We had breakfast at the hotel (me with wild hair from going to bed with it damp!), then set off on our day's journey to Williams, Arizona. It was a great day - very happy!!
We stopped off at lots of places along the way, including three or four times at the Natural Bridges National Monument. Scott and I wondered if we should make the detour there, and thought we might as well!
It's a bit hard to spot this first bridge...
Although the skies were blue it was a bit chilly, so we didn't hang around anywhere for too long. Here are the boys who came, saw, then legged it!
The last natural bridge was great! We walked a little way, and got to go all the way under the arch.
I also loved the smooth, worn, creamy stone that we walked on in lots of places. I just felt super happy, soaking it all in. It was also quite warm out of the breeze.
We then drove down the Moki Dugway - a gravelly road going down a massive cliff!
The view from near the top of the Moki Dugway was just incredible - a vast empty plain stretching for miles, with the odd red rock stack sticking out.
This picture kind of shows how high up we were!
The road itself was crazy - worse than the Alps! Ridiculous bends, and no fencing for most of it. We stopped the car at one point on the way down, and the kids and I very cautiously made our way up to a high rocky outlook place. I made the kids stay really close to the rock walls because the wind was strong and gusty.
I was relieved when we made it to the bottom, and out onto the long straight road we had seen from above. Not far away was Goosenecks State Park - a lookout point over where the Colorado River does some 'gooseneck' bends. It was pretty amazing.
There weren't many people there, but when we arrived, a woman said 'Is one of you called Harry?' Her family had been at Delicate Arch the day before when we'd been there, and had heard me calling Harry! I was a bit embarrassed, because that's when I'd been a bit stressed and Tom had been a pain! Oh well! We had a nice chat anyway, and they were interested in church (being in Utah etc). They were from Cambridge, but living in California at the moment.
We carried on driving, and stopped at Mexican Hat Rock. We took the car off road a bit, onto the red dirt around the base of the Hat and got out and had some lunch there.
Everyone was is good spirits, really enjoying it!
Tom singing 'We are the Three Amigos!''
We then had about a three hour drive to the Grand Canyon, past lots of Indian lands and towns, through Monument Valley, across the Utah/Arizona border, and past Cameron (where Scott and I stayed last time.)
It's just fabulous standing by the side of the road taking in this iconic scenery!
We could also see quite a few dust devils (little whirlwinds) across the landscape - cool!!
Stopping off at the border!
The kids were fine on the drive. Harry played Minecraft on my phone for quite a bit of it, with me pointing out each cool thing we passed.
This is typical of some of the homesteads dotted around the place. What a different life from ours back home!
As we got nearer the Grand Canyon, we started to see canyon land forming.
At Grand Canyon, we stopped at the viewing tower, which is lovely to be in - great views!
Taking a picture in one of the black glass Reflectoscopes!
We stopped off at another couple of smaller viewing places along the South Rim.
Our last stop-off point was in the Village. We were in a bit of a daft mood by then, and were like ''Oh look - another hole...'', ''You should be more respectful to holes!!', ''Well, it is a very nice hole''' etc etc! We could have walked along the edge trail for a bit, but everyone had pretty much got the idea, and were a bit tired by then, so we headed for Williams which was another hour away. We'd planned on having tea at Grand Canyon Village, but it looked packed (there was a lot of traffic on the way out of Grand Canyon) so we decided to hang on till Williams.
Scott and I said if we ever come back to Grand Canyon we'll have to do a proper hike down into it, to be able to appreciate it better.
We were starving by the time we got to Williams, so quickly dumped our bags in the Quality Inn (no lifts again!) and went to Pizza Hut, which I absolutely relished. The kids sat in one red leather booth, and Scott and I sat in the next one along.
I took these photos in the wrong camera setting, but they're of such good memories!
Lucy and Tom enjoying outdoor settees on our hotel forecourt!
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