ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER.
Day 144 – Beginning of Year #2 of retirement! Rob’s first day of retirement from IBM was one year ago today. At this time last year, we were so frazzled. Things sure have changed. What better way to celebrate one year of retirement than to be visiting the Grand Canyon. We are SO very thankful!
Quick stats: During this first year, we camped in 26 different States. We travelled 12,435 miles in the RV. We were home, not travelling, a total of 70 days (10 weeks). And we were travelling 295 days (42 weeks and 1 day).
We were up at 6:30 a.m. VERY cold out, 19 degrees. Pixie & Luna slept with us last night; Java & Gracie cuddled together in a chair all night. It’s totally quiet here (except for the helicopters which started at 9:30 a.m.) We are in a forest of tall Ponderosa Pines, and the trees give us shade but are also spread out enough to offer plenty of sunlight on one side of the RV. Perfect. The temperature has risen as rapidly this morning as it fell yesterday afternoon. It was 51 degrees & sunny at 10:50 a.m. That’s Mountain Standard Time; we passed through a time zone change yesterday. Rob put the Arizona sticker on the travel map. It’s been quite awhile since we added a sticker to indicate we’d camped in a different State because we spent so much time in California.
Added Arizona
We have both a cell phone signal and an internet connection here. Rob called to check on the progress of the furnace replacement at home. Then we left to explore the area. (The furnace work will continue tomorrow, hopefully finishing then.) We went to Tusayan first to get gas in the Honda (expensive here at $3.49 per gallon compared to the $2.29 to $2.34 we’ve paid elsewhere in AZ). Then we checked as to where we could get a propane refill when needed and emptied the trash at special containers in Tusayan. Off now to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Grand Canyon NP, AZ
Our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon knocked our socks off. Amazing. Sure we’ve seen lots of pictures of this area, but to be here is something else entirely. The colors and contours of the rocks and canyons are unbelievable.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
At each pull-off there were huge parking lots, indicative of the crowds which visit in-season. But we experienced much less people which made the experience so much better. We drove 25 miles east to Desert View, stopping at pull-outs along the way. Awesome scenery and very little traffic. The high today was 63 degrees, but the clouds came in and the overcast conditions made for some hazy pictures. Still quite beautiful though! At Desert View, we stopped to walk around the stores & trails and visited the Watchtower, which was designed by Mary Colter in 1932 to reflect the architecture of the ancestral Pueblo Indians in the four corners region. Impressive.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We headed back through the Park, and wouldn’t you know it – we didn’t see a single elk. On the way back to the RV, we checked out a couple of other Forest Service roads just to do a comparison between those camping areas and ours. Ours was the best, grin. We sat outside at the campsite until the sun almost went down. Nice relaxing day. Tomorrow we’ll try to get better pictures of the South Rim on a much more clear day. The scenery is outstanding here.