decided that we wanted to get to grips with the canyon, and feel the size of it, which could only be done by going down, and down, and down! We contemplated with doing an 18 mile trek, right into the bottom of the canyon 7,000 ft down, which we had been recommended by some folks we met, but after reading various 'death' stories, numerous signs advising not to hike down and back in one day, and hearing every ranger say the same, we decided to give it a miss, especially as we would have to get up at 5am! So we settled on hiking to Plateau point instead, a 12 mile round trip, not quite to the bottom but close, just above the river. So the next morning we awoke pretty early still and headed to Yavapai Point to watch the sunrise, now this was pretty amazing, but again unfortunately we weren't the only ones there. But as the sun rose, it seemed to touch different peaks of the canyon, and it was like watching a painting as, as the sun rose, more and more colour was added to the canyon, until the whole canyon was complete, colourful, awake and ready for the day…. Beautiful. Then, in preparation for our hike we headed to the famous El Tovar Hotel, a very classic, 5 star hotel full of stags heads, big fireplaces and a dining room overlooking the canyon. We drank lots of coffee, munched on the biggest cinnamon bun we had ever seen, and had some slightly disappointing omelettes, disappointing because the chorizo advertised was actually mincemeat, and our stomachs felt it was a lil early for this! And then we finally began the hike, down the oldest most famous trail 'Angels Trail' - we discovered a famous alternate way down here was by mule, but given wills recent luck with horses, we decided it was a lil risky, especially as you were walking next to a 7,000 ft sheer drop, which was also icy may I add. Anyho the hike was amazing! Downhill as you can imagine was pretty quick, and relatively easy, but once we got into the canyon, you finally felt its true size, looking up at the sheer cliffs alongside you. And even more amazing was the life at the bottom of the valley, which you can't even see from the top. We saw purple cactus's, autumnal trees, creeks, and herds of stags. It was also a lot lot warmer here, so the final hike to plateau point was a little harder, but once we reached the edge here we were overlooking the famous Colorado River, and their famous rapids, which felt such an achievement to get so close. But then unfortunately there was the 6 mile hike back up the 7,000ft… not so fun… well fun in a challenging kind of way. It started off well, we were actually pretty quick, but then we realised that was because the first 1.5 miles was a slow vertical climb, the rest was really steep and uphill the whole way, so hard, very hard. After a few rest stops, lots of water and salty snacks, we made it up in 3 hours, and felt great for it. However our bodies, not so good…. When we got back to the hotel, we both literally could not move, every muscle hurt, we were only thankful we didn't do the 18 mile trek! The next day thus saw us drive out on the Desert View road, take in a few more points, on the slightly more remote east side, we even managed to discover a secret point, and had amazing views, all by ourselves! It was the perfect end, to one hell of a canyon…
Up for some more exploring we then hit the highway to another less famous canyon, Zion. Located over the border in Utah, it was quite a drive, so we refuelled at an old trading post in Cameron, with some pretty average food, and enjoyed the drive. And what a drive, as we approached Zion, we were literally driving through a canyon albeit a much smaller canyon, but it was stunning in a whole different way, we even drove through a tunnel straight through the canyon, pitch black, with look out points dispersed through it revealing the canyons beauty. We were staying in the picturesque town of Springdale, a village covered in fairy lights, cute shops, and homely lodge style hotels. Ours, driftwood lodge was adorable, and would you believe it we were the only ones there, it was like a ghost town compared to the Grand Canyon, and finding somewhere to eat was little bit of a struggle, but when you did, the food was good, super fresh and healthy. We fell in love with it here instaneously though, and were sad we only had a day here, but the one day we did have was forecasted to be beautifully sunny, and then snow was on its way, so I guess it was for the best. Zion was like being at the bottom of the Grand Canyon from the go-ahead, but blessed with much more plant life, much more water, and smaller canyons. We discovered the emerald pools, crying willows?, ate gourmet sandwiches in the sun on the rivers edge, saw stags grazing by the river, and hiked up to a beautiful look out point… and all in one day, so as you can imagine, this was a much smaller size then Grand Canyon… but in our eyes equally as Grand. We loved it here and will be back … but unfortunately Las Vegas was calling our name, as it was finally time to get back into the city life, and wow what a city it was…
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